Get the party started!

------------Welcome to my new rant and rave blog.-------------
I've decided that life is too stressful not to scream and holler and get things off your mind. This is my outlet for doing just that. I'll be dropping in to blog about all the stupid people, horrible businesses, and terrible experiences I encounter along the road. I invite you to comment and chime in.

The first post is important so it really needs ranting worthy of being the initiator. Last night I got so irritated with a company's customer service I thought... What a perfect place to start!

But before I begin, I want to back this up and rant about Comcast. Because regardless of my new crappy experience with AT&T, if it weren't for Comcast, I wouldn't have reason to have switched in the first place.

Does anyone see the irony in Comcast's new advertising campaign about having the best customer service? I challenge ANYONE to mention the word "Comcast" around a Comcast customer and see their reaction. I've done this a lot over the years of being a Comcast customer myself. Anytime I would complain about how crappy my service was, or how my internet had dropped out, or how my billing kept increasing, I'd have about 5 other people chime in with an equal amount of hatred. Comcast is known for having horrible service and even more horrible customer service. The sad thing is, cable companies are like monopolies. In fact, I even think enough people complained to the senators to try to break them of their business practices, but unfortunately there are enough "alternatives" that they can get away with murder.

As far as just cable companies in my area, the competition is limited. In the Indianapolis area there's Comcast, Brighthouse, and I believe Time Warner. The trick is, most of these providers do not overlap. Which means, even though there technically are "competitors", they are not competing against each other because they don't service the same areas. In my area, Comcast is the ONLY cable provider. If I expand my options to include satellite TV, there is also DirectTV and DishNetwork.

If you look at internet services, the options spread a little more. There's cable internet, DSL providers, FIOS providers, and of course dial-up. But here again, not all of the available options are truly available to every zip code or area.

To make a long story longer, I searched and searched for an alternative to Comcast and through word of mouth discovered that AT&T had begun service in my area with the popular new Uverse and had heard nothing but good news about it.

---------The switch to AT&T-----------
I can't tell you how happy I was the day I told Comcast where they could shove their crappy service. I called AT&T and spoke to a representative who informed me that I could not qualify for Uverse because it is a bundled service and currently do not have any other AT&T services.

The day that I called for AT&T service (Tues August 3rd) the agent quoted me a rate of $29.95/mo and told me it was optional to buy an AT&T modem or purchase one on my own. She then setup my DSL to be installed on Monday August 9th 2010. While I was researching modems I discovered that according to AT&T's website, the highest rate for their very highest speed DSL internet service was $19.95. I couldn't figure out why I was misquoted.

The next day I called back to ask about the pricing difference. The agent I spoke with apologized for the mix up and informed me that they just got some new specials on Monday (?? it was Tues that I called so if new pricing went into effect Monday I should have still received it.) Then after putting me on hold decided to open a "new account" for me so that she could get the correct pricing in the system. At this time she also informs me that Monday the 9th is no longer available as an install date, she would have to set me up for Wednesday the 11th. Okay, that's a minor inconvenience...

I purchased a modem online (after much research bought a TrendNet that reviews revealed works with AT&T service), and awaited my service install on Wednesday. Wednesday I get a phone call to confirm my service install but she confirms the install date as Friday, August 13th. I informed her that her information was incorrect, I had already been pushed back from Monday the 9th to Wednesday the 11th, and all she could do was apologize and tell me that her system showed Friday the 13th so that was the earliest date I could have the installation. Okay, another minor inconvenience...

Friday rolls around and I get a call from an AT&T tech that my DSL has been activated. Great! That evening I go home and hook up my modem. I try walking through my modem setup and get nowhere. I called AT&T DSL internet technical support and after holding for a few minutes got an agent with a very thick accent. The agent said all I needed to do was use the default user name "attreg@att.net" and default password of "attreg". When I asked for the information that my modem manual says to get from my internet provider, he could not help me. He then transferred me to another support department.

After waiting on hold for nearly 35 minutes I finally get through to the other department. The agent asks for my account number and then my user name and password. When I gave him the attreg@att.net username, he sighed and said that the DSL department had "passed the buck" and that the Tier 3 support desk could not help me until my DSL service was activated and I had a user specific username and password setup. He apologized and transferred me back to the DSL department. Another 10 minutes on hold and I get yet another agent with a thick accent. This agent also insists that all he can do for me is give me the default username and password. He then told me that he could not help me further and referred me to the technical support of my modem manufacturer.

