...with AT & T customer service, and it's still unresolved. It's been ongoing for several weeks now.
LONG story. I was erroneously charged for a device that was not mine, which meant an activation fee of $40.00 and a cost of $10/month. After spending probably 18-20 hours on the phone with various representitives, customer care "specialists", supervisors, and the fraud department, the matter was finally resolved in my favor. But then, several more follow up calls, which took an average of an hour each, were required on my end in an attempt to actually get the funds credited back to my account. I was told at various times by various A T & T representitives that the account would be credited, and I was waiting for the credit to take effect before paying my bill, but calls to the automated system revealed that the account had NOT been fully credited. On August 24, I called again and got a customer service supervisor who stated that I had been credited for three months of monthly charges, and that she would see to it that I get my account would be credited for the $40 activation fee. In addition, she offered me $20 off the remaining bill for all the time and trouble the situation caused me. $20 does not compensate me for even an hour of my time, but it was a gesture of good will and I accepted it.
Since then, I've been waiting for the credit to register on the automated system before paying the bill. Today- a week later- I called again. The credit still hadn't registered. I called A T & T once again. After nearly two hours of hold time, being transferred around, etc., I finally reached someone (whose name I won't divulge but do have written down) who, to be honest, really has no business interacting with the public. She did (she claims) credit me the $40 immediately and sent me a text message to that effect. However, she refused to honor the $20 credit offered by the prior supervisor because she claimed that it was against A T & T policy to do so! I asked her if she thought it was fair to the customer to be offered a credit by a customer service supervisor only to have it retracted by another customer service supervisor. She interrupted me several times and didn't answer the question. I was embarrassed and horrified--I've been frustrated throughout this matter by people at A T & T who fail to follow through for whatever reason, but typically they are polite, and this woman's brusqueness and brick wall demeanor was very much a new low. I asked to be transferred to the cancellation department and she said she WAS the cancellation department! She informed me she was the "last point of contact" for a customer; if so, then I really do need a new phone company.
I have been an A T & T customer for many years, maybe 20, and when I've had issues in the past, I have found A T & T occasionally frustrtating, but typically much more responsive and far more skilled in dealing with the public than this. Is this some new policy, to play hardball with customers? Can someone explain to me why a customer service supervisor, who I waited on hold for over an hour to speak with, would offer me a $20 credit if this wasn't within the scope of her authority? And why the subsequent customer service supervistor would feel it was within the scope of her authority to reverse it? There is so much wrong with this situation I hardly know where to begin to break it down. Who can help?