AT&T U-verse → An installation nightmare, is it really difficult?

Is this a sign of things to come and how AT&T treats their customers? We have POTS service at this address for the past 35 years.

We decided to order U-Verse internet and TV service because of the features (whole home DVR, remote scheduling for DVR, etc) and faster internet and better pricing. It seemed line a win-win. It was set to be installed on Monday, June 23rd. I took the day off work for the appointment.

June 23rd: The tech arrives on time, however, he was somewhat rude and seemed as if he didn't want to install the service. It seemed as if he tried to make every single excuse to not install the service.

1. He stated that we would have to take the vinyl siding off the side of the house so that he could get to the existing wiring (despite the fact he could have just ran new lines as the inside wiring is a mess and is 50+ years old) He said he would have to run a new line to the house and put a new box on the side of the house anyway, so I don't understand why he couldn't run a new line to the outlet inside the house. The main reason he needed access to the existing wiring is because of the existing POTS service, but we only have one phone in the entire house, he could have simple ran a new line to it if needed. I told him to go ahead and just kill the existing POTS service and I would just forward the calls to an alternate number. He went down the street and came back and said there was nothing he could do and we would have no choice but to removing the siding and he left.

2. He stated that a large mirror we have in the living room is going to cause interference with the WiFi on one of the set top boxes... If so, why can't he run a line to the box?

He cancelled the appointment and said we could call back. I call back a couple days later into the week to reschedule for Saturday June 28th (1-3) for the installation of U-Verse so that I wouldn't need to miss work.

Saturday June 28th: The install tech calls at 12:30 and says he's running ahead and said he would be here in a few minutes. He arrives, a different guy than last time, and is very friendly and is completely understanding of the situation and said they were going to run new lines and put a new box on the side of the house. He said there was a signal issue out at the street and that an engineer would come out shortly and fix the issue.

An hour or two later, I see a bucket truck working out at the street and he was working there for an hour or two and leaves. We find out that the POTS service was killed and by 5 PM, no call, no anything. I call AT&T to find out the status and was on hold for an hour and a half and was told that the appointment would need to be rescheduled and the soonest they could have someone out would be Wednesday July 2nd. At this point, I am pretty pissed off and just hang up. I call back a few hours later once I cooled off and explained the entire situation to the lady and she puts in an emergency ticket for the POTS service to get restored this morning between 8-10 and said that the engineering ticket is still open and as soon as they fix the the issue at the street, they'll contact me to install the U-Verse Service. Fine. Whatever.

This morning, I do not get a phone call until 10:30 and it was an automated system saying that my emergency ticket was moved up until Wednesday, July 2nd. Unacceptable, it said to press 1 to speak to a manager, which I did. I explain the whole situation to the manager all over again, that I have an 80 year old grandmother at the house with no service, etc. He said he put it in as a medical emergency ticket and someone would call me within in an hour. It's so far been 30 minutes and no call.

Is this really how AT&T treats their customers? This is nuts!

Yes. Yes, it is. It certainly looks from the outside like it takes approval from 87 different managers on 3 continents to get a single screw turned. (and people give me grief when I say bad things about unions. I'm not saying they are CWA, but the first guy certainly has the attitude to be.)

If you have an uncommon problem that involves "engineering" then yes, this is typical.

Typical of AT&T. And for a communications company they sure don't communicate well to their customers or to their own depts.

Why would a mirror interfere with a radio signal unless it was directly between the source and receiver?

I know that the higher the frequency the smaller the wavelength, and at higher frequencies things such as trees can effect propagation, but this is a new one for me.

Sorry you're having such a hard time of it.

Mirrors are great at reflecting RF signal in addition to lightwaves, but even then I think the original tech is a bit of full of it. He couldn't even bother to just plug in the WAP and test with a wifi analyzer app to see the actual signal levels at final wifi stb location. I've gotten 5GHz signal to push its limits with separate buildings before, the current WAPs are hardy little units.

My 5 GHz alone goes at least/about 500 feet lol.

From your WAP, or do you have a separate 5GHz router?

RT-N66.

The VAP2500's go pretty far though. I know my neighbor had one and at times it had a signal of -67 to my computer on certain channels before it had its power dropped due to regulations.

This is extremely typical.

Blaming it on a union is hilarious. CWA is a union by name and legacy only.