I called TrendNet technical support and spent some time with an agent there trying to configure the modem and see if we would get up and running with the default username and password I was given. I even spoke to a supervisor at the Trendnet technical support who concluded that the username and password were not correct and that the best way to continue troubleshooting would be to conference call with the AT&T DSL support.

At this point I had been on the phone for 3-4 hours and was out of time for dealing with the situation any further that evening. I had a busy weekend of plans so I figured I'd try to get a solution the following Monday August 16th.

Monday I call AT&T DSL support and ask if I can conference in a TrendNet tech so that I could finally get my internet going. Once I had both agents on the phone the TrendNet agent concluded that if my WAN light was flashing, that meant I wasn't getting the DSL signal. The WAN was the DSL line on that particular modem. With that I released the TrendNet agent and the AT&T agent said she was going to run some tests on the DSL line and that another AT&T agent would be contacting me within about an hour after the tests were run.

An hour later I got an automated call and after following the menu was patched through to an AT&T representative who had no idea what I was talking about. I explained the whole circumstance to her and she put me on hold to run a couple more tests. She then said she would have to have an AT&T service technician come back out to my house. We made an appointment for Wednesday August 18th, from 4pm-8pm.

On Wednesday I had to leave work an hour and a half early so that I could make it home to be available for the AT&T service technician. By 7pm I began to question if a technician were coming out so I called AT&T DSL technical support yet again. The agent put me on hold to contact the dispatch department to see if a technician was being sent out. He then apologized to me and said there had been a large number of emergency outages and all the technicians were busy and would not be making it out. I of course was really upset to hear this.

At this point it has now been nearly 2 weeks I've been without internet. I had had the installation date pushed back from Monday the 9th to Wednesday the 11th, then again to Friday the 13th. I was told on Monday the 16th that a technician would be sent out on the 18th and was now being informed that I would have to delay yet again. I had spent a total of about 7 hours on the phone between AT&T support and TrendNet support. Meanwhile, not having internet service was really starting to affect us at home with my kid in school unable to look things up when he needed, and me not being able to access the internet for my needs. Additionally I had missed an hour and a half of work trying to be available for my so-called appointment. It had gone from minor inconvenience to major inconvenience and I wasn't even a customer yet!!

Needless to say, I'm not impressed with AT&T so far. I intend to write a letter to AT&T corporate. I'm very disappointed in my initial experience with AT&T and if this is the level of customer service I can expect from them, I might actually be better off with Comcast. I can't even believe I am saying those words.

Until next time! Thanks for listening.

--------------UPDATE November 6th, 2010-----------------

This continues to be one of the worst internet experiences I have ever had. I received a statement in August for $45.00. I called and spoke with a DSL customer service agent, who after explaining everything that has happened, did make the necessary adjustments to that statement and said that it might take a little while for the promotional price of $19.95 to kick in but that she would make sure that the promotional price adjustment took place. I received another statement in October for $45.00 again. I have had a very busy month so I haven't been able to address the issue until now. I contacted AT&T email support and requested to be put in contact with a MANAGER who can help me get all of my issues resolved. I sent the following email:

I need to be put into contact with someone with authority to help me with my situation. I have spoken to several DSL Customer Service Agents, and I have not received resolution for the issues that I am encountering. (Although the last Customer Service rep did help me with the current billing issue, I'm still having problems with this account.)

I am a relatively new AT&T customer and have had nothing but problems since the day that I signed up for my AT&T DSL account. It took AT&T almost a month to get my DSL service activated due to several problems I had with AT&T, then I have been receiving poor service (I can't even stream YouTube videos which at your highest speed service I shouldn't have issues with) and my billing is wrong. My statements are for $45.00 when I'm supposed to be paying $19.95.

Please have a customer service MANAGER contact me as I don't want to repeat myself over and over again to get this resolved.

In addition to continual billing issues (of over twice the cost I am supposed to be paying) I have had the worse internet service. I'm supposedly on the highest tier of DSL high speed internet that AT&T offers, but I can't even watch YouTube videos without interruption, and I have continual issues with my Netflix streaming as well. I haven't needed to do a lot of downloading, but at the very least I should be able to stream video at this tier of internet service. I'm very disappointed. I hate to say this, but I may have to switch back to Comcast or find an alternative internet solution. I was so hoping that AT&T was going to make me a satisfied customer as they seem to have a good reputation, but so far I am shocked at how poor my service has been since day 1.