AT&T Tech Support
There has been a lot of negative sentiment on technical support and customer care representatives lately. I’ve voiced some frustration with Sprint’s front-line technical support staff before. Poor customer service over the phone has also been publicized with Vincent Ferrari’s AOL episode as well as a recent video taping of a Comcast technician sleeping on a customer’s couch while waiting for assistance from his peers. Because people are likely driven by self-interest, there really is no reason for customers to give feedback for anything other than complaints.
This entry bucks the trend. I was recently frustrated with my DSL connection. I have had this connection for almost three years, and I have never before had a problem. My connection started dropping multiple times throughout each day. I reached for technical support at AT&T (formerly SBC). The phone support was mediocre, but the people that provided service at my house were exceptional technicians. Both of these technicians did their job above my expectations and perhaps outside of their protocol.
Now, my connection is stable, and I am a content customer once again. Their equipment may or may not have been faulty, but my home’s phone wiring is a more likely cause of the service disruptions. There were two ways to resolve the problem: go with cable or fix my inside wiring. Since the necessary wires were readily available, ahem, my inside wiring was fixed quickly.
September 21st, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Yeah, once they come out to your house, the AT&T people are very good. It takes a virtual act of god to get them there, but they really know what they’re doing. One tech even gave us his card and told us to call directly when we have a problem.
March 30th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
I need some help. On Tuseday I called in to have my phone looked at, and they said that someone would look at it on thursday. But no one came or called. Today it is Friday @ 11.00 O’clock and Istill have no phone
My phone has no dialtone, can someone help me please.
Thank you Josh Dunbar.
April 9th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
There’s a FAQ on the AT&T/SBC Website that will direct you how to test the telco line at the junction box. If it works there, the problem is inside your house. If it doesn’t work there, the problem is AT&T’s. The Telco company is required by law to get at least one jack, inside your house, working.
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Our phone went out today-6-03-2007. No dial tone. It took forever to get to a rep. She told me it was a phone off the hook here. She wanted us to unplug all the phones for five min. Then try them again. It didn”t work. One plug in went behind the large cabnet, and now we can’t get to it. None of our phones work. It’s the weekend and we’re up a creek.
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:59 pm
On Aug. 2nd, I called Tec-suipport to re-establish my internet connection after a crashed computer wiped out all my files. The gentleman helping me had a very pronounced accent, and I had difficulties understanding him. I was on the phone with him for almost an hour. During this time, I asked him twice to not yell at me. I couldn’t believe that I was being talked to this way. I finally hung up on him. Customers should not be treated this way.
August 22nd, 2007 at 7:57 am
I’m not being able to connect to E mail connection
August 27th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
AS A FORMER CUSTOMER. AT&T DOES NOT KNOW CRAP ABOUT HIGH SPEED INTERNET SERVICE. I WAS A CUSTOMER WHEN BILL GATES WAS CONNECTED WITH SBC YAHOO. I’LL BET MR GATES IS STILL MAKING MONEY. HOW’S AT&T DOING? THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.
August 27th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
IT’S TAKEN ME ALMOST 3 WEEKS TO SWITCH FROM AT&T HIGH SPEED INTERNET SERVICE. I HAVE THEM OFF MY SIGN ON SCREEN. BUT STILL GET GET THEIR YAHOO NEWS SERVICE. I’D ALMOST WAGER THE PONY EXPRESS WAS AS FAST AS AT&T. WHO’S RUNNING AT&T NOW? HOPE AT&T EMPLOYEES HAVE THEIR RETIREMENT BENEFITS LOCKED IN. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.
August 27th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
DOES AT&T PRACTICE CENSORSHIP TOO?.
August 27th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
ALMOST 3 WEEKS AGO I SWITCHED FROM AT&T HIGH SPEED INTERNET SERVICE. AS A FORMER SATISFIED CUSTOMER OF SBC YAHOO FOR OVER 3 YEARS, I WONDER WHAT’S HAPPENED TO AT&T. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME
August 27th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
I WONDER WHO READS THESE COMMENTS. PROBABLY NOT AT&T HIGH LEVEL MANAGEMENT. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.
