Internet Service Providers - AT&T @ Home cable internet poor installation, poor service, horrible experience

2 for April 19, 2001

Complaints.com received the following e-message on April 18, 2001:

From: abw [Email User]

RE: AT&T @home

I will post one final complaint about the cable internet service provided by AT&T @home. My goal in writing this is to warn as many people as possible about the number of incompetent, rude, unprofessional, and careless staff that works for AT&T.

I signed up for cable service in February of 2000 and terminated my account in February 2001. It was a year of hell. I now have DSL and will never use AT&T service or phones again.

1. The AT&T employee who did my installation did not finish the job. He installed their @home software on my machine (which I later found out is NOT necessary, they just like to do that). He spent 2 hours trying to get my cable modem working. Nothing he did worked. He called 2 or 3 other field techs who couldn't figure out the problem. He finally said he thought it was a node issue and someone from the main office would need to take a look at it. He told me it would be fixed that night or the next and I should have full access the next day, then he would return to finish it.

I called him the next day because nothing happened. He said he would return that afternoon so I gave him my grandmothers number because she had a key. He never called or showed. Ever. I had to call Tier 1 (most of which is outsourced and NOT AT&T) and it took me 2 calls to get someone out there. 5 days later a younger guy fixed the problem. A filter was on the apartment cable box causing my problem. An AT&T employee couldn't figure that out??? Tier 1 said I would get a free month for their incompetence. I didn't get my free month until September 2000. 7 months later. The original installers name was Scott from AT&T in Salem OR who never finished the job. The person who fixed it was Jesse. The Tier 1 person who did NOTHING about it and was very arrogant about the situation was Stan out of Fife, WA.

2. Billing NIGHTMARES. I was disconnected for non-payment in June which I thought was taken care of. I was shut off for 5 days and they still expected me to pay for service I never received. Payment was made the night I was shut off and I called Tier 1 to ask that I be turned back on. An extremely rude, arrogent waste of a person on the other line had an attitude and said there was nothing he could do, and he could not contact billing. I told him I knew that was a lie and to give me their number. He started yelling at me and said he had no way to contact them, and I was stuck for several days. There was nothing he could do. I finally hung up rather than deal with his extreme incompetence. I had another instance similar to that and the Tier 1 person I spoke with actually DID contact billing and get it resolved immediately. Funny how that works.

3. In the fall I was nearly shut off again for non-payment. Payment had been sent the first week of the month. 2 weeks later a Tier 1 LOSER called and said I was going to be shut off for non-payment. I called back and told them I sent payment. The lady I spoke to was named Madison. She told me no payment was on her machine and I had to pay by nighttime of I was shut off. I called my grandmother who told me when it was paid so I told Madison about this and she put me on hold and came back a few minutes later and said it was found, but her computer had not been updated (LIE). So because of THEIR problems, I was going to get shut off. THEN to top it off, her supervisor said they needed to research this and make sure payment had been received, but they would go ahead and leave me on until such time. How are they doing me a favor in this??? I DID pay, it was THEIR problem.

4. I was billed one month for 2 months of service, but my bill did not show that. I called and spoke to a 30-something year old SUPER RUDE employee named William out of Fife, WA. He was arrogant, RUDE as hell, obnoxious, and probably the biggest waste of a human life I have ever spoken too. After the call I asked for a supervisor and made a complaint about his attitude. The supervisor did NOTHING about it, he just ignored me.

5. I have emailed Email User AT LEAST 2 dozen times to get problems resolved. Customer care does NOT, I repeat, NOT, handle issues at all. To get a few questions answered took me 2 MONTHS. I kept getting replies from different people who all ignored my questions. They use canned messages. Olivia B was by far the worst. She ignored every question I had.

Another employee, J, told me for 2 weeks he was researching my complaints. He NEVER responded again. He just blew me off like the rest. Another employee named William T flat out LIED to me. He denied every question I had, and flat out told me every lie he could. When I questioned his lies, he ignored me. Most of my complaints went unresolved. Once after I submitted several follow ups, another employee said my complaints had been resolved, but I had not received ONE reply. Clearly, as you can tell, customer care does absolutely NOTHING and they are the root of INCOMPETENT.

