The other title I contemplated for this post was not very family-friendly ;) There are few companies that have really got me this worked up repeatedly over time (that's right Sears - I'm talking to YOU!), but AT&T has finally sent me over the edge - I have nothing nice left to say about them....NOTHING!
Wil has been a customer with AT&T for something like 13 years now, and I have probably been with them for something like 8 or 9 years I guess. It seems like every time we've gone in to make a change of some sort, we leave feeling exhausted and ripped off (which has me wondering all of a sudden why we have stayed). I routinely lose my patience with service people, but when Wil does, you know something unacceptable has happened (the angriest I've ever seen him at a service person was in an AT&T store!)
So yesterday we decided it was time to do something about our calling plan (we need fewer minutes and I was hoping to add some sort of texting plan) and my phone is a little bit possessed (quits for no reason at times) so I was hoping to upgrade. We left the house at lunch time (this will be important later) and went to the AT&T store on West 11th (we have sworn to never return to the one by Valley River). We wait in line for awhile and then work with a very nice young man named Scott. Unfortunately, as nice as Scott was, he wasn't able to help us AT ALL. Wil and I have been upgrading our phones over time, but somewhere along the line we started using each others' upgrades. So at this particular time, Wil's number is eligible for an upgrade, but mine is not until December 18th. In the past this hasn't been a problem....but on this day, it was a big, huge problem. The phone that I was looking to upgrade to has a full keyboard for texting, and to get the rebate attached to it, we would have to add a data plan. This became a problem because the qualifying data plan would have to be added to Wil's line, not mine. Wil doesn't really text at all, so it would be silly to add a texting plan to his line. We could add texting to both lines ($30/month) but would also be a waste.
I want to mention at this point that the cheapest texting plan that they were presenting to us at this time was $15 (this will be important info later!) Ok - so the phone is $130, the mail-in rebate is $50, so we would still be looking at paying $80 for the phone...but that's only if we qualify for the rebate by adding a data plan to both lines. Yet another drawback of upgrading Wil's line right now - Wil is currently grandfathered in on a data plan that they no longer carry....right now his access is unlimited, as soon as he tries to upgrade or change anything on his phone they will take him off of that unlimited plan....SUPER! So yet another reason why I can't (or wouldn't want to) use his upgrade right now.
So we try a different approach....what if we split the lines and I go out on my own and start a new account. I'm told that I wouldn't be able to keep my phone number (seriously?!) and there is a $105.00 early termination fee. My contract goes until April 2011 (believe me - I'm counting the days now!) Not to mention how expensive it would be if we split out the lines....we have no desire to give them MORE money, so we quickly eliminate this as an option.
I'm sure this is not easy to follow, so let me summarize for you at this point in our story - According to the people at the AT&T store, there is NO WAY for me to upgrade my phone without spending lots 'o money, losing my phone number, or giving them my first born (ok - they never really asked for my first born, but I'm sure if we stayed a little longer it would have come up!) So we left feeling exhausted and defeated once again.
On a whim we decide to go to Radio Shack - I vaguely remember them having better deals on phones for some reason, so we figure we have little lose at this point. That's when we met "Krazy" Keith G. The very same phone that we were looking at in the AT&T store was there at Radio Shack for only $30, and the requirements to get this rate were fewer - we would only need to add a $5 texting plan (ummm - AT&T said NOTHING about a $5 texting plan - remember the plan they were trying to sell me was $15!) We were still concerned about what would happen if we use Wil's upgrade and how that would impact his data plan - Keith assured us that he was going to figure it all out for us.
And by god he DID! He got on the phone with several different people, had AT&T supervisors making notations on our accounts (and thank goodness he did 'cause we needed that documentation later in the whole transaction), and was just generally working magic to get me this phone and keep Wil's unlimited data plan. He told us he doesn't take no for an answer and there is always a way to get it done....LOVE the attitude Keith!
It took us all afternoon (made it out just in time to pick up the kids from daycare), but we left Radio Shack with the phone we wanted, and money shaved off of our cell phone bill. We also left with a really good feeling about Radio Shack and more specifically, "Krazy" Keith's customer service. It is becoming more and more rare to run into this kind of service and customer care, and that's a shame 'cause it really makes you feel good when someone works that hard for you. Keith was just recently promoted to this store (it was his 5th day on the job there!) and I'm glad that he was. I'll be filling out the online survey (I promised I would) and telling everyone I know about our good experience there.
As for AT&T, they have earned a spot right next to Sears on my list....I will be telling just as many people (if not more) about my bad experience with you...shame on you for not taking better care of your customers :(