August 28th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
AT&T’s Internet has been pretty good. Their phone service is starting to get kind of expensive, though.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:02 am
just bought an air card 3 days ago and it works a few minutes and quits. help somebody help me.
September 24th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
phone has no dial tone please fix asap
October 1st, 2007 at 9:19 pm
I work for AT&T DSL tech support and part of the problem is the BS AT&T forces us to do. I would be able to give alot better support if I didnt have to folow their BS guidelines.
Opening script is verbatim… /Thank you for choosing AT&T internet services, My name is Mark, May I please have the telephone number associated with your AT&T high speed internet service. Would this number be a good number to reach you in case we are disconnected?/
Atleast that is for my call center.
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:57 am
The cost of phone service is starting to ramp up.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Oh and btw, everyone that doesnt like AT&T should just cancel the service. And dont threat to do it though if you are un happy, us tech support employees dont lose anything if you cancel your account. Our bonuses etc. are based on other things, if you want to cancel we will just transfer you on to the department that will do that for you and Im sure they wont want to lose a customer.
Guess what im saying is if you are un happy with the service just cancel it. AT&T has like millions of customers you dont really matter much, its sad but true.
November 16th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Last night the AT&T internet service was not working. I called and it said the entire service was down in Chicago. I’m not going to pay for Nov 15.
November 19th, 2007 at 9:38 am
I want to get AT&T DSL, the service comes up in my yard, to service all my neighbors but service is not available to me. I spent 1. hours on the phone getting the bounce around. I can post names of the folks that bounced me. I finally got to a tech, gave the call back number which is my cell, it’s been 15 minutes since we got disconnected, and no call back. I am so pissed. I want to get a chain saw and take the freakin pole down. That would be bad idea though. It was stated to express the level of frustration. I would never do anything like that. I may however, contact my local State Representative. Maybe they can findout why.
November 24th, 2007 at 10:45 am
I just bought the Samsung Blackjack.
I love it but I’m having a problem receiving my text from certain people.
They say they receive mine, but I never get there reply
November 27th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
i have been working with AT&T tech support for almost 2 years and half, and i am very proud to say that i have been ranked among top 10 online tech support for several months. the key to sucess is to understand the member calling and providing support with in our scope and customer education.
November 27th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
I have worked with HP desktop support and presently working for AT&T business Queue for past 2 years. And every day on an average i talk to 25 customers regarding their connectivity,Email,router/modem configration etc. i have worked with both LOBs of SBC (AT&T) but i love to work with business member, where i can shaire my knowledge and experience in a better way then the residential customer.where you need to make them happy by just being extra polite and patient rather then doing efficent trobleshooting.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
We are having problems with some of our computer and since we have you guys as our internet provider I was wondering if you would provide service to our location. To see you you would be abe to help us resolve this matter with some of the computer that we have here at Oak Park PreSchool Inc. If that’s not possiable do you have somebody that you can recomend.
Thank You and have a wonderful day.
Amparo Marquez-Jimenez
Administrative Assistance
(916) 451-XXXX
January 20th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I JUST SUBSCRIBED TO AT&T’S DIAL UP THE OTHER DAY BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE FAST ACCESS DSL IN OUR ARES I CAN’T EVEN GET MY E-MAIL TO WORK I CAN’T SEND OR RECIEVE E-MAIL’S SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!!!
January 20th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
BEGINING TO WOUNDER IF IT WAS A AGOOD IDEA I LOVE THEIR PHONE SERVICE, I CALLED TECH SUPPORT AND I COULD HARDLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THE GUY WAS EVEN SAYING AND MY E-MAIL STILL DOESN’T WORK
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Recently, I had hard time to deal with ATT customer service and tech support. They are far less professional than a few years before. Looking at what some ATT employees said above, I feel very cool in my heart. The spirit of ATT died. I will try Brighthouse for TV, phone, and internet; the price is cheaper and the employee’s attitude is better.
February 15th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I am having a problem staying connected. Can sign-in but if I try to read a email or just look up anything I get a blank screen and then I am disconnected. Please advise or fix my problem. Thanks in advance for your time and efforts. Sincerely, Carol
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
My phone will not let me do anything right now! it wants me to enter some puk number??????
