Technology Tattletale: Cingular/AT&T

by Guest Blogger, Lena West, Chief Social Media Strategist at xynoMedia Technology

I could have easily titled this post: Cingular/AT&T vs. Best Buy in a Vie for Title of the Worst Customer Service EVER.

A few weeks ago, I introduced a recurring post theme of The Technology Tattletale - a subset of the Women & Technology Battlecry efforts. In that post, I promised you that tech companies that tried to treat women like crap and give us poor service, would be summarily and publicly trounced. I meant it.

By now, we've all read Yvonne's post about GrokDotCom's Bryan Eisenberg's mother's horrible experience with WorstBuy BestBuy.

Now, here's my story about Cingular/AT&T's latest idiocy -- and possible violation of some sort of FCC law. When will these companies get the message that shoddy customer service policies that don't empower customer service reps to truly serve the customer will no longer fly?

I don't like cell phones. In fact, they annoy me a great deal. Part of that is my own fault.

(One day I'll tell you the story about how I used to have two cell phones, suffered horrible burn-out and swung the pendulum too far in the other direction and didn't have a cell phone at all for a number of years. If you're just chomping at the bit to know why, I was interviewed by Ramon Ray for Black Enterprise Magazine about it. Barring that, it's a story for another day.)

Anyway...

Two winters ago, I was asked to teach an evening technology class in Peekskill - about 45 minutes from my home. There was no way I was going to travel on the dark wooded Westchester County highways to and fro without having a cell phone. I also found that potential clients who wanted to meet for lunch or dinner felt better if they had my cell phone number. So, I caved and got a pre-paid jobbie just for emergencies.

All's well that ends well; until I started getting text message spam. Text messages cost to receive. So, each time I would get spammed via text for Viagra, breast enhancements and local sex partners, I would have to pay for the message - even though it was spam!

Yesterday, I called the Cingular pre-paid customer service number and spoke with Darren. I explained my problem and requested that text messaging functionality be removed from my account.

He prefaced his 3-4 minutes of random searching for the right place in the system to turn off text messaging with the comment that, "I have to see if AT&T is allowing us to turn off text messaging because for a while we could and then they stopped us from being able to do that."

Some tapping on the keyboard and total silence later, he says, "If we remove text messaging, you have to agree that you can never add it back to the account," says Darren.

"Fine by me," I say. "I never wanted it in the first place. I only want a cell phone -- and I barely want that."

"Oh, it doesn't look like we can do it anymore. We can't remove it, m'aam."

"What!?! What do you mean?"

"AT&T doesn't let us do that anymore." (M&A's always totally *suck* for the customer.)

"So are you telling me that I'm paying for cell phone minutes and anyone can send me a text message of any length and subscribe me to any text messaging service and I have to pay even though I have not authorized that charge?"

"Well, the promo messages that you get from us don't cost you anything."

"That's *not* what I'm talking about. I'm talking about spam text messages and text messages from people I don't even know."

I tried to explain it another way: "If I went to the McDonald's drive-thru and ordered a hamburger and I didn't want to pay for extra cheese but, when I went to pick-up the hamburger at the last window, I was told that not only would I have to be happy with the cheeseburger, but would also be forced to pay for the extra cheese that I didn't even want...how fair would that be?"

"Not fair at all," Darren said. "But, that's not really how it happens. It's more like if you ordered the hamburger and someone else comes along and then adds cheese to the burger and you have to pay for it," he corrected. (Is this guy a dim bulb or what???)

"You know what, you're absolutely right. So, the scenario you just described...is *that* fair to me as a consumer?"

"Umm, no, you're right. It's not. But, if we turn off text messaging, we would have no way to get our marketing messages to you."

Ahhh, so the truth comes out!

"So, are you telling me that even though I'm telling you that I'm being unfairly penalized by your text messaging system and I'm having to pay for it - literally - that there's nothing you can do about it? All because your company wants to be able to get their text messaging through???"

Total silence from Darren.

"I'm telling you that people are pinging me with all sorts of crap and I have to pay for that pleasure?"

"AT&T doesn't let us remove this service anymore," he says pitifully.

"Well, who do I have to call at AT&T to get this resolved?"

"It's not just AT&T, we just can't remove it at all."

"You know, if you were even willing to tell me that I could call and get a credit to my account for these spam messages, I might even be willing to entertain that, but, you're not helping me at all here. This stinks.  This is not the way to treat someone who has been a regular customer for years. This is really, really crappy. It's not right or fair and you better believe I'm going to blog about this."

