Valued Customer? The Importance of Customer Retention

I just wanted to spend some time sharing with the community my recent experience with AT&T's Customer Service.

A couple days ago I realized I was being charged $238 for 12 MB of international data roaming services. It happened I had turned my phone on for a few minutes to text my sister and make sure I'd find her in Paris' airport on Christmas day. I was in between planes and I really wanted to see her and my baby nephew.

I didn't realize it could amount to that much in such a short amount of time. I normally purchase the international data plans when travelling abroad.

I called AT&T twice to discuss the matter. All I was offered was for 50% of the roaming fee to be credited to my account, leaving another $119 for me to pay for 12MB of data. That's when I decided it was finally time for me to cancel and jump ship. I already had my eyes on a carrier that doesn't charge extra for international data usage.

The most shocking to me is that I talked to approximately a dozen representatives accross various departments. Not once has one of them offered anything to retain me. It makes no economical sense and definitely doesn't really make you feel valued. Especially considering I've been with them for over 10 years (remember the Cingular days?!).

As a retention marketer myself, I do find it unbelievable that a company would let customers jump ship over a $119 roaming charge dispute. Considering the lifetime value of a customer against the new customer acquisition cost, it really makes no sense to me.

There are a lot of players out there, making it very easy and attractive to switch over. Customer Service experiences is bound to play a growing role in the subscribers battle, seems like AT&T has still a lot to accomplish.