Put Your "Service" Horror Stories Here...

[Elspode]

I'm sure we all have stuff like this happen every day. Here's my tale from this morning, which I quote from my letter to the editor of the Kansas City Star (I seem to have uncanny luck getting my stuff put into the paper...we'll see if this one makes the grade).

"I think I may have just experienced a prime example of why the US is losing its edge in the world economy. The recent merger of SBC and ATT has made many headlines and brought a new avalanche of advertising to our televisions, but has it really improved anything?

I've just spent over a half hour trying to gather information in order to secure a dialup Internet service for my disabled son. He is already a SBC phone customer, so I figured that it would be a simple matter to add a dialup service to his existing account. Wrong. My first attempt went through a so-called customer service number from the SBC/ATT website. After plowing through two separate series of voice prompts, each asking for virtually the same information, I ended up with a message which said, "I'm sorry, but we cannot take your call right now. Please call again later", and then I was disconnected. Nice touch.

Undeterred, I searched online a bit further, and found a customer service number for ATT. I again encountered the same sort of voice menus, but I managed to make my way to a live person rather quickly. I told her what I needed, and she was very pleasant. She offered to connect me to the appropriate SBC department (after a five minute hold while she presumably figured out who I would need to talk to). Her first attempt resulted in me encountering the same exact voice menu which had resulted in my first hangup. She had remained on the line with me, to her credit, and so I told her that this avenue had previously failed. She then asked me to wait while she tried another contact possibility...and I was again disconnected.

I had foolishly thought that I could easily find a way to spend more money with ATT/SBC, but I couldn't have been more wrong. I wonder if ATT/SBC wouldn't be better served by spending more money on actually providing a means to purchase their services, and less on enticing people to make the attempt in vain?"

[LabRat]

I really really wish I could write/express myself as well as Elspode. I probably would have a lot less pent up anger and depression symptoms if I could just get off my chest clearly what was bothering me and go on my way. Good for you for expressing your frustration in a constructive manner. Hope it does some good in some way.

[Trilby]

I second LabRat's feelings about Els and his magic keyboard!
I knew when I saw SBC/ATT that I would be in for a SNAFU story beyond simple human understanding. I ditched SBC two or three years ago. They seem to go above and beyond to make things difficult.

[keryx]

When I lived in Illinois, AT&T began offering local service where I lived, so I thought I'd get a wireline. After six months of back and forth with AT&T and PUC involvement, no service, but I did get a check for $600.00 for my time and trouble. I never got a coherent reason why the service was never installed. When I moved back to Wisconsin, I got a phone line activated in about 5 minutes. No BS. I guess that's the difference between a good phone company and a crappy one.

I don't hear good things about AT&T or SBC, and I work in the telecommunications industry.

[Elspode]

About three hours after sending my letter to the editor yesterday, I got a phone call from an ATT rep. It seems that the KC Star's Consumer columnist forwarded my email to her. She promised a resolution to my problem first thing this morning, and that did in fact occur.

Chalk one up for the squeaky wheel. The service sucked before the whining, but it was exemplary afterward. Apparently, there is more motivation to keep ATT/SBC out of the complaints column in the Star than there is to just get it right in the first place.

[Cyclefrance]

I think our government departments over here take the biscuit virtually every time, when it comes to sorting out problems - a drawn out saga, but if you show you have the staying power for reading this to the end then it shows you have the staying power to sort out your own service nightmares!

A relatively recent sortie concerning my deceased father's estate. He had endured a series of trips in and out of hospital during his last year of living, nothing majorly wrong but he needed the care during spells of illness that could only be provided as an in-patient.

During this time, the various benefit payments, along with the State pension he received were in regular on/off mode and it didn't help that each benefit had its own set of rules about when it switched on and when it switched off. Initially I sent his payment books back, but the switch back on, once switched off, took weeks to achieve and they made a mess of it as might be expected - so, on the advice of the Post Office where he collected his payments, I retained the books thereafter, drawing money for him when it fell due.

