Unjust Customer Service just for a NAME CHANGE. Manager Isabel Ebrerre - Employee ID #C4QZB87 in a call center in Southwest, TX. I have been on the phone with AT&T since 12:30 pm EST and it is currently 8 PM EST. I have been transferred approximately 24 times. Of those 24 times, I have been hung up on 2 times. Two other times, I was informed that I would be called back when they had more information. I have not received a call back yet. This is the simple problem stems from trying to switch the name of my AT&T account to my wife's name since our DirectTV account is under her name so that we can bundle our AT&T account with our DirectTV and receive a $10 discount for bundling. In addition, we have a family plan with 5 different phone lines. Here is a brief summary of the events leading up to the phone call: (1) We transfered service and were promised a new unlimited data plan with a reduced rate ($20). We were assured that our teacher discount would not be removed. (2) All 3 turned out to be mistakes! AT&T did not put on us the unlimited data plan. They kept us at our normal data rate, but our bill increased by $60. And, we lost our teacher discount. (3) I established a case with the retentions/loyalty department because we were told any promises made on a recorded line would be met. The loyalty department told us they would listen to the recording and give us answer in 5 - 10 business days. (4) After 15 business days, no call. We called them. Customer service agent told us that the notes said "Do not call customer back - Should have been dealt with by floor staff." We were never notified of this and it seems like no one listened to the recordings. (5) FINALLY, we spoke to a magical manager. He helped set everything out. He eliminated the duplicate account, made sure our billing cycle lined up with DirecTV. He checked to make sure that both balances of the old and new accounts were clear. Basically, he took great care of us. We were all set for two weeks. (6) We received a letter on June 17 saying that we were past due by a random pro-rated amount on the OLD account. All of the billed amounts were also billed and taken care of on the new account. Without any prior notice (no e-mails, letters, or phone calls), it was sent to a collection agency. We have paid every bill for the past 4 years early and in full. (7) Today, we spoke to 23 agents, including the terrible manager noted above. (8) Afterwards, I called one last time to the retention department attempting to cancel our service, and things got worked out. It turns out things could work after all. It was just frustrating that it took 8.5 hours of phone calls, 27 different agents, and a ton of repeating myself. Here is the summary of some of the insufferable moments from today's 8.5 hours of phone calls: - 3 agents informed us that it was a scam since they were not familiar with the Collection Department Address. - 1 agent insinuated that we were trying to swindle the company and that I am at fault for the mistakes. - The remaining agents couldn't find our account since we have been loyal customers and have a 12 digit account number and they do not have access to the Intelligent software. -The transfers have been from one department to another and then immediately back. At one point in the conversation, one agent transferred over with us and added someone to the line. The new agent actually hung up on both me and the agent. -The manager actually hung up on me because he was unwilling to have another department give me a call. He also refused to explain the bill to me after insisting they were accurate changes. After 3 hours and 25 minutes, he ultimately hung up on me and told me he was transferring me to Verizon. What was even weirder was that I ended up back with another AT&T agent after being told I would be on the phone with a Verizon agent. -A manager accused me of using "abusive" language when I said he was incompetent and simply did not have the resource -- Things are all worked out now thanks to a great calling agent named Steven (SH670Q) in Tennessee. If he hadn't answered our call and helped us out, AT&T would have lost a loyal and long-term customer who has 3 different services linked. Our purpose in making this post wasn't to discuss the whole story because we understand that our situation was pretty tricky and unique. Instead, the purpose of our post was to show folks how crazy ridiculous our experience with customer service was. read more