AT&T, a Continuous Disappointment...

I initially chose AT&T because of their rollover minutes. It kind of reminded me of a savings account for unused minutes. I liked the idea and never realized that AT&T would systematically steal those minutes back from me, if I didn't use them. Each month a rather large portion of my saved minutes reach what AT&T calls maturity and are stolen away. You see, you only get to save them for one year, even though you've paid for them.
The next disappointment was when after paying for the maximum data package for about 20 months, for my Blackberry phone, that didn't really use hardly any data, it took a phone call from me to ask why I was paying so much. I was told because I was given the heavy duty, super duper data package for $35 a month and if I'd like to remove it, it will save me that much money. I did. AT&T offered me a minimal discount, after I complained that I paid an extra $700 in 20 months. They gave me a $70 discount. Pretty gracious, huh?


My next fiasco was when I bought the new iPhone and it sucked. I was told, had I purchased it from a "Corporate Store" They would have given me a new one for free, but I bought mine from an independent dealer, in spite of the fact that the big sign in front of the store said AT&T! Thus, I was on my own. Apple offered me a used phone in trade for the brand new one I'd just purchased and AT&T told me that it was a pretty good deal, I should take it.


Finally after I cried like a little girl repeatedly, the independent dealer got tired of my whining and threats and caved, giving me a new phone. Now that new phone is just as bad as the old one, dropping almost every call and fighting my way through static on every call. Just now, I spent a full hour with an AT&T representative and this time after all that time, he was successfully able to change my current address on their records. When I reminded him that I called because of the extremely poor service at my location, I was told I'd have to wait for a call back, but in the meanwhile, just reboot! What I really would like to do is cancel my new, 2 year contract with this inadequate carrier. That is my goal, I just don't know how long I will have to be a nuisance to accomplish that. I spoke with my son Brad today and when he heard I had AT&T, he told me that he used to have AT&T, the worst 2 years of his life!


The young man on the phone told me that they were located in Idaho and what time zone am I in? I said Mountain, but we don't observe daylight savings time, so we're an hour behind regular Mountain Time. That's when I started laughing and asked where Idaho even was. He told me that Idaho was right next to Washington state. Humph, how do you like that? I told him that if he didn't live there, he wouldn't know where it was either. I'm really not sure that I won his favor with that comment, but really, IDAHO?