Yay, AT&T!

It's been a fun week of talking to customer service people trying to get out of paying extra money because their crappy products broke. The problem with my cousin's ACER computer (described in the previous post) turned out to be due to a Vista update that killed lots of computers, not just my cousin's, and has so far involved a three-way conversation between Microsoft, my cousin, and myself that ended with the decision that my cousin should drive to Best Buy and get the Best Buy rep on the phone and call us all back. That hasn't happened yet, but it should be fun.

This post is titled "Yay, AT&T!" because happily, and unlike the combined to-date efforts of Best Buy, ACER, and Microsoft, AT&T recognized they were the ones who fucked up and acted in fairness to the customer! Here's the chronology of what happened, and how AT&T fixed it.

1) On Jan 2nd, 2008, I upgraded my cell phone for the first time in five years. It cost $70, with a $50 rebate (remember this for later...$20 net cost to me).
2) Three weeks later, the LCD screen on the front of the phone (it's a flip phone) broke. The screen cracked, showing a line down the middle. I did not drop it. I did not dump it in water. I did not chew on, jab, bang, or otherwise molest it. I just pulled it from my pocket and it was broken.
3) I explained this to AT&T warranty services, who told me they would send me a replacement, and to send in the broken one when I received the new one. Which I did.
4) Two weeks later, AT&T sends the broken phone back to me, saying "This phone is broken! The LCD is cracked! You owe us $115 for the new phone!"
5) A large vein began throbbing in my head, my eyes got squinty and murderous, steam poured from my ears, and I picked up the phone. I explained to the AT&T rep who answered that I had absolutely no intention of paying. I was then put on hold for 20 minutes, with the rep coming back every 2-3 minutes to tell me to wait another 2-3 minutes.

Now, this is where AT&T earned this post...because eventually the rep came back and said, "First of all, you shouldn't have been charged $115 because the phone only cost $70. Secondly, because you told Warranty Services exactly what the problem was and they replaced the phone anyway, we're going to credit the charge to your account. Sorry about that."

So...they owned up to their mistake and waived the charge, and thus avoided permanently losing a customer. That's not just fair business practice, it's SMART business practice, and what's shocking is how many companies completely fail to grasp that concept.

Yay, AT&T!