Time for AT&T to feel the heat from the Dragon's flame! Results Are In!

For those who have been keeping up with the two part AT&T blog series so far, I give you props. I know they were both long reads but I'm sure you may have found some entertainment in them. Luckily, this one will be mainly audio of phone calls to AT&T and a few calls to and from my customer, BK, whom this whole blog series is based on. Also, I have some great news... this is the final result and last blog post regarding AT&T and BK. It may not be the last regarding AT&T but in regards to the previous post, this is the final draw. So, without further a dew..... here are the audio files....

First, the call to AT&T customer service on Thursday at 12:49PM:





Next, a call to BK at 1:19PM to give her an update as to what went down the night before and the day of the call to AT&T you heard above.


Next, a call back from BK at 1:41PM:


A final call back (or was it?) from BK at 3:03PM:


Just when I thought I was all done for a while with BK and she was at ease and just going to sit back and relax until Comcast shows up.... I get a voicemail at 8:00PM right AFTER I have completed my patrol of the streets. 

And this, folks, is why PC tech guys go justin sane!!
Patience is a virtue . If it wasn't for my patience, I don't think I'll be able to hang on to the business (as well as customers) for this long. Surprisingly, the phrase "patience is a virtue" is one of the teachings of Zerthimon from the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. This was found from Wikipedia:

In the computer role-playing game Planescape: Torment, one of the potential party members, Dak'kon, is a Githzerai follower of Zerthimon, and it is possible to learn the basic tenets of Zerthimon's teachings (referred to as the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon) through conversations with him (which unlocks special wizard spells for the protagonist and the githzerai). According to Planescape: Torment, Zerthimon's teachings can be summarized as following.

1. Strength lies in knowing oneself; those who do not know themselves are lost and open to the manipulations of others.
2. A willingness to learn is a sign of strength.
3. Endure. In enduring, grow strong.
4. Learn to see the whole, or be blinded to the truth.
5. Many in unison can accomplish more than many alone.
6. Seek balance, or lose sight of your goal.
7. Patience is a virtue.
8. Focus and discipline are the key to strength; diversion is the key to weakness.

Since my business has the "Dragon" within it's name and is the unique itentifier of the whole computer business, I found this to be quite interestingly coincidental. And no, the business name did not derive from the "Dungeons & Dragon" game but more importantly, the real-life Dragon himself, Bruce Lee. So, there is some business background for you!

OK, so I lied; there was some more for you to read in this post as well but it's knowledge one cannot be without! ;-)

Until next time,

Dragon

Time for AT&T to feel the heat from the Dragon's flame! - Part Duece

As you are aware from the previous post, this is part 2 of AT&T's time to shine (where the sun don't shine, that is). If you have not read part 1 yet, click here to read it first and come back here next time.

Let's sum it up so far before I continue to the second (but possibly not last) part in the AT&T fiasco:

• It took a few phone calls from BK to AT&T to get her $75 visa card.
• BK mistakenly canceled the DSL service and AT&T deactivated it instantaneously. BK called back the same day to put it back on so AT&T said they will do so and it will be back up "momentarily." A half hour later and another phone call to AT&T again, they said it will be back up in 24hrs. 
• I went back to BK's house the next day, DSL still not up. A phone call to AT&T and the man on the other end send the service wasn't added on again. A transfer to sales was required for them to resign up for the DSL service again. It will be back up in 24hrs from that time.
• After two more separate visits to her house, it was finally back up, close to a week of the accidental cancellation. 

Now, it's time to work on getting her number ported over to magicJack. In the middle of May, I called AT&T about putting the DSL on a different number so my customer can port her current number to magicJack. They first said the DSL service would have to be canceled and then reactivated on the new number. Knowing this would take another few days, I said this wasn't a good option. AT&T also said if they did that, they wouldn't be able to sign her up again because the area is "capped (there are no more customer spots available for DSL in her location)." Customer service said she can have the line in the house split, one line voice, and the other data/dsl. This will cost $57. After speaking to BK about this, she agreed so I told AT&T to go ahead with that. She said it would take 3-5 days. I thanked her kindly and that was that. I told BK what went down and to give me a call after the guy comes and splits the line. She agreed and I headed out.

Over a week later, I get another call from BK saying nobody showed up yet to split the line. I told her to give AT&T a call and ask for a status update. She called me back and told me they said there was nothing showing about an order to have the line split, she couldn't get it split, and they had no clue what she was talking about. 

