Two-thirds of AT&T customer representatives are mis-informed

[Update]
Post updated. Perhaps my original wording was a bit harsh.

It’s one way or the other.

A recent test conducted by the Consumers Union found that two-thirds of AT&T customer representatives either lied about AT&T’s termination fees (which are now pro-rated), or were misinformed.

The group made 12 calls to AT&T and were provided false and inaccurate information from 8 representatives. Chances are that some of the mis-information was the result of mal-intent, but to be fair, there a good chance that most of the representatives were just plain uninformed, whatever you want to call it.

[Via: Smartphone Thoughts]

About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

Insider

Hey i’am a AT&T CSR and thats completly false..

That policy hasnttake effect yet even we can provide info about this, the current ETF policy is the same till 02/05/06, no cahnges yet..

So your test doesnt worth a penny..

Z.
newtype2011

While this perpetuates what most of us already think, allow me to play devil’s advocate:

While I do not like to defend big corps. that love to nickel and dime people, conducting a test with such a small number of reps hardly reveals anything. The next 12 that they could have called could have all been totally accurate in the information they provided.

Wake me when they call at LEAST 200 reps and then pool their answers -
NA

Just so you know most people that don’t get their way want to say that the representative was being ignorant/ stupid. Read your contract before calling in and playing stupid and trying to act ignorant to get your way. Just cause we don’t give in doesn’t mean were stupid it means we are abiding by our contract!
Wrong

ATT REp Here

We Actually just got a notification today about how it has not changed! It was sent out that we are changing to pro rated but has not been released on how the pro ration will occur. So as of right now your just a moron.
at&t technical support

i work for at&t, and the new prorated ETF policy has not yet been released like the other person stated.
att tech support

even after the changes takes effect you are still obligated to pay 175 per line per your contract. only new activations/contracts will be any change.
att tech support

even “Misinformed” is wrong. Who are you to say what a companies policies are? your policy is written on your contract and will not change unless you get a new contract or start new service.
v

one time i had to add a discount code to my account, spoke with 4 different CS reps (on 4 different calls), and received 4 different answers as to if they could do it or not. finally the 4th one was able to add the company code to my account. each person you talk to will give a completely different answer regarding an issue… wtf??
Amir

Let’s get things straight:
This study in not conclusive, only calling 12 CSR and making a conclusion is wrong…This study has to be done in the magnitude of hundreds to be credible…I’ll give that to the reps here

BUT… Whenever I have a problem with my bill, or need to ask help, I always…repeat always…end up calling CSR at least 3 times to get the job done. So when I saw the title of this article that says AT&T Reps are mis-informed, I wasn’t surprised. I’ll listen to any arguments you might have.
att tech support

v, the reason why it took so long is because CSRs cannot add discounts to your account. they do not have the ability in the billing system, this kind of call has to goto Buiness End User Care BEUC. 611 or 8003310500 is for regular consumers only without a fan or buiness Entitlement.. but some teniored reps will still have access to the system from before when they did not have the restictions.
att tech KB

the wireless industry is an ever-changing and fast paced enviroment. things change daily at at&t. the only thing that is contant here is change. i apologize for being misinformed. whomever you spoke to might have been confused.
until we roll out the ETF changes, everyone still pays a flate rate of $175 to cancel their service with us. you will be notified once the change has been made and is official.
Derek

Ok, I’m in tech support at AT&T, and you are completely wrong. Not only did the changes not go into effect yet, but the changes do not affect anyone with a current pending contract with us. If you were to call about a contract you’ve already signed, I too would tell you that it is a flat $175. Only those who sign after the change to prorated are affected.
Lt. Dan

Good job in checking out the validity of this. So they have not impletmented this yet, and only 12 people of a company that has well over 75,000 employees were polled for something that the company has not officially announced yet. And they are idiots for not knowing about something that hasn’t been implemented? Well I guess because it is on the internet I had better believe it, the internet doesn’t lie and and all websites know what they are talking about.
Lt. Dan

-Edit

I considered this website to be somewhat “in the know” for the wireless industry. I work for one of their (ATT’s) competitors and I won’t be coming back here.
Kryptonyte

While most of you might think that ATT is charging its cst a prorated ETF, that is compeltely and truly false and we still charge a $175.00 ETF and until further notice that is what will be charged…We are not misinformed or liers…We know what we are doing and what we tell our cst…The person that obviously posted the report has had a really mis informed day and time so i think that this person is the one who lied about this and misinformed the cst that read this site…
Mr. Mackey

Eat penguin s*** you a** spelunker.
yet another at&t rep

i too work at at&t, and yes i have to say that your study isnt the most scientific study we’ve seen here but i do have to agree that there is alot of missinformation given at any large corp that uses call centers for customer support. You will allways have people who dont care enough (or just too lazy) to look for answer and just say what sounds best so they can get back to trashing post on websites
The CSR

