The bad customer service winner and still long-running champion: AT&T

[motley]

omg what is it about this company...I've had their service off and on (mostly off) for many years and every single time their customer service/phone menus from hell/joke of a web site always SUCKED in the extreme. How are they still in business?

The latest is they had a page I could go to online to see my hotspot usage, how much I had left, etc. This is important because that's my internet connection. Then suddenly out of nowhere and with zero notice of any kind, that page shows something else. I bounce around, bounce around and finally gave up trying to find such basic info that should be so easy to find. There was even a tab that said "Hotspot" and it showed how much I used every day (like who cares), but no sum total or "you have this much left in this billing cycle" anywhere. Brilliant.

I've had really bad customer service experiences elsewhere...Comcast, etc...but they still must bow down to the king. Honestly if you're shopping plans, use ANY other company unless you're a masochist.

I'm shopping other services atm. The thing is they have the best hotspot plan, that's why I went with them in the first place. But this is ridiculous.

/rant!

 

[Koolau]

Ernestine said it best:

 

[Surewhitey]

We have their fiber and it's always on. Hotspot is for backup or travel & works well too... I never need to call them, so I might agree with you if I did.

 

[big-papa]

I've never really had any issue with AT&T and I've had them pretty much forever. Like the poster above, I only use hotspot when something else has gone wrong not having anything to do with AT&T.

For the OP, according to AT&T's website, just dial the following from your phone and they will text you a data usage report that includes hotspot: *3282#
You can avoid logging in to your account this way.

But I have to agree with the comments about their website, once you log in. It is atrocious. It bounces around, sometimes makes you log in again and sends you to who knows where if you try to do anything except look at your bill. And this isn't anything new, either - it's been like this for years..

Cheers.

 

[Midpack]

We've had no issues with AT&T Fiber, now going on 5 years.

 

[Venturer]

omg what is it about this company...I've had their service off and on (mostly off) for many years and every single time their customer service/phone menus from hell/joke of a web site always SUCKED in the extreme. How are they still in business?

The latest is they had a page I could go to online to see my hotspot usage, how much I had left, etc. This is important because that's my internet connection. Then suddenly out of nowhere and with zero notice of any kind, that page shows something else. I bounce around, bounce around and finally gave up trying to find such basic info that should be so easy to find. There was even a tab that said "Hotspot" and it showed how much I used every day (like who cares), but no sum total or "you have this much left in this billing cycle" anywhere. Brilliant.

I've had really bad customer service experiences elsewhere...Comcast, etc...but they still must bow down to the king. Honestly if you're shopping plans, use ANY other company unless you're a masochist.

I'm shopping other services atm. The thing is they have the best hotspot plan, that's why I went with them in the first place. But this is ridiculous.

/rant!

I had them for years but all of a sudden about 12 years ago I could not get a signal at my home. I swithched to Verizon then and had no problem until we moved. Now we have AT&T again but it is thru Consumer Cellular,and it is all good again. We use Hotspot when we camp and in most places we go it works great. We just got back from our 3week camping trip up to Niagara Falls/Hershey Pa. and back and the only place we had trouble getting signal was at times in the region of the Pa. NY border for a while.

 

[JoeWras]

I've had the fiber for over 7 years now. Right after getting it, I had a problem and they were out in hours replacing the final run to the home.

Last year, I sliced that final run cultivating my garden. Called them and they sent out a tech the next morning. I said, "Sorry man, do I get charged for this." He said, "Nope, and cut it again and I'll be right out." We had a laugh. He actually was nice and put a bunch of flags down and suggested I take a picture for the record so I could avoid the next cut.

They are not perfect, that's for sure. Their website sucks and has always sucked. It has to be the slowest on earth. There's probably a sneaker-net connection in their server room somewhere.

I know nothing about the hotspot experience which sounds like the problem here. I'm leery of these wireless connections. I still think the technology and network needs more time for them to be reliable.

 

[VanWinkle]

Like Vanguard, they are a very large company and a target for that reason. I would agree their service is less than great, but that seems to be normal these days. I agree shopping for a replacement that satisfies you is the answer.

 

[Kings over Queens]

we have AT&T for cell service and they've been fine, meaning, the phone works and I pay my bill. their website sucks but what can you do.

Verizon, on the other hand, is arguably the worst company I've ever done business with. I got so frustrated once, years ago when they had my office phone service, I wrote a letter the chairman describing their shortfalls. that resolved my problem, but at every turn, they just suck.

