Att being difficult and playing games

[patpoms]

Why is att playing games? I signed up for uverse because there was a 30 trial period. I decided I was not completely satisfied and wanted to switch back to my old providers. I issued a porting work order for my phone with Comcast. Which looks like Att ignored. I called to cancel my uverse and was offered a better deal to stay, in which I was considering, and had to talk to my husband about. I also spoke to Comcast which re-issued the port request again which now shows up on my uverse account. When I called back to talk to Att, they would not give me the time of day because I was ‘LEAVING’. They said I could not cancel my account because of the work order, and it would take till the 24th of Oct which I will be under contract on the 22nd and have to pay early termination at that point. This was all done by att to make this happen by ignoring the first port order. I was considering staying but after learning this, I do not want to do business with a company that pulls stunts like this. I also have att phone service as well. If I lose my phone number that I have had for over 20 yrs because of this, then I will also cancel my cell phone service, again I do not want to do business with a company that tries to screw over it’s customers.

I am learning the hard way. But so will att by losing all of my services.

BTW I was told I could not cancel till the order completed or lose my number. So I guess it depends on how important my phone number is right? Lesson learned, bite the bullet and pay the fee, or let att learn the less and acquire me a whole new number and be done with att for life??? The kicker is I was seriously thinking of keeping phone and tv with them till this.

[Penguoctopus]

I'm surprised you had Comcast. All of these big companies "play games" as you say. All you've gotta do is be a little adamant about it and they'll get around to giving you the services you're paying for.

[patpoms]

Actually i have been with comcast on internet for years...I really have not had a problem with them or customer service. It's pretty stable (knock on wood). I have also had phone service and my cable line for phone was knocked out many times by an 18 wheeler and they were out asap to fix to get me back up and running. So really can't complain much about comcast. Now the way att is doing me is just plan sorry. You just can't do people like this and expect people to come aboard and do business with you. My son has uverse as well, but that might be changing too. Word of mouth will kill a business. You can offer great cheap prices but if your service suxs, then people will pay more for quality service. Again I was considering keeping 2 of the services until I learned how they scammed this deal of making me run over the 30 days trial period. So they can make up their own termination fees? Also waiting to hear a response from FCC in regards to porting my number and what has transpired.

[oufanindallas]

You can send a private message to the escalation team at ATT Customer Care and someone will get in touch with you within a couple days to help you get a resolution to your problems.

To check for their reply, click the little blue envelope.

[MicCheck]

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patpoms wrote:

Why is att playing games? I signed up for uverse because there was a 30 trial period. I decided I was not completely satisfied and wanted to switch back to my old providers. I issued a porting work order for my phone with Comcast. Which looks like Att ignored. I called to cancel my uverse and was offered a better deal to stay, in which I was considering, and had to talk to my husband about. I also spoke to Comcast which re-issued the port request again which now shows up on my uverse account. When I called back to talk to Att, they would not give me the time of day because I was ‘LEAVING’. They said I could not cancel my account because of the work order, and it would take till the 24th of Oct which I will be under contract on the 22nd and have to pay early termination at that point. This was all done by att to make this happen by ignoring the first port order. I was considering staying but after learning this, I do not want to do business with a company that pulls stunts like this. I also have att phone service as well. If I lose my phone number that I have had for over 20 yrs because of this, then I will also cancel my cell phone service, again I do not want to do business with a company that tries to screw over it’s customers.

I am learning the hard way. But so will att by losing all of my services.

BTW I was told I could not cancel till the order completed or lose my number. So I guess it depends on how important my phone number is right? Lesson learned, bite the bullet and pay the fee, or let att learn the less and acquire me a whole new number and be done with att for life??? The kicker is I was seriously thinking of keeping phone and tv with them till this.