Come November that year he secured the place he had been wanting for so long in a Rest Home. I was at last able to return the remainder of his payment books and ask to be informed of any balance due either one direction or the other. I was fairly clear in my own mind that nothing had been drawn that shouldn't have been and therefore wasn't overly surprised that nothing came back from the various offices to change this view. Then, sadly, my father suffered a repeat stroke only 3 months after entering the Home, a vicious one this time, however, and he never recovered. I cleared his estate, and brought matters to what I thought was a close.

Not so.

Another 3 months passed and then, one day, a letter landed on the doormat from one of the Benefits offices. The letter was badly written referring to my deceased father as 'her' and 'their' in several places and ending up pronouncing that my father had collected benefit of £500 or so while he was in hospital. This was not allowed and so they wanted a cheque from me for this amount as the administrator and major beneficiary of his estate.

Barring the insensitivity of the letter, this was fair enough – if it was true. However, I was convinced that it was not and so I wrote back suggesting they might have their facts wrong and asking for proof. Silence for two months. Then the very same letter as before arrived (same errors), but signed by someone new. I wrote back again, as before.

4 weeks later, the Office sent me a list of the dates they claimed corresponded to the times my father was in hospital and the payments he received, but nothing to support these. I wrote back again asking for evidence – hospital entry/release confirmations and copies of receipts for monies paid.

Next letter (another 3 weeks passed) just asked again for the money and also for a copy of the Power of Attorney I had arranged when he finally moved into the Home and I needed to clear up his household accounts for him. I sent the POA explaining that my father was now deceased and that the POA had therefore expired and in any event had only been established after the monies they claimed were due would have accrued.

4 weeks and then again they wrote saying they wanted another copy of my POA - they’d lost the last one. I replied again as before, sending another copy, and again asking for evidence. The penny dropped over the POA - , next letter, they asked for my Certificate of Appointment as administrator of my father’s estate, but they still gave no evidence to support their claim.

Off went the second document and again the request for evidence. In reply, my POA and Certificate back and a copy of the hospital’s admission and release dates. Two of the dates they were claiming for didn’t tally. There was still no evidence to show what payments had been made. You can guess what I wrote next!

Another 4 weeks, and I received a coded computer printout that was supposed to be a record of his payments. Not at all easy to decipher, but it looked as though some of the date information was duplicated. Back again but with a slight change of tack - at the same time as I asked for the details to be deciphered, I also billed them for the excessive work I had undertaken trying to get simple information out of them - I believed it was unreasonable to expect my father’s estate to absorb this ‘cost’ as they were the ones causing all the work - God knows how many letters went back and forth when only one or two should have been needed.

Two weeks later success – they cancelled their claim, but as expected refused to pay my invoice. So, it looked as though they had made a mistake after all - although it could have been that the invoice was the thing that brought things to an abrupt halt. Anyway as far as I was concerned, a satisfactory conclusion. But what a waste of time and effort on their part – six months of protracted and unnecessary communications and time that could have been put to better use elsewhere. If they had checked their facts properly at the outset the whole issue would most likely never have happened. No wonder our benefits system is in chaos - and that its officers seem never to have time available to pursue those that deliberately abuse the system and get off scot free.

[Elspode]

Enforcement in such cases is almost always focused on the people who honestly try to resolve a situation. After all, the people who are trying to rip off the system are a lot harder to find and deal with, aren't they? Sorry about the hassle, and about the loss of your father. Strokes are a very cruel thing.

Update on my original situation...the next day, I did indeed receive the promised phone call, and a very, very nice lady handled everything I needed, from analysis of my son's account (we found out that his disability discount had lapsed, and she sent data to us to get him back on it, a savings which will more than pay for the added dialup service) to the establishment of his new online account.

Maybe later I'll tell you about getting disconnected from AOL.

[LabRat]

For both of you, I am glad that in the end, it worked out.

Today I learned that keeping a level head --and good records-- will most certainly be a good thing in most instances. You guys rock.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Maybe later I'll tell you about getting disconnected from AOL.

