AT&T Yellow Pages

DO NOT GET AT&T. I stayed home yesterday waiting for them to install a phone line and DSL line. They were going to have to run lines in the house b/​c we took them out when remodeling. Was supposed to wait from 8am until 8pm. The guy never showed up. At 6pm I get a bot call saying they couldn’t make it and would be here the next day. I tried calling; I tried the Internet; I couldn’t get through to change the date. So he shows up at 9am as I’m finishing up with the dogs and trying to get ready to go buy Christmas dinner. He said it was a three or four hour job, which I already knew. I said, «No. Go away.» I tried calling them again to just cancel the whole order, and they can’t find the order by either the new phone number or with the order confirm. no. The communications company doesn’t communicate. I would be a real idiot to do business with them. In Bastrop, there were few options for home phones. Here I have options. I will just keep the TW computer phone and broadband. Oh, by the way, the customer service center was probably a call center in India. She had a strong Hindi accent and there was a sales meeting going on in the background complete with hand clapping. No noise cancelling headset???

I found out that information that popped up in searchs for our company was completely wrong and it was a free page on YP so I contacted their company to get the information either corrected or removed. I was transfered a total of 7 times with the first 6 being to the same set of messages. I was also hung up on after the customer service person kept talking over me and would not let me explain the reason for my calling in. It took me 45 minutes to get any thing done and it was their mistake to begin with. The last person that got the problem solved was very nice and helpful but the rest of the previous 6 were rude, obnoxious and shows how much AT&T Yellow Pages cares for their customers.

I really don’t think there is any possible way this company could suck more. Seriously, I couldn’t make this stuff up.
A couple months into our DSL internet service, my rates on my bill raised without any warning. I called them to figure out what was going on, they apologized and returned it back to where it was, but then somehow after that phone call I ended up with two separate DSL accounts, AND a home phone account (I have no phone and obviously never agreed to this) tied to my name and address. Two weeks later, they disconnected my internet due to an «unpaid bill,» although unsurprisingly all of my bills were paid and, in fact, on autopay.
When calling customer support, these are the stories I was told by five different representatives:
1) First rep told me I was actually not an AT&T customer, and he could help me set up a new account if I wanted. After debating for 30 mins, & giving him my acct#, I hung up
2) Second rep told me someone came out to my house last week to install new internet (why is beyond me, I’d been using them for 7 mos at this point), and that he talked to my neighbor «John» because I wasn’t home at the time. Unsurprisingly I have no neighbor named John. I hung up on him too
3) Third rep told me my internet was currently working and I was having a hardware problem
4) Fourth rep told me that my internet was actually scheduled to come on at 8pm that evening, so I just needed to wait and it would come back
5) Fifth rep told me I had been scammed about a month ago by a different employee and someone had set me up with additional accounts because it would count as a «sale» for them. He said he would fix it and sure enough my internet came back on
But now, two weeks after this craziness went down, I get a bill saying I owe $ 117 because my account has been unpaid for months.
The best advice I can give to any AT&T customer is to keep hanging up on representatives till someone tells you what you want to hear, if you call enough times you’ll eventually get there.
I can’t wait till Google Fiber gets here and kicks these idiots out of Austin.

I have been advertising in the yellow pages for over 20 years now. In the last 10 years I have seen less and less traffic from our display ad. In fact we are now losing money, spending more on the ad than the income from the traffic it is generating.
It is possible another industry may be different but it hard to believe that the Internet is not going to push all print ad out eventually. If you are using print, I would certainly be tracking your business carefully or you could be throwing your money down a hole and not know it.