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patpoms wrote:

Why is att playing games? I signed up for uverse because there was a 30 trial period. I decided I was not completely satisfied and wanted to switch back to my old providers. I issued a porting work order for my phone with Comcast. Which looks like Att ignored. I called to cancel my uverse and was offered a better deal to stay, in which I was considering, and had to talk to my husband about. I also spoke to Comcast which re-issued the port request again which now shows up on my uverse account. When I called back to talk to Att, they would not give me the time of day because I was ‘LEAVING’. They said I could not cancel my account because of the work order, and it would take till the 24th of Oct which I will be under contract on the 22nd and have to pay early termination at that point. This was all done by att to make this happen by ignoring the first port order. I was considering staying but after learning this, I do not want to do business with a company that pulls stunts like this. I also have att phone service as well. If I lose my phone number that I have had for over 20 yrs because of this, then I will also cancel my cell phone service, again I do not want to do business with a company that tries to screw over it’s customers.

I am learning the hard way. But so will att by losing all of my services.

BTW I was told I could not cancel till the order completed or lose my number. So I guess it depends on how important my phone number is right? Lesson learned, bite the bullet and pay the fee, or let att learn the less and acquire me a whole new number and be done with att for life??? The kicker is I was seriously thinking of keeping phone and tv with them till this.

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Telephone number porting is a complicated process with lots of places for error, in no small part because there are two separate companies with separate systems involved. I doubt anyone "ignored" an order; it's likely there was just an error along the way.

The rep was correct in telling you that you can't disconnect Uverse until the number ports out or the number would be disconnected and no longer portable.

Talk to Comcast and see if they can take over the number sooner.

edit: as a work around to the contract, remove either TV or internet ASAP. That will cause your promo offer to fall off which negates the contract. Of course, on the downside, you wouldn't have TV/internet until Comcast turns their service on.

[oufanindallas]

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MicCheck wrote:

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Telephone number porting is a complicated process with lots of places for error, in no small part because there are two separate companies with separate systems involved. I doubt anyone "ignored" an order; it's likely there was just an error along the way.

The rep was correct in telling you that you can't disconnect Uverse until the number ports out or the number would be disconnected and no longer portable.

Talk to Comcast and see if they can take over the number sooner.

edit: as a work around to the contract, remove either TV or internet ASAP. That will cause your promo offer to fall off which negates the contract. Of course, on the downside, you wouldn't have TV/internet until Comcast turns their service on.

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Porting phone numbers is not that difficult.  Phone companies like to make you think it is so you won't leave.  My mom has had the same phone number for 30 years and won't change to a better provider because they are playing the "we can't port the number to a new provider game"

[patpoms]

it was not difficult for att to port my number when originally being hooked up, but it has been with having it ported back. I did call uverse twice yesterday to cancel. First because I thought the porting was complete, and spoke to comcast and they said there was a problem with att accepting the order. So they reissues the request. So when I called uverse the first time, they wanted to know why I was canceling. Told them all the reasons and that this did not mean I would not be back. I just thought they had some issues to work through and to grow in this new market. I had already told them of my issues I had and they did not resolve. I told her I was porting my phone number, she said it was not on my account. She made offers for me to stay, again I told her I would call back after speaking to my husband. When I called back, I actually called 2 more times. One guy from Florida was rude and would not give me the time of the day. Called back and talked to another lady. She said there was an order on my account now and nothing they could do. They could not tell me what offers they could give me, but if I called comcast and cancel the porting, they would talk to me. She said once an order is on the account, it blocks the account from reviewing promos? My point is, why cancel the porting with comcast just to see what att could offer? If I did not like the offer then I would have to start all over again. I also was told that I could not cancel my account or any of the services once an order was placed on the account. My thinking too was that I could cancel one or two of the services but still allow the phone service to continue until it was ported. I did however chatted last night with att and was confirmed I could cancel one or more of the services. So what I was told was not correct. So I was originally going to see what deal i could for keeping the phone and the tv and discontinuing the internet, but they would not even talk to me. Oh by the way the last lady I spoke with yesterday said that the order to port would extend past my 30 days and I would be under contract. But found out last night, they went ahead and cancelled everything because there was an order to port the phone. So they went ahead and did this all on their own. I am calling today to see what I can straighten out if anything, but this is getting old spending hours to get it fixed, and being told different things from each person I speak with.