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
helloooooo
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:02 am
I am trying to configure Outlook Express in my notebook. I follow all the steps as it says on ACCOUNTS but nothing. It keeps saying Password no good. I was getting some emails in Microsoft Outlook but even that quit.
Is it that I have two different email accounts? At least, trying to configure either one–Outlook Express or Microsoft Outlook..I just don’t receive any mail. Help please
May 1st, 2008 at 3:43 pm
As a former ATT employee I can tell you that part of the problem is the way the tech supppot system is set up…
with lots of people in india or some other nations not doing what theyre supposed to do.
As soon as u mention ur connected wirelessly with a 2wire modem they get u over to the 2wire department (which is located in the US and Mexico) even if its not a problem with the modem itself or with the wireless connection, this usually increases customers frustrations….
All the scripts we are almost forcer to dollow are also quite robotic and tiring…. I think it makes people feel were not really listening…
Anyway I finally got totally fed up of people calling with the same issues over and over …
So for all of you ATT dsl customers there are some thinks u need to know before calling for tech support:
if u have a mac that just wont connect wirelessly that best think u can do is ask the representative to get u over the SECOND level of 2wire directly..
if u have multiple computers but only one of them is unable to connect.. dont even waste ur time trying to blame it on the modem
ATT is NOT supporting outllook 2007 or thunderbird….
if ur trying to connect ur Iphone or a psp thats NOT something we can help u with we`ll offer you the support plus department which is fee-based
the most important one is…. if u 2wire modem stops working and its more than a year old …. dont even bother calling coz they WILL NOT send u a need one
If u dont like accents.. request to be transfered to an onshore agent right away… and when he fixes the problem..
try to learn a foreing language to see if u can do better !!
June 14th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I want to know how much it would be to bundle our home phone, cell phones, computer (DSL) and satalite into one package with AT&T please. We have all the above except our cell phones with AT&T. Our phone # is 704-922-XXXX. Zip code 28034. Please contact us by email or phone 704-689-XXXX . (We have a neighbor who is employed by AT&T and he recomends your services. He is an on the road “fixer”. Is their some kind of points or rewards benifit he get’s if we recomend him as our “salesman” on this. He is a really super person). Thank you.
June 17th, 2008 at 4:22 am
On 6/12/08 I signed up with ATT Tech Support, gave Credit Card info & Etc requested service for 6/16 they have not acknowledged me in any way what so ever, Are they still in business????
June 17th, 2008 at 4:24 am
It is 7:25 AM 6/17, still no reply, Im going to take a shower. gone.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Recently my computer system had a DSL problem.
I am very pleased with the respones from tech support.
The final annalysis needed a field person (Randy) in Temple, TX. He promptly found the problem. AT&T had changed something, I think in their fiber optics network.
All of this took less than a day from start to finish.
xxxxxx@att.net - (254) 778-XXXX
Thanks
July 5th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Hello customers and representatives::::
Hello, im currently working as an AT&T technical support representative, and i love my work.
To those people who have bad experieriences with AT&T, im sorry, i do wish i could help you with it. AT&T is always looking for ways to increase the satisfaction of its customers. In fact almost every month we undergo up-training, coaching and attends weekly sessions with our supervisors for us to provide excellent customer service.
Please dont believe that we dont care for our customers because thats not true. WE care for all of you, because we love our job. We may not be that good with english or you may be more techy than us, but we really do our best and work with our customers as if we are the ones affected..
Reasons why we do good:
1.) This is our bread and butter. I, for one, supports a daughter and mmy youngest brother
2.) I love my team lead/ supervisor that i dont want him to look bad with his supervisor as well
3.) The highest paying job here in our country
Also, its true that there are a lot of foreign representatives, but dont worry about our accents because everyday we undergo speech and grammar lessons to improve and finally to provide excellent customer services to our customers. And if jsut incase, its really giving you a hard time to understand the rep support, customers could always ask for onshore.. this ways you could speak to an american representative..
And just incase you have issues with the telephone line, always call the reapir department during business hours. Because we tech reps from dsl could only provide you basic information about the repair and give the direct number.. 1-800-288-2020.
Im sorry to those peoplke who experiences those bad connections and
awful customers service. Dont worry AT&T are investigating now this reports and are conducting a worlwide research.
