AT&T Local Service

AT&T • Slamming • Long Distance • Local • Wireless • Broadband • Telemarketers --- News • AT&T Agrees to Refund Some Ringtone Charges • States Asked to Probe AT&T U-Verse Explosions • AT&T Exits Pay Phone Business • AT&T Changes Contract Policy • AT&T Changes Terms Of Service After Outcry • AT&T Agrees to New Stolen Cell Phone Rules • AT&T Stiffens Language Covering Objectionable Content • AT&T Adds Parental Controls To Mobile Phones • AT&T Slammed Over Rebate Policies • Appeals Court Shreds AT&T Arbitration Clause • Court OKs Rebate Lawsuit against Cingular/AT&T • AT&T Trashes Cingular Brand • AT&T Offers Net Neutrality Concessions To Win Merger Approval • FCC Delays Decision On AT&T/BellSouth Deal • Justice Department Green Lights AT&T-BellSouth Merger • FCC Clears the Way for AT&T-BellSouth Merger • AT&T Trumpets New TV Service • AT&T Web Site Hacked; Customer Data Exposed • AT&T Sues Calling Record Brokers • AT&T Declares Consumers' Personal Data "Corporate Property" • AT&T Plans to Kill Cingular Name • Report: AT&T Acquiring BellSouth • SBC Recast as AT&T • FCC approves AT&T, MCI Deals • Justice Dept. OKs AT&T, MCI Sell-Outs • SBC Will Keep AT&T Name • Consumer Groups Oppose Big Telco Mergers • SBC Buys AT&T • AT&T Will Pay Refunds to New Yorkers • AT&T Will Pull Out of 7 States • AT&T Teams With Sprint to Return to Wireless Business • Minnesota Sues AT&T • Class Action Charges AT&T With Slamming • Another AT&T Rate Hike • AT&T Hiking Minimum Fees • AT&T Faces $780,000 Do-Not-Call Fine • AT&T Will Run Do-Not-Call List • Supreme Court Denies AT&T's Appeal of Arbitration Ruling

Look out! AT&T is very aggressively selling their "new" local service and making it sound quite attractive. But there's a key difference: many plans are metered, meaning that you pay by the minute, whereas established residential phone plans have unlimited local calling. In other words, this fox in lamb's clothing is local service billed like long-distance.

Another vexation is AT&T's inability to correct problems on local lines, which it leases from the local carrier (Verizon, SBC, etc.)

Victoria of Scottsdale AZ (5/19/04):
I waited for a landline, which was installed 4/01/04. The first number I was given, however, belonged to somebody else. The entire month of April and into May I called the AT&T office to have it removed and was fed up with answering the phone for a stranger. AT&T finally gave me voice mail so I would not have to answer the phone.

To get the voicemail I had to dial 32 numbers to check for calls - this method also did not work. I called AT&T every day, and was constantly transferred to different employees. I was finally given a number that worked, until I gave it to a Safeway cashier and was told it was another person's number. Because I had to use my cellphone so frequently (since AT&T were in no hurry to give me a new number), I ran over my minutes and the bill is now $500.

I said I would make payments to AT&T, although if I had had a landline there would not be such an ENORMOUS bill. I told them to cancel my cell phone service and was told I would have to keep making monthly payments until 2006, because I was breaking my contract. I do not even have a contract, but of course nobody at AT&T believes me.

Carol of Palm Desert CA (5/4/04):
I cancelled my service with AT&T and switched to Verizon. AT&T told me I had already paid until the end of the cycle and that I would receive a refund. Instead, I received a bill! When I finally got through to AT&T, I got nothing but double talk. After eight or nine calls, a "supervisor" informed me that the service had NOT been cancelled as I directed and had, in fact, gone on for almost another month - during which time I was also a Verizon customer.

I kept receiving bills and phone calls warning that my "long distance service would be cancelled," and the threat of being sent to a collection agency. The bill was under $30, so just paid it to get AT&T off my neck! I don't know how they can be allowed to get away with these corrupt practices!

