To return to main article just close or minimize this window I immediately responded with the following email to AT&T Customer support
You sent me a bill & I am shocked! If you check my records
you will see that you did not provide me with services as promised.
AT&T has committed false advertising & fraud. This is absurd! I DO NOT
OWE YOU ANY MONEY & IF YOU PERSIST, I WILL FILE A CLAIM WITH THE FTC
Sincerely,
Blair Jett
They replied with the following message January 1, 2009
Dear Blair Jett,
Thank you for taking time to contact the Off-Line Support Team. We
appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns on account number
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
I regret if AT&T has not lived up to your expectations. I will be glad
to assist you; however, your email does not include enough information
regarding the Service you are disputing. Please resubmit your email
providing more details; alternatively you may contact our Billing Center
at 1.888.321.2375 option #2. The Hours of Operation are from Monday
through Friday 8:00 am to 7:00 pm EST and Saturday 8:00 am to 7:00 pm
EST.
Again, thank you for contacting OST. It has been our goal to provide top
quality billing services!
Sincerely,
Ms. P. Jackson
AT&T Southeast
Customer Service Agent
Should you need further assistance or have other questions, please reply
back to this e-mail and the AT&T Online Customer Care team will be happy
to help you.
We do appreciate your business at AT&T. It has truly been my goal to
provide you with outstanding customer service.
Sincerely,
Elnita Barnett
AT&T Online Customer Care&caseid=xxxxxxxxx
Don`t ask me why that email was signed by two different people, I`m still at a loss to explain that. But it said "My goal is to provide you with outstanding customer service" & the other one said "billing service". Gee you could have fooled me! Guess what, YOU FAILED TO MEET YOUR GOAL!! I then responded with the following email > Original Message Follows: ------------------------
All of this is documented in my account records. When I called & inquired about your service in feb 09, I explained that I operate an internet television station from my home & I must have a reliable high speed connection of at least 5 mbps.
Your representatives assured me that AT&T`s 6 mb package for $47.95 a month is exactly what I`m looking for. Reliable & ultra fast. They told me that occassionally during times of high traffic it may only be 4 mbps, but that is rare & only during times of high traffic.
After signing with you, My internet was going down daily (usually between 7 & 10 am) & speed tests revealed that I was actually getting less than 2 mbps of bandwidth. In fact the last test was only 1.7.
On two seperate occassions you sent a tech out to my home & on both visits I was told that there is nothing that can be done about it. I was told that because I am 2 miles from the nearest switching station, the service is not up to specs.
One tech told me that he sees this all the time & it irritates him that AT&T is selling a product to unsuspecting customers that they cannot deliver.
5 days prior to me disconnecting my service (early July) I had absolutely no connection whatsoever. THAT`S RIGHT, 5 DAYS MY STATION WAS OFF THE AIR & NO CONNECTION AT ALL.
It doesn`t take a rocket scientist to see that AT&T has committed fraud & false advertising here. Not to mention wasted my time & money on an inferior service. I made myself very clear when I signed on with you of what type of service I needed & I did it soley for the understanding of what I needed & I was promised that service. Apparently AT&T is more interested in making money than they are in being truthful with their advertising.
Now you`re implying that I owe you money? You`re insane!!! Speaking of money, you`re damn lucky that I haven`t sent YOU a bill for the 5 days that my television station was off the air. My advice to you is to drop this whole issue or I will have to take further action, i.e. filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commision for false advertising. Not to mention going public with my story on the media outlets that I have at my disposal.
I DO NOT OWE AT&T ANY MONEY!
Blair Jett.
They then responded with the following email
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:20:04 -0400
From: feedback@amcustomercare.att-mail.com
Subject: RE: Bill Inquiry (xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Dear Blair Jett,
Thank you for taking time to contact the Off-Line Support Team. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns on account number xxxxxxxxxx
We apologize that AT&T Internet services has not lived up to your expectations. Unfortunately, our DSL service does not have a Money Back Guarantee and is considered a Best Effort Service, please see our Terms and Conditions.
