AT&T Places Last in Consumer Reports Study

[jitpublisher]

Just think "I-phone" AT&T is laughing at YOU all the way to the bank over that one.

 

[SlickyFats]

I hate AT&T's website. Why can't anyone put a review up for the iPhone? Try calling AT&T about website issues and you'll find that AT&T doesn't even maintain their own website and they have little to no control as far as logging in and posting reviews. Unfortunately for me they are the only carrier I use, but I loathe them nonetheless.

 

[ikefu]

From what I hear from my friends who have AT&T, they are great if you live in a big city, but suck if you live anywhere outside of one.

I grew up in rural SW Wisconsin and ATT doesn't even have a tower within 45 miles. Zero bars period. If you have Verizon you get cell service in probably 90% of the area, and 3G to boot. Thats why I'm with Verizon.

Screw rates, deals, iPhones, or whatever. If you don't have enough towers cause you only care about cities, then someone like me will never use you.

 

[SlickyFats]

The Customer Service is horrible with AT&T they are all dumb! I have a BB Bold, I had it for 3 days, when I removed the headphone plug from the phone a large part of the phone came out with it. I called Customer Service, the lady on the phone told me I would have to call back on a land line so she could troubleshoot the phone. So I got on a land line. She then tells me to remove the battery and do a hard reset to see if it fixed it. Seriously?!? I told he the phone was physically broken, "well sir we don't cover that". I told her it was brand new. After yelling for nearly an hour I was sent to the Escalation Department. That is where you want to be. I got a new phone the next day in the mail a 1-month free bill.

But in 1 month I returned 4 LG Incites for defects until they let me get the BB Bold, I'm currently on my 4th Bold due to defects also.

I tried to put in a review of the Incite some of the problems. AT&T (or whoever does their site) wouldn't post comments that are negative to Customer Service, I attempted 4 times until they deleted my account.

 

[pooflinger1]

Is anyone really suprised? AT&T has consistently ranked lower than Verizon. In most Consumer Reports it's typically Sprint and AT&T fighting each other for the bottom spot with Verizon, and sometimes T-Mobile fighting for the top.

 

[tester24]

I can see a whole new line of Verizon comercials comming out for that.

"Want to see how bad AT&T scored by Consumer Reports? There's an app for that"

 

[Guest]

I had bellsouth for years after ATT took over, I started getting charges for service I didn't have. We went back and forth for 3 months with contant promises that the charges would be removed, I finally removed att

 

[hakesterman]

Hey AT&T...can you hear Verizon now?!!!


No, they don't listen to anyone that's their biggest problem. All they care about is sucking your wallet dry and wait another 30 days so they can do it again.................

 

[cablechewer]

Simply quoting their churn rate as proof that customers must be happy is not a good idea. Yes the fact that customers aren't leaving in droves today is important, but if those customers are not happy they will not be promoting your business by word of mouth and they will be looking to your competitors for viable alternatives (how many stay because they don't know there are viable alternatives or because they are lucky enough to live close to a modern ATT tower?)

The other thing that gets me is quoting the number sounds so much like management by spreadsheet. Statistics can easily be twisted to say whatever you want. I have seen managers fool themselves into believing all is rosy because the stats in their spreadsheets told them so only a few days before the bottom fell out.

 

[Honis]

Any links to the Consumer Reports report?

 

[hellwig]

Low Churn (hell, the only reason they're still in business) is due to one thing: the iPhone.

I may not care for the thing, but when a few million of your customers are there only for one phone, and they can't get that phone on any other carrier, they have to stay. I have a feeling AT&T will loose a few million customers the second the iPhone is available on other U.S. carriers. Hopefully AT&T plans ahead and staffs their call centers with extra operators to handle all those cancellation calls.

 

[Hilarion]

[citation][nom]Hilarion[/nom]Well now. That churn figure is due to the fact that people want their iPhone and Apple Almighty to mother them and can't get it anywhere else except at AT&T. So I consider their "churn" figure to be very misleading.[/citation]

If the iPhone could be had on other carriers AT&T would see some massive churn I think.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Looks like AT&T is experiencing difficulties all around. I've never had service with AT&T and the way things are going it sounds like I probably never will.

 

[Guest]

Ironically, their service will greatly improve if all of the iPhone customers leave.

All cell phone companies suck. You can only say "I'll never deal with XXXX again" for so long before you run out of choices and have to start over.

 

[kajohn10]

When I had to find a new wireless carrier after Qwest quit its wireless service, they "partnered" with Verizon, and offered "deals" to switch to them. I went online and to a physical Verizon store, and I was disappointed in phone selection, plans, and pricing. I went to ATT and found a much better deal for my family, got smart phones with NO Required data plans (they are now, but not back then...just 3 months ago), and no, we didnt get i-Phones, so I am not biasing choice here. Customer service with ATT was MUCH better than our experience with Verizon. *shrug*. Surveys, metrics, statistics can all say what you want them to say...just need to play with the numbers.
I guess the message is, go do your OWN comparison, like others here have said, and pick which works better for you; for me it was ATT.

 

[jellico]

This headline should have read, "AT&T Places Last in Consumer Reports Study, Lawsuit Expected Shortly"

 

[Guest]

Only problem I see with that low churn figure, it's kind of embarrasing really, is that it says "post paid churn was 1.17%", well its unfortunate that most customers are now pre-paid (They pay for the month ahead) and if they aren't already if they change something about their bill, they are switched over. So really it's like the saying from anchorman "60% of the time it works every time", but just saying "it works every time", without denoting that thats only 60% of the time.

 

[Chrys]

If Verizon got better phones and stopped crippling every phone they have, their market share would jump quickly.

 

[mharris80]

Seemed like it was better back when they were Cingular, before ATT bought them out. My wife's still with ATT, and reception seems to be ok where we live (NE Ohio), but when we visit my parents in IL, it gets pretty spotty.

 

[bill gates is your daddy]

currently have AT&T and cannot stand it any more. about to bite the bullet and pay 300+ just to get out of our plan. Verizon here we come. AT&T drops all over the Dallas area. we know the exact areas where the signal always fails. friends with Verizon never have an issue.