The day after getting that call from BK, I headed back to her place AGAIN and called AT&T AGAIN to see what the deal was. The man on the other line said something like, "Oh, the splitter is bad so you want to order another splitter?"  I said, "No, I want to have the phone line in the house split so the number can be ported without the DSL getting disconnected. This has been requested a couple weeks ago but nobody showed up yet to have it done." He finally knew what was going on. After being transferred to sales and placing the order again, and telling them what needed to be done, she said I can start the port process with magicJack. I did the number transfer on the magicJack site which was pretty simple. I told BK what went on and left again. 
Less than a week later, I received a call from BK and she said someone came to split the line. I headed back over there, excited, thinking this was going to be the last time I have to deal with this BS. When I headed over there, she said her phone was still working which I thought was odd because the number was supposed to be ported over to magicJack. I logged back on magicJack and spoke to someone in the chat and they said the port didn't go through because it was on a DSL line. I told them the line has been split so put the order in again. They did so and said it will take a few days for it to process. I said OK. I told BK what went down and I said for her to call me on her cell when her house phone stops working. This will mean the port went through with magicJack.
On Tuesday, June 26th, I received a call from BK on her cell at 9:03AM saying her house phone stopped working. I called her back a couple hours later and said I can head down there in the afternoon and get her all taken care of. Before I left, I quickly checked her email to see if she got an email from magicJack. She did and it said the number port was a success. I was pretty excited and knew my work and frustration was almost over. All I had to do was go back over there, unplug the magicJack from the power strip, plug it back in, wait a minute or two and everything will be all set.
I arrived at her house at around 3:30PM to get it all taken care of. I unplugged the magicJack, plugged it back in, waited a minute and then.... picked up the phone it was connected only to receive error 220 (or whatever number it was) saying to check the internet connection. I tried this a few more times with the same result so I turned the PC on and.... NO INTERNET. I looked at the DSL modem and the internet light, of course, was not on. The DSL light was but not the internet light. I thought it had to be plugged in the other jack now because of the port and because the line had been split. I plugged it in the other jack and the DSL light was flashing red. I was like, WTF!
Of course, I had no choice again but make another call to AT&T. I spoke to the DSL support AGAIN and asked why there was no more DSL service. I gave him the new number the DSL is under (according to what the woman said who gave me that number said!) and he said, "There's no DSL under that number." I then gave him the other number and he said, "There is no DSL on this number either." Both numbers had no DSL. He said DSL on both numbers did not exist and never existed! I said, "how is that possible when there has been DSL in this house for over a year?" After the man doing some research and not coming up with anything, he said if I wanted DSL on this number, I would have to go to sales. I then got switched over to sales, gave them my speech again and told them they probably won't be able to put DSL on this number because of the "cap." After looking it up, they agreed. I said, "OK, what can you do? There has been DSL in this house for over  a year and it's been yanked out. The line has been split to prevent this issue from occurring but I guess that plan didn't work. How can we get DSL back in this house? (or something to that affect)" She said she'll get it back up and she told me to give her a number I can be reached at for the status. She said she will call within 24hrs. I gave her my cell number and we ended the call. I told BK the situation and she, of course, wasn't happy like a dog would be when you come home and they sit there and wag their tail. So... I told her I should be getting a call the next day and I'll let her know what the results are. Then... it was time for me to leave.... 

Wednesday came and I have not received a phone call from AT&T like they said they would do so I took matters into my own hands AGAIN and decided to speak to someone in the AT&T chat from their website to see what the status was and here is the chat below with the results of the chat after chat transcript. The only thing I have edited in the transcript was the customer name, numbers, and address censored for privacy.

Thank you for choosing AT&T. A representative will be with you shortly.
You are now chatting with David.

