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Why does AT&T Treat their business customers so badly?

S

southparksteve

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 6, 2010
41
0
San Diego, CA
So this is kind of a rant against AT&T. I know this is macrumors and not AT&Trumors...but oh well!

I have a small business plan with AT&T with 5 numbers. It is the same as a family talk plan except it is in my company's name and is associated with a tax id rather than a SSN.

I also have a business relationship with my local Apple store. They are great and always have been. HOWEVER, I have NEVER been able to get an iPhone anywhere other than the AT&T store due to the type of plan I have (never could get a straight answer as to why). In the past, this hasn't really been much of an issue as AT&T stores always had the new iPhone on launch day. Not so this year.

So when the iPhone 4 preorders came out, I logged on to AT&T's website to try to order. Logged in via att.com/wireless, got to the screen, and clicked "Apple" in the phone type section. And what did I get? Nothing! Keep in mind, this was during the morning when I certainly would have gotten a preorder. So, I called AT&T. After an hour on the phone, they came on and they also couldn't figure out why I couldn't order an iPhone on their website. To this day, I cannot order on their website and they cannot figure out why.

Moving on, I called our sales rep at the Apple store and he said not to worry. He told me to come on on launch day and he'd make sure there was an iPhone for me. I arrived (and bypassed the line, which is why Apple is always so great), and sure enough our rep was there with my phone. He put the data in, clicked "check for upgrade eligibility"...and....NOTHING. Couldn't do it in the Apple store because it was a business account. Fortunately, I foresaw this event and took my friend down with me so that at least he could get the phone which was meant for me.

So, I'm stuck waiting until AT&T finally gets some iPhones in their store for purchase. As I travel, and am not a 15 year old with all the time in the world to stand in line, I couldn't make the AT&T launch date (I think it was the 29th of June), and now no stores have iPhones in stock. I have called all the local stores to see when they will be getting them. The answers range from tomorrow to 3 months from now, all because nobody actually has any idea when they will be getting them.

What I want to know is, why AT&T treats their business customers so badly. They always say "contact your sales rep" but I don't have a sales rep with AT&T. They don't give a ***** about a plan with 5 lines on it even if it is registered to a business.

So that's my rant, good thing the 3Gs isn't that much different from the new one (and I have no signal issues!).
 
Try moving to Verizon if you want bad Business customer service.

My company uses AT&T and I have an AT&T business plan thru my job, they treat me just as they did when I was under an individual plan. Moved from Verizon over a year ago and not looking back however my wife and two sons are still on VZ until their contracts are up.

AT&T offers way more for the same price as Verizon plus a huge thing for me is VZ has no rollover minutes besides you pay for Visual VM on VZ, Data is better on AT&T.

I should mention in my area both AT&T and Verizon are the same however I seem to get better reception with my i4 then my wife does with her Droid on VZ in the same exact area.

Keeping iPhone and AT&T will not go back to either VZ, Sprint, or T-Mobile.
 
Youre one of the lucky ones

No iPhone on Verizon...if they offered it, I'd switch in a minute. Their coverage is great in San Diego. AT&T is terrible.
 
I have the same setup but with only 4 iPhones. I tried to do an online order on pre-order day but could not because of server problems I assumed. I then called ATT Premier Customer Service (for business) and the person I talked to ordered me 4 for delivery on 6/24 (actually came on 6/23). I only waited in line once. I have had every iPhone that has been sold. I have had excellent support from ATT Business. My guess is that you are not getting to the right office. Actually I do have an account rep assigned to my account which I talked to him via email to get a status update.

Really don't know how I could have gotten better. Lastly, I had purchased 2 iPhone 3GS when it came out the same way. All iPhones purchased with the normal discounted price. After only waiting 1 year.

Seriously, do you really get better service then that at Verizon? I never did when I was a customer of Verizon. At Verizon I was always waiting for them to get new phones 6 months after ATT got their version on the same model.

Very happy ATT iPhone customer :)
 
Most "business" customers aren't the fanboy that need something as soon as it hits the streets. Residential customers will probably get priority since they're the most demanding for new devices.
 
dagomike said:
Most "business" customers aren't the fanboy that need something as soon as it hits the streets. Residential customers will probably get priority since they're the most demanding for new devices.
Click to expand...

