AT&T Telemarketing

Consumer Complaints & Reviews

Rick of Moore, OK on Jan. 31, 2012

Satisfaction Rating: 1/5

In December of 2011, a salesperson from AT&T called and offered the 'AT&T Advertising Solutions' program to me. I listened to his pitch. I explained some of the situation with the business I am operating. He then asked if I minded being recorded so that he could explain the terms of the program. I said that would be OK. During the recorded explanation, I acknowledged that I understood the conditions. In no way was I agreeing to these terms. During our conversation, before and possibly after I was asked to be recorded, I mentioned on several occasions that the amount was too much and was not affordable.

On January 30, 2012, I received a bill for the 'AT&T Advertising Solutions' program. I immediately called the phone number on the bill and explained that I was not agreeing to any terms or conditions that were put to me at the time the salesperson and I had our conversation. I feel I have been victimized by AT&T and this salesperson and desire to have this incident resolved and the account closed.

Susie of Sandersville, GA on Jan. 17, 2012

Satisfaction Rating: 2/5

AT&T sales persons are telephoning my home at least five times per day for the past 2-3 weeks trying to sell DSL. I have requested them to remove my name from their list. I was told that they would. Fifteen minutes later, I'm getting another DSL sales pitch call. I am angry, frustrated and just irritated to say the least. To add insult to injury, I can't make a complaint about the company over the telephone to a telephone company! I have to do so in writing or electronically. That's ridiculous. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it!

Jeffery of Oceanside, CA on Nov. 30, 2011

Satisfaction Rating: 3/5

AT&T sales representatives have been calling unbidden by me to sell me their DSL service. Three times in the last couple months and twice at night once at at 8: 59 PM when I was sleeping and tonight around 8:00 PM. I've told them I don't want their DSL service and not to call me anymore about this. They keep calling.

Casandra of Fayetteveille, AR on Sept. 27, 2011

Satisfaction Rating: 1/5

I applied for a job there with a lot of experience. I had even worked for the real AT&T. When they were still around, this was a telemarketing firm and they were making up sales and hooking up people in large businesses who would not know, one way or the other, if the corporate office changed their service or not. The whole thing felt really illegal because a girl named Kristy, who lives in Bentonville, AR, mysteriously got hit in the parking lot and came back on the first week of work with a new car. But that's not all, ever since then she gets $600 in sales everyday. Something is not right with that call center Eton Marketing. Beware, if you get something in the mail that you are not aware of.

Claude of Petersburg, IN on June 3, 2011

They ring my phone everyday and i am tired of it!

Wendy of Los Angeles, CA on April 13, 2004

Two men came to my door asking about my current phone service and offering me lower rates via AT&T. I refused and they persisted. I told them to call me at a later time. They informed me that I was on the "do-not-call-list". I informed them that should include "do-not-make-personal-visits." Why am I listed on a no call list to now be harangued by guys at my door. This has to stop.

Laura of Baton Rouge, LA on April 6, 2004

I got a call from an AT&T telemarketer on my cell phone last night. When the man started to rattle off I stopped him and told him that he was calling me on my cell phone. He then asked me if I could still talk. I told him no because I was not wasting me minutes on a telemarketer when I don't even have a home phone. He then said "Oh, so you are very cheap then" and hung up. For one thing, I have my cell number on the do not call list and 2 I don't know of anyone who accepts telemarketers on their cell phones. Because of this little phone call, I am cancelling my business phone company from AT&T.

S. of Trenton, NJ on March 29, 2004

I work an eklderly, German man who lives in a row house in Trenton, NJ. He comes to for alot of his bills, Ect. because he doesn't speak english very well. He is a hard working man who should have been retired already exept the fact that he is raising his grandson. Recently a friendly sales lady from AT&T knocks on his door and tells him that he can get rid of his verizon bill altogether (wich is $35 a mo.) and only pay $17 a mo. to AT&t of course he agrees. The mill came in the mail, they charged him .22 a min. ! She obviosly took advantage of a situation. Does he have to pay this?

Patricia of Escanaba, MI on Sept. 9, 2003

I received a call from telemarketer representing AT&T; and he gave me his spiel as to the benefits of switching my phone service. He quoted me a monthly price of $17 plus $7 (approximately). My long distance charges were to be 5 and 7 cents per minute. I asked him SPECIFICALLY if there was any service charge for this rate, and he said NO. He also gave me his name and number to call if I had any questions. He said this knowing AT&T; was dropping the telemarketing as of Sept 1st. He lied to me in order to get me to switch. When I got my phone bill it was a confusing mess.- none of the figures were as quoted.