David: Hello,Thank you for contacting at AT&T. This is David, how are you doing today?BK: Fantastic, how are you?David: I am also good, thanks for asking.David: How may I help you today so that I can make your day better?BK: I would like to see if you can give me a status update check on DSL service which was ordered yesterday for this number: 772-XXX-XXXXDavid: Sure, may I have your service address so that I can check your order status?David: Complete service address?BK: [censored] Fort Pierce, FL 34982David: Thanks for the information please allow me some time while I check this for you.BK: Sure, no problem.David: Thanks for your patience.David: I have check your account status and it is updated now so you will get services very soon at your address.David: May I know which services you are using for TV or home phone?(Look at that! He already wants to try to sell me more services when this DSL service hasn’t even completed yet!)David: Because you will get further discount on internet if you will combine these services with internet.BK: Home phone is still currently AT&T. Will the DSL be ready to set up if I send my computer guy to my house tomorrow?BK: Is there just DSL on this number?David: Did you order home phone along internet?David: because right now I am not able to see all the services at account because your account is in dummy status.BK: I'm not going to get into the whole long story here but I had the line split at the house so I can port my number to a VoIP service. After the line was split, I went with the port of the number. After the port, the DSL dropped even though ATT said they put the DSL on this number I have provided you. The DSL was not on both numbers anymore when I called. So.. I had to reorder the DSL on this number.David: Okay.BK: So, if there is no voice on this number, that is the way on want it.David: Let me check your all order status from other department.David: Please allow me some time.BK: OKDavid: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.BK: Take your time. No rush.David: Thanks for your patience.David: I have checked your account status and saw that there is only home land line available on this number/address.David: If you want to order DSL on this line then I will do this for you right now.BK: But I already placed an order yesterday at around 4PM. Why does it have to be ordered two times?David: There might be some issue with order so you don't worry about this I will do this right now.BK: OK, I hope so.BK: Without the DSL, I can't use my phone.David: Are you confirm that you have ordered dsl on this number?David: Yes, you can use but you will not get extra discount or benefit if dsl or direct tv will be not there.BK: 772-XXX-XXXX. Is this the number you have?BK: I can not use my phone because the number has been ported to a VoIP internet voice service, remember? Without the internet, I can't make or receive calls.David: Yes, it is.BK: Ok, I would like the DSL on this number.David: Okay, let me check availability of services at this number.BK: OK but it will probably says it's capped.BK: If so, that will be another big issue but your company failed to put the DSL on this number before the port went through on the old number.BK: The whole reason I got the line split is because of the "cap" in the area. This split cost $57.David: Yes, I got same error.David: Please allow me some more time.BK: Now, the old number is ported over but the number ATT gave me for the DSL does not have DSL service on it. So, now both numbers have no DSL and when I try to reorder it, I get the "can't because it is capped."BK: Thank you.BK: I had the service for over a year and a half so far.David: It is asking for address key if you want services at this number.BK: what's an address key??David: Please allow me a moment let me check from your land line account.David: If there will any address key.BK: I can give you the old number the service was on if you wish before it got yanked off.David: Yes, please give me another can be reach number so that I can call you after completion of this order.David: Also I need some information to process your order.David: I have to generate address key through your land line account then after that I will be able to process your order for dsl.BK: What kind of information do you need? I am B's "Computer Guy" who is taking care of this from my location.David: I need your email address.BK: My name Justin Rocque should be in her account somewhere too.David: Date of birth.David: ssn number.David: and also I need your credit card information.BK: Well, unfortunately, I can't provide this information. Also, why do you need a credit card? She mails in her payments and has been doing this since she had ATT for over 10 years or more. But, after I tell her all of this and how her DSL HAS NOT been ordered even though I did so at HER HOUSE yesterday, she will probably be switching over to Comcast now.David: As I have told you that on this number there is no services for internet.BK: So, unless you want to lose a customer, I suggest you find some other way to get the DSL in her house tomorrow because we are both tired of calling AT&T for all of these issues which could have been prevented if you people kept good computer records and did not give both of us the wrong answers of the phone which is why there is NO DSL on EITHER phone line.BK: So, I wasted over 30 minutes at her house ordering the DSL service which has not even been ordered?David: So if you want to order internet on this number then you need to provide these information to us.BK: That's pretty odd because they did not ask me for this information on the phone yesterday. Just the last 4 of her social.David: may I have your can be reach number where I can contact and can provide all facility to you.David: And I will explain each and everything for you.BK: I already told you...."What kind of information do you need? I am B's "Computer Guy" who is taking care of this from my location."BK: Talking to me would do no good.David: Can you give me her number so that I can take required information which is required. like date of birth e-mail address ssn and credit card information.BK: I placed the order for her at her house yesterday. They said it will be 24hrs when it will be ready and they will call me when it is ready. I have not received one phone call from ATT today so I guess it is not ready and now, after talking with you, it hasn't even been ordered.BK: She never gave ATT her credit card number. She had a bill sent to her of which she paid with a check. Why does she need a credit card number now?David: When we order dsl there is need of credit check so we need credit card detail, yes that order has not been placed due to address key.David: So I will create first address key then will process your order.David: This is the information which is required from every customer which order DSL.David: Please allow me some time while I check address key for this order.BK: 772-XXX-XXXX. Then you can use that number to look up the information you need because that's the number the DSL has been on for over a year and a half.David: I'll be right with you.David: Now you want dsl at this number or 772-XXX-XXXX?BK: This number: 772-XXX-XXXX. The other one has been ported to the VoIP service and is no longer ATT's number.David: I am sorry to say that there is problem with address key at this number 772-XXX-XXXX due to service availability issue so I need to contact other department and has to resolve this address key issue from there.BK: Can you explain what an "address key" is?David: I will call you after some time when it will be resolved from concerned department so please give me desired number where I can reach to you.David: Address key is the number which is used to connect dsl services with land line and we are not able to create that number on this account due to service availbility issue.David: Your order will be processed only if that number will be generated so I will call you when it will be settled.David: Is that okay?BK: How long will this take? It's 6PM Eastern right now. Will it take another day or two?David: I will call you back after 30 minutes.BK: OK. After this issue is "settled," will you still need the credit card and all of the other information?David: May I have number where I can reach you?David: If it will accept land line information then there will no need, you don't worry I will let you know if anything will be required.BK: OK. 772-215-6793David: Thanks.David: Is there anything else with which I can assist you today?BK: No, you have done enough for now.David: It was my pleasure to assist you today.David: We value your feedback as a AT&T special customer and we do promise to deliver you best services in the future!David: Have a great day.BK: You too.David: Bye take care!!! catch you later.David: Thank you for contacting AT&T. Please use the CLOSE button when you are ready to exit our chat session. 

