Don’t you wonder why large companies run their business in a manner that is guaranteed to tick off customers and get their employees YELLED AT?
Every year this happens and … I forgot how bad it was last year, and the year before, and the year before that. I forgot how much time it takes. I forgot how the employee who answers the phone has to follow a script, complete with insincere apologies.
We have had DirecTV and ATT Internet service for ten years or more. At some point we had thrown in the towel with Time Warner for any number of issues.
Of course I don’t remember but every February my statement arrives in the mail like a Jack In The Box. What was $180 per month is all of a sudden $266. Nobody calls to give you a heads up that your contract is to renew. Heaven forbid anyone could send you an email. They CHOOSE to go the route of the Jack In The Box. Yes, I realize I could, should and WILL make a note for next year, but it doesn’t excuse their tactics or change this year’s tango.
Because of this decision, they have to EXPECT the customer to call with a certain amount of venom. You just opened your bill and see you’ve been hit about 30% more than the last bill.
And you can’t ignore it. They have just run your CC for almost 30% more than the last 11 months. It begins- game on.
I call, wait about 15 minutes and get a polite young lady. English is not her first language. She has screens and scripts to consult as I start. I tell her I know the deal. The contract expired. I know she has promos at her disposal to get the price back to the approx $180 I was paying- and we can be done quickly. No such luck. After copious apologies the crux of the matter is, she can only reduce the price if we give her our cell phone business. THIS… is a new twist for 2021- and a bridge too far.
At this point, 30 minutes in, I pull the chute on her and say, I need a supervisor. She’s professional but hardened. She must get credit for not sending callers further up the chain. She says a supervisor can’t do anything more for me than she can. I don’t believe her. I demand the supervisor.
I wait a good 10+ minutes to get a supervisor- who sounds exactly like the girl I was just talking to! Hey, what’s going on here? Am I being punked or what?
The supervisor isn’t super, and doesn’t have any of my info so we start at square one. She too says, I will look at available promos for you to get the price lower. Surprise to me- she had the same offer as the first lady. We have to move cell service to ATT to take advantage of their smokin’ deals. By now, I’m close to an hour into this process and not a happy camper. You’ve been here- I know.
I want to hang up. I want to call Mr ATT and his house and waste an hour of his life with nothing accomplished. I want the marketing department to respect that while I’ve not cussed or berated these two ladies, I’m not happy, and I’ve told them so.
Their MO of doing biz has put the customer in a foul mood and gotten their first two ladies in this scenario- to fib, to try to not pass the call to a higher level.
They reply with apology scripts. I snap a bit at the supervisor. You’re not helpful. I need to talk to YOUR boss. Who is above you? She says she’s a supervisor, she’s it.
And then I remember in the catacombs of my brain, LOYALTY DEPARTMENT. I say, please transfer me to the Loyalty Department. She says what the first lady did. That SHE can offer the same deal as the Loyalty Department- which is another fib. I persist, and a full 65 minutes into the call I get Cody from the Loyalty Department.
Cody is as American as you can get. He sounds like a Texan. At least he has electricity. He promises he can help me. He doesn’t have any of my info. So yet again I have to give him my info with security code and a security question- that I’m lucky I remembered the answer to since I filled out the form ten years ago.
I tell Cody, all I want to do is get my monthly back where it should be and I’m not about to switch my cell biz over to ATT. The cell biz is another complex bag of cats of its own with Verizon- another obnoxiously run company.
This… needs to be a short/sweet conversation. Cody says no problem, “I’m a straight shooter.” I infer that HE doesn’t have to try to snare cell phone accounts to give a good price. I’m sitting in silence for 10+ minutes. I’m getting scared that he has, or might, just dump me- in which case this whole dance has to start anew.
For a Loyalty Department guy who speaks perfect English, I’m surprised this is taking so stinking long. I’m about 80 minutes into this call now. I’m not appreciative that they’ve ruined my evening with their egregious system.
I remember helping my elderly parents with their bills. They never would have called in to battle for a fair price. The new charge would just show up on their CC and they’d pay the bill. For years! My mom would think, “the price went up.”
This is not far short of organized crime- scamming old people who are not on the ball. What percentage of their customers fall into this category? It has to be 10-20% or more.
At the 90 minute mark Cody says he has this all worked out. I can take advantage of this, that and the other promo. My new bill will be about $140 plus taxes and service charges. I asked, about how much will those be? And he replies, “Well I have no idea.” That’s not what you want to hear at an hour and a half on the freaken phone.
Because I’m tired and getting angrier at this point, I tell Cody- that’s ridiculous. You can’t even guesstimate my final price? He goes to a script. I interrupt cuz I’ve had it. I say- fine. We’re done here. Please just give me a confirmation number that you’ve done this.
Cody says they don’t have confirmation numbers. Well…. then, if my price doesn’t revert to $180 ish, how do I avoid STARTING all over next month? He tells me don’t worry. He has taken care of it, it will be right. Really?! Are you serious?!
Then he says, I just have to do one more thing and it will be set. I reminded him, I’m 90 plus minutes in. I’m toast. I want to get off the phone. I don’t want to sit here while you punch some buttons, because you’re not even going to give me a confirmation number. He says, OK, you can go.
But he wanted me to stay on the line longer. I was DONE.
It was roughly 100 minutes of “fighting.” It was fending off trickery by the ladies for the cell biz. It was listening to apologies read from a script over and over. There was no way to jump the shark here and get to the bottom line efficiently. To get this to turn out fairly, it required that I endure this process, and be forceful at every step and turn.
The ladies BATTLE to avoid turning you over to the Loyalty Department. But of course that’s the only department to talk to. Everyone before is giving you disinformation- you can only get the same deal if you transfer your cell biz. Even though Cody in Loyalty came through (I hope), he was about a 20 minute process.
Life… is too short to deal with such baloney. I realize the other big companies are run similarly. They all make you run a marathon to win out.
ATT is thoroughly atrocious to deal with. This heinous dance every year is awful to go through. I am not pleased to get tough with the ladies in particular. But ATT has put them in a precarious position where the customer really has no alternative, other than to be abrupt and dump them at some point.
The DirecTV service is much spottier than advertised. Rain/snow fade is a regular occurrence. It isn’t “rare” as they claim. I’ve missed plenty of spring Stanley Cup action in the rain.
We signed up in 2010 due to some price promo DirecTV/Costco had- for the programming we wanted then. Like most customers, it’s annoying to change. But…
Next year I’ll try someone else before the contract ends. I’m exhausted with these people. But ya know… the next big outfit is probably not much better.