Good day and maraming salamat
July 7th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Hi guys i’m from the 2wire support group of att. If you do have a 2wire modem from at&T call the 2wire support group immediately and i can assure you guys that majority of the agents that you’ll be talking with, are understandable agents and technically savvy as well… those with speedstream or motorolla modems those subscribers will be transferred to DSL queue and the bad thing about the issue is they might talk with people from INdia… and their tech support sucks…!!! sometimes you cant understand these moronic people!!! And sometimes these people dont know what their doing… example: if they hear that your running a wireless connection on a 2Wire modem they would transfer you to the 2wire support immediately!! they dont even bother to probe and ask for appropriate questions that may resolved the issue… based on the rules that we follow: att tech support representatives, DSL and 2Wire queues support hardwired connection on 2Wire modems.. Worst thing if DSL agents from India determine that subscriber is using 2Wire modems they would transfer it as fast as they can to 2Wire support w/o bothering to ask anything from the subscribers…and that would make customer experience worst than ever! In addition to that, introducing subscribers to us (2Wire support group) is another mess!! sometimes these agents from India would just try to tell us that subscribers are on wireless and its out of their scope that’s why he/she is transferring the call to our dept. And that sucks!! coz u know it would add another factor to customer dissatisfaction.. U know why?? coz subscribers would hear the same scripted crap!! they would retell everything to the 2Wire rep. that has been said to the crappy agent that transferred them, and its a complete repetition!! and that is the reason why subscribers spend more time on the phone and that’s not good for busy subscribers. And this issue affects ATT technical support group wholistically, coz those bastards don’t exert their efforts to do a great job!! Placing me on customer’s shoes would be a hell, coz of those worthless INdians who don’t do their jobs good enough!!
Bottom Line: If you have a 2wire modem request immediately for a 2Wire Rep and they will be more than happy to help you with your concern and you will be talking with great agents as well. Well equipped and properly trained!!
Too bad for subscribers with motorolla or speedstream modems coz u’ll have a chance to talk with those idiotic Indians with poor accents and ill equipped technical know how!!..
Im not a racist, just do things well and u might be given a commendation from a happy and very satisfied customer… Ciao!!
Mabuhay ang lahing Pilipino!!
August 3rd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Michael Seidel; is experiencing t.\echnical difficulty in accessing information on the Internet. Can someone in the Technical support team please contact me at my home or e-mail to me inststructions so that I may use them to attempt getting Access from the Internet. For the period of one week since last Wednesday July 28th, I have been experiencing difficulty getting access from the Internet. If the attempt is unsuccessful the intention is to have an AT&T technician visit my home at XXXX Superior Park #XX Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Home (216) 371-XXXX
Cell
August 12th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
@agent_orange
hahaha, you got that one right! LOL :P
August 15th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Hello there people, I am an0 ATT tech support guy working for 5 years in the onshore division. AT&T is truly commited to give you guys the best in service. So much that ATT is kicking all its agents in the shin for not getting a very satisfied rating. You get a survey, you are satisfied with the tech although he did not resolve the problem, you give a satisfied rating and no on issue resolution. The agent gets a 0% meaning, there is a deduction in agent’s salary for something which is not her fault in the first place. The surveys you fill do not go to att but goes to the poor agent who suffers for something which is not his fault. The agent only gets a pat on the back if you rate him very satisfied on all the survey questions if he is able to provide a resolution, which is all we work for and which is all we need from you.
Nobody here wants to screw you guys. Like you, we also have to work under stringent laws. If we go out of our way to help you out, we end up losing our jobs. The agent here is on your side, fighting the company bosses to get your job done. Many people complain the agents put up a very long hold. Now you know the reason why. We want to get your job done but what is the end result? I am bad in the eyes of my boss because I fought with them to resolve your problem. I am bad in your eyes because I put you on hold. You ask, what is my reward of giving you the best of my abilities? Losing my pay, threat of losing my job, fear of getting a 0% on my survey that you guys would be filling out.
Do I deserve this for trying to help you out? You may say, if you are so dissatisfied, why dont you change your job? But the point is you would still get the same or probably worse service from the other agent. If you think you are not getting anywhere with the agent, request a supervisor. Rather than blaming AT&T’s support staff. We know that you are facing problems but dont think that tech support is having a big blast for screwing the donuts out of you guys.
