Customer Service. Anyone remember customer service?
I had a grumpy morning but I'm ok now. I got my first cell bill today since I got the new iPhone. The used car salesman that sold me the new phone and new contract told me that the plan was discounted so that the phone would basically be free so long as I accepted the new plan with the free LG pad. Well my first new bill was $30 more than my last bill, under the old plan. $30 isn't gonna make or break me but it wasn't what I was told. Turns out the pad is free but there's a monthly charge and an activation fee (that the salesman neglected to tell me.) I would have never taken the pad if there was a cost because I knew I'd never use it.
So, I went to the AT&T store this morning to find out what happened. I brought the pad back, in the original box. I never even opened up the package that contained the manual or the charge cord. The gal that began to help me had to go get her manager because she wasn't authorized to delete the pad from my account. I told the manager that his sales associate did not inform me of the monthly cost of the pad and that I would never had agreed to take it if there was a monthly cost because I knew I'd never use it. Instead of taking the pad back, the manager basically told me tough ****t, and that I should've read the fine print of the contract. He said I'd already had the pad for 30 days. I told him I didn't even use it. I tried to get him to see my point but he wouldn't budge. He got a little rude. I wanted to snatch his 5'3" ass up and ragdoll him around but I kept my composure and asked him what it would cost me to get out of his scam contract. He smugly replied that I'd have to pay the phone off without the discounted monthly bill agreement. I slapped down the VISA and told him to charge the balance of the contract, my current bill and to delete the pad from the account ($975.) When the transaction was complete I snapped the pad in half and threw it in the trash.
I've been an AT&T customer for 15 years; cell phone, home phone and internet. When I got home, I emailed corporate and I phoned corporate. I got transferred to a customer service specialist. She told me that I should have called before I toasted the pad because she would've taken it back. Oh well. She wound up filing a complaint, on my behalf, against the store manager with the district manager. She also credited my account the cost of the pad, the activation fee and the early cancellation fee. She also cut the cost for my monthly plan in half for as long as I have that number.
I'm calm now. It's so hard these days to get any customer service for anything. It took some doing but the customer service specialist did a great job and went out of her way to see that I was happy with the resolution. End of rant