[oufanindallas]

Have you done what I suggested in my first post and send a Private Message to AT&T Customer care?

[patpoms]

Yes I followed the instructions and sent a message about my situation and ordeal. Att has me totally confused, a couple of people say my account is cancelled which is what I requested on Friday, and when I called 2 more times afterwards and the 2 people would not give me the time of day, they both said I had a cancelation order. Friday evening in chat the girl I chatted with acknowledged my account was being canceled. I spoke to a lady Saturday that said my account was not cancelled. I called back because att website said the cancellation department closes at 5 and they were already closed and the message I received was they close at 4pm. So I was not able to re-confirm my cancelation that I requested. Today is my last day on 30 days trial. I will not  be paying an earlier termination if they managed to screw this up as well. Not sure how many phone calls it takes, and how many different answers I can get, but I did call to cancel, I have the chat confirming cancellation. There is no extra numbers over the weekend to actually call and talk to someone that actually can do anything. I would be thinking my services will end today???? but I still have service, which maybe it ends tonite, but why would they not turn off the tv and the internet and leave the phone service till ported?

[patpoms]

BTW, sent message and no response. Maybe too sticky of a situation for anyone to get involved.

[americangame ACE - Warrior]

Or maybe they haven't responded because it's 7:45 on a Sunday night. If they don't respond my tomorrow afternoon you may have a valid complaint.

[patpoms]

I actually sent the message Friday evening 10/19 when I was recommended to do so. So it is not because it's late on Sunday evening. No response from the Friday PM message

[oufanindallas]

If you don't hear anything by tomorrow afternoon. Let us know. 

[patpoms]

Thanks very much!  Hopefully it will get straightened out tomorrow but I have to work and I spent most of Friday at work dealing with att already. Today ends my 30 trial period, so hopefully when I call in the morning, they tell me all is well, my services were cancel and my phone has been ported. I am hopeful but not holding my breath. I currently have dish network and uverse tv, comcast internet and uverse internet and just the uverse phone. If they did not cancel like I asked, then I am paying double for the services plus they might try to charge me early termination since tomorrow is over the 30 days. I am not paying early termination because it will be their fault for not canceling like I requested and I do have chat from att that verified my services were on cancel (even though I still have service). Reading all the other post I have a bad feeling this will not go well, but hey I might be that one it all works out great for.

[patpoms]

well here is the update as of this morning 10/22/12. Called Retention, spoke to andrea, which is located in Jacksonville, Fl. Same place Yada is located which took my cancellation request on 10/19/12.

I was told this morning, the only cancellation order was for the phone which was put in Friday. I told retention the order was actually requested on 10/16 by comcast. On 10/18 when comcast said my phone would be ported back to them did we realize I could not receive calls. Comcast asked that I give it an additional day. I said fine but I was calling uverse to cancel on 10/19/12. Which I did Friday morning. When I called Friday morning and told retention to cancel my service, she (Yada - and by the way she was nice), she asked why? I went thru the spill of the issues I had been having and unresolved. I mainly concentrated on the internet issues, and told her we did not want the internet and had already switched back to comcast. She offered me some promo offers but it was for all 3 services which I just told her I wanted to cancel the internet and was not happy with their internet and I had switched back.I also told her that I had a request to port my phone back to comcast which was placed 10/16, she said there was no open order on my account. I chatted with comcast and told them my order was not at att to have my number ported. They reissued the order again, and yep att received it. I called back and spoke to Daniel from Pensacola Fl. Rude fellow he is...he would not give me the time of day, said I had an order on my account to cancel my services with att. I said I would atleast like to hear what promo could be offered for just the phone/tv and not the internet since I cancelled it earlier. He said he was unable to provide me that information. I got rid of him...and called back. Talked to another lady which explained what Daniel was trying to do...they are not allowed to look at promo office if there is an order on existing account. So fine.