If in the future you should discover a discrepancy with your billing, please notify the new AT&T within the 60 day timeframe for reporting bill discrepancies. This will allow us to correct the issue as soon as possible and avoid any inconvenience to you as a valued customer.
Again, thank you for contacting OST. It has been our goal to provide top quality billing services!
Sincerely,
Ms. P. Jackson
AT&T Southeast
Customer Service Agent
Notice how they use the ole "terms & conditions" trick? Funny, I signed up over the telephone & the sales rep that lied & sold me the package never mentioned any terms & conditions. But she did promise me that at the very worst, I`d get 4 mbps during times of heavy traffic. The rep in this email however, stated that AT&T DSL is a "best effort service & is not guaranteed"... So this appears to be a self admission that they know they are providing substandard service, so they word their terms & conditions in a manner that (hopefully by their terms) excuses them of any responsibility if customers are not happy. (how professional! Gee, yeah I really want to do business with a company like that!) Have you heard the term "Buyer Beware" ? I`d say it definately applies to this scenario. Below is my response to them From: Blair Jett To: feedback@amcustomercare.att-mail.com
Subject: RE: Bill Inquiry (xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:02:18 -0700
Wed Aug 12, 2009.
Well that was a rather pointless response, did you send it by accident?
I am not an AT&T customer, so I really don`t see me asking for a refund anytime soon. You did not address the issue at hand here! If you think you can throw some cockimamy respose like that & it in some way vindicates you, You`re Wrong!
Don`t even give me a bullshit response like that & imply that that phrase in some way justifies your actions! It doesnt!
Terms & conditions my ass! Maybe you haven`t even heard of a very important business term called EARNING A CUSTOMER`S RESPECT. You want money? Then provide the services as promised!! If you cannot do that, then you don`t deserve money nor the right to ask for it!
So I don`t know what AT&T`s official stance here is, because you failed to make that clear. But I want to re-itterate what I said earlier.
If I receive any further bills from AT&T on this account, I will file a claim with the FTC, Send AT&T a bill for the amount of $1.098 to cover the television station being off the air for 5 days, I will also share my story publicly. And that will not produce any positive results for you.
You want obedient customers that pay bills? Then earn it by selling a product that meets your own selling terms!
Blair Jett
Well notice the date in these emails was August of 2009. I never got a response after that & so naturally I assumed that someone in AT&T`s customer care department actually realized how rediculous they were being & dismissed the issue. Clearly they wouldn`t want to be exposed for false advertising & misrepresentation, would they? I`m going to have to say , no they don`t care! Because on December 31, 2009 I received a notice from a collection agency on behalf of AT&T demanding $47.95. HA! Do you really think I`m going to pay that? Think again!!! Below is the email I sent to them in response January 1, 2010 I can`t believe that you pinheads have turned this matter over to collections! Especially after I made it very clear that you did not fulfill your promise nor did you provide the services as promised. You people truly are living in your own little greedy little bubble aren`t you? Did you think I was bluffing when I warned you that I would take this matter up with The Federal Trade Commission if you persist? Do you truly believe that it`s ok for you to blatantly lie to people, not provide the services you promised, & then have the audacity to expect to be paid for services you didn`t provide? I`m sorry, but what planet did you say you came from? I have sent notification to the collection agency that this is not a legitimate bill, and on Monday January 4, 2010, I will file a complaint with the FTC & The Better Business Bureau. I will then put steps in motion to publish this story at the Scam Alerts section & the Buyer Beware section at www.NightmareOnChatStreet.Com. I will also share this story with several other reputable sites like RipOffReport.Com. Is this the kind of publicity that AT&T wants? Please take the time to scroll down & read the previous correspondence between myself & you`re "Customer Service Reps" & ask yourself..........Is AT&T doing the right thing here? Unlike you, I`m living in the real world here! Blair Jett As I stated I began the process of filing my complaints with the FTC & the BBB, but when it came time to acquire AT&T`s address & phone number, their website was nothing but misleading links & clicking "Contact Us" took me to a page that tried to sell me an AT&T product. This can only make a resonable person wonder why AT&T tries so hard to avoid providing something as simple as an address & phone number. Some of the links were even broken & didn`t work at all. This collection agency that contacted me guises themselves under the name Gregory J. Barro, PLC Attorney At Law & Associates 400 Travis Street suite 1004 Shreveport, Louisiana. 