subject: AT&T Has Slipped [print this page] AT&T Has Slipped AT&T Has Slipped
One of the biggest cell phone carriers in the U.S. has slipped in its rating for overall satisfaction. This is the result of a Consumer Reports survey of 58,000 ConsumerReports.org readers. Evidently AT&T was the ONLY one to drop in this manner. The January issue of Consumer Reports will carry full ratings, to include all the details, like the city-by-city ratings for 23 metropolitan areas.
This is not good for AT&T, but not surprising to me at all. I have long been an AT&T customer, but only because I have no choice. I live in a rural area and AT&T happens to be the only provider that has service out here. I would have switched providers a long time ago if I'd been able to and the only other provider I would never consider would be AllTell, but that's a different story entirely.
I've found that AT&T has the worst customer service out there. You can be within just a couple of days of your contract end and have been a loyal, paying customer for years and be leaving on a vacation for which you'd like to have the new phone, butyou cannot upgrade your phone or start a new contract until THE date. Visiting an AT&T store might give you a little bit of satisfaction because you get an apologetic look and a bit of empathy, but the AT&T employees enjoy perks that we, their customers, do not and their hands are tied when it comes to making a decision that might keep a customer satisfied.
Evidently AT&T, being one of the biggest, feels that its marketing of the iPhone has made it possible to just skip the niceties when it comes to customer service, but I'm hoping they will learn their lesson from this latest report and make me a happy camper. I now have an iPhone and I have a family plan in place. I'm sure that my $150.00 a month cell phone bill will not break the company if they lose it, but I'm betting if a million customers or so decide to leave for Verizon, who, it is rumored, will soon have the iPhone also, AT&T would stand up and take notice.
And consider this. The iPhone is not the only smart phone in town that does remarkable things. The Android-based phones have been really popular and the newest guy on the market, the Samsung Galaxy, which is being marketed through numerous carriers under different names, is fast gaining popularity over the iPhone. I'd like to hope it is more in response to AT&T's lousy customer service attitude than to the iPhone itself, but regardless, if you can switch carriers, why not do it?
I certainly would if I had any choice at all. Are you listening AT&T?
