It seems you can't go anywhere without seeing/hearing an advertisement for "The new AT&T" since their recent take-over of Bellsouth and Cingular. Unfortunately for me, I am about to move and had to deal with the "new AT&T" to setup new phone service. On Jan 29th I filled out the online order form for new service, which was set to begin today. At 10am today I get an email telling me that they cannot complete my request and to call 1-800-244-4444 to resolve the problem. I promptly get on the phone...a phone call that results in me getting transferred 5 times for a total call lenght of just over an hour, with half the CSRs being able to see my account but having no clue why there is a problem and the other half telling me that the account does not exist. Ah, incompetence at it's finest. The call ended with the Midwest web order department telling me that there was no record of my account or order (even though previous people had been able to pull it up with my confirmation number), then the lovely (insert sarcasm here) lady told me that she could walk me through the web order form step-by-step. Apparently their incomptence was a direct result of me being internet illiterate...who knew?!? I asked her what good that would do if the order did not show up in their system the first time even though I was issued a confirmation number. Oy.
So, for anyone else having this problem with 'the new AT&T', here's some other phone numbers I have accumlated from my session today.
Midwest web order department 1-800-869-1598
Texas web order department 1-866-602-4412
Installation department 1-800-341-9311
Business office 1-800-288-2020
Order department 1-800-299-3810
Luckily I can get phone service through the cable provider or through a third-party like Vonage. Unfortunately, I have dealt with Vonage in the past and they are just as incompetent (if not more so). Damn the phone company monopolies.
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