Buzz Out Loud Lounge forum: Complaints About Uverse? Speak Them Now.

Well after watching the olympics last night I decided to dump uverse tv. The fast moving images are etchy and pixelized. The HD is not the quality that I got with cable. With the picture and internet freezing that was the final draw. They might can repair the problems with image freezing but they can't change the HD quality. Come Monday I switch back to cable.

1. A couple years ago I saw a Uverse demo on line and signed up to be contacted when it was made available in my area.
2. A few weeks ago they contacted me to tell me it was available and quoted me a price WAY to high.
3. Shortly after that I saw a table in walmart set up for Time Warner because they had a sale where I could get the Cable, phone and internet for just a little more than I was paying now for DSL and Phone. So we took that reps name and number and
4. While we were thinking about this offer, a Uverse sales rep came to the door. Id told him that Id gotten the call from Uverse and it just cost too much, but he assured me that he could give me a better deal so I let him in my home to talk with us.
5. He matched the cable offer and beat it by offering a gift card, which started out for 200 and somehow became 100, but I was ok with that.
6. However, when I talked to the call center rep he told me completely different details of the plan I was getting than the rep in my kitchen was saying.
7. I was skeptical anyway, so I questioned the call center rep some more, and the sales rep became irate. He stood up in my kitchen and began to rant and rave about how the call center rep was lying to me, and that he was quitting. It was very uncomfortable.
8. He yelled at the call center rep, and apparently he called his supervisor and yelled at her too. Then hung up on her.
9. You know, he did this in front of my kids! Like I told his supervisor later, Im just glad my husband was home, cause that could have been really scary.
10. Anyhow, There was a trainee with him who was in my living room, - The sales rep was still pacing and ranting in my Kitchen - and somehow he the trainee either called or was called by his supervisor who was concerned about what was going on in our home. She heard much of this ranting over the trainees cell phone from my living room!
11. She contacted me several times and came over and honored most of his original offer working the order through the quote back office . She had cut me a deal to try to make up for the really bad behavior of her employee. I was satisfied with this resolution, because I really wanted to try this service.
12. So we set up a time for installation.
13. In the meantime we decided since we were going to get television service it might be a good idea to get a television that worked Our tv was an old projection tv and the color was very dark and all red, and you could barely see the picture. So
14. we spent our tax return on a new tv , and because you cant find a normal tv anymore, it was one of those flat screen tvs and we dont have a wall to hang it on we had to get a table for it, and we got a DVD recorder. We never needed these things before because we didnt have television service. The kids just watched videos. Honestly most of the time we watched Hulu online instead. So 1500 dollars later after the tv, table, DVD-recorder DVDs, and a service plan - we have a really nice tv system, waiting for our really cool TV service,
15. We give away the other tv.
16. Now, the installer comes out and says that he has an issue and they need to send a line tech out to drop a new line. He puts in the order and RECONNECTS the DSL service. So far so good, but we never hear back from him, or from anyone else.
17. The next day however our DSL service is disconnected. This is like a nightmare for our family! Not only does my husband work several hobbies in which he requires Internet. But it is vital for me. I am on several consumer panels, mystery shopping, product testing and reviews and so on, to bring in a little extra money. I require the internet for these things. I also have a website that I am building and maintaining where I sell my curriculum products. I also use the internet for my childrens school!
18. I call the DSL people who say they can send a tech out in the morning to fix our service. I was irate, because I am the most productive online over the weekends and in the evenings as I prepare for our next school day. But I let it go and scheduled a repair visit first thing in the morning. It didnt appear that I had a choice.
19. Later that day, I thought I should probably call the Uverse people, because it might have something to do with our installation, so I called them and this is where it got bad. (This is on Friday)
20. I talked to several different people and got several different stories, that went something like this
a. There is a technical problem with the line, we must send out an engineer on Monday
b. Then You cant get Uverse What! You put me through all this hell and I cannot even get the service! Well someone should have called you! Let me transfer you to someone who can help you
c. Level 2 tech then says, - no, no, you can get the service, but somehow your order has been canceled! You will have to go back through the sales department and reorder your service! Well obviously I cant do that because I had this special deal that made it affordable to me, So at this point I called the original reps supervisor and told her what was going on, while I was on the phone with the tech guy. (Who was very gracious and apologetic)