Oh goody! You're going to write us a fairy tale.
Must be, because everyone that has tried can tell you it's impossible to disconnect from aol.

[Cyclefrance]

Why me?

My Audi has just come back from its third attempt to have the headlights fixed - a self-levelling mechanism that has a mind of its own. Only thing that has been wrong with it, but the saga behind it would make youthink the car was on its last legs...

I just cannot get my head around the way these garages work. Leaving sside the fact that they tried to throw this guarantee work at my door to start with, just after Christmas they asked for the car to be booked in, again, so that a wiring loom could be replaced ('definitely the cause ,sir, narrowed it down at last' - oh yeah??).

So it was booked in - 'need two days, sir, - we'll give you a courtesy car but if you cannot insure it yourself, it'll cost £15 a day for us to insure you to drive it...' - 'OK, I'll insure it through my insurance company - they offer a free swap facility when cars are in and out of garages - I'll need the registration number of the courtesy car..' - 'Aah, can't give you that right now as we don't know which car it will be, but we'll get it to you in time...' - 'OK'(very doubtfully).

Last Thursday, with car going in Monday, phoned for courtesy car registartion number - amazing , they have it. Get insurance cover note on saturday morning and dutifully arrive to present my car to them Monday morning.

'Oh, we haven't got the courtesy car you were expecting to have. I'm afraid that insurance cover note is no good. You can take our insurance though....'

I didn't, but only after much arguing and their finally agreeing reluctantly to accept my insurers phone call guarantee that they were covered and that the registration number change had been accepted by them. Sheesh!

But did it end there? Oh, no!

Last night I go to collect the car: 'Terribly sorry sir, we couldn't do the job. Just couldn't locate a wiring loom anywhere. Seems there is a natinal shortage...'

Wait a minute. This car has been on the books to come in for over 3 weeks. How come you didn't know this before? Why didn't you let me know sooner?
Why the hell do you operate such a stupid system? Why does this keep on happening? When will I ever have my headlights working properly?

That's better - I feel a little less stressed now with that off my chest...!

Anyone else with tales of like frustration feel free to add yours to the above

[fargon]

My story begins Feb99 when I first applied for Veterans benifits. And fits is what I have got. I have been unemployable since Oct04, in that time I have been run around and delt with lost paperwork. They have lost my DD214(CG) discharge papers(I now keep 10 copies on my desk) at a regular interval. I went to Tomah Wi for a compensation and pention hearing the letter stated that this would be an all day event. after sitting around for 6 hours I spent 15 minutes with a Nurce Practiconer and was told that this was the hearing, and I would be hearing from them. 3 months later I recived a report from the VA stating that I was conciderd only 10% disabled and I would get 108 USD a month. months later I had another hearing for my mental and emotional conditiones(sp) another 30%. I am now rated 40% $485.00 a month.

In the last 26 years I have spent my trust fund, and and liquidated all my assets just to pay my rent and pay medical expenses that should have coverd in the first place.

The VA Dr's are very good at giving out pills to make you feel better, Valium, Vicoden, and others to keep us druged and in control.

All I ever wanted was to serve my contry and be the best Coastguardsman I could be.I had dreams of sewing on a Master Chief Petty Officers crow, and being one of the finest seamen in the world. Instead I have lived with pain and illness, for almost 30 years.

Iff the people in the back room were as good as the Doctors and Nurces I see on a regular basis the VA would be the Mayo Clinic.

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Oh goody! You're going to write us a fairy tale.
Must be, because everyone that has tried can tell you it's impossible to disconnect from aol.

I had no trouble.

But I did it in writing by fax, not by telephone.

[Elspode]

Fargon, anyone who has served their country honorably and willingly should be treated better. I'm very sorry to hear that you've not gotten what you earned. I wish I had something better to recommend than 'keep your chin up', but alas, I am all too familiar with the government's way of dealing with its less fortunate citizens and veterans.

I'm going to hold off on the AOL thing, because it is rather trivial compared to Fargon's situation.