More Frustrations with AT&T - U-Verse

I have had a lot of problems with AT&T internet as I have expressed in previous blogs.  Well, after a year, the frustration continues.  My 1 year promotional rate for DSL was up so I called them up to see if I could get a lower rate or change plans.  After talking to 2 people and going over different plans for over an hour, yes that is correct, I managed to get a "pending" plan.  So if I decided to change, I could call up and set it in motion.

The plan was to switch from DSL to U-Verse.  I wanted to stay with DSL and just go to a lower plan, but they said I couldn't.  Odd because on the website it still shows the lower rates.  They said the only thing to do was to switch to the new U-Verse and get a 1 year promotion on that.

At first they wanted to charge activation fees, and make me spend $100 for a new modem, but after negotiations, they waved those fees.  They offered me a decent rate for the new internet, but still it was more than I was paying for DSL before.  I said I didn't want to commit yet so the representative said, we could make the order pending until I was ready.  

Sounds ok right?  Next thing I know I am getting emails about order confirmations, and they are send me a modem!  Are you serious?  I call them up and try to figure out what is going on.  It turns out the order was set in motion, the only thing is that the activation was set for a later time in case I wanted to cancel it.  Still, now I have this modem I don't even want.  So I decide to cancel the whole thing.

Next day the modem shows up at my home and I then had to put new labels on it, go to the post office, wait in line and mail it back.  Not a good use of my time AT&T.

So now I still have my original DSL at the higher rate and I'm not sure what I want to do.  I might end up canceling the whole thing, who knows.  Why is everything so difficult with this company?

UPDATE 11-25-11

I thought I was done with this fiasco that is AT&T after I canceled my account and followed their instructions by sending the modem back.  Guess what?  I'm still getting a bill that says I owe them $100 for the modem, the one I never asked them to send me and the one I returned when they did send it to me.  I call customer service and they are not there.  I try the chat help on the website, they can't do anything about it.  So now I have to wait until Monday and call them when I get home from work.  I don't have time for this nonsense AT&T!

AT&T DSL Problems, False Advertising, and Frustration

As mentioned on one of my previous blogs, I recently signed up for AT&T DSL service.  So far, I have encountered so many problems, mostly related to service and billing.  You may have noticed them advertising a promotional rate of $14.95 a month for DSL internet.  Sounds pretty good right?  So I get my first bill and guess what, it is $35.00.  So of course I am like what?  I give them a call and they tell me that you have to pay the full price for 2 to 3 billing cycles before they credit your account and start giving you the promotional rate.  They say it is in the terms of service.  I read it carefully and this is what it says:

"Customers purchasing new AT&T High Speed Internet Direct Basic, Express or Pro will pay $14.95 per month for 12 months after application of bill credit. Bill credits will be applied between the 2nd and 3rd bill cycles after initiation of service."

This is not clear and it is in the fine print.  I would consider this dishonest advertising especially when they are saying clearly that "you can get DSL service for $14.95 for 12 months". They don't say, "pay full price for a few months" and then they we will give you the promotional rate.

A quick search revealed that hundreds of other customers are upset by this exact issue.  Here are a few links:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r24834245-First-bill-doesnt-have-the-promotional-rate
http://m.slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=2157474&page=118
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/1020394/?start=720

Now I did write an email to AT&T expressing my annoyance with this billing and they called me back.  They explained that this is just how the system works and that I should be getting credited eventually so that it will bring the overall cost down to what it would be if I were paying the $14.95 right from the beginning.  I'm not holding my breath on that one. Customer complaints have already expressed that they kept getting billed for the full price even ever 2 to 3 billing cycles.  Something tells me I may have to contact customer service again in a couple months.

And the billing is not even the tip of the iceberg with problems I have been having with AT&T.  I wanted to opt out of their privacy sharing policy.  I tried to do it several times.  Guess what, I got an error every time.

I tried to log into my account online.  The only way you can get access is to have them send you a code by email.  Ok, so I request a code.  Guess what, they don't send it.  I tell this to the customer service guy and he tells me the system is broken and I will have to request it again.

In my email to AT&T I had a lot to say about all the issues I have been having.  Surely nothing can go wrong with that right?  Wrong!  Their email system doesn't even allow you to write more that 1000 characters.  That is like a couple paragraphs.  Do I need to send 3 separate emails just to include everything I need to say? 

AT&T DSL and Customer Service

Recently I decided to switch from Comcast broadband internet to AT&T DSL internet because Comcast kept raising my rates.  All I wanted was the basic internet and the cheapest they will give it for is like $43 per month.  AT&T was offering a promotional rate of $14.95 per month for a year, so I thought I would try it out.

I had a very hard time signing up for it.  First, they did not have my address in the system.  They even have the name of my town misspelled in the system, and it is not even a small town or anything.  So I manage to sign up after having to call them up and cancel the 1st order which went through under a different address.

I set it up with my own DSL modem.  Set up was ok, but not without problems.  It took about an hour to get it working. Signing up online is not easy at all.  I still can't even access my bill online.  In fact I just got an order summary saying that my price is the regular price without the promotion.  I call up AT&T, go through all the annoying automated messages and wait on hold listening to even more annoying background noise.  When I get through the guy says that they bill the regular price and then give you credit a few months later.  What?  Why not just bill how much it is?

Oh yeah, and I have to have them send out a confirmation mail through regular mail just to sign up online to view my bill.  So far I am very disappointing with their customer service. 

As for the speed of the DSL, it is actually pretty good.  The download speed is faster than I was getting with Comcast.  The upload and ping time is a little slower, but not by much.  Overall there is not much difference and I have been able to use the internet and even stream videos without any problem.  A couple times it stopped working, but a restart and reboot fixed it.

Also, about the bill, online they said there is no commitment at the promo price, but over the phone they guy says that you need to keep it for a year if you want that price.  The AT&T reps don't seem to know what is going on.  Which reminds me of how at first, they couldn't find my address in the system and ultimately told me they did not service my location.  The only way I got it is when I called them up to cancel the order and they managed to look it up when I told them the reason.

Anyway, the internet works and as long as we get this billing situation figured out I will be satisfied.