AT&T makes me hopeful for Armageddon.
I don't even know how to make this short, because AT&T is torture to deal with. I went to a store to add a third line to our account for my business. It was nearing closing time, and the representative told me it would be easiest if he gave me the phone and I called AT&T to port my number the next day rather than him doing it in the store. He gave me a temporary number they would replace and I left with a phone in hand. Bad mistake. It took three weeks and endless calls to get that number ported. Then the sim they shipped didn't work. A month in, I was so tired I just gave up on my business - we had moved, and I'd foolishly chosen AT&T internet air as we were in a rural area. It worked great for three weeks, then it was slower than the first time I'd ever gotten on the internet many years ago. Digital marketing doesn't work without the digital part. No phone or internet, I was so burned out with calling AT&T I gave up, despite losing income for weeks. Then I got fiber internet after a 7-week wait to get on the schedule, went to a store to replace the sim, and got the phone working for the first time. That's when I discovered my bill had gone up over $200 from adding a line that was supposed to be only ~$45/month. (Which had never even used.) I was being charged for two new lines - they never replaced the temporary number with the port. This began several more weeks of hell. I don't know how many times I called - but I lost count after I talked to 26 representatives. I believe it's over 30 now. I spent many days over multiple calls, and a day driving to two stores (the first store told me they couldn't help and said I had to go to the "main" store an hour away from my house). The manager at the main store told me they couldn't get rid of the extra line and I had to call AT&T to do it. I begged them to help because I just could not subject myself to their call center anymore (at this point I was 9 hours into trying to fix the issue with the call center with no luck. I drove away in tears. It took another five hours (not even kidding, I called at 8:30am and wasn't off the phone until after 1:30pm and reached a manager who thought she'd cracked the code. (They had put the phone's installment plan on the temporary number. Nobody could figure out how to transfer it to the number it was supposed to be on.) She said it would be resolved if we left the temporary phone number on the account, and assured I would only be charged for the installment plan, and there would be no data plan associated with it. (Wow...14 hours of my life of dealing with the issue, and nobody could figure out how to get rid of a temporary number that I had never even wanted? I couldn't even use the phone with that number anyway because it wasn't my business number - it was useless to me.) Fast forward a few weeks later, I looked at my bill, and nothing had changed. I don't even remember how many more hours it took and how many more managers. But the final resolution was I had to pay off the phone in full to get them to delete the extra account. Wow. I also returned my internet air equipment happily the very same day I cancelled. Got the confirmation at the UPS store and everything. I've since gotten reminder emails to return my equipment. I called twice in this last month, provided the confirmation numbers, and spent even more unnecessary time on the phone. Both times I was assured I wouldn't be charged for the equipment because they could see it was "in transit" and noted that I had returned it already. Yep, I just got a bill for $200 plus tax for a non-return fee. I'm on the phone yet again, and I swear that their hold music has given me PTSD. If I die and hear that music, I'll know I didn't live a clean enough life because I truly associate that sound with hell now. So this representative, like the other two, assured me the situation has been 'escalated'. So that was only another 49 minutes of my life wasted today, because I can't even remember how many times I was told a situation was 'escalated' in the last few months of calling them. We all know that it's impossible they actually resolved anything. I know that I'll be calling AT&T until the end of time, until they tell me the only way to 'resolve' it is to pay off the equipment which I returned six weeks ago. Eventually I'll get so fed up with giving them my precious time that I just give in and pay it. I know that's how it's going to go. I wish we weren't locked into an installment plan on my husband's phone, and wish there was a better company to jump ship to. They're all awful. This experience has literally left me questioning if I even need or want a mobile phone anymore, or any of the things that keep me tethered to this crappy modern world. I'm fantasizing about giving it all up and going off grid. I'm so tired of it all. If the world ends in a fiery Armageddon, I'll go out with a smile on my face knowing there is no more AT&T.
By A. S.