ATT bait and switch, lost files, falsehoods, misrepresentation, misleading statements, upgrading tactics, poor service at best, Nationwide

On May 25th we contacted ATT for phone and internet hook up. We also requested my mom's old number that we had canceled a few months prior. We were told this was possible, the number will be held for us, and we would have this service by midnight the following day.

When the hook up time came and went and we had no phone or internet, we contacted ATT. We had indicated to them that because we have no phone we are using go phones that will bill us .35/minute if we go over our plan. We were told we had to wait for service to come and by the way, we cannot have my mom's number. Okay.

Service man number 1 comes. He is very nice and installs line from the back alley pole to our home. We should be able to receive internet now and will do it as a self install. We tell him we are already having problems. He apologizes but has everything hooked up.

After a few days, we still do not have the services we ordered so we head to our nearest ATT dealer. Now instead of wasting phone minutes, we waste gas. From the dealer they call ATT and are told we can have my mom's number and offer us $63 towards our go phone minutes. They will work on the problems, not to worry.

Now we spend the next 2 days answering our phone to find out they are all wrong numbers. Being handicap is hard enough but now we have to get to the phone (maybe it's the pharmacy or the clinic) only to find out it's not for us. After several trips to the phone we ask callers what number they are dialing. Not even close to ours. We call ATT.

Now it's early June. ATT now advises that our account, someone else's account and the numbers are mixed. Now they will be sending a repairman, for free, to fix whatever they did wrong. He should come between 12-2 and will call before coming. Do we need to be home? The answer was that some repairmen want the homeowners home and  others don't mind if we're out. This is a pole problem not an inside problem. Fine, we agree that we will be home those hours to expect that call. Now because of all of this we are promised $230 for missed calls from clinics, install credit, wrong calls we had to answer, more minutes from our go phone, having to go to the dealer, and no internet, etc. Now we are first advised we need our phone attached to the computer that is 3 rooms away. We now eat the cost of buying cordless phones that we never wanted. We figured if it helps, we'll do it. Now we wait for the repair man who needs a few days to come.

We contact ATT to make sure we are all moving in the right direction. With no services working correctly, we tell the operator that we are not at all happy. Now the bait and switch comes into play. We are told that if we upgrade our package we would really benefit. How? By doing an upgrade, ATT would have an easier time hooking everything up, we would receive a $200 paid visa card for bundling, they would waive the install and box charges, and if any lines inside would have to be redone it would be included free, and we would get HBO and Showtime free for 3 months. If we hadn't bundle we were told new inside lines would cost us. We had asked prices and we were told because of all we had been through they are promising $85/month for 1 year. We agree.

Second week of June. Still no working phone or internet. We go shopping early because repairman will come today. We come home at 11:30 so we are ready for the phone call. We drive in the front of the house to see an ATT van by our home. We roll the window down and ask if he was for our house. His response was that he rang the bell and we're not home. Duh. I tell him that is because we are in the car speaking with him. Asked why he was early and why we received no call and we received no answer.

We tell him to get back out of the van and meet us at the back of the house where the pole and the wires are. We pull over and unload the whole van full of groceries. No man comes to the yard. What is taking so long? Go to the front of the house to see him standing on the porch ringing the bell. I ask what he's doing and he again states we're not home. Unbelievable. We not only tell him the wires and pole are in the back, we point. He follows us to the back and states he's coming in and charging me. Not. I tell him the problem is obviously not IN the house but OUTSIDE. Our phone rings fine, just not at our number. He now claims he's going to charge us either $110 for coming on our property or $55 for us not being home....at the wrong time....with no advance phone call.....We advise him to call his supervisor to verify it was a free trip due to ATT having the issue. He refused and was asked off the property. We call ATT and are promised $100 and a promise it fix this problem and that a supervisor would call to address this repairman. This NEVER happened.

Now when we talk with ATT, it already being in the 2-3 week of June we begin to ask employee id numbers and names. Should have done this on day 1 but we hadn't realized the problems we would have. Anyway, here comes the mysterious price change.

We again June 16th I believe, want to be on the same page with this, talk to the ATT phone operator about the problems. We are told we are going to be charged for set up...on our self install. No, we are not. Fixed that problem. Since they wanted to overcharge on that we wanted to verify the $85 price quote. We are now told that somehow the someone who promised that price didn't mark it in our file. Really? They have no record of this but can offer us $95/month for 6 months than $105 for 6months. Knowing what we were promised, we had a serious problem now having to pay more. They now guarantee an additional $200 for our prices magically going up. Figuring what the difference was, we'd gain $20 from the first $85 offer so we agreed. We'd gain the $200 bundle price.

June 21 we may finally have things worked out. Repairman comes, does the basement thing, drills a hole in the baseboard because the computer room isn't near the t.v., sets up the box and it works!...for about 1 hour. Great.