Our latest episode, the other day, 12:30 pm internet goes down. neighbor works, but mine is down. wife spends time on the phone booting the ONT and the modem, they try to dial in, confirm its a problem, sending a tech next day. guy arrives confirms no signal to our box, goes around the corner and confirms that another tech working on another problem unplugged my line to solve the repair ticket he was on, and left, instead of fixing the port, he just used mine, and left us without service.

My BIL works for verizon and confirms they do this all the time. the tech looks like a hero because he fixed it quick and nobody is accountable so they just keep doing it.

 

[motley]

For the OP, according to AT&T's website, just dial the following from your phone and they will text you a data usage report that includes hotspot: *3282#
You can avoid logging in to your account this way.

Thanks, but I tried that. You know what happened? I got a text that just said when my billing cycle ends and the fact that I get unlimited "data." Duh, I already knew that. And that's it, no more info. (Data and hotspot are not the same) Then there's a link that says "tap for preview" and when I tap it, it says "preview not available." Classic AT&T.

Again I'm talking about their customer service/support, not whether their stuff works or not. I've haven't had any issues with the hotspot. But to those that have had AT&T and no issues when trying to use customer service, the gods have surely blessed you in a unique and amazing way....

 

[Lorenzo]

I never really had negative feelings toward AT&T and their customer service until the day I called to let them know I was terminating my service, switching to Comcast. The AT&T rep gave me the hard sell and resisted confirming my request as long as possible, keeping me on the phone. The rep offered a discount, of course, if I would stay. I replied to the effect of, "So you could have charged me less all along but chose to milk me for what you believed I would pay? That is disingenuous, and I would not stay with a company that treated me like that even if you offered me the service for free at this point." The proper response when a customer requests to terminate service is, "Yes, sir/ma'am, we're sorry to see you go; let me take care of that for you," and nothing more. I truly despise AT&T now.

 

[JoeWras]

guy arrives confirms no signal to our box, goes around the corner and confirms that another tech working on another problem unplugged my line to solve the repair ticket he was on, and left, instead of fixing the port, he just used mine, and left us without service.

My BIL works for verizon and confirms they do this all the time. the tech looks like a hero because he fixed it quick and nobody is accountable so they just keep doing it.

So did your tech unplug it again and put your neighbor out of business? Just swap plugs every other day.

 

[ncbill]

I've had the fiber for over 7 years now. Right after getting it, I had a problem and they were out in hours replacing the final run to the home.

Last year, I sliced that final run cultivating my garden. Called them and they sent out a tech the next morning. I said, "Sorry man, do I get charged for this." He said, "Nope, and cut it again and I'll be right out." We had a laugh. He actually was nice and put a bunch of flags down and suggested I take a picture for the record so I could avoid the next cut.

They are not perfect, that's for sure. Their website sucks and has always sucked. It has to be the slowest on earth. There's probably a sneaker-net connection in their server room somewhere.

I know nothing about the hotspot experience which sounds like the problem here. I'm leery of these wireless connections. I still think the technology and network needs more time for them to be reliable.

One can buy armored conduit that has multiple fiber pairs.

 

[JoeWras]

One can buy armored conduit that has multiple fiber pairs.

Funny you should mention this because that's what we are installing on our own network at the non-profit.

But AT&T or Google Fiber won't invest in that to the final run to the house. Ultimately cheaper to replace I guess.

 

[Kings over Queens]

So did your tech unplug it again and put your neighbor out of business? Just swap plugs every other day.

He told us what happened, was seemingly embarrassed, apologized profusely and told us he did made the proper repair. It took him a few times explaining what happened for me to grasp it. anyway, I hope he did.

 

[motley]

Maybe runner-up is a good race....and the postal "service" must have heard me because wow their web site is a joke too. I also recall Comcast driving me nuts years back...

 

[Qs Laptop]

Maybe runner-up is a good race....and the postal "service" must have heard me because wow their web site is a joke too. I also recall Comcast driving me nuts years back...

Comcast is my personal "winner" of the bad customer service award. Especially noteworthy is this communications and media giant has one of the slowest and most frustrating website experiences on the planet.

 

[motley]

I'm starting to wonder if there is a correlation between company size and web site suckitude.

 

[AmigaDude]

Absolutely, the bigger the worse they are!

Meanwhile back to your original issue - there is an app myAT&T that I somehow/somewhere/someday loaded for some long forgotten reason. Under my phone it has a section for Mobile and hotspot data, and under there I can click Hotspot to see exactly what is/was used during this billing period. And it shows used/max GB for the period

Hope this helps a little

 

[motley]

I have that installed also it turns out (I didn't install, probably came with) - shockingly, I found what I was looking for. Thanks!

 

[motley]

Well the military just reminded me why I should be ashamed for not giving them their due here as well smh