Fran of Sacramento (4/22/04):
I had AT&T local and long distance, and moved just three blocks from previous address. I reported the change and received a new number. The bill is in my name, and I am the head of household. I recently received confirmation of Internet service that I did not order. I called customer service who told me that they spoke to Mr. V. There is no Mr. V. I receive FREE internet service which was included as a package when purchasing my home computer. AT&T has a special way of handling cancellations, and it is called "hold". I held for more than 30 minutes. I have tried twice since to cancel a service that I never ordered. When I selected to cancel service, I was told by a recording that I must call back.

"S" of Trenton NJ (3/29/04):
I work for an elderly German man who doesn't speak English very well. Recently a friendly saleswoman from AT&T knocked on his door and told him to get rid of his Verizon bill altogether, which is $35 a month, and only pay $17 a month with AT&T. Of course he agreed. But when the bill came in the mail, they had charged him .22 cents a minute! I think she took advantage of him.

Bob of Charlotte NC (3/1/04):
I had two separate accounts with BellSouth. I moved one of my accounts (phone number) to AT&T Local Service to save a few dollars. That went well so I moved my remaining account to AT&T Local Service two weeks later. The problem is that AT&T bundled them together into one bill. (AT&T did this on their own.) I need them separate because one is used for business-related calls and I pay from a different bank account. So, I called to have them un-bundled and AT&T informed me that their software cannot do that. I asked if the one phone number could be moved back to BellSouth and they said it would have to be dropped and I would have to have a new number assigned! This is not an option.

Their system limitation: 1) borders on anti-competive (BellSouth would not like this) because I cannot move one of my numbers to a new carrier. 2) forces me to make two manual payments each month, and 3) requires additional accounting that I would not have to perform if the accounts could be separated.

Valerie of Garden Grove CA (2/4/04):
AT&T offered to switch my telephone service over for lower prices. A month later, I had no dial tone. I called customer service, who transferred me to repair, who transferred me back to customer care, who stated that I must pay $130 for a tech to come out and fix the problem. Well, I had a dial tone before it was switched. What problem?

Now I have no dial tone and no service. On 2/4/04, instead of cancelling the order, I was told that they could only disconnect the service that was never connected!

Jeanine of Maplewood NJ (1/25/04):
I have recently moved to a new apartment and I requested phone service with AT&T. It has been three weeks and nobody is trying to help me. I have been calling everyday, and everyday someone gives me a different answer that does not make sense.

I am currently living in an apartment with no phone and I have explained to AT&T that I am sick and need a phone line. AT&T continues to blame Verizon for this, but that is another story.

Jacob of Troy NY (1/23/04):
Our AT&T phone service was interrupted for an unknown reason. That alone is enough to upset most people. It's now been a month and I still do not have phone service. I can take calls, but cannot make any myself. Everytime I call, they simply pass me down and come up with excuse after excuse as to why I don't have service. Corporate blames it on repair division who blames corporate. Here I am stuck in the middle while fingers are pointed.

As a wise man once said, "If you ain't part of the solution, then you're just part of the problem." As I am writing this, I am on the phone again with AT&T, and it's been 45 minutes since I spoke to a live person. With one exception, all employees I have encountered were rude and acted as though they didn't care.

Janet of Chicago (1/9/04):
I had my phone number disconnected through AT&T, who set up a recording telling callers the new number. However, I am no longer at this number, either, and have requested that AT&T cancel this message. I've been informed that this cannot be done. The person who now has this phone number has left me a message complaining that she is getting my calls. I need to get the recording cancelled.

Missed phone calls and personal information is being taken at a number where I no longer reside. I do not have a good relationship with the lady at the incorrect number, therefore I am not being given my messages. Furthermore, there is a privacy issue as people are leaving messages on this phone number for me and I do not live there anymore.

"B" of Phoenix (1/8/04):
We switched to AT&T and received our welcome letter on Dec 4th. We chose the small business All-In-One Plan and have three lines. A work order was initiated on Dec 12th scheduling activation on the 24th no later than 2 p.m. We made it very clear that we would re-open for business on Dec 30th. At two, nobody had showed up and we contacted AT&T. At this point we were told, "it is not yet 5 pm, wait until then". No one arrived. On Dec 26th we called AT&T, and customer service told us their records show it was activated on the scheduled date. We were told a service technician would be sent on Monday, Dec 29th at 10 am. This person did not arrive.