d. She said that an order cannot be canceled except by the customer and that never should have happened.
e. She took a number for dispatch and then called them and called me back and this went on for what was likely hours.
f. I was told that the new line had been dropped and that was what disconnected the service,
g. I was told that the line was ready for Uverse, but there was a miscommunication between the line people and the Uverse technician.
h. I was told that they would send out someone to hook up the DSL in the morning, and then they would get the engineer on the Uverse problem Monday.
i. Finally I was told that it was good to go, and they would send out a Uverse tech in the morning to hook up Uverse, and all would be well. I inquired about the DSL tech coming out in the morning, and it was recommended that I cancel that service call.
j. So I call and cancel.
21. Next morning I get a call sorry we are wrong, and there is a big problem with Uverse. We will send someone out to hook up your DSL. OK
22. Uverse guy comes out and says Your line is still active it looks like it has been disconnected through the main office RIGHT HERE This should have been fixed!
23. I call C again, (Sales rep supervisor) She makes a phone call and calls me back and tells me that as per disclosure when Uverse is turned on the DSL in disconnected. (DUH) However, our Uverse was unable to be hooked up, so it was a miscommunication, and someone didnt let someone else know what was going on.. Yada Yada Yada
24. OK fine. Now get a call from D, (the big boss guy in sales from what I understand) He tells me that my DSL will be down all weekend, because they cant get a technician out there.. A DSL technician
25. (REMEMBER I had a service call scheduled and canceled it as per the previous recommendation!)
26. Now I am getting so far behind on everything! I put our churchs sermons online each week, and guess what! Im late doing that too!
27. On top of that he tells me that Monday they will have someone from engineering look at the lines, but it is probable that I will not even be able to get the service at all,
28. So over the past two weeks they had wasted hours upon hours of my time, Cost me money because I could not get online for three of my most productive days. Put my kid behind in school because he couldnt get online to get his school work, Drug this out so long that I cannot get the great deal with Time Warner now, and that means that I wasted our tax return on a TV that I didnt need, because I dont have television service I can afford. And I cant very well take it back because I promised the other TV away. This venture has cost us thousands. It cost me hours of time. I was so stressed Saturday that my blood pressure went through the roof, and I got a bad headache and had to lie down for several hours.
29. By trying to do business with this company I got nothing (well, except a headache). I didnt get service. I dont get the visa gift card they promised to help cover some of the expense because they cant install Uverse I cant even get the deal I was promised to appease me when their sales rep went berserk in my kitchen! Instead I lost time, money, and my DSL, and put me behind in all of my responsibilities including the top priority my childrens education!
30. I have never been so disgusted with a company in all my life and I told this list of details to a high up person who is supposed to deal with customer relations, after another round of phone calls to D and C
31. M told me that she would get someone out, and someone came out Monday evening. After no internet all weekend and Monday day.
32. DSL guy comes out and has it fixed before he even got to my house. He said that it wasnt a technical problem, rather it was DISCONNECTED AT THE OFFICE!
33. I waited this entire time for my DSL to be turned on for NOTHING!
34. M kindly offered me 6 months free DSL, ($150 value) For my loss of service. She stated that this was just to resolve the DSL concern, and she would get back with me to let me know about the Uverse situation.
35. She called me twice once that day, and again the next day to tell me she didnt know anything yet.
36. I did miss one of her calls, the last call! It was February 23rd at 5:12 pm. I tried to return that call later that night and the next day. I left messages apologizing for not being home, and requesting a return phone call.
37. I didnt realize that I had to stay home 24 hours a day until the situation was completely resolved because she would not return my calls at all.
38. As of March 2nd I again left a message for M, and called D again too. I got a phone call back from some peon who worked for M, who I had never spoken to, and who knew nothing about what was going on. I asked him, what they were going to do about the distress, and chaos they put our family through for the past month, and he mentioned the credit for the DSL service.
39. I explained that that was given specifically for the ridiculous circumstance dealing with the DSL.
40. I also told him that I would greatly appreciate a call back tonight from M to resolve this issue. I want them to do something to make it right!
41. I did not get a phone call.
42. The end of the next week, and still no phone call!
43. Contacted my attorney, He is sending letter, waiting for response!