Back to what I was getting at....when I called today, there was no request to cancel my internet, only the phone porting, which will take place tomorrow. I was told since I had the porting order on my account, I was not able to cancel the internet after the fact. That once the porting order was placed, nothing else can be done with the account. She said if I had of cancelled the internet prior to the porting of the phone, then I could have done that.

BUT remember...I placed the cancel internet order on Friday morning, and some how there was a screw up and ATT did not have my porting order. So yes the request to terminate my internet order went through prior to comcast re-issueing the request to port my number. So I have followed the procedures, followed the rules, why is this such a pain in the butt to do. Andrea did say she would note on my account that I called Friday to cancel my internet account. Actually I was trying to cancel all of my services, but had to leave the phone up till the port was complete. Now I am being told to wait till the 24th and call back. I was also told there is no note that I called Friday morning to cancel. There is a note that I called and spoke to 3 different people on Friday. Actually it shows I have spoke to a great deal of people LOL. SO lets see what happens in the next few days...As the att world turns.

[ATTCustomerCare]

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patpoms wrote:

Why is att playing games? I signed up for uverse because there was a 30 trial period. I decided I was not completely satisfied and wanted to switch back to my old providers. I issued a porting work order for my phone with Comcast. Which looks like Att ignored. I called to cancel my uverse and was offered a better deal to stay, in which I was considering, and had to talk to my husband about. I also spoke to Comcast which re-issued the port request again which now shows up on my uverse account. When I called back to talk to Att, they would not give me the time of day because I was ‘LEAVING’. They said I could not cancel my account because of the work order, and it would take till the 24th of Oct which I will be under contract on the 22nd and have to pay early termination at that point. This was all done by att to make this happen by ignoring the first port order. I was considering staying but after learning this, I do not want to do business with a company that pulls stunts like this. I also have att phone service as well. If I lose my phone number that I have had for over 20 yrs because of this, then I will also cancel my cell phone service, again I do not want to do business with a company that tries to screw over it’s customers.

I am learning the hard way. But so will att by losing all of my services.

BTW I was told I could not cancel till the order completed or lose my number. So I guess it depends on how important my phone number is right? Lesson learned, bite the bullet and pay the fee, or let att learn the less and acquire me a whole new number and be done with att for life??? The kicker is I was seriously thinking of keeping phone and tv with them till this.

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Hello! I'm sorry you've had such a hard time. 

I replied to your private message but we need some contact information so we can help. Will you please look for my privage message and reply when you get a chance?

[patpoms]

I sent you the information you requested

[patpoms]

well today is 10/24 and I still had att phone, internet and tv, even though for sure I called and cancelled internet on Friday 10/19. I was told by one person my service would be cut off by 10/23, that would mean on 10/23 morning, I should not have att service.

So I called comcast about my porting. The guy sees the original request to port on 10/16, and reissued again on 10/19. He contacts att tech and he says he will release the phone number. Finally my phone is back to comcast. How difficult is this? Comcast said it does take longer for att to get around to 'releasing' phone numbers.

So something automatic, is not automatic if you have to call someone and tell them to release it because there is a porting order.

So now I have to straighten out that I cancelled internet on Friday, and they can now cancel the tv, actually I tried to cancel it too. There should be a note on my account to back date charged to 10/19 and that I called and cancelled on 10/19. Let the games continue on, but I might be pleasantly surprised if I have no issues at all.

[patpoms]

Yes I am suprised but was taken care of Hat off to Ryan for straightening out my mess. If all att employees could be as helpful and knowledgeable,....so yes there was light at the end of the dark tunnel.