Maria of Brooklyn, NY on Aug. 19, 2003

On July 24, 2003 I received a bill from AT&T; long distance mailed to my NY address for $48.24. The long-distance service was for my home in FL. On this day I placed a call to AT&T; and informed them that this was in error and that no one opened such an account.
I was told that the account was opened on May 7, 2003 by way of Telemarketing. I asked the rep. to provide me with proof. He then informed me that someone would contact me with the recording of the call that was made. On Aug. 19, 2003 I recieved a call from AT&T; and was played the recording of the call from May 7. The person recieving the call was a female who spoke Spanish and used my name but a wrong date of birth. I informed the rep that It was not me who accepted this call and that I was in NY at the time.
After arguing the charges for approx 30 minutes with (2) reps and (2) different supervisors who were all very discourteous and very unprofesional, the matter was still not resolved and the rep informed me that the charges were still being billed to me. I also informed the rep that At my FL residence, I've subscribed to (Supra Telecom) which is a local phone company service and have a plan which only allow calls to be made to a 40 mile raduis. I did this in order to prevent unauthorized calls to be made.
I feel this is unfair since AT&T; failed to properly be sure that the person opening the account was the same person who owns the local account.

Maria should immediately file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission's enforcement bureau.

Joyce of Soap Lake, WA on July 23, 2003

This morning I got a call from an AT&T; marketer who insisted, when I told him I was satisfied with my current long distance carrier, that I was not letting him have the opportunity to give me a better deal because I would not tell him how much I paid each month in long distance service. Then, when I indicated that I was on the Do Not Call list he began to argue with me about that. I am extremely angry that after being placed on the National Do Not Call list, AT&T; would still give me a telemarketing call.

Joyce should file a complaint with the Do-Not-Call registry.

Stacey of Virginia Beach, VA on July 22, 2003

I was so excited after getting a telemarketing call (can you believe that?) about AT&T; Local Service. I had just changed my plan with Verizon to try to reduce our phone bill, so when I found out I was going to save about $10.00 per month by switching to AT&T;, with UNLIMITED local calls, I did. I called AT&T; and told them the rate I had been quoted and quickly authorized the change with the representative.
When it came to deciding about toll and long distance carriers, I told her I wanted to keep Sprint because I have 50 free minutes of long distance and we rarely exceed that. For tolls, I said it was fine to switch that to AT&T; and asked if it is REQUIRED to dial a one before a local toll call. She said yes. So we made the switch. A few weeks later, I receive a partial bill from AT&T; saying that I owe over $50.00 in "AT&T; Long Distance Services". I immediately called AT&T; and explained that the charges on my bill were for local calls. They said that the charges for local toll calls. I said that it couldn't be because I wasn't required to dial a one. They said that I didn't have to dial a one and that if I made the call I had to pay it. I explained that I have UNLIMITED LONG DISTANCE on my cell phone, so if I knew this was a long distance call, I would have called it from it. They said it is not a long distance number, but a toll call. (Of course it is listed under "long distance services" on my bill, but does not require a one in front of the number.)
I also explained that with Verizon, that same number was not a toll number, it was local. They said they don't have to have the same local calling area and that they are not required to notify the customer of the change. I immediately switched to Sprint who requires a one in front of long distance AND local toll calls. I have since received another bill from AT&T.; Now my total "long distance not requiring a one" is over $300.00! Can you believe it?!

Damage Resulting: $300.00 plus in charges that I would not have incurred had I known that I was calling a "long distance" number.

Vincent of Sugar Grove, WV on Oct. 3, 2002

My house has been called an estimated 6 to 8 times in the last couple of months by AT&T; telemarketers. We have politely refused their services each time as we are happy with our current long-distance plan. Today I came home from work for a quick lunch and received a call from AT&T.; I proceeded to interrupt the individual once he identified himself and bluntly told him that we were very happy with our plan and to not call again. I came home from work this evening only to receive another call from AT&T; telemarketing again. I again informed the person that we were happy with our plan.

