SBC/AT&T Customer Service (Rant)

[84porsche]

I can' t believe that customer service in this country has gone so far down the drain that one can't speak to a human being that has any kind of credible knowledge and someone that can answer a question. I called SBC this afternoon to pay a company bill , check by phone and the balance does not match the total so my intention was to find out the discrepancy.

The phone system bounces me to another automated system that gives me the same total as the disconnection notice. I finally call and speak to a representative telling them I am trying to pay the bill and so frustrated that they refuse to tell me what the balance is on the account and they can't discuss the account because I am not the account holder and feeding me privacy policy bs after I sit for 45 minutes on hold to speak to a representative. I am paying them money, what kind of possible harm is there in telling me the balance due on the account.

Is all this automated stuff designed to save me money because I will gladly pay a little more to speak to a human and gladly pay more to speak to someone not in a third world country with an american sounding name.

[sammyg2]

Thank you to be calling, come again.

Last time I called them I ended up talking to someone in India.
I'm not sure if we were speaking english or not.

[Moneyguy1]

Just another one of those jobs that Americans are unwilling or unable to do.

Just ask all the displaced call center folks.........

And it will get even worse.

But, computers are our friends!!!!

[Halm]

SBC / ATT is one of the isolated businesses in this country. They can't spell Customer Service, much less define it. With any luck, cell and VoIP carriers will obsolete them within 10 years.

[scottmandue]

I bank with Citibank, called to check my balance.

I was all ready with my account number and PIN and my finger on 1 for English.

A person answered the phone... I was dumbfounded... seriously I was stunned and couldn't speak... after a few seconds I sputtered, "uh I called to get my balance."
He said "yes sir I can help you with that."
After the transaction I had to say.
"I wasn't expecting to talk to a person."
He said "yes sir, we are trying to improve our customer service."

[Porsche-O-Phile]

What do you expect from a company with such a high number of union employees?

[84porsche]

Originally posted by Halm
SBC / ATT is one of the isolated businesses in this country. They can't spell Customer Service, much less define it. With any luck, cell and VoIP carriers will obsolete them within 10 years.

I certaintly hope so. I have a mental list of companies that are slowly losing my business because of horrible customer support. I am the type of person that only gets burned once if that.

Verizon Wireless on the other hand to me is one of the best for customer service. I switched 10 business cell lines a couple weeks back and nothing but great things to say with whomever I talk to and I ordered the phones at 4pm on a Friday and had the phones in the office Monday morning before 10am ready to switch line by line, seemless transition so they have earned my business and on several other occasions they have gone above and beyond for customer service.

[juanbenae]

i sat on hold trying to cancel at&t internet service the other day for two f'ing hours. if you want to buy they put you right thru, try to quit them and its like breaking it off with a physco chick.

thats how i see it anyway

[sammyg2]

Bob, it has absolutely nothing to do with US workers not being willing to do that job.
They want to do that job and they were doing that job right up until the company layed them off and exported the job overseas so it could be done by someone making $1 a hour.
I would say, hey that's business and you have to learn a skill that someone making $1 an hour can't do, except for when it absolutely ruins the product (in this case customer service).

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
Just another one of those jobs that Americans are unwilling or unable to do.

Just ask all the displaced call center folks.........

And it will get even worse.

Where do you get your information?????

I've built 3 US call centers for tech support in the last 3 years (I manage the real estate/design/construction). We have a steady applicant flow at all 3 starting at $8.50 pr hr. The move offshore of call center jobs is driven strictly by corporations wanting to lower costs.

BTW - the dirty little secret is that many corps only want to provide the appearence of customer service. They know that changing providors/returning products is a huge pain in the ass for the customer.