Are you high???

Residential is more important than the business customers that in some cases buy thousands of phones for their users??
 
I have a small business acct with 15 phones. I was able to upgrade two phones via Premier website and received them the day before launch day via Fedex. I activated online without any issues. I ordered another phone on Monday July 5th via premier website and received it today. I find their business dept to be much more competent whenever calling on the phone and they have always been able to help me. On the other hand I feel sorry for the non business customers as the customer service does not seem anywhere near as competent. I guess my experience has been much different than the OP.

Kenal0
 
Tedsallis said:
Maybe because Business customers get a discount?
Click to expand...

I love responses like this.

We are a premier customer and I was able to order via the site. I was also to buy in the Apple store but your right you have to have them call ATT to do so.

I've actually had great luck with ATT's business care. Have you tried to contact a sales rep? Even if you do not have one you could still try to contact one.

PM if you want, I can send you the name and number to my rep, she may be able to help you.
 
Don't take it personally. ATT treats everyone like crap. Does your business need iPhones? I meant there are plenty of other phones on other networks that handle email and business communications. If you are that burnt w/ ATT go elsewhere. Isn't that what your customers would do if you treated them like buffalo chips and didn't have a product they had to have?
 
d21mike said:
I have the same setup but with only 4 iPhones. I tried to do an online order on pre-order day but could not because of server problems I assumed. I then called ATT Premier Customer Service (for business) and the person I talked to ordered me 4 for delivery on 6/24 (actually came on 6/23). I only waited in line once. I have had every iPhone that has been sold. I have had excellent support from ATT Business. My guess is that you are not getting to the right office. Actually I do have an account rep assigned to my account which I talked to him via email to get a status update.

Really don't know how I could have gotten better. Lastly, I had purchased 2 iPhone 3GS when it came out the same way. All iPhones purchased with the normal discounted price. After only waiting 1 year.

Seriously, do you really get better service then that at Verizon? I never did when I was a customer of Verizon. At Verizon I was always waiting for them to get new phones 6 months after ATT got their version on the same model.

Very happy ATT iPhone customer :)
Click to expand...

Do you have their email still? If you feel like sharing, I'd like to get setup in their premier system. I tried to call one day to get activated for it and they had me on hold for over an hour and I eventually had to hang up. Thanks!
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Don't take it personally. ATT treats everyone like crap. Does your business need iPhones? I meant there are plenty of other phones on other networks that handle email and business communications. If you are that burnt w/ ATT go elsewhere. Isn't that what your customers would do if you treated them like buffalo chips and didn't have a product they had to have?
Click to expand...

Does my business need an iPhone? No. We could use any phone on the market. However, we have all Mac computers and iPads for the entire company. So it makes sense to keep using them if we can get some decent customer service from AT&T. We're pretty loyal to Apple, but definitely not to AT&T.
 
southparksteve said:
Apparently business customer only start getting a discount when they have more than 12 (or maybe 15?) lines. At least, that is what I was told by the Small Business Manager at the AT&T Store in Mission Valley, San Diego.
Click to expand...
Maybe I am grandfathered in but we only started with 4 and we get 8% discount for us and our employees.
 
southparksteve said:
Do you have their email still? If you feel like sharing, I'd like to get setup in their premier system. I tried to call one day to get activated for it and they had me on hold for over an hour and I eventually had to hang up. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Try calling this number 1-866-288-7629.
 
No offense.. but if you're a real business, you'd be insane to adopt new tech on day one. That is why they don't prioritize getting it to their premiere customers. Launch month is for the kiddies and nerds. If you need to depend on the device, give it a few months. It's the equivalent of upgrading all your business computers OS's before the first service pack is issued by Microsoft. You just don't do it.
 
I have had ATT for years and have never had a problem. I have always gotten terrific help whenever I needed it. I am a governent employee and get an employee discount. When you have an employee discount your are now under the Premier service. It's a totally different customer service. When you call ATT make sure you call the business service. Those in the stores and those you call for the regular ATT customer service don't know anything about the Premier service and what it offers.