Call ATT AGAIN. Tell them the new problem. Trying to troubleshoot over the phone doesn't work. Why? Because we were given the wrong box. They are sorry...again....and will order the right box as we speak. It will be there thru UPS on Sunday. We tell him UPS doesn't deliver on Sunday so he promises on Tuesday then.

One of my children offer to take off from their day and install the new box. The same box that would never get there that day.

Again we call. Where's the box? Checking their records, one was never ordered and they again have no record of that call either. We prove that was told to us because we were given a number to return the wrong box. Ooops....we were right again and they were sorry....again. Now promised even more money($200 visa AGAIN), obviously because we waited for a box that wasn't coming, hinted that we lied, provided proof we were truthful, lost a day of work and to top it all off, to find no box was ordered and no employee numbers were on ATT screens to report that worker. Now we can wait 3 more days to add insult to injury.

June 21 we finally have cable and cannot get the HBO or Showtime channels. Call ATT AGAIN. Apparently they say now that it's not in our package. How did that package change without our permission this time? Forget it, we live without it. We are already going to place complaints anyway and this will only top the cake. By the way, we still are phone challenged, meaning it's not fully working still.

CALL ATT AGAIN!!!! Now we talk to someone, get the id, explain it all. Operator verifies all the promised monies are on the screen. A complaint will be going to Retention and we will be getting a call.  If we want we can call Rewards to see when we will be receiving all the visas, now nearing $1000. Our go phone is well past due, will have to pay a reconnect fee, answering calls that we didn't need to, missing appointments because no one could call into our phone,lost hours at work, lost hours waiting for ill equiped repairman to come, lost time for a not- coming -anyway box, waiting for the right box, a trip to the dealer, wasted gas, being hung up many times trying to be connected with some other department, speaking with supervisors, waiting for call backs.... It is only made worse when I told almost every operator that I will not keep any of the services unless I'm guaranteed the money. They all did that. I had informed them that Netflex at $8/month and Vonage (both being more reasonably priced anyway) may be better choices but was told I had nothing to worry about that it is all logged in the file. We called Rewards simply because ATT has yet to meet any of their obligations.

Speaking with Rewards, first we had a gentlemen who probably couldn't have cared less. But he was sorry. Now he hangs up and I call and request  another supervisor from this department. Speaking with her she tells me with the bundle we have we cannot received the $200 visa, offers to give me a deal if I add my cell phone service thru ATT, and that the visas only come in $25 increments how could i get $230? No one should have ever promised any money. Too bad...they did. They all did. She states I can't get my mom's number after all this and offers $20 as a gesture. No thanks, we'll seek legal action. Anyway, she offers to come on a conference call when I call ATT again to help straighten things out.

Call ATT again....tell them what Rewards had said, offered the conference call. They assured me that Retention will be my answer and the a conference call isn't needed. Wait for them to call us.

June 24 I have cable problems....troubleshooting again for about 1 hour. In the meantime someone comes over and tells me they have been trying to call and couldn't get through. Call ATT service, talk with gentleman. He'll fix it and call us back. On his call back to us he admits he himself had a problem getting through but trust it's fixed now. From May 25-June 24th I still hadn't received reliable, working phone service. Now I imply that I know you will not attempt to bill me for services I didn't receive and I was told they think they will be paid for June 16. No, I'm not thinking that at all. I'm extremely thankful that my phone was not needed during this whole time...my husband's a heart patient and we need access to a fully working 24/7 phone. This was not provided. Ironically, the go phone that now has a major outstanding bill and is in jeopardy of being disconnected comes to the rescue again. I would recommend THAT company to anyone.

Retention had called and offered $20 and had stated she would be closing the case. We advised we would not be closing the case and we will be following up with the State Bar, Small Claims, BBB, as well as the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer. I hadn't known about ripoffreport.com at that time I would have included it. We hope to be hearing from the station soon as well. Imagine my surprise to see how some of the other ATT complaints are similiar to mine!

I have filed complaints with the BBB and have contacted one of the areas biggest t.v. stations about the service, or lack of. I am waiting the station's response. BBB has been contacted by ATT. They have the first call from me listed. This is priceless. If you take the date they state as the truth and compare it to the bill they are trying to charge....I'm being billed under account charges BEFORE I ordered any service! They claim the second man was denied access although they neglect to say he was not supposed to be there (I have neighbors who will state the times if needed as well as my cell phone record that shows no incoming call from the service man), they also forgot he wanted to charge me, two seperate amounts.

They further state money wasn't mentioned until June 11. This is also interesting....I have a bill in my hand that has the billing cycle ending June 3rd...with the first promised credit of $53 (it should have been $63 anyway), already appearing on it. If no money was ever mentioned by anyone, why would they have credited me??  The supervisors had offered me a $100 toward my bundle, an explaination of why I can't have my mom's reserved number, and $50 toward a goodwill gesture. I will be in contact with every agency I can. How can any company keep in good standings with such work ethics?