And the saga continues

ATT problem resolved. U-verse guys did not know what they were doing. I emphasized to the last person I talked to on the phone who handled telephone landlines that they really need to send a technician experienced with door king system. Thank God they finally did. He fixed the problem.

The U-verse guys put the internet on the Door King line. Door king is not compatible with internet. There are 2 phone wires for each apartment. One is for the door king intercom system and the other is for internet. So mom could have got U-verse but we are too tired to attempt this again.

I want to put in a good plug for Marty. He did an excellent job, was very professional and explained things several times to me. So I hope I'm explaining it right. He gave us a card if we want to go the U-verse route in the future with the referral code MH4645 to mention when you call 1-800-288-2020. Also as I left he was working with the apartment manager on the phone to ATT to try to prevent this problem from occurring again.

So short story if you're having U-verse installed in an apartment with Door King intercom make sure they send a technician that knows enough to test the line & put the internet on the right line.

2/10/2010: I've been breathlessly awaiting the availability of AT&T U-verse for about 18 months. Finally I get an e-mail saying that the service is now available at my location. I call the sales office and sign-up. A week later I was told that an installer would be forthcoming. He arrived, had me sign a few contracts, brought all of the equipment into the house and designed a cable route for the AT&T 2-wire gateway. He moved some furniture (that he wasn't supposed to do) and scratched the wall paper. He went outside to change some cables and then informed me that the signal was too weak, and I cannot access U-verse service. [The obvious thoutht is "Why didn't he check the signal before doing all this?"] I now have over 20 hours invested in this project including major moving of bookcases etc. NOW THE REAL FUN BEGINS:

2/22/2010 DSL internet connection is broken. Called Billing to see if my account was still active. Yes it is they said & transferred me to Tech Support. Andy was told that the DSL indicator on my modem was off and had me reverse all my cables. Upon recalling Tech Support I talked with Traci, who said that I am connected to the DSL system and that the unlit DSL light means that the modum is broken, and that I should go to the AT&T store to buy a new one if I wanted to avoid a long wait for the mail service. I then talked with Toni @ San Francisco. She had a technician test my line locally. I noticed that the telephone's lights blinking during the test. I was told that the line outside my hous is working satifactorily. (Baloney!)
I drove to the AT&T store and bought the newest Moto 2210-02 modem. I asked the representative if I will get my cash back if it turns out that my DSL service was mistakenly turned-off. He said that I will have 30 days to return the modem and get my cash back.
The new modem was placed into service and the DSL indicator light was red (it should be green). Again I called Tech service and talked with Bill. Bill said that the red light means that DSL service is not provided to my modem. He checked the system thoroughly and found one spot that was not correctly configured. He changed the errant spot and voila, I was immediately connected to the internet again.
I now need to go back to the AT&T store to get a refund. I do notice now that on the receipt it says that there is a $35 re-stocking fee (this is half the price of the unit).

I explained to every person that I talked with that I suspect that the DSL service was cancelled when I contracted to have U-verse installed. I explained, "What are the odds that my modem would break during the billing cycle when my DSL service was supposed to be cancelled"? No one but Bill knew how to check the system.

On March 1 the modem is returned to the AT&T Store for a full credit to my credit card. The AT&T representative was Dale G.........Case Closed
No apology or offer to compensate for the immense trouble. Nothing! Just my old DSL service and phone line. Back to where we all started.

OK.. Have had Uverse for >1 yr. First 6 mths customer service was GREAT. Now with equipment aging and technical issues it is back to waiting in the call que, speaking to someone in who knows what country, scheduling an appointment for 8-12 on Saturday because I work too, and having the tech show up at 12:45. So little to do in this slow paced world that I did not need those 4 hrs <-- sarcasm... And the tech could not replace my remotes! One of several issues. I had to call back, wait in the call que, speak to someone in who knows what country, and describe the whole situation again!

