AT&T How I Hate Thee

Disconnected from its Customers

Though I hate Telus even more because they won’t let you get out of a contract even if you are leaving the country for a work related contract – I think death doesn’t let you out of their contracts – AT&T is really getting to me these days.

Most of the time Telcos have to run after their customers to get them to pay their bills. In my circumstance it’s the other way around, I have to harass them to let me pay my bill.

It all began when I got me my iPhone a few months back. Before I even looked at the wonder-brick of technological goodness I shot down the AT&T salesperson with so many questions concerning my Canadian citizenship and my Canadian credit card to make ABSOLUTELY certain that I could get an iPhone while working in the US and be able to pay my bills with a Canadian credit card that I think he was winded from the assault-like interrogation.  And then we tested my credit card in his system to make sure it worked… and it did. So I left with my shiny new iPhone and a big grin on my face.

But such things are not meant to last…

Between this purchase and the payment of my first bill I got a credit card upgrade, same card – Visa – same billing address, same name, just a much bigger credit line and a different number on the card. No problem right?

HA!

I come to pay my bill and they can’t accept my credit card because it can’t recognize my billing zip code on the web site. Hmmm weird, nothing has changed but for the credit card number. So I call AT&T and tell them the 411 (see my double entendre there with the telephone company and 411?) And no one at the helpdesk can figure out what’s wrong with this billing issue. We try with my Canadian postal code in lower case, upper case, with or without the space nothing works. Finally after one and half hour of hassling I give up and pay with my old credit card.

A month later, same scenario, rinse and repeat. But my old card will be deactivated soon

Another month later I get into an escalation match with AT&T and the lady tells me that they have NEVER ACCEPTED FOREIGN CREDIT CARDS IN THE 8 YEARS SHE’S BEEN THERE. This means that I’m of course insane since my other credit card had been accepted but she had no rational explanation for that. I’m insulted. I hate it when people play me for the fool, but I hate leaving bills unpaid and potentially leaving my credit damaged. Again with my old credit card to shut AT&T up but I know this is the last time I can do this.

I call my financial advisor in Montreal so she can change the billing address on my credit card to one in the USA, which apparently took some doing. Problem solved right? Oh HELL NO.

Turns out the Canadian banking system wants the FULL ZIP CODE for US addresses which means 9 digits instead of the usual 5. So when I go to pay my AT&T bill which only accepts 5 digit Zip Codes, it fails to recognize my credit card AGAIN.

During today’s dispute with AT&T I mentioned the above to story to the person at the other end of the line and she told me that they had a field in their system to enter Canadian Credit Card Billing Information.

FACEPALM

David will self-detonate in 5 minutes, please evacuate a 5 mile radius immediately.

So now I’m stuck with a credit card with American billing info that’s useless when I could have just left it with my Canadian billing info and it would have worked like it did with my old card just like I knew it would. But because of an obstinate self-serving lazy-ass customer service manager who insisted it was impossible; I am double-fucked. Now I have to go to a store to pay my bill. Fun eh?

This of course reinforces my misanthropy and my firm belief that people only work that the very minimum of their competence and never achieve more, whether it’s to not deliver a pizza or deliver lousy customer service for AT&T. Welcome to the New AT&T… yeah yeah yeah… FUCK YOU TO.