At&t sucks

Is it me or does AT&T and most every other big company anymore totally lack ethics and any form of quality customer service based on the outrageous prices they charge?

Case in point, this last month I start getting more than my share of telemarketers again. All listed as unknown caller, out of area, whatever as all the numbers had been blocked. I pay for anonymous call rejection for $5 a month. From AT&T’s web sight their definition for this service is:

Anonymous Call Rejection (ACR) is a service that rejects incoming calls from anonymous callers. Anonymous Call Rejection will automatically stop all incoming calls from callers who have their numbers blocked. Callers with blocked numbers will hear a message stating that the party they are calling does not accept anonymous calls.

Pretty self explanatory what this service is supposed to do and has done for the last two years until recently.

I think I’ve figured out what the problem lately has been.

AT&T now has another package for $6.99 a month called Privacy Manager. As I read this you now have more options to do the same thing the other one did. It just costs $1.99 more a month. Again off of their web sight.

Privacy Manager Service identifies all anonymous incoming calls.

What will it do for me? ​

· Save time — If a phone solicitor calls, one of the options you have is to be placed on a telemarketer's do not call list. This prevents you from having to make time to provide a written request or call to have this done.

· Have peace of mind — Our service requires that callers self identify or the phone doesn't even ring. This keeps you from dealing with annoying or unwanted calls.

· Protecting Your Privacy — A recording will notify the caller that you do not accept unidentified, anonymous, or out of area calls. A series of choices will guide the caller to self-identify. You then have four options for handling the call: send to voice mail, accept, decline or place on a do not call list if the caller is a telemarketer. To hear a demonstration of the service call 1-888-560-9299.

I guess the price of oil has something to do with this increase in price for less service like everything else these days.


I’m sending this letter to the editor of our local paper and anyone else that I think will print it.
Thanks for letting me vent.

 

An actual person from AT&T did call last night. I'm still in shock.
The number showed up as out of area of course. I answered and then explained that this conversation shouldn't even be happening. She asked why not. I told her that her name and number were not showing on my caller ID therefore making the call by definition anonymous. She didn't really seem to care for this lesson on word meaning and said I would need the more expensive option.

I Expained to her I was trying to sleep during the day when she called as I've been working the grave yard shift. I then asked her if I could have her personal number so we could carry on this conversation again at say 03:00 in the morning as I would then be getting up to start my day. She didn't think that would be a good idea.
I told her this conversation was my reason for having the anonymous call rejection that has worked great for 2 years until this new service came along.

Now why did she hang up on me at this point?

 

Yeah I'm getting pissed over the hard line stuff. The wireless is getting worse by the day as well and the new MA BELL sure doesn't seem to care.

 

Why not just put your number on the federal "Do not call list"? That sure as hell took care of my problems.

 

They all do this stuff. Our neighborhood was wired with FIOS and Verizon has been trying to get us to shange over from DSL for months. We finally did when they said if we didn't change over the installation would no longer be free. I occationally check the connection speed and our DSL speed dropped off the last month or two before the swap to barely better than dialup. IMHO they were deliberatly dropping speed to encourage a change over.

 

I'm on the national and TX list. Doesn't seem to be doing the trick? Cell phones too.

 

I have dumped the land lines all together.

always good to sign up for the national "do not call" list
and if a telemarketer calls, and you ask to be removed
by law, they have to remove your name.

and the Equifax, opt-out of mailing credit offers
by calling 1-888-567-8688

http://www.equifax.com/contact_us/en_us

 

I assume you're talking about landline from AT&T and not a cell? I had cell service from Cingular and hated it. Now that they are in bed with AT&T I wouldn't even THINK about going with them again.

I have Frontier for phone and DSL and LOVE it!! It's $60/month for unlimited calling, no long distance charges, anonymous call reject, call waiting, vm, etc. I do notice a few numbers get through, but I let them go to vm after 4 rings. There's a few where the name doesn't show up, but a number does so I sorta expect those. I've learned what number not to answer (more or less any 800 number at this point ), and can block by number for free. I just dial *63 or something like that and have the option to block the last incoming number, or go to a menu to manually enter I think. I blocked Wells Fargo (my mortgage company) because they were calling 3 times a day starting on the second of each month until I paid them if I haven't paid by the first. I used to be paid by-weekly so I usually had to wait a week to pay. Wells fargo didn't seem to care, and ignored/lost the "cease and desist" form I filled out and sent back to have them only contact me by mail. Needless to say after telling them 3 times to stop calling if I wasn't 30 days past due or I'd block them, I did. Went to Frontier's site, found out I could block without calling CS, and bam! It was done. Would love to have been there first time they tried calling again.

Maybe you could do the same? (the last incoming call block)

 

This is why I do not have a home phone hooked up. My line is for the alarm,DSL, & connection to my Dish-DVR. No house phone, no damn telemarketers. I use a cell phone for my means of communication. I work nights & sleep during the day. I feel your pain!
I would love to be able to do that to them at 3am.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un_PjRXV5l8

 

classic Pt,