Don't get me wrong, picture is ok, internet is ok, phone is ok. But if you are thinking of changing because your current providers customer service stinks beware, because after the newness wears off it is back to the good old days ATT customer service, which they have always been lousy at.

When asked if I would recommend ATT Uverse to friends and neighbors: No, only in desperation should you switch.

I had it for 6 months. every month or so it would "get out of sync" which means technician has to come out to fix it. So I would be without service until tech shows up. Every time they send an inside technician, who says everything is working inside, and he then calls for an outside technician, who gives you no time table for his arrival, and often does not call at all.

The first two times, at least the outside technician fixed the problem (albeit with me not having service for between 48-72 hours).

This last time, I was sent a new residential gateway before a technician was sent out. That took 2 days to arrive (48 hrs, no service). I installed new gateway and didn't fix the problem. Call for a technician, first appoint is 2 days out (4 days, no service). That in-home tech comes, says no problem. Outside guy comes and goes without me ever knowing. I had to call and ask when he was coming and was told he had already come. But he left without fixing the problem, which he would have known if he called. Make appt for the following day (5 days no service). Only send an outside tech, he says he couldn't access what he needed to and I didn't answer his calls (I was waiting all morning for him, no way I missed his call). Next day call to cancel, connected to retentions, offered month of free service for trouble and given appt for that afternoon.

In-home tech shows up, same as before nothing wrong inside, told outside tech is coming, but not when. 2.5 hrs later, I call to see if he is still coming and am told they "don't know but I do not have to be there for him".

This was a full week without service, and the same b******* runaround each time. The value cannot be beat but I cannot deal with not knowing if I will have tv/internet when I get home from work. I told them I was cancelling, and either retention girl was not good at her job or I sounded determined because she did not even argue with me, just gave me the cancellation number and instructions for returning equipment.

I had U-Verse for almost two years. While I had the service, their main focus was to get me to play technician whenever problems came up. To get someone out to fix issues, U-verse tries to charge $50+ fees and take 1+ weeks to get out to your house.

Once I moved out of the U-verse service area, I was instructed to return the equipment via UPS. UPS refuses to take everything back because UPS won't get compensated for heavy or bulky boxes like the one it takes to return their famous "Inside Unit." I am now 4 months into trying to return 1 of 4 pieces of equipment for which U-verse refuses to provide a return address.

You want to hear about the cherry on top? Now I'm dealing with a collections company, despite the fact that I over-paid my cable bill and have spent about 8+ hours on the phone trying to get them to facilitate the return of a box that weighs about 10 pounds.

The moral of the story is, do not deal with a company that's incompetent - like U-verse - and hasn't figured out their operations model.

honestly
i got uverse installed 2 years ago and i must say im very very happy with the service and the quality
i got rid of time warner cable because they are real garbage

so i see so many complaints re uverse but i must say i would write if i encountered any problem
but i havent and i like the service and package overall perhaps other companies can learn how to deal with customers when they call

the truth and nothing but the whole truth

U-Verse is not a provider, it is a non-provider.
Four installation dates have come and gone and no
U-Verse. Only for one of those dates was I called
about the installation not happening. After multiple calls to customer service and even a letter to the Senior Executive Vice President, Andy Geisse, my service provider remains Comcast. So my suggestion is that if your current provider is supplying good service, DON'T switch to U-Verse with the expectation of a better service provider. It just won't happen!

I have limited funds on my disability pension. I asked Uverse, before installation, to set up my payments for me to be billed on the 5th of every month. That was November. This is January 30th. I have been billed $260, then 2 weeks later, in the same month, another $280. I call every month trying to get them to change the bill date to the 5th. They said it would take 2 or 3 billing cycles for it to take affect. So, for 3 months, I call to change the bill date, and every time, they act like I never asked to do it before. They overdraft my bank account on the 26th of every month, this month, they took it out on the 28th. This means I have to bounce checks to survive and buy food. I am $500 over draft in one checking account now, and will be overdraft for the next 3 months, until the Uverse bill 'stablizes'. You can not sue AT&T in a class action law suit. It is in their contract. How do you get rid of a corporation like AT&T? They are untouchable.