It is now 2:57AM Eastern time and I still have not received a call from David who said and I quote, "I will call you back after 30 minutes." He also said, "catch you later." It's been after 30 minutes and he has not caught me later. 
So, needless to say.... I will be giving AT&T one FINAL call tomorrow and there will be a FINAL blog post regarding that phone call. 
Will this be the end of an AT&T customer who was with AT&T for over 10 years? Will Comcast be getting a brand new internet customer soon? Will AT&T make their customer happy again by putting the DSL service, which was active for over a year and a half, back in their customer's house so she doesn't have to deal with this bullshit anymore and I don't have to be calling AT&T to figure out what's going on because I actually understand the terminology? Or will AT&T fail and lose a customer, forcing BK to CANCEL ALL of her AT&T services of which she had for over 10 years and go to Comcast, of which, she has to pay the Dragon to set up? And just so you know, AT&T, most of these tech calls I placed were on MY OWN TIME and I DID NOT receive any compensation for MY TIME because I didn't find it fair to have my customer pay for your F-ups! 
Stay tuned, folks (and, especially AT&T!) for the results of the battle with the Dragon versus AT&T!
Same Dragon Blog, Different Eastern time...
Dragon
Click here to go to the final part!

Time for AT&T to feel the heat from the Dragon's flame!

Before I start this blog post, you can read about a related incident here regarding the lovely AT&T DSL: http://dragonpctraining.blogspot.com/2011/07/why-doesnt-dial-up-just-go-away-already.html

As you can see from the above, I have convinced people to give up their dial-up and go with DSL. The female who was mentioned briefly in the last paragraph is the one we will be discussing in this blog post. You can also notice from above, this person has had DSL for more than a year.... until it became "inactive" yesterday (6/26/2012)!

Before I discuss what went on yesterday, let me give you a small background about my customer. My customer, let's call her BK, gave me a call on December of 2010 about a computer issue she had with her NetZero Dial-up not working. The computer wasn't in the greatest shape and I won't get into specifics regarding the other "tech person" she had prior who "sold" her that 8+ year old Dell machine. I took BK to Staples to get  a new PC and I hooked it up for her. She had to spend another $50 on a USB dial-up modem because the newer computers don't come with a modem anymore for obvious reasons.

Because of an email hijacking issue with BK's email account on May of 2011, I told her it would be best to get DSL service so the PC stays up to date, she can have an updated anti-virus running, and so she can do more with her PC besides email. I told her it will be an overall quicker and better computing experience. BK didn't want to do this at first because of the extra expense. She was currently paying about $9.95 for NetZero. I told her it will be $14.95 for one year for the DSL service then $24.95 for the DSL service after the one year is up. She then agreed. On the end of May of 2011, the DSL was hooked up by me (who also called AT&T to sign her up for the service) and everything was honky dory. However, AT&T FAILED to send her the $75 visa card for the modem reimbursement. After BK called them on the phone multiple times, she FINALLY got it in the mail! So, there is one small boo boo already on AT&T's part. But, like Onyx said in their song Slam towards the end.... but but but wait, it get's worse!