I made Darren the promise that Cingular/AT&T would never get another dime from me and Iwould be cancelling my account with them as soon as I had used all my pre-paid minutes. I'm just not trusting enough to think if I cancelled my account right then, they would have the wherewithal to mail me a refund check. I wonder why I would think this? Hmmmm...

The following is taken directly from the new Cingular/AT&T website:

Vision
To be the most highly regarded wireless company in the world, with a driving focus around best-in-class sales and service.

Oh, really??? Since when? This certainly isn't what I experienced yesterday! 10,700 results of Googling "Cingular sucks" can't be wrong.

Bottomlines:

1) The customers always pay the price for slipshod mergers and acquisitions.

2) I'm so done with AT&T *and* Cingular, it's not even funny -- and I'm telling everyone I know why.

Comments

[Lena West]

Karin:

I'm glad to hear that you have a plan with which you are happy and getting free text messaging service. I'm happy at least one other person is being treated fairly.

And, yes, you're right, they're not meeting my needs, but I did not "outgrow the plan long ago". How you pulled that information from my blog post, I don't know because that's not what I said. What I said was: I had the account for two years and everything was fine until now. Now, as in the last few days, now. My problem is, I don't want text messages period - and I really don't want them if I have to pay for them. And, I won't.

As I indicated in my post, I am changing my provider. But, not without first letting everyone know about Cingular/AT&T's horrible service.

Simply switching my cellular provider without making a public statement - especially when I have a venue to do so - would add insult to injury and send the message to companies like Cingular/AT&T that it's OK to treat customers and women badly.

"Being a smart consumer who shops around and is quick on my feet" is only half the solution. The other half is opening my mouth and sharing my experience so that other women know how best to leverage their marketing prowess - because goodness knows, we've got it.

Thanks for particpating!

-Lena

[Karin]

I have to admit, I don't understand why this is such a big deal, simply because cellular is a buyer's market. The cellular market today is not what it was 2, 5 or 10 years ago... folks have lots of choices now between national and local providers.

I also know, having done a lot of comparison shopping, that most cellular providers do NOT charge for incoming text messages. For most, only outgoing messages are charged-for; incoming are free. (Good heavens, I get over 2500 text messages per month, all work-related :) and I don't have a data plan to pay for them... they are all free)

I am NOT saying poor service is okay. It's not. What I AM saying is that when a person finds her needs not being met by her service provider, she needs to be a smart consumer and shop around, be quick on her feet, and move to a provider which does meet her needs. There is no honor sticking with an outdated, pricey plan that doesn't meet one's basic needs. (And from the sounds of things, it would seem you outgrew that old Cingular Pre-Paid plan long ago...but that's hardly Cingular's fault? They haven't changed, the service is still the same as you originally bought... it's that your needs have changed to something beyond the scope of the plan.)

Given that it is a buyer's market, there are lots of options, lots of plans for any kind of lifestyle, and plenty of providers who would be MORE than happy to turn off that text messaging! Believe it or not, turning off text messaging is not an odd request. It is actually quite common. Maybe the young set loves it, but most grown-ups view it as a major annoyance. ;)

From my experience, most cell providers do NOT advertise their own company through text messaging on their network. That is a gross intrusion of privacy, IMO. Text messaging is something that people are REALLY touchy about, even moreso than unwanted calls. If your provider is bugging you through unwanted text messages with no way to "opt out" that is a clear sign that it is time to move on!!!

I'm glad you are asking questions and sharing your experience! I hope this helps to validate your feelings, make you feel a bit more hopeful about finding the right plan :) and spurs you forward in your search for a new GOOD provider. There are definitely good ones out there! Good luck! :)

[Yvonne DiVita]

Ah! The all-encompassing "phone" company that rules the world! This is so unacceptable... how can AT&T actually announce that it has good customer service when it behaves like this? But, I think... unfortunately, all of the cell phone companies are like this. In one way or another. They really do hold you hostage.

Is this because too many (young) people don't care... they text message all over the place, so the fact that YOU don't want it, is not their problem...and the fact that their phone company is heavy into texting is great?

When I read things like this - I really want to know where the user-generated response is and how major media keeps touting the power of the people - which people? You had no power in this instance. Now you have to switch phones... and, I wonder, how bad will the next company be?

[sinhi]

Oh my..You made me happy of two things:
1. In my country, you can't find a mobile phone operator who would make you pay for received messages, except if they come from another country, and
2. We have very little SMS-spam, I for excample only receive some monthly info from the operator. Actually, I agreed to receive this info, there was some talk about monthly draws..maybe I should cancel it..:/

I just came across your blog today, I'm gonna stick around for a while :)