In fact, I would blame the issues the OP saw on exactly the opposite. A fake union which has made conditions worse. Techs are given unreasonable time frames to complete any job that is not a simple "hook and book". People are going to get frustrated when their jobs literally depend customers having a straight forward setup.

I saw tech after tech walked out the door for not making numbers. Does that sound like union protection?

No he shouldn't have an attitude, but shit, what do you expect?

"what do you expect?"

If the individual continues to take the pay for the job I expect them to do the job, not look for excuses to not do it.

What do you expect?

All management cares about is numbers... not customers, not you.
CWA... don't get me started...
Sounds like the tech was trying to keep his job to me... he may have a family to feed you know. Guy may have been on a performance improvement plan already...

Give your techs a break.... they are in the meat grinder more than you realize.

Trying to keep his job? Are you kidding me? Disappearing, not communicating to a customer, and leaving the POTS service disconnect is trying to keep his job?! BS!

Either way... The POTS service was finally restored this morning. However, still no word on U-Verse since Saturday when they disappeared.

Like DataRiker said, this is sooo typical I'm shocked that it's even a question. This has been the MO since those made up metrics became mandatory. Nothing but a bunch of dumbass managers covering up crappy work.

And.. you can't blame the techs for using those metrics to cover their own ass.
It means the customer gets shafted...

Doing the "right thing" does not pay in corporate america.

The problem is that the top executives are being prevented from seeing the
outcome of stupid and unreasonable metrics that were likely "concocted" by some
consulting agency.

I hope SOMEONE with AT&T will have a TOP EXECUTIVE read this thread and do what it takes to remedy this kind of nonsense. While this "scheme" might make the short term profits and numbers look good, the long term health of AT&T is at stake and in danger!

It's obvious that no one has a clue what is going on at AT&T. I called this afternoon during my lunch hour for a status update since I have yet to hear anything and was told that my old order would have to be cancelled and everything would have to be reordered from scratch. I didn't do this and simply hung up in disgust. An hour or so later, I get a automated call:

"Hello, This is AT&T U-Verse calling. We're calling to reschedule your appointment. We're sorry for the inconvenience for the issue that prevented your services from being installed, but the issue has been resolved. Please call us back to reschedule your appointment"

This is nuts!!! A coworker of mine said he went through similar issues and that he was signed up for 45 MBit internet but never pulled anything faster than 24 MBit. My aunt also recently had U-Verse installed and in the past month, she's had to have 3 different techs come out and repair the service.

I'm not getting a good vibe from all this. It really sucks because I really like the features of U-Verse as well as the pricing.

Yes.& One word always have a working Cell phone if service goes down and there is a emergency.

a) They won't. (they cannot be bothered.)
b) There have been DECADES of research, papers, editorials, and internet rants on how bad these dumb "metric" based performance measures are, but nobody cares. Call Centers are all about clearing calls -- not fixing problems, but getting you the f*** off the phone. (metric: number of calls per hour, number of minutes per call.) Telco tech performance is measured in similarly stupid ways, which is why they are so eager to find fault to pass off the work. NONE of these metrics account for the complexity of the problem or the resolution.

This is how you do the job, that is if you intend on keeping it for very long. If you took every time waster on dispatch you would be fired quick.

What do you expect agian??

I also had a nightmare install. It was because I only had TV service and wanted 45 mbit/s service. This required another pair to be conditioned so I could have a bonded pair. When the first tech was supposed to come out in May, I was told he could not come out (after I took time off work mind you) because there were no facilities available for the bonded pair and they'd have to do it at a later date.

After calling every day to see what the status was on this, and getting the run around every time "It should be any day now" about 3 weeks later a tech was dispatched to come out on a Friday. I took another day off work. When he got there I asked him if it was on the order that I needed a bonded pair. He said it wasn't. They had put on the order that I wanted 6 mbit/s service. This is what happens when you outsource your customer service to the Philippines, India, etc. He was an awesome tech, the best tech I have ever worked with throughout many years of different services. He literally tried everything possible to get them to condition the lines that day so he could hook them up. They would not budge because the "system" wouldn't let them. Translated: They had no managers available on a Friday during the day (this was Father's day weekend) and so noone could authorize it is my guess. BUT HERE IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT HE TOLD ME THAT YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND: The techs are graded on efficiency. They are quoted a certain amount of time to do a certain job and if they go over that time (because people in the Philippines can't authorize a pair to get conditioned for example) and the fact that he had to sit on hold just to talk to someone for over an hour each time he called in made him go WELL over his quoted time. I asked him if there is a way to appeal to a manager why it took you longer than expected at a site and he said there was no way to do that. All they care about are the numbers and do not care if they ran into problems or how to fix the problems they run into. So, that is probably what TestBoy meant by trying to keep his job. He may have already been over on hours that week and there was nothing else he could do anyhow.

