Back in October, I needed to get a new ISP, so I called around. The salesman at SBC Yahoo! DSL told me they could combine my billing for my home phone service, Cingular Wireless & SBC Yahoo! DSL, which would save me $. He told me I would get $3 off per month of SBC Yahoo! DSL for combining the billing, and basically told me I would end up saving about $25 a month by having all three services combined. Also said shiping & handling of the Modem would be free.
The billing still hasn't been combined. I was told this was because the DSL & home phone is in my name & the cell phones are in my wife's name. We really didn't want to bother switching our names around & felt that we weren't told of that & shouldn't have to bother with switching everything into one of our names. We are being cherged about $150.00 a month for all three services, when it was supposed to be about $125.00 a month.
We were charged for the modem. We eventually got them to waive that.
The main problem is that the DSL service barely works. When we try to get on, it doesn't come up immediately. It has gotten worse as time has gone by. We keep getting these pop-ups that say Work offline or Try again. Sometimes (& I do mean sometimes), it will work just fine for about 15-20 minutes (maybe), then I'll get the work offline or try again prompt. I'm glad I do most of my posting at work. If I click try again, it then loads the next page very slowly (2-5 minutes). I have called several times to tech support & talked to the computer geeks & I try this & that, but it has never resolved this problem.
After several attempts with a tech geek & no luck I decided they would not be able to fix it for me so I decided to cancel the service. Well, then they tell me there is a $200 cancelation fee cause I had signed a one year contract with them. The lady was nice enough to credit my account for two months for the DSL charge (which took two months to see the credit. That was back in January. Now, I assumed when she told me of the $200.00 cancelation fee that since the service they are providing did not work, they would waive the cancelation fee. No such luck.
The nice lady in January who credited my account for two months & told me about the $200.00 fee, told me they are required to send a technician to my house to try to get it fixed before they are able to waive a cancelation fee. Fine. The guy came out & said nothing is wrong (murphys law I suppose). So it did not get fixed. I was so pissed about that & beaten down by staying on hold for 30-40 before I even get through that I did not call back until yesterday. My fault.
This is where it really gets bad. Finally I called yesterday to once & for all cancel this service. I explained to the nice lady in Amarillo the situation. I advised her before explaining that she might want to put a manager/supervisor on. She wanted me to explain anyway. So I explained everything, beggining to end. She nicely reminded me of the $200.00 cancelation fee. I advised he that I was told previously that if a technician came out & couldn't fix it, they said they could at that point waive the cancelation fee. She said she could not. This conversation lasted for a while until finally...
...I explained to her that I pay $150.00 a month to SBC. I said I am already planning on getting rid of cingular once that contract expires in November. I said if I cannot get the $200.00 fee waived, that, "I will cancel my home phone service with SBC, which will cost your company about twice as much per month as I am paying for my DSL.". She tells me, just a moment so I can get a manager for you. She puts me on hold a couple of minutes, comes back & tells me she is not having any luck & that she knows how valuable my time is (this after being on the phone with her for 30 minutes), & would be happy to have a manager call me back. I tell her I have been down that road before & that they never call back when they say they are going to. She puts me on hold a few more times. Finally I agree to having a manager call back after she promises they will do so by 6P (this was yesterday).
I had a strong suspicion no one would call back. At 5:45P yesterday I called back & got the most incompetant (I thought at the time) agent. I explained that I was supposed to recieve a call back by 6P. She was very rude & unhelpful & had a I don't care type attitude. I hung up & called back. I got someone who at least was trying to fake wanting to help. She said call backs are usually 48-72 hours. I told her I was told by 6P today (yesterday). The agent who was in Corpus Christi said that was a different dept. I said, but I called the same telephone number. She said but you got Amarillo, which is a different department. I asked her what department I was speaking to her in Corpus. She says the DSL department. So I asked what department was Amarillo, she says she doesn't know.
After speaking to her for 30 minutes (about 15 minutes after the office closed), I finally agree to have her manager call back at 4:30P today.Every single time, without exception I have talked to SBC, they have lied to me about something. They apparently do not have a customer satisfaction gaurentee. I had asked the last person in Corpus if they were outsouced, or did she work for SBC. She said she works for SBC. I asked her if the Amarillo office was outsourced or it they worked for SBC, since apparently they have different policies & procedures at each call center. She said she did not know. I find that hard to believe.
I could go on & on, as you can see.
...to be continued.
Edited by Super B, 15 April 2004 - 08:10 AM.
