AT&T Doesn’t Want My Money
So, I went to the AT&T store to pay my mobile phone bill. I knew I’d be right near the store so I took my statement, my phone and my wallet. I walked up to the desk, pulled everything out, and started talking. Before I even finished my sentence the service representative stopped me short and said:
“I’m sorry but we don’t accept payment here, but you can go to the Giant [grocery store] to pay it.”
I just sort of stood there. Then I laughed and told him that was completely insane. He agreed, smiled, and told me that it has been that way a long time.
I felt like telling him that I would like to buy groceries instead. Maybe he would accept my money that way. I was strong; I resisted playing the sarcasm card.
Please tell me:
1. That I am right, and this is insane!
2. That there is a really good reason for this. (Explain it, please!)
July 15th, 2004 at 10:35 pm
The thing to keep in mind is that the AT&T Wireless company has been rated as THE WORST wireless carrier for customer service by every poll ever done. So… What is the deal here.
There is a reason for this believe it or not, maybe not a good one, but a reason none the less. The stores are all basically independent contractors, you can not do anything there other than sales. They can sell you new service, change your service, upgrade your hardware. That’s it. They are not really even the same company as the mother ship corporation, they are just independent little pods. They are not exactly franchises but operationally, they are close. I can understand this and deal with it, as I have learned the system and the limitations.
When you actually deal with ATTWS more, you will find more and more quirks even more hideous than this one. See a product on the website and try to buy it in the local store. No. Sure they are independent contractors, ok… Order it from the 1-888 number. No. The website is also an independent contractor, it does not have any communication with the customer service reps (CSRs) on the phone in the home base. Not only will the Website, 1-888, and local shops all have different merchandise, they also have different pricing and deals on the stuff all three do carry. Don’t even get me started about the difference between business services CSRs and consumer CSRs, it will make my head explode.
When dealing with ATTWS, be prepared for these disconnects left and right, they really have their heads firmly planted if you know what I mean. On a bright note, they are merging with Cingular wireless later this year. Cingular usually ranks second from the bottom in customer service so mix the two companies and we should get a tiny bit better right? Ah, who knows. We are stuck with them until T-Mobile builds a competitive network (not going to happen unfortunately) or some other companies switch to GSM service which is the only way to go. TDMA (the competitive service type to GSM) is limited to North America and frankly lame, so for now, grin and bear it, go to Giant to pay your bill or set it up for automatic deduction from your credit card, and enjoy your phone.
July 16th, 2004 at 9:01 am
a customer of mine is a german mobile carrier and i just asked an employee if that would have been possible with them. her reply: we wanted to implement that but it wasn’t possible for technical reasons, at least not with justifyable effort.
so my answer on your question: if your demand (paying phone bills in cash in the carrier’s shops) is a very popular one, i can certainly not understand why it isn’t possible. if it is a rather exceptional demand (that would be true here in europe - everybody wires the money, hardly anybody would want to pay in person) than systems integration (billing, accounting, etc.) is not worth the effort.