6. Tier 1 and Tier 2 incompetent employees. 2 of my friends work on Tier 2 (Stream International, Beaverton, OR), and everyone in that office answers the phone AT&T Tier 2. It is NOT AT&T, it is Stream International. It is outsourced. I have had several Tier 1 staff admit they were not AT&T but outsourced, but they answer the phone as AT&T. The majority of support is not AT&T, and they have pathetic training. Out of dozens of Tier 1 and Tier 2 I have spoken with, 2 and only 2 knew what they were doing. Most of them go off call sheets (basically a FAQ list) and have only a couple years of computer experience.

I have caught several of them at lies. When you ask for a supervisor, they give you the person in the cubicle next to them. Here are a few more lies which they have denied many times and I KNOW they are true: Tier 1 claims they cannot shut off your modem, it is done automatically. For example, an upset employee cannot disconnect it. LIE. They can. My Tier 2 friend admitted that and even did it once to a customer who upset him. He's on Tier 2 (outsourced) and HE DID IT. Tier 1 can do anything to your account they want. They will deny it to their death, but its a LIE. Tier 2 claims they cannot tell you how many people are on your node, that @home out of Redwood City, CA deals with all of that. LIE, LIE, LIE. All they need is your username and they can ping your node and tell you. After a Tier 2 lied to me, I called my friend who told me 15 were on my node. I wanted to know because the more people they stack on your node, the slower your connection because you are on a shared network.

7. After I submitted several complaints about lack of service to customer care, I finally asked "why should I be in a hurry to pay my bill when you people take your time to respond to my complaints?" I NEVER got an answer. They just disconnected me. That is how their customer care works. THEY DON'T CARE. Once they have your money, they couldn't care less.

8. Cancellation problems galore. I called a Tier 1 LOSER on 2/17/01 and said I wanted my account terminated. I was done with AT&T forever and good riddance to those incompetent, careless morons. He said I was shut off. 2 weeks later I found out that he never shut me off, and I was billed for another month. My cable modem was returned on 2/20/01, but AT&T said I owed them until 3/14/01. I DON'T THINK SO. I called and spoke to a lady in another call center (most call centers are Fife, WA, Denver, CO, Winnipeg Canada, a center in Indiana, I believe one is in Ohio, and another is in South Carolina... MOST are outsourced). She said she would get everything taken care of for me. 2 weeks later I got another bill. SAME EXACT THING. I called Tier 1 and some loser employee said I owed the full bill, and if I had a problem with that, I would need to fax in my receipt for returning the cable modem.

I don't him NO, it was not my responsibility to prove when I return it. They are supposedly AT&T, so call the headend and find out if it was returned. He said they would not, it was my job. Hell no. I asked for a supervisor. An incompetent moron named Brandon picked up and basically said the same thing. They would not call, they didn't have time to, I had to fax it in, and both of them said I was responsible for the bill until my modem was returned. I asked if that was in the contract.

Both said, and I quote, "It should be." I said I will look at it, and if its not in there, I REFUSE to pay anything. Brandon, who said he was a supervisor, and I think he was lying to me, said until I faxed in my receipt, I was responsible to pay up until 3/14/01. I told him that my modem was disconnected on 2/17/01. It didn't matter, I was responsible. I told him I was not and I was NOT going to pay. I said to call the headend (they also lie about not being able to call out, which they CAN call out) and he said he could not. I finally told Brandon that either he lied about being a supervisor or he has NO authority and I hung up on him.

Tier 1 lies to customers that they rarely get complaints. My friends who work on Tier 2 tell me they get complaints DAILY and most customers are hot on fire because of their lack of service and HORRIBLE tech support. They get horrendous complaints, but all Tier 1 does is LIE to that doesn't surprise me.

I have heard FAR more complaints about AT&T @home than anyone else. In a few words, they are incompetent, careless, unprofessional, rude, unorganized, and purely a waste of human lives.

Don't believe me... sign up for @home service and see how far you get after a year. Or better yet, write to customer care and get blow off responses for 2 or more months!

AT&T has lost my business and they didn't care at all about losing a customer. Thats how large corporations work it seems. Get big enough and screw the customer.