So, I told them I would not take another day off from work in order to get the service. They scheduled him to come out on a Saturday. At the end of his time window, I called customer service and asked where the tech was. The was no tech dispatch on the order. So, I guess whoever put the order in thought that a tech didn't need to be dispatched to run another pair to a house. I called customer retention to tell them why I was cancelling all my services with them and they assured me they'd send me a tech out that very Sunday to get the install finished. He actually showed up and got everything ran and I finally have the service I ordered over a month ago.

My point: It is entirely ridiculous and you have every right to be pissed off. This is what happens when a company gets way too large, changes bad processes to make them even worse, and doesn't do anything to try to fix its internal problems. It is not the tech's fault and you should not take it out on the techs.

That is all.

Mr Fel is correct about the mirror. The reflective surface of the mirror is actually a continuous layer of silver foil, and acts as such with respect to RF.

Spot on.
One thing I have learned.. if you have worked for one bell company you have worked for them all.
I also did a stint with a cable company... more of the same there.
All us current and former techs can do is throw our hands up in the air... got those spreadsheet managers.... loving them some bonus money at the end of the year.

They MUST be bothered now because the long term health and viability of AT&T is at stake. Short term metrics are great until they start to rot the core of what makes the company profitable and viable.

I think that in the past couple of years the top executive officers under Stephenson are actually listening to their customers, before I think that they were being shielded by
"handlers" this has changed.

Recently I wrote a certified, return receipt requested snail mail to a top AT&T executive at the Austin HQ, I was sure that it wasn't going to get any action, but I gave it a try anyway. I was VERY surprised at the action I received, the swiftness which which my problem was resolved which had been going on for years, was SHOCKING to say the least. It was amusing because I felt like I was receiving the kind of service that a important top exec would normally only receive. I'm certain that the top exec I wrote to read that letter, not just their secretary.

In my communication in addition to my own specific problem I added very politely some of what I have mentioned in my above posts. It is sinking in gradually.

Customers with issues need to send a certified, return receipt snail mail to the executive officers at the AT&T HQ in Austin, TX. (NOT to be confused with the
"Office of The President") Be concise about your issue, and tell them what you want done, but also in a polite and businesslike manner
summarize about how the company needs to revisit how their business model works and that the focus on short term metrics is a threat to the long term well being and viability of AT&T.

If top executive officers are reading this thread I would like to again offer my sincerest appreciation of your assistance in having my issues resolved in a timely manner, and hope you continue to look into the current business model and make serious changes that are needed to address such issues as are being discussed here.

You said the magic words to the right person.

But it shouldn't have to come to that, by forcing the OP to go that far they created a DISsatisfied customer and that impression lasts a long time, and even if the problem is solved it probably increases the chances that they will leave AT&T.

This is a BAD business model.

"What do you expect agian??"

Less bellyaching and whining. If you don't like the job, as you didn't, then get something else, as you did. Telling me or any other customer that it's too bad and I have to put up with poor work from a technician certainly doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy about your work ethic.

Once more - If you take the paycheck then do the work. If you don't want to do the work then go do something else.

I like how the people here think that the ATT execs 1) Care about their customers 2) Care if they're dissatisfied 3) Give a crap that their edicts are slowly flushing their company down the toilet.

I can say, without a doubt, absolutely none of them give a shit about any of the above.

Just to add one more little tidbit for you - if all those who work for AT&T succeed in cutting the company's throat, who will you work for then? I really doubt there are enough jobs with comeptitors to keep all of you employed. Piss off enough customers, tell enough people to go to competitors, and all the rest of the rabble-rousing and see where it lands you.

The sad thing was, my account was already put in jeopardy when the first tech came out and couldn't get the lines conditioned. I still had to call customer retention to get something done, and I was dead serious about cancelling everything with them.