HEY AT&T, CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW???By Kevin Ross, CEO of 3BAAS Media Group
So I pulled up to this AT&T store at 6:57pm on Sunday August 2, 2009. The front door said clear as day that this location closes at 7:00pm. Now admittedly, no one was in the store except three employees, including two ladies behind cash registers. When I walked up to the door it was locked, so I knocked on the glass and a late 20-something man gestured that they were closed.
I then asked him to walk over to the where I was. He complied.
After indicating that I was there to pay a bill, the man told me they closed at 7:00pm I said “It’s not 7:00, it’s only 6:59.” His retort was the registers were already closed out. My response was, “Why are registers closed when the store is still officially open?” The man shrugged his shoulders, and walk away. I don't have these issues with Skype, and AT&T knows it.
Initially deciding to just drop the whole thing and move on, I began walking towards a nearby take-out restaurant to get some dinner. Suddenly, I just happened to look at my ATT Blackberry, which was showing 6:58. I paused for a moment, turned around and headed back to the store. I asked the gentleman to come over again.
When he did, I showed him my AT&T phone with the time now reading 6:59. “Your company phone is even showing that you guys should not be closed yet,” I said. He then pulled out his black iPhone (the one some AT&T users have been complaining about) and showed it to me. At that point, it read 7:00pm.“My phone says 7:00 p.m.,” the man replied. Well, it’s clear that even with his phone now reading 7:00. I should have initially been allowed to transact business. When I asked for his name he indicated he was Jarrett and he was in charge. I asked for his last name and he refused to give it to me.
When I asked for the manager’s name, he indicated his name was Adam. I advised him that I would be contacting his manager. Jarrett rudely replied, “Well, you do that – contact him.”
That's when my Blackberry camera came in handy. After snapping the picture above, I did contact Adam Garcia, the store manager. While apologizing for the situation, he went on to defend the stores actions based on several robberies that AT&T stores had been experiencing whereby criminals are waiting right up until these stores close before stealing from them at gunpoint.As a result, AT&T, unbeknownst to the general public, has began instructing stores to close 30 minutes early then the time stated, lock the doors, and not allow additional customers to enter.
While I understand the safety precautions be implemented, it stills doesn’t excuse poor customer service being shown to customers trying to spend money with AT&T.
Mr. Garcia asked me to send him this piece before posting which I did. He said he would make sure he got back to me to discuss further. To date, Adam remains missing in action. No phone call, no email. Nothing. Nada. Zilch! Am I the only one who's experiencing this?
And yes, this is the same AT&T who’s chum (term used to measure the number of customers who leave or switch to another service) is increasing due to consumers experiencing constant dropped calls in areas where various phones show a full signal.
This is the same AT&T who is covertly trying to prevent Apple from accepting the Google Voice application because they don’t want consumers to have options. Instead, AT&T wants to subject customers to unprofessional employees. Employees that may soon need to find work in other industries, as VOIP becomes more widespread and the society finds less need for traditional phone service.
Don’t take my word on this - ask one of those 8,000 employees Verizon is laying off due to reduced demand for their product. And that’s taking place despite there aggressive marketing campaign for FIOS.
All I can say is AT&T, you need to get it together. Right now, it seems that the FCC is on you too, which means my world that has you in it does not feel close at hand. Is this thing on???