The consequences are minor. My wife and I are to the point however where we feel slightly harassed. We answer our phone with the expectation of a family member, friend or a co-worker to be on the other line. When telemarketers (AT&T; is not the only culprit, just the most prolific) seem to out number legitmate callers, we think there is a problem. Are there any recourses to legal action to punish companies that continually harass people in their home? We don't harass them...why do they feel free to harass us?

Bill of Los Angeles, CA on Sept. 7, 2002

I received an unsolicited telemarketing call from someone representing AT&T; long distance. I have very little patience for telemarketers, and interrupted her long-winded (and obviously scripted) pitch to ask her how much the lowest rate they've got is. She asked me how much I was currently paying, and I told her that it shouldn't matter. I asked her again just to give me their best offer and I'd let her know if I was interested or not. Then she quoted me 4.5 cents per minute, any time of the day, with no monthly fixed charge added. I was surprised at how low that was, so even though I hate to encourage telemarketing by buying anything they sell, I said I'd go ahead with it.
A month or so later I received my first bill and was irked to find that I was paying 10 cents a minute for most of my long-distance calls (5 cents for "off-peak") plus being charged a $3.95 monthly fee. Thinking that it was an error on their part, I called and pointed it out. I was told that there's no such thing as a 4.5 cent per minute charge with AT&T;, and they would not credit me the difference. I asked them to check the recordings of the sales calls I assumed they made to verify my story, but was told they don't record those calls. I asked to speak to a supervisor since the so-called customer service rep I got was clearly not interested in my problem, but I got the same frustrating responses from that person as well.
I asked to speak to HER supervisor, and got patched through to a voice mail. I left a calm message asking to be contacted to discuss this matter, but no one ever called me back. So, a couple of days later I switched to IDT which was much cheaper than AT&T;'s best rate. Then I started getting the most outragious calls from the AT&T; telemarketers again who kept trying to get me to switch back. I told them their rates were uncompetitive, and I now hold a grudge against AT&T; as well, so they're wasting their time with me. But they wouldn't take no for an answer, and basically resorted to hounding me. I finally had to tell the guy who was the worst offender that it seemed that there was no way to not agree to switch back and end the call amicably, and that he was forcing me to hang up on him. That didn't stop him either. I heard his pleads for me to reconsider grow fainter as I placed my phone back down to hang up.
I had really thought that AT&T;, as big as they are, would never resort to such horrible sales tactics as I witnessed, and that they would be far too smart to completely disregard a complaint from someone who could easily be a life-long customer if treated right. I will go out of my way to avoid using AT&T; for any service they offer from this point out, and will encourage others to do the same.

The economic consequences were very minor, probably less than $10. I was very upset at having been lied to so blatantly by their telemarketer, and then being treated by customer service reps as though I was trying to pull a fast one on THEM!

Sharon of North Woodmere, NY on July 16, 2002

AT&T; keeps calling us for no reason whatsoever. Every time I ask to talk to a supervisor to try and get this fixed, they hang up on us. They call every night and it is getting annoying. I don't know if it is telemarketing, but they should not be calling us every night.

Judy of San Jose, CA on Feb. 6, 2001

One year ago, I dropped my AT&T long-distance phone service after finding other long distance carriers who could provide less expensive rates. I disconnected from AT&T and the next month, received a bill for their normal billing amount. It took three phone calls to get credited for that bill.

Almost immediately, the sales calls started; telemarketers trying to convince me to come back to AT&T. I remained polite, declining offer after offer for several months, until one Saturday in June when I received three calls in one day while trying to paint my bedroom walls. That was my last straw. I requested that they stop calling. They didn't. By September, I was receiving daily calls again.

I then requested to be placed on their "Do Not Call" list. The phone calls continued until November, 2000, with the explanation that it takes AT&T 30 days to implement any request from former customeres to be placed on the "Do Not Call" list (note the discrepancy in the time period of ACTUAL calls versus AT&T's so-called 30-day implementation period). On January 3, 2001, at 7:30 PM, I received ANOTHER sales call from AT&T.;

As a former employee of AT&T, I remained a faithful customer for many years. I decided to disconnect from AT&T because I was displeased with ever-increasing phone rates. As a former customer of AT&T, I EXPECT to have my wishes honored to avoid harassing sales telephone calls. It ain't happening. NOW, I would like to be placed on their "Do Not Call Until January, 2101" list. I figure by that time, I'll be 153 years old and might change my mind about their services. In the meantime, how on Earth can I get the phone calls to stop?