71101 (800)582-0965 I called them & asked for an email address & they tried to tell me they don`t have one. So I did a search & found this Mr. Barro at Lawyers.com which provided a contact form to send him an email. I sent him an email requesting that he provide an actual email address that allows attachments so I could forward documentation to him, but to date there has been no reply. Then I sent AT&T the following email January 5, 2010 As I warned you, I am in the process of filing a complaint with the FTC & The BBB. I need to know your contact information for their records so we can begin the complaint. Name Of Business Address Postal Code City Business Country State/Province Phone Number eMail Address Website url I attempted to retrieve this information from your website, but that attempt was unsuccessful due to the fact that clicking on your links like "contact us" tries to sell a product, rather than providing contact information. This should be a tip off to anyone that something very suspicious is taking place here. What are you trying to hide from consumers? If you choose to ignore this request, It will be taken as an admission of guilt, added to the complaint, and added to the article already published about your company. Here is the link to that article. http://nightmareonchatstreet.com/ATT_Sucks.aspx In just 3 days this article has been read by over a thousand people & many of them are contacting us & telling their stories as well. Seems like AT&T is really making a lot of enemies & gaining a seedy reputation. If you do not respond to this email & provide the necessary information, I will call your corporate offices as well. Blair Jett Notice sent to Gregory J. Barro, PLC Attorney At Law & Associates 400 Travis Street suite 1004 Shreveport, Louisiana. 71101 (800)582-0965 In regards to account number xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx December 31, 2009
This is NOT a legitimate debt. AT&T did not provide the services as promised & I informed them that if they pushed the issue any further, I will file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
Please note that since I have received this notice from you nine (9) months after the fact, that I will go ahead with my complaint. Furthermore I will publish my story in an online scam alert website & any parties that are associated with this (including you) will also be included in this online publication. If this matter is resolved properly to my satisfaction, the above mentioned procedure will not take place.
If you will provide me with your email address I will forward all of my previous communications with them for you to see.
Blair Jett Follow up email sent to Gregory J. Barro On January 6, 2010 Mr. Barro,
On December 31, 2009, I sent you a request to provide me with an email address so that I can send you documentation that account 256-775-1779-745 is not a legitamate debt & that AT&T has committed fraud & deception. To date, six days later I have not gotten any response from you. This is an attempt to clear up a matter that YOU cantacted me about alledging that I owe an unpaid debt. You also stated in that letter that If I do not contact you within 30 days to dispute that debt, it will be considered legitamate. THIS IS TO NOTIFY YOU THAT I AM DISPUTING THAT ALLEGATION!
below you will see a copy of just one of several emails I have sent to AT&T to resolve this matter & it`s beginning to appear that I will be forced to take legal action against them.
Futhermore in compliance with federal law, I am hereby notifying you & any representatives of yours that you do not have permission to call me on the telephone regarding this matter. By law I must notify you in writing, AND THIS IS YOUR NOTIFICATION. Any phone calls from you or your agents will be a criminal violation & legal action will be taken in this matter.
If you choose to continue to ignore my attempts to resolve this issue with you, it will be interpreted that you are no longer interested in this matter & have abandoned any & all association with this matter.
Sincerely,
Blair Jett To return to the main article just close or minimize this window |