Honestly, I never thought I’d have to write this post after leaving Comcast’s Triple Play program in favor of AT&T U-Verse. I had hoped to contact the company and provide this feedback through a feedback channel that does not involve calling Technical Support, which I have had to do 4 times in the past 5 days. Unfortunately, there is no such feedback mechanism on the site, so this is the best way I can think of to reach out and touch someone at AT&T.
As a customer, I am frustrated and extremely inconvenienced by my inability to upgrade to HD service because of their systems’ incompatibilities. As a marketer, I know how to reach my intended audience, which in this case is anybody at AT&T that wants feedback on their services. Having been involved with a lot of online marketing, reputation management and PR initiatives, I know that somebody at AT&T or one of their marketing or PR agencies is listening.
Here’s a recap of the situation:
- January 16th: I canceled my Comcast Triple Play account.
- January 23rd: AT&T installed U-Verse 200 TV and Hi-speed Internet package. Great service techs and speedy, expert installation. Kudos.
- January 23rd – March 15th: I was very happy with the service and didn’t experience any of the service outage problems I had with Comcast.
- March 15th: I bought a new HD-capable TV and wanted to upgrade my AT&T TV service to receive HD channels. I was willing to pay the $10 additional monthly fee and was happily surprised when they gave me a free month without even asking for it. The sales lady was nice and the process went smoothly. I was told my new HD service would be turned on within 2-4 hours.
- March 16th: Still no HD channels so I called Tech Support. Apparently the previous order had been canceled with no explanation so they put in another order and said to expect a phone call when the work was completed, within 24 hours at the most. I chalked it up to human error and was willing to forgive and forget.
- March 17th: Still no HD channels and no call from Tech Support.
- March 18th: I called Tech Support back and found the second HD order had been canceled as well. Weird. They looked into it, conferred with Sales and ultimately referred me to Tier 2 Tech Support. Tier 2 was also nice and figured out that the problem was due to the HD service address database not recognizing my address. That’s the incompatibility that is preventing me from getting HD service. Their databases aren’t synched. That seems like a pretty basic thing that should have been considered before they launched the service. I have no idea how many other people this affects, but all of the reps said they have seen a few cases before. My case was escalated to “The Ovals”, whoever they are. The Ovals are supposed to take care of it, and Tier 2 asked that I call back in 24 hours to check in on the progress. They were sure it would be resolved by then. Again, I waited patiently and called back the next day.
- March 19th (today): I just got off the phone with Tier 2 support again, who checked with The Ovals and told me that the fix could take 2-4 WEEKS instead of the 2-4 hours I was originally quoted. Their suggestion? Call back 1 or 2 times a week and have Sales try to re-order the HD service. If it doesn’t go through, we’ll know that The Ovals haven’t gotten around to fixing it yet.
Wait, what? I have already spent nearly 2 total hours on hold and in conversation with Sales, Tech Support and Tech Support Tier 2. I’m not allowed to talk to The Ovals. Now I have to call back twice a week for a month? I asked Tier 2 and there is no way to make a note in my account to have them call me when they fix it. Ouch, very ouch.
Here’s the rub. I understand that technical glitches happen. That’s what Tech Support is for. I asked Tier 2 guy if there was any way I could leave feedback on the frustration and wasted time I’ve experienced this week. Nope. I checked the U-verse website and again, no Contact Us forms or phone numbers that didn’t take me back into the Tech Support or Sales channels I’ve already been through.
As a marketer, I realize that there are people within AT&T that would want to know about these problems with their incompatible systems and Tech Support’s inexperience in dealing with this situation. Unfortunately there aren’t any surveys or feedback forms on the website for this type of input. So, here it is.
AT&T, I’m not mad at you yet. I’m still going to wait for my HD service to be fixed. I will call you back in a week or so, but I’m hoping that The Ovals can get this fixed soon and not place the burden on a paying customer to follow up continuously at my own inconvenience.
I have been searching the internet for anybody who LIKES U-verse. Can’t find any. Installation is due next week but based on what I am reading – am going to cancel, I guess.
So I got U-verse after switching from Comcast. Nobody told me that I nede to have U-Verse Gateway (router) in the room with co-axial cable. So I had to get rid of all my personal network and had to ditch Apple router i just purchased before.
Then I discovered that I can not watch more than 2 HD channels at the time on 2 HD TV. Well the issue is that we have 4 lids and 3 HD TVs. Of course, nobody from ATT told me that at the tim eof the purchase Uverse service.
I called ATT to cancel UVerse and get back to my ATT / Bellsouth DSL Internet service – well just found out that ATT has to disconnect my service and I have to be 14 days without Internet access – apparently it takes ATT 14 days to set up my DSL service again.
Unfortunately – I have no choice – I am going back to Comcast, not because I like it but cause I can not be w/o internet for 2 weeks.
Regarding ATT Uverse picture quality – here is my personal opinion.
- non HD signal – on pair with Comcast maaaaybe slightly better
- HD signal – I might be the un-lucky one since COmcast picture quality was way better.
G
Ouch Goran, that sucks. I’ve learned (the hard way, like you) to ask a lot of those questions when switching services.
I have had AT&T U Verse since October 2007. I have had at least 40 AT&T U Verse repair tickets done, so they can come to my home and waist hours & hours of my time to try to fix there instalation mistakes ! They just came out to replace my DVR that stop working and lost all my favorite recordings that I have been collecting for 2 years and to repair U Verse internet that was shutting down ever time I got on the Web and started a project. And if that wasn’t bad enough I was getting electrical shocks every time I touched the AT&T U Verse DVR. My hands,arms and neck had a numbing and tingleing sensation for at least 3 weeks ! ! The Techntion found the conection outside my home was installed incorrectly and causing all the problems. The repair tech gave me the damage 4 way splitter part and printed out a report of all his findings and repairs of AT&T UVerse defective parts and replacement of the DVR. Believe it or not the next day I started having problems again with the TV freezing and the Internet shuting down again ! ! I was on the phone for 2 hour and was transfered to 5 different agents and ending up hanging up on them. AT&T U Verse only cares about passifing you at the time and getting there money ! ! It’s really sad that they don’t care about there customers ! !
I’ve had U-verse installed late last year and all I can say is two words to descrive it and its performance…IT SUCKS!!!
I went back to analog phone lines on my two telephones, more reliable and dependable than digital and I still have U-verse on the computers and televisions but not for long! Dealing with AT&T and U-verse is like dealing with two separate companies that are in competition with each other, the U-verse people are out-of-touch with the real world and do not understand what is going on. The U-verse “idea” is great in theory but not in the practical sense.
Sounds like I’m not the only one experiencing problems.
Yeah, Uverse sucks.. took 3 hours with tech support just to get it working (they didn’t do something correctly on their end).. now my bill has been wrong the FIRST 4 MONTHS!! No one at at&t can correct my rate for some reason?! I have to call EVERY MONTH and get a credit to make my rate correct, then they always promise it will be correct the next month, which it ISN’T. Even teir 2 support is making excuses why they can’t correct it. I refuse to do business with a company that doesn’t even have the power to correct a customers bill.