We contacted AT&T shortly after 10 am to inquire, and were told that the technician had arrived and found no one there, so left without doing anything. This is not true. We requested that someone please be sent out to activate service to our phones ASAP because we would re-open for business on Dec 30. We were told by AT&T that a technician could not be sent out until Jan 2. We made numerous calls to AT&T trying to get someone to help us. Not one person we talked to in customer service would help and many became irritated with us when we persisted.

On Dec 30 we opened for business without phone service. Clients who called that day received a message that stated, "We're sorry, but the number that you dialed has been disconnected or is no longer in service". In addition, we could not run credit and debit card transactions. We called AT&T on our personal cell phones, using many minutes waiting on hold and speaking to many representatives. Not one could say why service wasn't activated on Dec 24th, 26th, or the 29th or even guarantee service would be activated on Jan 2. I demanded to speak to a supervisor, and was told there weren't any available to talk to. I kept demanding and was told a supervisor would call me back. I gave my number and waited, but nobody called.

Not once did we get any information about who had the authority to make something happen or offers to work on the problem until it was resolved. It was always something like "we suggest you contact us at a later time to confirm or reconfirm the status of your service order" or "your service order has been scheduled for Jan 2, is there anything else we can help you with?" On Dec 31 we found someone willing to help. He gave us his number and extension and that of his supervisor, who we were told would be back in the office Jan 5th. On Jan 2 at around noon, phone service was activated.

Pamela of Chattanooga TN (1/7/04):
We are a small company, that had been with AT&T for several years with an all-in-one type plan. We placed a service move on 11/17/03. We informed AT&T that we were moving 11/21. The AT&T move department said they would shoot for 11/21 but getting that might not be possible and we could expect the change by 11/26/03. The 26th came and went without service, and I phoned several AT&T personnel trying to get to the bottom of the problem. I was told it takes 10 days to get this service done. I hung up, counted days and called back when it looked like AT&T missed the mark, but I was told 10 business days. Again, I hung up and counted, and called back because they missed that mark. This time I was told and was told the 11/27 & 11/28 were HOLIDAYS and couldn't be counted as business days.

Finally on 12/9, I called BellSouth to establish temporary lines so that we could forward our calls to those numbers instead of my cell phone. BellSouth said they could do this within three days. Also on 12/9, AT&T's provisioning department turned off the service at our old office so we would not be charged for calls. I mention this because on 12/12 first thing in the morning I had two BellSouth installers, one on behalf of AT&T and one to install the temporary numbers! We decided once everything was in place to switch our service to BellSouth. On 1/5/04 BellSouth was to "seamlessly" take over service from AT&T. All day Monday 1/5 & 1/6 we could dial out, but no one could call in. Today, 1/7, when I arrived at work we had no dial tone period! It is 12:50PM and I was told someone would be here before noon today...what recourse do I have against these two companies?

I would guess on the low side we have lost about $ 1,500/day from non-service or $ 15,000. My AT&T bill, my cell phone bill, driving places with correspondence that could have been faxed, being consumed with follow up calls etc have also been a financial burden. We can not get on with our business without a dial tone.

Ana of New York NY (9/30/03):
My line went out suddenly. A worker from Verizon (I don't know why Verizon when AT&T is my local carrier) came and checked out my phone. He informed me that there is nothing amiss with my telephone. The problem may be with the cables, but it will cost me an additional $135. I'm a retired person, and do not have any spare income to spend. Is the company responsible for investigating the cause of this disruption in service, which is in no way due to anything I have done?

I have minimal disposable income, just barely making the rent and covering my bills (which I always pay in full, and on time.) I now have no phone service. I am elderly, and live alone. I'm afraid that if anything were to happen to me, I would not be able to contact even 911.

Ana should see if she can switch back to Verizon.