My World Delivered

originally published October 24, 2007

Recently, I got a call from a fellow in India saying that my AT&T bill was past due. I explained that I had paid through my bank and the payments had been debited from my account.

“We have no record of that sir. Your AT&T bill is past due by $44.95. Can you pay by telephone now?”

“I am telling you that I have already paid that bill, and that the payments have cleared my bank.”

“I understand, sir, but we have no record of those payments. Do you want to make a payment now?”

I did not.

I called Athens First and got connected to Nicole in their online banking department. She confirmed that the payments to AT&T had indeed been debited from my account. She then asked me to hold and, checking back frequently to keep me informed, finally succeeded in setting up a conference call with a woman from the company which handles the bank’s online payments and a woman from the AT&T collections department. All agreed that the bill had been paid and that AT&T had debited the amounts from my account.

The fellow from India called the following Saturday. The account was still seriously overdue. He still had no record of the payments I said I had made. I immediately called AT&T customer service, only to find out that they’re not there on weekends. I emailed AT&T online customer service and got a response confirming my payments.

At the beginning of the next week, after punching my way through various recorded messages, I talked with a man in AT&T collections who, after some research, confirmed that AT&T had received and credited my payments. What about the fellow from India?

“Oh, he must be with the old AT&T,” he replied.

“Who are you with?” I asked.

“I’m with the new AT&T,” he said.

I asked if there was any way he could clear up my problem, and he at first said no, he couldn’t. Finally, though, he said, “Let me try something.” He came back after a while and told me that he had succeeded in setting up a transfer of my payments from the new AT&T to the old AT&T. He gave me confirmation numbers for each payment and said it would probably take about a week.

Before the week was out, I got another call from the fellow in India. I was almost glad to hear his familiar voice, because now I could clear up all the confusion. Excitedly, I explained to him my conversation with the man from the new AT&T and gave him the confirmation numbers for the transfer of the payments.

“Sir, your account is more than 60-days past due in the amount of $44.95. We have no record of any payments you have made. Do you want to make a payment now by telephone?”

“No, listen. I’ve paid. I just gave you the confirmation numbers.”

“Sir, we will need proof of payment from your bank.”

“No!” I screamed. “Can’t you just call your own collection department and verify these confirmation numbers?”

“Sir, we cannot call them.”

“What? I can help you. I have the telephone number. You can call them.”

“Sir, we are not allowed to call them. Can you give me proof of payment from your bank?”

“Wait a minute. You’re telling me you can’t communicate with your own communications company?”

“That is correct, sir. Can you give me confirmation from your bank?”

In this case I erroneously used my old BellSouth customer ID when I set up my account through my bank online. My payments were credited to that account, totally unknown to my gentleman caller from India, with the old AT&T. The logic of that makes the old BellSouth the new AT&T, but I can’t go there.

They merged in December, but an AT&T Online Customer Care operative told me, “Technically, we’re still two different companies. We can’t access their records, and they can’t access ours.”

The truth is that these mergers and acquisitions result in ever more gigantic companies, increasing our hang time when we have a problem. AT&T grabs BellSouth to improve its bottom line, not to help its customers. AT&T can reach me from India at home in my kitchen at 9:15 on Saturday morning, but I’ve got to hunker down and commit lots of my own time when I set out to get through to a human being by calling them.

“AT&T will be an engine for innovation, competition, and growth for our customers at home and abroad,” said AT&T Chairman and CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr. “In the Southeast, we will build on BellSouth’s excellent record of serving customers and communities. And we are ready to lead the way in a new era of integrated wireless services nationwide.”

I hope the old AT&T gets the message.

Pete McCommons