Jacquelyn Lynn, Business Writer, Speaker

AT&T U-Verse Service Failures: The Business Lesson

Yesterday I ranted about the incredibly poor customer service I had received from AT&T U-Verse and how for several weeks, I have been trying to upgrade my service, and U-Verse has been failing to deliver.

Here's the business lesson: Everyone in your organization who deals with customers must have ultimate authority to solve the problem. Don't just pay lip service to that authority, which is what AT&T U-Verse does.

Several people told me they were going to take care of the problem, but they couldn't. They couldn't because other AT&T U-Verse employees who are insulated from customer contact were simply saying no--or worse, saying "I don't know." Yesterday, for example, one representative, who began our conversation by telling me he could do "anything" a supervisor could do, ended it with telling me he had no idea when the system error would be corrected and I could expect the service to be installed. And he would have ended the call right then, except that I asked to speak to an actual supervisor.

I truly understand, as do most reasonable people, that mistakes happen, equipment failures happen, "stuff" happens--but when those things happen, someone who is actually dealing with the customer needs to have the authority to take care of it. In this case, someone should have said, "We'll get someone out there, even if it means bringing someone in on overtime to do it," and then had the authority to actually do that.

So that's the business lesson here: If the employees who affect customer service are going to be shielded from contact with the customers, the representatives who are dealing with the customers should have authority to tell those employees who are providing the actual service.

  

AT&T U-Verse: Great product, lousy customer service

When AT&T's U-Verse service became available in my neighborhood, I was one of the first on my block to sign up. The television, DVR , and internet service is significantly superior to our previous cable provider. So recently I decided to upgrade my service package and make some other enhancements to my phone service.

I've been trying for nearly three weeks, and AT&T U-Verse keeps canceling and/or rescheduling my installation appointment because of an internal service problem. The few times they've had the courtesy to call me, it's been calls from people with accents I couldn't understand based in overseas call centers who were clearly not well-trained in the company's products.

In the past two weeks, during the calls I have initiated, I have talked with at least 15 people at AT&T U-Verse, and while they have all been very nice and seem genuinely sorry that their company's service is so poor, they can't seem to do anything about it.  Today, when they didn't show up at the scheduled time, I spent two hours and 55 minutes on the phone, only to be told that they wouldn't be coming out until next week.

It appears that the people who have the power to take the steps to fix the problem are hiding behind a complex telephone system and refusing to actually talk to customers.

I'm trying to turn this situation into a lesson to share, but at this point, all I can manage to do is rant. But if you're considering a switch to U-Verse,  you might want to hold off until AT&T gets the bugs worked out of its system.