Coming from a AT&T CSR…I agree with Insider…pro-rated ETFs are not in effect (FACT)…please get your facts inline before you start posting things such as this…

J
v

att tech support–

replace my example with any other issue and get the same result. my wife had to switch SIM cards, the rep she spoke to said it would take a week for her new SIM to get activated. when I heard this, i knew they were full of it, called and spoke to someone else, who confirmed that it should have been activated immediately, but the initial rep did not fully complete the SIM switchover in the system….
att tech

this whole post, is absolutely incorrect and this post shouldnt be on this website at all. alot of my colleagues have aleady posted that the information in this post is not valid, but yet here it still sits, while will gets trashed for a post he threw together because he had nothing clever or smart to write about that means anything to anyone.
if you want to test our company, perform the test on at least over 500 employess, and then analyze the results. your view of at&t will then change.
nobody is listening

i performed my on study over lunch and called sprint four time each time it took the rep 10+ minutes to determine why they couldnt find my account(i dont have one w/ sprint)so they must be all idiots too
Amanda

yeah, if anyone can show me where in the terms and condidtions of at&t contract service, it says ‘prorated etfs’, then you win…….but for those who wish to save time, the etf is a solid fee of 175.xx at this time, while there IS SERIOUS talk about starting to prorate it, it is NOT effective at this time AT ALL! If at&t does choose to roll this new policy out, it most likley wont retroactivly affect the current contracts users have. I am seriously questioning into mobiles capability to provide accurate info, not at&t…this is just a ridiculous and blatent display of ignorance
att tech

go amanda! yeah!!!!
yoda

good job conducting a test of 12 people for an analysis of information, please dont vote, EVER

and while i’ll agree that customers calling in mulitple times shouldnt be a prevalent problem, especially since we’re the first contact for customers for information; in no way is this misinformation, when even the employees themselves(as apparent by the multitude of comments, as well as myself)are stating this isnt set into stone

and i’m appalled that you actually think is a valid way of conducting a survey or whatever you call this, LIKE I SAID, PLEASE DONT VOTE
Ian

reps should not be misinformed there job is to help if there misinformed how can they help ?
Ian

I had a problem and i figured the problem out by myself im not a trained cingular rep what dose that say for them? dose that mean i could do there job with out any training and better if so what are the reps even there for no injury intended im just curious?
AJ

The employees at at&t and AT&T Wireless and or Cingular may be the most misinformed group of employees, or ignorant, or underpaid and under trained I have ever encountered ever. Call them 12 times and chances are you will get 10 different answers on any questions that you may have. Sorry to say but true, I was a customer since 1985 Cellular One, TDMA, So I have 23 years of experience with this TRUST ME. Either they need pay better for a better caliber employee or forget about affirmative action Southern States style. In the south they give you attitude and ignorance in the same call, at no extra charge. The consumer can only take so much.
Amanda is back…uh oh :)

OMG you people have issues…please if you post on this article, and you agree/believe this info, please be sure to include a link to AT&T’s website that directs me to where this prorated ETF is listed and in effect…..let me again wish you the best of luck.

AJ, your dedication to AT&T is incredible, but you realize after having such a one sided experiance, your input is slightly negated. I have had 3 major wireless providers over the past 7 years, and the experience (minus the network service between the 3 carriers) has been across the board the same: Granted AT&T’s reps are actually the lowest paid out of the current US companies, every company shares the same agony of misinformed or just plain stupid reps.

Tom, I admire your drive to test these statments for yourself, however, you have misconceived a ‘misinformed’ rep for an actual informed rep…I also appreciate the inclusion of a link in your post. I’m pretty sure that link has stated the policy quite well: “In addition, those customers who choose to exit their contract early will no longer be required to pay a flat early termination fee. Instead, that fee will be progressively lowered during the term of the contract. Beginning early in 2008, this early-termination policy will apply to new and renewing wireless customers who sign one- or two-year service agreements. More details will be forthcoming at that time.”
Um, I know I should try to be sensitive to those whose brains may fail to function well, therefore causing them to encounter many complexities for the duration of their lives, but I’m 99.9999999% sure that was damn easy to comprehend. But for those dense few, that means 2/3 of AT&Ts reps are actually WELL INFORMED, God’s gift to Earth, saints…well, if we were to base it on the 12 flippin calls that were made, any way…So, I’m done for now…you can now resume your previously scheduled stupidity.

FYI, for those who would like reliable and truthful info (because obviously IntoMobile has issues in that area), AT&T has announced the POSSIBLE, but likely proration of ETFs beginning as early as 05/25/08. For those who have a contract or sign up before than, you are agreeing to a flate $175 ETF PERIOD, see ->. The proration is set to be around $5.00/month off, but thats not set in stone, so please dont bunch your panties about it.