August 20, 2003

My wife and I have been customers for several years now. We each have our own phone with you. My service was turned off yesterday due to a past due balance. We called to find out what the issue was and my bills had been going to a different person at a different address. The name and address in your system was incorrect. We spent more than an hour on the phone trying to determine how this happened, how it can be corrected and how I can get my service back. We have never had service turned off and have always paid our bills.

I spoke with a William Monticello who claimed to be a Receivables manager. Upon explaining what happened to him (the third person I went through the story with), he immediately responded by telling me I had 10 days to pay or it would go to a collection agency. In addition, he indicated that it was somehow my fault that you had sent the bills to a different person at an address I never lived at.

The abruptness, inflexibility, professional incompetence and personal insolence displayed by Mr. Monticello was shocking to me. I am sure this is not the type of person you want representing your company. Can you tell me if it is company policy to threaten a long-time loyal customer with a collection agency? I never indicated I did not want to pay what was owed. The billing for both of our phones had always come on one bill. I upgraded my service in April and this is when they were split, I guess. Because I was used to getting one bill for both numbers, I did not realize that I was not being billed for one of them. Mr. Monticello also indicated this was my fault and reiterated his collection agency threat.

At the very least, I would have expected a courteous, problem solving minded interaction and more accurately, some type of admittance of the error and an effort to restore my service immediately. I got neither of those.

As things stand now, I have made a payment online and am awaiting my service to be restored. My address has been updated but the name on my account is still incorrect even though I was told three different times that it had been updated. Today when I called, I was told that I would need to go to a store and have it changed there. This is the first time anyone has mentioned this to me.

With individuals like Mr. Monticello in management positions, I can understand why there is so much confusion and seeming incompetence.

This entire experience has left a bad taste in my mouth to a company that I had previously enjoyed being a customer to. Please respond with ANY explanation that you may have which could possibly restore my confidence as I really want to continue to be a customer who is confident in the service provider I choose. In addition, I would appreciate an update on what actions are taking with regard to Mr. Monticello as again, that would give me some appeasement.

Sincerely,
William Lastname

Reply Letter!

Dear Mr. Lastname:

Thank you for contacting AT&T Wireless regarding your concern with our customer service. First, please allow us to apologize for the events that prompted your e-mail. AT&T Wireless strives to provide the best customer service possible and we regret any negative customer service experience you have received.

We have reviewed your account and are showing that the address has been corrected. Also we have corrected the last name on the account to Lastname.

Thanks for choosing AT&T Wireless. We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,
Michelle S.
AT&T Wireless
email Customer Care
attwireless.com