Who Deserves a Flog Today?

The Flogging Whip is in a tizzy against AT&T. I suppose I "should" be grateful that I have electricity and a working phone and Internet connection unlike so many of the Sandy Hurricane "victims" who waited for-effing-ever to regain the simple power of Electricity. However, I'm not in that hell at the moment, living, instead, with the constant threat of earthquakes and fires in my part of the world. Therefore, in a moment of "Grace" from natural disasters, I will flog away at what I discovered to be the most frustrating, impossible-to-fathom experience with a company that is supposed to be available to its customers 24/7, 365 days a year according to their website. No, they were NOT available beyond an automated voice which was where every single number I had for the company sent me after rounds of speaking into the non-listening ears of "That Voice" which continued to tell me after answering tons of questions IT asked that the offices where I needed to speak to a HUMAN BEING was/were "closed." And one of those offices was "Repair." 

Let's start from the beginning so that you'll understand the ire I have developed within less than a week. On the day prior to Thanksgiving, while traveling, I received an automated call from AT&T, the phone service I have been with for a very long time. The message indicated there was something awry with my account and I needed to contact "them" ASAP to avoid disconnection of my landline. First, the call was unnecessary as all is well with my account. Second, calling a person on the Busiest Travel Day In America requesting a call-back is rather lame. Who has the time or, in some cases, the ability to conduct personal biz on a holiday getaway day? Of course by the time I received the message their offices were "closed." I felt uneasy with the issue hanging in limbo, and attempted to reach someone on Thanksgiving Day. I expect most biz's to be closed on holidays if not part of the hype of Black Friday and the early-this-year door openings of Target, Walmart, and so on. After getting shut-down following calls to at least 6 different numbers for Customer Service, Billing, I gave up, assuming Friday, a non-Holiday, would bring a HUMAN BEING to my ear on my next round of attempts to speak to someone. Not so. On Friday, the same runaround occurred. Sent back to the same automated system and told once again that no one was available to take my call. Now this was becoming absurdly frustrating. Isn't AT&T a SERVICE company? So, I decided to try my luck at reaching other divisions beyond Billing to find out if I could be routed to a Human, which is why I eventually chose "Repair." Same crap. "That office is closed." WHAT? If anyone had a repair problem the DAY AFTER Thanksgiving, AT&T wasn't "there" to handle the problem. I could not believe it. I then tracked-down more numbers – local and 800 – to resolve the issue. Same ending. Unbelievable. I then went to their website to have a discussion with their operators who were advertised to be available 365 days a year for all issues. I found more numbers, tried to set up a Live Chat with a rep, only to be told on their website that "Chat is closed for the holidays." Furious, I stomped around the home where I was visiting until the smoke began to clear from my Ears of Wrath. On Saturday, I called 5 of those numbers again. Same automated nonsense and more of "This office is closed." Somehow, through an entirely different number I stumbled on, a PERSON actually answered and I was able to resolve the problem. However, the rep, unlike the usually pleasant personnel I have dealt with at AT&T in the past, was defensive about my plight…letting me know it was a holiday time period. So what? Friday wasn't a holiday. Nor was Saturday, so why the attitude after I calmly explained how many times I had tried to find a person. I mentioned "What would have happened if my phone had problems and I needed immediate repair – even via remote?" The rep may as well have yawned in my ear and told me to STFU. I explained that had I not FINALLY located SOMEONE to speak with that Saturday, I would have canceled my account. One would think a Customer Service rep would have apologized for the chaos and would have said the soothing words of concern to retain a customer who was obviously feeling jacked-around. Not this woman. She could not have cared less. I decided to let my anger go and to be thankful for at least having the problem off my list and mind. Strange, but yesterday I received a call from AT&T to ask me if I had been satisfied with the problem resolution. This time I had a true pro on the line who listened to all of my complaints, including the near-cancellation. I was treated like a valued customer and, for an apology, a deal was arranged to knock a few dollars off my monthly bill. Nice gesture. However, within minutes of finishing the call, AT&T's Sales Department called to try to sell some of their "stuff" to me – such as Wi-Fi (I'm with a different company for that), a cell phone, you name it. Again, Un-Effing-Unbelievable. If a Service Provider does not provide service, I believe it's time to look around for a better company, don't you? In the interim, if you are an AT&T customer, try not to have a repair or billing problem around the holidays. Just climb up their phone line polls and cut them off. Then we'll see how quickly someone shows-up to fix the problem.

"MagicJack" anyone?

Rant over.