If you are an IT professional as I, you would love to live your life digitally and electronically
After AT&T took over Bellsouth at the beginning of this year, we can see a lot changes now. Not only the company name, sign we can see the change, so do the customer service representative we have to deal with. Today, I decided to call Bellsouth or AT&T to complain my DSL modem charge and it took me longer than I thought.
Right after the merge, I could not wait for AT&T's $10 per month deal then I ordered at-that-time Bellsouth DSL service for $32 per month. When I was ordering, I was told I could get the DSL modem for free after mail-in-rebate if I signed up the service from the web. But after nearly half year, I did not see any rebate form showed up in my mail box but $7.5 charge for the modem showed up for my every month's bill statement. I called the "BellSouth" a couple times, and each time the rebate specialist told me he/she would put my rewarding in the system since I was eligible for this rebate, and it would take 6-8 weeks to process. But after a few month's waiting, what I received were two postcards saying that they could not give me the rebate because I did not purchase the Bellsouth FastAccess service. What?
Enough is enough, I decided to call them again as for their last chance to correct my problem before I complain to BBB.
When I dialed the phone number 1-800-507-9130 which was on the post card, and I was told that this phone number was not in service anymore and the message asked me to dial another phone number 1-866-342-4271. Apparently it is an AT&T phone number which is the result of closing former Bellsouth reward calling center (poor Bellsouth guys).
The lady on the phone was polite but she could not help me further, since (according to what she said) this is a incoming calling center and she could not verify my service. So she asked me to call another phone number 1-888-321-2375, and ask me to ask them to call her (or her colleagues) by using 3-way conference call. So that they can verify my service on the line.
Well, I had to hang up and call the phone number she gave to me which is still a Bellsouth service number from what I could tell. But the lady I first spoke with had no idea what I asked for. She insisted that she should transfer me to the rewarding center which I just hang up with. After I repeated "3 way conference call" a few times, she finally agreed to transfer me to but stayed for a while. But after she got someone from rewarding center online, she disappeared.
The second one from rewarding center I was transferred to said I was eligible for this rebate after he consulted with a rebate specialist, but he was not sure and asked whether I needed to talk to the specialist directly. Of course, I needed. Then my phone got transferred again.
Surprised the specialist said he could not find my information because I am a bellsouth customer. And as the same reason I was told by the first lady I spoke in rewarding center, he suggested me call the Bellsouth customer service center. And I should ask Bellsouth call them (AT&T) to verify my service status.
OK. I had to hang up with AT&T rewarding center the second time. And call Bellsouth service phone number 1-888-321-2375 again and selected Tech Support option as the first time I called. This time the gentleman I spoke did not have any ideas either, even I insisted I was told to call them to then let them call AT&T. And he insisted that he is in charging of Tech Support, although he can call AT&T rewarding center but could not help me a lot. At last, he suggested he should transfer me to billing department since they will have my account information, which I thought it was a good idea too.
Good news was the lady (the sixth people I spoke on the phone) from billing department was in a good mood. First she expressed sorry for what I experienced today, and was willing to help me straight up. When I said we should use 3-way conference call to verify my service to AT&T rewarding center, she said we do not need to bother them. After verifying my story and service status, she said she could just go ahead to credit back what I already paid for the modem, and would stop the modem charge in the future billing statement. How great is that? IF I KNEW IT WERE SO SIMPLE, WHY SHOULD I HAVE WASTED TIME WITH AT&T REWARDING CENTER.
Any way, the final result was what I needed. I guess the lady from other end knew I would be happy, otherwise she would not ask me what rate (in scale of 1 to 10) I would give to her if I receive the customer services survey. I did not hesitate to say "Of course 10" and I wish she would keep her promise to straight everything up for me too!
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