How Our AT&T U-Verse Problem Was Solved

If you followed my blog post and updates for "I Have Lost a Day of Work Because of AT&T's Mistake (and Inability to Fix It)" you'll know the details of our Internet access problem.

There's a surprise twist.

First, Twitter to the rescue:



I learned later that @ATTJason is a manager who scans social media sites and blogs for people whose AT&T problems haven't been solved or who have been mistreated.

This explains why he contacted me through Twitter although I had already unsuccessfully tried getting help from @ATTcustomercare. (FYI: @ATTcustomercare does NOT care.)

After several tweets and DMs to exchange info, @ATTJason called in Robert Glover, who is part of a very specialized team (think Special Ops).

In the meantime, I got another call from the Philippines, and Glenn said that he read in my record that the problem had been solved. Not true. And Glenn asked if I had canceled the service. Again not true.

Also, the U-verse installer, Ravi M., left after two-and-a-half hours of not getting authorization to install the U-verse service because of what turned out to be a truly messed-up account.



Here's the twist that Robert Glover discovered:

There's a cable box for our area two blocks east of us. And on the street one block over is someone who had U-verse service and canceled it. But AT&T insisted we already had the service (and turned off our DSL) because this person's service had actually not been disconnected and that person's record was messed up with ours. (Everything is done by phone numbers so I still don't understand how this happened.)

Once Robert figured this out and created a new account for us, he worked with our installer, who came back even though it was after hours. Ravi went to the box, straightened things out, and installed the U-verse, which worked for a few minutes.

Then Ravi went off to check the box once more and the Internet access stopped.

Now even later in the evening, Ravi came back and checked numerous things until he got the service to stay on.

Yes, @ATTJason, Robert and Ravi saved the day – and it was a 12-hour day from beginning to end.

But no one from U-verse marketing or advertising (the ones spending all the money on advertising) contacted me, apologized, and offered me financial compensation (perhaps six months or a year free service) for the loss of an entire day of work for both Yael and me.

PLUS … I said to Robert:

What if I hadn't known how to use social media to repeatedly ask for help and @ATTJason hadn't found me and called in Special Ops?



Robert told me about the site www.dslreports.com, and he said that, had I known about this site, I could have found the email for the Special Ops unit – uversecare@att.com (there's no phone number for this unit).

But I later went on that site and looked all over for that email but couldn't find it.

I highly advise you that, if you have U-verse service or plan to get it, you keep this email for your own use.

And while I again thank Twitter and @ATTJason for coming to the rescue, I am still left wondering about a telecom company where so many customer service employees in the U.S. and the Philippines kept saying for hours: "We can't help you. It's someone else's department."

Note to the FCC: Regarding AT&T's merger with T-Mobile, you might want to investigate this pervasive AT&T customer service problem. AT&T definitely needs a company-wide reorganization if the company ever wants to provide good customer service.