You do get equipment discounts but they are usually higher than what others get with the subsidy. The give you a 39% discount off of the retail price and I believe I get a 15% discount on my bill.

There are also other issues with Premier business in that the choices to order phones are always about 6 months behind the times. When the first Iphone came out I cancelled my employee discount to get back on the regular service. It seems that they don't put new phones on the Premier site until they get all the money they can from regular sales and then someone figures out what discount they will give.

If you have issues with ordering phones from ATT on line, drop your business discount and order the phone. Once you get the phone call and get back on your business discount.

I could be wrong and you have been talking to the business customer service but if not, the regular service treats business customers like crap because they have no idea of how the Premier accounts work. That goes for the stores as well.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Don't take it personally. ATT treats everyone like crap. Does your business need iPhones? I meant there are plenty of other phones on other networks that handle email and business communications. If you are that burnt w/ ATT go elsewhere. Isn't that what your customers would do if you treated them like buffalo chips and didn't have a product they had to have?
Click to expand...
NO, ATT does not treat everyone like crap.
 
I'm not sure in your post where AT&T is treating their business customers badly. The website did have issues, but everything other than that sounds like a choice.
 
chequepoint said:
No offense.. but if you're a real business, you'd be insane to adopt new tech on day one. That is why they don't prioritize getting it to their premiere customers. Launch month is for the kiddies and nerds. If you need to depend on the device, give it a few months. It's the equivalent of upgrading all your business computers OS's before the first service pack is issued by Microsoft. You just don't do it.
Click to expand...
I have a real business and I want the latest because I can. That does mean my employees get the latest and greatest. Also, I was called by ATT 2 months before the new iPhone was released to let me know I could get the new iPhone on release. Not sure who you are talking too. Too be clear, businesses need to review new equipment early. Sometimes we need make sure our new products work on the new products.
 
Issue resolved...AT&T is at least trying...

d21mike said:
Try calling this number 1-866-288-7629.
Click to expand...

Mike,

Called the number and got through to someone who was very nice in Business Care. Apparently my account was a little messed up from the start; she said it was "between a personal and a business account, using a tax ID but under my name." So, she was able to create a new account, move the lines over, and presto! I was able to get on the premier website and order my iPhones today. Other than the call taking an hour and thirty minutes, it was pretty easy and they were very nice.

In addition, when I first logged on, I still couldn't order the iPhone. However, after starting a trouble ticket, the online support tech fixed my account within 2 hours. The phones are on their way!

Thanks to all for your suggestions and help.
 
PNutts said:
I'm not sure in your post where AT&T is treating their business customers badly. The website did have issues, but everything other than that sounds like a choice.
Click to expand...

The issue has been resolved; however, it was not a choice that they didn't have the phones available online! They dropped the ball there, and nobody was able to help until I finally got through to the right department (thanks to mike for the #). All's well that ends well, I guess...until next time!
 
phaggard said:
I have had ATT for years and have never had a problem. I have always gotten terrific help whenever I needed it. I am a governent employee and get an employee discount. When you have an employee discount your are now under the Premier service. It's a totally different customer service. When you call ATT make sure you call the business service. Those in the stores and those you call for the regular ATT customer service don't know anything about the Premier service and what it offers.

You do get equipment discounts but they are usually higher than what others get with the subsidy. The give you a 39% discount off of the retail price and I believe I get a 15% discount on my bill.

There are also other issues with Premier business in that the choices to order phones are always about 6 months behind the times. When the first Iphone came out I cancelled my employee discount to get back on the regular service. It seems that they don't put new phones on the Premier site until they get all the money they can from regular sales and then someone figures out what discount they will give.

If you have issues with ordering phones from ATT on line, drop your business discount and order the phone. Once you get the phone call and get back on your business discount.

I could be wrong and you have been talking to the business customer service but if not, the regular service treats business customers like crap because they have no idea of how the Premier accounts work. That goes for the stores as well.
Click to expand...

Agree with you now...so far, all the premier guys have been pretty nice and quickly resolved any issues I had. My iPhone 4s are on their way!
 
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