We have our limitations which we clearly mention on all our calls. Problem is you guys do not rate is on our capabilities and what we have achieved for you, you rate us on our limitations which is the reason nobody is satisfied.
September 21st, 2008 at 4:39 am
“ryan Says:
November 27th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
i have been working with AT&T tech support for almost 2 years and half, and i am very proud to say that i have been ranked among top 10 online tech support for several months. the key to sucess is to understand the member calling and providing support with in our scope and customer education.”
top 10 ONLINE??? If you are referring to online chat then you got to be kidding me. Online chat tech support is a joke, all you guys do is gather all the information and optimize the browser or power cycle. If that doesnt work then you tell them to call us phone support people.
@nathan (the 2wire guy): You blame DSL tech support for transferring the calls to you guys if the customer has a 2wire that customer would like wireless. Why would I waste 15mins of my time troubleshooting his hardwired if after I get it working I have to transfer because he wireless labtop isnt working? Plus this screws up my FCR (first call resolution, one of our bonuses).
@Onshore Tech Support Guy: Stop crying about how customers rate your service, if you only get satisfied then make sure they are Very satisfied with you. And dont cry about it to your bosses either, just follow instructions.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
ATT tech support is located in Buenos Aires Argentina. Address: Carlos Pellegrinni y Cordoba. Tier1. I was an agent. Please forgive us if the service was terrible. We are all students, from 19 to 25 years old. We barely speak english. And we dont know a thing about networking or computers. Before we get in we receive a 4 weeks training.. and that is it!! then, they send us to the phone..! We are not technicians!! we are just kids!!
Plus, the pay is so bad and the job so stressing that nobody stays there for more than 3 months or so..
For all the americans who call me, please forgive me.. i sucked.. that is why i dont work there anymore.. Good for you..
November 11th, 2008 at 9:11 am
After 1 year of getting run over by The AT&T doesn’t give a crap bus, I’ve figured out the real problem. It is the way the mega-conglomerate is operated. There are separate departments for each aspect of operation. A Land line division, a DSL division, Wireless division, and sub-divisions of each 4 to 5 tiers deep. This in itself is not a real issue. The issue comes when the “Bundling” is offered and the divisions are far to divided to communicate between even tiers of sub-divisions let alone root divisions. So, the world’s largest communication company has a massive communications problem. This the main problem, there are many small problems that are, and are not, attributed to the main problem. The largest of which is the lack of employee satisfaction that cause untold problems in the end.
The end result of my problems was me taking “AT&T Employee”’s recommendation and moving every service possible to Suddenlink cable. I moved my land line, TV, Internet to Suddenlink. After calling to affirm that “Nothing will happen” when moving to Suddenlink phone, AT&T killed my Wireless service, made me undergo a credit inquiry to get it turned back on, then billed me the “early termination fee” of $175 per line. I spent 4 hours trying to explain that I didn’t have the Wireless service changed, or terminated. They realized the mistake and they fixed that. However, they called me on my cell to ask why I terminated. Yes, I spent the 4 hours on the cell with them they then charged the 243 minutes to my account. I had to call back to get that fixed. They told me that I should have dialed “611″ when I called. I explained that they called me… Still trying to figure that one out. I did in the end get 2 free months of service, the termination fees removed, a $25 “courtesy” credit (that had been promised but not applied when they killed the service.) and “upgrade” fees waived on each line. These are fairly deep discounts, but I’m not sure if we are going to renew with AT&T or not after finding out what huge problems they have inside their company. It seems the company has again become to large to manage. There would have to be some more pretty nice freebies for me to consider renewing. I did ask for a “letter of appology” after they screwed up the and terminated the wireless, then I had to get punished for them doing it. They admitted (or at least the tech support guy did) wrong doing but would not appologize, but would give up the deep discounts. That does not make sense. It would have been much cheaper, and I would have no reservations about renewing.
Also, if a company’s employee (AT&T Employee above) is running around the internet spouting what we suspect is the corporate additude, then maybe we are right. Maybe they think that they own us and do not have to give a crap about customer service.
November 25th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
People, do not post requests directly to AT&T — they will not respond here!