service switch scam

I am a day manager at a locally owned franchise. I was visited by two AT&T representatives who claimed they were investigating reports of over charged accounts in the area, and that all they needed was the business phone number and a manager's 'okay' to make the 'fixes'.

However, they were repeatedly told that I did not have the authority to make any changes to the store's accounts: Once by my coworker who greeted them, and then multiple times by me while they were trying to get information and coerce me into thinking otherwise. They even tried to get the phone numbers of the owner's other franchises out of me, apparently trying to switch them all at once.

Even once I contacted the owner and was told that she no longer had a contract with AT&T and there was no reason for them to be there, they still tried to push on, insisting that I was on some 'list' and just needed to speak with someone on their cell phone to sort things out.

I was disgusted by this shady practice of trying to deceive someone (me) who they thought wouldn't know any better, and am astounding that they would continue trying to get the information needed to make the switch from someone who had no authority to make that decision.

I will keep this in mind if I ever decide to switch my residential service; I do not like the thought of ever having to deal with this type of business practice again.