AT & T Is Such A Cluster Fuck!

The way it is migrating older customers from the older network to the newer one on condition that they switch from the older AT&T “blue plans” to the new-fangled but more expensive ones, is showing all the signs of klutzy execution, made worse by corporate  hubris. The “our-way-or-the-highway” kind.

I will be short and sweet.  AT&T (formerly Cingular before it bought out the-then AT&T and decided to keep the name) has been trying to do this since May 15th of this year, 2011. When the switch was proceeding too slowly, partly because of spirited resistance from older plan customers, they postponed it to August 31, 2011 and sent letters to that effect.

Apparently that did not persuade the holdouts. Most customers ignored the two mailings urging them to switch. Catch for many older customers? A&T on top of letting them know they would be migrated from the older communication towers to the newer ones, let them know that they would have to choose a new AT&T billing plan which while offering more minutes plus a roll-over minutes component, cost about $5 a month more – which is a big deal for some customers, especially those on fixed incomes.

By mid-August 2011, with the stragglers still straggling, AT&T did something akin to Mafiesque arm-twisting, with call center operatives sounding the tough love note.

Without as much as a warning, AT&T started pulling the plug on customers and hot-wiring their calls to a call center that might have as well been headquartered in Brooklyn. FACTUAL: One customer trying to reach AAA for a tow, was temporarily left stranded on the side of freeway because of the summary discontinance of service. (Way to win friends and influence people Cingular, eehh AT&T! )

This unilateral decision to suspend service was more than infuriating – but the company rationale was that it did not want to be saddled with thousands and thousands  wanting to switch-over at the last minute. But AT&T was cutting off service on August 30th, instead of August 31st as the last letter announcing the rescheduled switch-over mentioned.

Why did something as basic as this turned out to be rocket science?

Is this what size does to a company?

Don’t answer that ……

The next time the name AT&T elicits a measure of deference in you, remember this one thing: The current AT&T are just a bunch of Cingular thugs in new corporate duds, one level up from the basement boiler-room from which they use to hustle for business. Once a thug …..

Please pass the word on.

BNSG on the customer service tip.

Key Links:

Service Termination of old AT&T blue plan customers      (Howard Forums)

Filed under: Consumer Watch, Tech, Uncategorized, American Telegraph & Telephone Company, AT & T, AT & T Is Such A Cluster Fuck, AT&T, AT&T is really the old Cingular under a new name, AT&T Sucks, At&T switch from the blue plan, August 31 - 2011, Cingular, Cingular thugs, Consumer Watch, May 15th - 2011, switching Cingular customers