The Golden Pencil: The Freelance Writer’s Resource

Open Letter to AT&T

by Anne Wayman on June 25th, 2008

I just got off the phone with AT&T. They provide my telephone service and DSL line. Their customer service, well, sucks, and it sucks not because of the customer service reps, but because of the procedures they are forced to go through. So along with ranting and raving, I wrote the following now open letter:

June 25, 2008

Randall L. Stephenson, President, CEO & Chair
AT&T
San Antonio, Texas

Dear Mr. Stephenson,

Today I called AT&T customer service. I wanted to see if we could extend the referral on my old number to my new number.

What a nightmare your customer service has become. And it’s not the people… they are great, as you will see. It’s the system. In fact, your customer service system I so horrid I suggest you try it for a simple request, perhaps like mine, and see what you go through.

First, I tried to look up the CS number on the web – it may be there, but all I found was various forms to send email.

I pulled out one of my (paid) bills and looked for the number. It’s plain you don’t want calls to customer service, but I found it anyway.

I dialed and got into your phone tree. First, it should be easy to ask for an agent… I used the term “customer service” and apparently that isn’t in its vocabulary. When it finally understood or gave up and told me it was connecting me to an agent, I was delighted… I really had been on the phone only a minute or two at this point.

Then I was asked by the computer voice for my phone number which was repeated back to me.

Next, as I was switched from place to place automatically, I was told by a recorded voice three times (!) that my conversation might be recorded.

By the time I got to your agent, Lisa (in Texas on Bill Tatum’s floor and about 11 a.m. on Wed., Pacific Time) I was angry. Then the poor lady had to ask me for my phone number, my name, and some secret code number on my bill. Now I know your phone system can see my caller ID, which has my phone number, plus I had told your computer my phone number, and I know my phone number will give you my name and address – the code number on my bill is spurious and doesn’t really work to protect my privacy.

Then poor Lisa, before I was able to tell her what I wanted, had to read some statement to me… I think it may have been about up-selling me (my term, not hers) but I didn’t understand it so refused. Whew, now we’re into this call maybe 10 minutes and I’m steaming.

How can you treat your people this way? How can you set them up so they can’t perform the excellent customer service they want to… and by the way, their forced promise to give excellent customer service makes them and your company liars.

Stop it!

Instead of layering on procedure after procedure, think about what me, the customer, wants… phone service, and in my case DSL. That’s all. If I’ve got a question or a problem I want to be able to pick up the phone and call the company, simply, directly. DUH! That’s what phone service is… the ability to call someone, and be called… that’s all.

Now, Lisa did the absolute best she could. She was prevented by your barriers and procedures from doing an excellent job… she can’t. And I suspect floor manager Bill Tatum does the best he can too, while weeping inside at the frustration your procedures create in your customers which then gets dumped on your agents. I talked with them both and can assure you they are competent, intelligent people who truly want to do a good job… you don’t deserve them.

The final indignity is I was able to find your name and address faster on the web than Lisa was… in fact, I gave it to her for future reference.

Knowing you can do a better job… and hoping you will.

Sincerely,

Anne Wayman

It just amazes me that companies do this to their people. I could feel Lisa and Bill wanting to help me, wanting to do a good job, but they simply are not allowed to. Can you imagine the abuse they take because of procedures they have absolutely no control over.

Sigh!

Write well and often,

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