On a day towards the end of April or the very beginning of May of 2012, I received a frantic call from BK because her AT&T bill showed  a charge of $34.95 (or higher, I can't recall the actual price now) for the DSL service. I called BK back and told her that's because the year is up and you have to call AT&T and have them down grade the DSL service to the lite service which is $24.95 a month.  BK said it was going to be over $50 a month for the phone and DSL and then wanted to go back to the ".net" as she calls the dial-up service (NetZero.net). During this time, BK also mentioned magicJack and said she wanted to go back to the dial-up service and get magicJack for her phone for $20 a year.

After trying to explain over the phone, in order for magicJack to work, broadband (DSL or Cable) internet is required. I also asked BK, why get magicJack phone service if you already have phone service in the house? Are you going to cancel your phone service? Then you can't use the ".net" dial-up service! After that lengthy discussion on the phone, she decided to keep the DSL and get magicJack and cancel her phone service eventually. She wanted me to set up the magicJack for her. I agreed and told her to keep the DSL service and cancel her phone service and just go to the "DSL direct" which is what AT&T calls their DSL service without voice. She said, "OK."

On May 2nd, I picked up the magicJack at Staples and went to BK's house to set it up. As I was sitting at the desk taking everything out of the packaging, this conversation started:

BK: "OK, I canceled the DSL Service!"
I stopped, looked back at her and said, "what did you do?!"
BK: "I canceled the DSL service!" I was quite shocked and said, "Why did you do that?!"
BK: "You told me to!"
Me: "No.... I said, cancel the phone service, not the DSL service!"

So, of course, she got upset because she didn't have a clue as to what was going on and I had her call back AT&T to reactivate the DSL service. After BK was on the phone for a while, she was getting annoyed at them so I had to take over. I told them what went down and they said they will reactivate it and it will be up again momentarily. So, we both waited... and waited.... and I started playing with the modem to get it set up again and nothing was working. After thirty minutes passed by, I called AT&T back again to see what the deal was. Another person on the phone said it takes about 24hrs for it to activate again. I thought that was odd because the other person on the phone before said it would be back up "momentarily." So, I said thank you to the kind man and hung up the phone. I told BK what was going on and said I'll be back the next day to set up the magicJack again! She said OK. Another fat failure on AT&T's part with their lack of knowledgeable customer service personnel who give false information!

I arrived at BK's house on May 3rd at around 3PM because it was around this time the previous day the service had been activated. I noticed the internet light not on the modem again and went through some steps again to get it working. After messing with it again with no results, I called the DSL tech support again and told them it's been about 24hrs since it was activated and the internet is still not up and running. After some further "research" from the tech support person, he told me it is not activated because the service has not been added. I told him what has been going on and how she accidentally canceled it then we called back and reactivated it and how the person said it will be back up "momentarily" then I was told it takes 24hrs. He said in order to put the DSL back on, I needed to speak to sales and sign up for it again. I was transferred to sales and had to go through the process all over again. I told BK what happened and, of course, she wasn't a happy camper. Then I left because there was nothing more I could do.

The next day, back to BK's house! I might as well have moved in at this point! Tried to get it all working again and.... it still wasn't activated yet! Gave them another call and the female gave me a number to call to "expedite" the service. After speaking with the expediter, she said she it wouldn't be up and running until the next day anyway so that call was pointless. So, I told BK what went down again and.... left!

The next day, I went back and FINALLY, after close to a week of her accidentally cancelling the service, which took no less than 10 minutes for it to be deactivated, it took about a week and close to ten phone calls for it to be up and running again!

I FINALLY was able to hook up the magicJack and get it working. I told BK the new number to use and I told her she can cancel the phone service with AT&T, not the DSL service. She then tells me she wanted to use the same number she had with the magicJack service. After I allowed the screams in my head to subside, I told her, because of the DSL being tied to the phone line, it will be complicated to port the number over to magicJack. She didn't care and still wanted it done. Oh, and she also told me she wanted the magicJack Plus instead of the regular magicJack because she read from the paper about it not requiring a computer to function. I told BK, even though it doesn't require a computer, it needs a router to receive the internet, of which she did not have. After saying that, she didn't know what the heck a router was and anything else I was talking about so.... I had to create a magicJack "dummy" diagram. After all, she is in her eighties so a lot of this stuff is new to her.

After all that, she still wanted the magicJack Plus of which she then bought at Radio Shack. I had to get the router and power strip for her though and didn't mind.

Because this has been a lengthy blog post already, I'm going to break this into two parts. The number porting process as well as the "current" process of the magicJack Plus and DSL fiasco will be continued with part 2! Click here for part 2!

Until next time,

Dragon