AT&T

After I bought a phone from the Verizon store and discovered that the iPhone doesn’t get good reception, I decided that I would need a signal booster to bring the signal I have outside, in the house. Verizon seems to work better at our place, but people who bring their AT&T phones seem to work about as well as my phone on Verizon. I thought I’d check the price if I was getting a booster anyway. Well, the price and services are about the same, so I found no reason to really change.
One thing I didn’t like was that they said they can’t tell me what the taxes or the final monthly bill would be. Must be some kind of a secret, because they seem fairly confident that the bill they would send me would be accurate, and they seem perfectly capable of billing me the right amount, so why can’t they tell customers before hand what their bill will cost?
Another thing is that their «coverage» maps are just one solid color over the entire map. They offer no indication whatsoever what the signal strength might be in certain areas. It’s like they want to claim it will work there, but when you find out there’s no signal, they’ll tell you, well it says right here you should have coverage. Also, they have no idea where their towers are and can’t tell you where the nearest one is.
They were offering a buy one get one free phone deal where you pay for one phone while getting a credit for the other each month (up to $ 650) for 2 years. Sounded like a good deal, and I thought about getting one for my wife and selling the other. I read the fine print and learned we have to use both phones or the deal is off. Maybe not a bad deal for some, but it certainly was for me being that I already had a new one.
When I moved, AT&T was wanting to know where I was moving. I found out their wire would only be 6″ and I had to dig trenches for power, septic, and water, so I told them to wait. I found out there was no internet option on the phone line, and decided not to get a phone line at all. They showed up while I was gone, without my knowledge, ran their phone wire in my 3′ deep electrical trench, with my power service which was ready for inspection. The inspector found this and failed my electrical ditch, so I had to get it inspected again.
AT&T refused to come remove their wire, and they refused to quit billing me for service. I never connected a phone to it and I never gave them the go ahead for the phone line. They continued to send bills to collection and it took months and a letter to the BBB to get them to understand I didn’t want it.
Another time, about 5 years ago, my wife and I bought iPhones, and took them back within a week. We had collections calling wanting us to pay full price for the phones we had returned, which were in new condition, and pay each phone for early termination even though the law says we have 2 weeks before we are locked in. Again, a letter to the BBB, proof of return receipts, and months of dealing with these people.
When I inquired about cellular service this time, it would have taken a much lower bill and some hard thinking to convince me to give them another shot. They weren’t «able» to quote me how much my bill would cost, but their prices seemed right in line with Verizon. The sales person I had at this location was very helpful and friendly.

A quick visit here got two problems dealt with. A sim card replacement for my guy’s phone and a pay as you go american phone for me. I’m Canadian and using my canadian phone in the states is really costly.
We each got our own customer service person! They were both pleasant and helpful, the receptionist was a delight to chat with. All in all a painless way to deal with phone issues while in having one of our occasional weekends together in the same country.

I somehow thought the process would be easier buying a phone at AT&T’s store rather than online/​phone. But apparently not.
Both my husband and I went to this AT&T store over the weekend to purchase new phones. I must say that I got good service from my sales rep. But his was very abrupt and was slow to provide options and quick to make the sale. So there are definitely inconsistencies in service.
I left the store without looking at my receipt and I noticed that they rang up one of our otterbox cases twice – so essentially got charged $ 100 for an item that cost $ 50.
I called to get it corrected and the rep on the phone was abrupt and told me that «the manager would need to check the security tapes» to make sure I was telling the truth. Seriously? I understand that might be your protocol as a checks and balances system… but you don’t say that to a customer who got overcharged for one of your products. AT&T here was CLEARLY in the wrong. A better response would have been «I’ll let the manager know and once he looks into it, he’ll call you right back.»
The mention of security tapes not only made it sound like 1) I was a liar, but also 2) i was some kind of criminal. I was way too exasperated to wait on the manager to return my call, so I went to the store 2 hours later to get it resolved quickly and in-​person. I spoke with Tim who’s the retail sales manager – and although he tried to explain the situation, I still don’t believe it’s right to assume that your customer is wrong off the bat. You have to give your customers the benefit of the doubt first, not assume they’re lying.
Apparently they can’t confirm transactions for accessories by the receipt or transaction logs since they don’t have unique SKU numbers on them, which is still baffling to me. I waited there while he checked the security tapes to make sure that I in fact wasn’t lying… which i obviously wasn’t. I didn’t really get an adequate apology but he did assure me he’d speak to not only the sale rep who rang me up in the first place but also the rep I had to talk to initially about the false charge.
Just a fair warning, if you choose to go to this store, check your receipts carefully before you leave – and be prepared to get less than stellar service depending on who you deal with.