Bad customer service is enough to ruin your day.

Especially when you lose money over it.

That’s over the line for most people.

However, the customer in this story knew how to play that game.

Watch him come out of it on top and sticking it to the man.

AT&T tries to screw me over $139, I actually screw them out of $72,000

My wife and I wanted to get on the same plan, so we went down to the AT&T store.

We met with a rep who told us we’d both be on an unlimited plan for $70/mo all-in, including taxes and fees.

I was very specific about getting the all-in price for the service.

It seemed like a decent deal, so we signed up.

2 days later I log in to the website and see that there’s already a bill for $139.

And he keeps getting the runaround.

I call up a rep to see what’s up and they tell me that between the activation fees, taxes, and surcharges, the bill was correct.

I told them what the salesperson told me and they basically told me to pound sand.

I promptly told them I wanted to cancel the service and wanted the $139 waived.

They said they could cancel the service but could not/would not waive the bill.

They also told me if I canceled immediately my wife and I would lose our phone numbers (which is true).

I figure since I already have to pay for the month, and I don’t want to lose my phone number I will just get a new carrier and cancel when I’m ready.

So I do my research and find Visible (which is EXCELLENT), and we make the switch.

I call back AT&T and inform them that we have switched carriers and want to cancel the service.

I again ask for a refund.

The rep informs me that since I have had the service for 4 days that I am not entitled to a refund.

He tells me to read the fine print on the contract, which indeed tells me that I have 3 days to cancel for a full refund.

I’m now fuming because the first CSR that I talked to on day 2 denied me a refund if I canceled.

I ask for the next level of CSR and they send me to a customer care and retention person.

I explain the entire fiasco to him and how I feel that I have now been lied to twice by AT&T reps (sales rep and first CSR).

He is a really cool guy and apologizes and says he’ll take care of it and will completely waive the bill.

I am very thankful and hang up thinking that this is finally resolved.

Fast forward a month and I get an AT&T bill in the mail saying my payment was not received and is now late.

I again pick up the phone and call AT&T.

I eventually make my way through 2 CSR reps until I get back to the customer care and retention department.

This time I did not have the chill dude, instead, I got a very smarmy woman who said that the bill was due and I’d owe the entire amount.

I asked her to please check the CSR notes and that the last guy told me he would waive the amount.

She put me on a 10-minute silent hold and came back and said she’d “escalate” the matter to her supervisor.

She said I should receive an email by the end of the week with a resolution.

Two weeks go by, no response.

I call again.

This time I get a very nice lady that is sympathetic.

She says she’ll waive the bill.

And things stayed on the bad foot.

She comes back and tells me that she can’t do anything because the BILL HAS ALREADY BEEN SENT TO COLLECTIONS.

She said not to worry and that she’ll send a letter to collections to have them waive the debt.

I ask if this will go on my credit report and she says no, and that they’ll take care of it.

Six months later I get a letter in the mail from Sequium Asset Solutions out of Georgia trying to collect on the $139.

I immediately send them a letter via certified mail demanding that they verify the debt (since it’s obviously bad).

I hear nothing for two months, and then I get an alert that I have a negative mark on my credit.

I go in and sure enough Sequium has indicated that the amount is in collections.

I immediately write letters to all three bureaus requesting that they remove the remark.

A month goes by and every single one of the bureaus removes the mark (thank goodness).

Another 3 months go by and then I get a letter from Sunrise Credit Services in NY again trying to collect on the debt.

This is truly unbelievable because it appears that Sequium couldn’t verify it, so instead of apologizing and waiving the debt, they just sold it off to another collection agency.

I send another certified letter to Sunrise demanding verification.

I get nothing in reply.

So far they have not attempted to put a mark on my credit.

I could file a lawsuit but the filing fee alone would be more than the amount owed.

Here’s the thing: I am not cash strapped.

I am blessed enough that I could easily pay the $139 without making a dent in my budget.

I have lost 5x that amount in hours spent on the phone and writing letters.

But I am determined to go to the mat with AT&T on principle alone.

They thought they were dealing with a low-rent client, but actually…

In addition to my day job as an attorney, I am an elected city councilman in my town, and when I was going over our monthly expenses I noticed that we were paying AT&T close to $6,000 A MONTH for our phones, internet, and TV services.

We’re a fairly small town so it was pretty obvious that we were being bent over by these clowns and that we could save a ton of money by switching.

I started working with our City Manager and IT Director on finding other solutions.

We discovered that by switching to various carriers and providers that we could save HALF.

I never would’ve looked that closely into our telecom expense had AT&T not jerked me around.

Two weeks ago the resolution to switch was put on our meeting agenda and the council voted to pass it.

We decided to completely cut ties with AT&T.

Our city is saving a ton of money, getting better service, and with the money we saved from switching we were able to hire another part-time animal shelter employee which we desperately needed.

I highly doubt our city would’ve considered switching if I didn’t make such a stink about it.

AT&T will end up losing hundreds of thousands over the coming years because of this.

I hope it was worth it AT&T!!

Here is what people are saying.

It’s satisfying when a company has no way to track the negative impact they will have in client’s businesses and networks.

It seems to be a going theme in the comments.

It’s partly why I prefer to vote people who understand true advocacy and personal experience.

I’m not sure that would be an appropriate move for a civil servant.

Wow. That would be a lot of lost business for them. Could motivate more investment in customer experience.

They didn’t know who they were messing with.

This guy had some time on his hands.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.