AT&T, A Buck Short and A Day Late.

Well, today I had to check up on the status of number migration and finally got the message that things have finally been migrated over. There was only one thing that remained... Severing the other line that was now unused. I would have to seek AT&T's power to do that and that was what I had to do...

So I would call them up and basically navigate through their TERRIBLE IVR system to finally find the option of "Closing a Line". But in classic fashion, I had to hold for 10 minutes just to get a representative. The T-Mobile call I had before to double check the status of my number translation was short and sweet with only waiting 3 minutes flat for a representative to connect me. For customer service urgency, AT&T never had the same amount of speed in the 2 years I had been with them. This phone call was an interesting one though... Let's dive into the details.

The rep was a upbeat sales person basically asking why I was not continuing with AT&T because I had selected the "Close a Line" service. I basically told him my grievances:

• Wait times for Customer Service take about 10 - 30 minutes on non-peak times
  
• Customer Service reps on technical or billing issues are far from helpful
• I have been told that I don't "deserve" an upgrade even though I have had a loyal 3 year history with AT&T (after understanding that I was marked as an LTV1 customer from a question on upgrades)
  
• Of all the times I was sent "incentive" offers to get "better phones", the deals were the exact same as a new customer signing with AT&T (as noted in one of my earlier posts in August)
• The plan pricing is a plain criminal rip-off compared to the competition

The rep would just try to apologize on behalf of the bad experiences I have had with the company. He then decided to go into more detail on my dissatisfaction on the upgrade incentive I was offered. I told him that I wandered into a few shops and basically my "incentive" was for a selection of free music phones which any other customer could get... But also the matter that I was using a Palm Treo 680 at the time and the incentives on smartphones and PDA phones were a far cry from a good deal and downgrading to a free music phone "upgrade" wasn't my intentions... He then asked about what I got from my T-Mobile dealer. I just told him "I was given a T-Mobile Wing at no cost out of pocket for me". The AT&T rep was taken aback... but he decided to pull out all the stops to try to keep my business. "Zero, I am willing to give you a FREE AT&T Tilt Pocket PC phone (a $500 value) and one month of Pocket PC internet on our blazing fast 3G network just to try to keep your business!" I just flat out told him no, because as tempting as that deal is... I have no doubt that I'd have to sign up for a ridiculously expensive plan to get that sort of a hook-up.

Had they offered me something like that back when I was teetering either way on AT&T and on that Treo 680... I would have been convinced. Sony Ericsson's devices have worked marvelously for me and the tri-band nature of them running 900/1800/1900 make for the perfect harmony on T-Mobile or any other networks should I choose to be the "world traveler" on vacation. My phone does what it does well and I don't think I'll be upgrading at any time soon... Plus the fact that I have a spare phone for times when I'd rather not take my smartphone with me to the gym is nice.

AT&T, I hardly knew ye... Learn to save a sale early before it's too late.