I have been an AT&T customer for years. Everything generally is fine...UNTIL WE CHANGE OUR SERVICE IN ANY WAY. We recently got talked into switching over to U-Verse. What a nightmare. Nothing worked as it should have, we were lied to by multiple departments (or worse, they are just ignorant and don't know the answers, so they make them up) and the result, as is the usual case with trying to change services with AT&T, we were without telephone service for an extended period of time.

Flash forward to present day: We are moving. From the moment we made the decision, I was dreading transfering my phone service. I knew in advance that it would be a nightmare, and true to form, it has been. The issue is that I have a home office and I rely on my phone service for business. I cannot afford to have sub-par service and I can't afford to be without things like voice mail, caller ID, call forwarding, etc.

I was told that in order to maintain my original phone number, they would have to come out and transfer my U-verse lines to a standard jack-in telco line. Then, next week when we move, they will come out again, and transfer everything over to U-verse again. (Whatever.)

I TRIPLE-CHECKED with 3 different depts before I agreed to all this that I 1.) would not be without phone service, and 2.) when they made the switch to a normal jack line, that I would still have all the functionality of my service, i.e., voice mail, caller id, etc. "Oh yes, you will not have any down time other than when the tech is there making the switch." Again, 3 different dept heads assured me of this.

Sure enough, this morning comes and I am without phone service. Callers to my line did not get my voice mail, instead the phone just rang and rang. Great. Even the technician who came out said that AT&T is putting so much emphasis on U-verse and DSL, that they have forgotten about the heart and soul of what AT&T is about - TELEPHONE SERVICE. Forget the fact that they have customers that have paid their bills for 50 years and rely on their phones to be working, suddenly they are not a priority anymore. Sad.

I will never use AT&T again if I can help it - every single time I need something or service changed, IT NEVER GOES SMOOTHLY. EVER. No one wants to take responsibility or is accountable to anything...it's all about passing the buck to the next department. Unbelievable that this company is still in business.

When I choose to upgrade to a new phone online through AT&T's official website, their website clearly said a return label will be included in the box. We did not receive any return label on any of the 3 phones we upgraded. To make matter worse, I had to spend an hour calling them just to find out that since one of the phone I want to return is not broken, just a buyer's remorse, I will have to pay more for a phone that I do want to exchange with where as if I would have choose that phone in the first place, it would have been free. What a rip off after having them for more than 5 years.

Supposedly you have a free listing on yellowpages.com. So they list you on there, and put your wrong name or address. So YOU go online and edit it. All this work done by yourself, mind you, and THEN they charge you $15.00 per line edited, on your next phone bill. Can you believe that? Talk about a rip off! The lady at AT&T told me that this is what the charges are for. There should be a law against it!

AT&T cable service is terrible. When you call in for help or to report a problem it takes 15 minutes to get through the automated system and another 30 minutes to get the custumer service rep to recognize that there is a problem. I have had my box replaced 3 times in the 1 year I've had the service. The box will freeze. Everytime I speak to a custumer service rep they say what you want to hear to get you off the phone, they will promise you adjustments for your problems but don't do it and don't notate it in your account. Then when you call back there is no record of what was offered and you must explain the situation to every person you speak to (VERY IRRITATING). There should be a department to take custumer complaints NOT A WEBSITE. As a custumer you can tell that you are just another number to them no personal empathy at all. I have had numerous cable services and by far AT&T is the worst. Would NOT recomend AT&T to anybody.

IN NOVEMBER 2009 OUR COMPANY WAS APPROACHED BY AT&T DETAILING WAYS WE COULD SAVE MONEY ON TELEPHONE SERVICES AT 3 OF OUR LOCATIONS. WE ARE A SMALL BUSINESS AND UNFORTUNATELY, WE LISTENED. WE HAVE HAD NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS SINCE WE SHANGED TO AT&T. THE SERVICES AND PRICING WE WERE PROMISED HAS NOT BEEN HONORED. THEY SAID A FINAL MERGER OF THEIR INFO-AT&T AND BELL SOUTH CAUSED ALL OUR CONTRACT PRICING TO BE DROPPED. THEN, AN ASTRONOMICAL BILLING, A HASSLE TO GET OUR BILLING STRAIGHTENED OUT,
THEN OUR SERVICE WAS DISCONNECTED AT ALL 3 LOCATIONS AT DIFFERENT TIMES.
EACH PERSON WE TALK TO WANTS TO SELL US DIFFERENT FEATURES OR PLANS. WE ONLY WANT WHAT WE SIGNED UP FOR TO BEGIN WITH.

IF ANYBODY IS READING THIS, THINK AGAIN BEFORE CHANGING TO AT&T.

CATHY WADE
OFFICE MANAGER
CRESCENT SUPPLY CO., INC