AT&T customer service is horrible - it's not even about the attitude towards customer, but the fact that they have NO IDEA what they are doing and there is no synergy between different departments.
We ordered 2 phones July 23rd, they got shipped on the 24th. Before the shipment got here, they called us at our billing address (we just moved to a different state so the shipping address was different) to confirm it wasn't a fraud. We cleared it with them, and thought all was well, but NO. On Tuesday, Fedex tracking website showed that they tried to deliver it once but couldn't, as no one was home. I expected them to leave me a notice so I could come pick the shipment up; however shortly after (an hour) they declared "shipment exception - undeliverable". I called, and they explained that AT&T themselves called to CANCEL THE SHIPMENT. Called AT&T and they said they would send us the phones back when they received them. We waited, and waited. 2 weeks later, I called AT&T (both Wireless & Premier), and they insisted that the phones weren't in the inventory and it had been shipped to us. I called Fedex, who nicely gave me a returning tracking number, and the phones had been returned to AT&T warehouse in Texas A WEEK AGO.
Called At&T again and gave them the tracking number so they could see it themselves, and they said the warehouse probably takes 10-14 days to process the shipment - sure, I'll wait. For a week, and still nothing. We then called to cancel our service, so that we can start a new account and get free phones (with rebate). But they wouldn't let us cancel, even though it's still within the 30 day limit for free cancellation. Reason? Because we didn't return the phones ourselves and had no invoice. WHAT THE FUCK? At this point I was sure AT&T was retarded. So we asked for an upgrade, and they said something about a reverse upgrade wherein we can get new phones without having to pay anymore, and promised to call us back. A day passed, nothing. Had to call again, and again, and again, to finally get an order on new phones without having to pay.
I was stressed out, frustrated, and just plain pissed off. Altogether, my boyfriend and I (holders of the account) called At&T about 50 times (we called, then were put on hold for over an hour, couldn't stand it, call again; or got inane agents who transferred us, on hold for hours again, so we hung up and called back, and met other agents who also did not know anything, and had to call again hoping to speak to other agents or supervisor. Some of them even disconnected while putting us on hold. I know it's not their fault, but they were incapable and were not helpful nor trying to be (except some of them who were nice, but unfortunately also couldn't do anything). Everyone of them said a different thing, and transferred us from at&t business to at&t personal, and back (as we got our account through a discount from our company, a big corporate), then to at&t premier, and to premier general, to customer support, to order status, to...I DONT EVEN KNOW WHERE anymore. It has been a nightmare, and even though I really don't want to be at&t customer anymore, I have no choice - they will charge me cancellation fees. I just have to till the end of the 2 year contract, which terrifies me - who knows what else will happen??
So basically, this is the timeline:
- July 23rd: order online through Premier
- July 24th: order shipped
- July 26th: called from Fraud department; cleared the issue re: different addresses
- July 27th: Fedex declared shipment exception, undeliverable. Called Fedex: at&t cancelled shipment. Called at&t: they said they would send back the phones once they received them.
- August 4th: called at&t continuously from 8:30 am to 4pm (was put on hold for about half of that time). No one knew what was going on. Did not find phones in inventory. Showed them Fedex records; they said to wait.
- August 5th-August 12th: called At&T multiple times; got transferred from dept. to dept. Someone suggested upgrade reverse (no idea what that means) and promised to call back. Did not get a call back (she called back once to let us know she's still waiting, and would call us again - I guess it was a lie.) Called 3 times trying to find that agen (we got her name), but turns out there's NO WAY to contact an agent directly.
- August 10th: got refunded, not sure if it's the rebate or if it's the refund we got from the returned phones.
- August 13th: called at&t from 12pm-4pm. The last agent said the phones had NOT been returned!!! After explaining it to her twice, she was able to place a new order for our phones, which hopefully will arrive soon (don't know yet).
If we don't get our phones in a week's time, I'm seriously considering legal actions. It's no less than a fraud. I understand that they have to take measures against phone fraud, but if the fraud dept. already cleared it with us on Monday, how come they called Fedex on Tues to cancel our order? On top of that, none of the agents/supervisors were willing to resolve the problem, instead trying to push it to another dept. or convince us to pay more money to resolve it. At&T is completely unprofessional! I don't think it's the agents' fault completely (even though many of them were clearly incompetent and don't know what they're talking about), but the at&t system as a whole. Please, if you really want to get an iphone, find a way to do it without having to deal with at&t. At&T is a horrendous company - I can't believe they still have customers.
It has been a nightmare. Just typing it here makes me want to hit somebody. Please, heed my warning and avoid at&t AT ALL COST!