AT&T sucks. Period. I discontinued my relationship with them years ago, and yet they’re back to haunt me.
I had a door tag on my front door one day saying their subcontractor, TGC (more idiots), would be digging in my backyard. The cable box/​junction is in the corner of my yard where 4 yards come together. My yard just happens to be the unfortunate location of the gate into the cable box area, a small triangle of a space. The door tag didn’t have a date, didn’t have a time. So I left my fence locked until I was contacted. 10 days later, after never being contacted, I came home to find a hole dug in my yard and a corresponding large pile of dirt.
There is NO safety netting around the hole, and there is no indication of when they will be back. Considering it’s Friday I doubt anyone will be around again before Monday.
I now have an unsafe situation in my backyard that no one seems to care about.
AT&T sucks.

AT&T: Hello! Thank you for calling AT&T!
Mr Doctor: Hi, I want to look into getting your DSL.
AT&T: Excellent! I can definitely help you with getting a digital home phone, internet, and TV package!
Mr Doctor: Oh, shit no. I just want the basic DSL and nothing else. The one that’s advertised for 25 bucks per…
AT&T: Excellent! Now, sir, I’d like to spend the next 10 minutes taking down your home address, phone number, email, social security number, and the names of your neighbors and pets, that way if you don’t buy anything from us now, we can track you down later and harass the shit out of you!
Mr Doctor: Really?
AT&T: Absolutely!
Mr Doctor: Fuck.
(Next 20 minutes spent giving personal info)
AT&T: Sir… Congratulations! It looks like your area has AT&T super-​awesome fiber optic internet cable!
Mr Doctor: …
AT&T: Sir?
Mr Doctor: Did you just congratulate me?
AT&T: … Yes!
Mr Doctor: …Why?
AT&T: Because AT&T has super-​awesome fiber optics in your neighborhood!
Mr Doctor: How is that something that I did?
AT&T: Excuse me sir?
Mr Doctor: Why are you congratulating me on my ability to buy something?
AT&T: Sir, I’m not sure that…
Mr Doctor: Couldn’t you say something less disingenuous, like «We’re pleased to inform you that…»?
AT&T: …
Mr Doctor: …
AT&T: Okay, great! Let me transfer you to our super-​awesome fiber optic representative. But don’t worry sir! We’ve got all your personal information, so you won’t have to repeat it!
Mr Doctor: I’m going to have to repeat all that shit, aren’t I?
AT&T: Almost definitely!
:click, click:
AT&T Droid 2: Hello! Sir! I hear that you’re interested in our fiber optic internet digital awesome package featuring 12 trillion megabyte per second fiber optic internet, home phone service, and digital TV with 5,600 channels of irrelevant, retarded bullshit!
Mr Doctor: Dear god, no. Just 1.5 Mbps DSL and absolutely nothing else.
AT&T Droid 2: Excellent! Let me just spend the next 10 minutes taking down your address, phone number, email, social security, and current GPS lat/​lon coordinates, that way if you don’t buy anything from us now, we can track you down later, map your DNA structure, and scientifically determine the most psychologically effective way to sell you a bunch of expensive shit that you don’t want!
Mr Doctor: Goddammit.
(Next 20 minutes spent giving personal info)
Mr Doctor: So what’s the final cost on that?
AT&T Droid 2: Just $ 35 per month!
Mr Doctor: What about including taxes and hidden fees?
AT&T: Droid 2: Just $ 35 per month!
Mr Doctor: No, I mean the actual, literal number that will appear on my monthly bill.
AT&T Droid 2: Just $ 42 per month! Plus a $ 50 modem! Plus shipping for the modem!
Mr Doctor: Okay, so this is actually no cheaper than my Time Warner… Look, I’m not going to buy your DSL…
AT&T Droid 2: Excellent! Let me tell you about our digital TV package…
Mr Doctor: Yeah, that’s awesome, but I don’t care. Please tell the person that writes your sales scripts that they deserve to be skull-​fucked by a large monster, maybe like a minotaur or something.
:click:

More major corporate greed running a vital part of personal and business communication technology.
It would be nice if there were actual competitors — or, if this behemoth would allow actual competition.
It seems nearly impossible to avoid using their services.
And, they’ve just doubled some of their basic rates!
Don’t use this business unless you absolutely must!