AT&T Customer Service?? Only if you're rich!

Today I received spam from a hacker using MY email address. In the bad old days when ISPs had to provide service for their exorbitant charges, I would call the provider, they would block the sites on their end and fix the email account. Oh yeah, that's back when I first signed on with BellSouth - pre merger.

I dutifully called in today. AT&T's response is to block the email address I've used for over 15 years as spam, punishing the victim, and passing me to their "ConnectTech" service, a for profit service where I was informed for $15 a month and a minimum one year contract they would provide service. Yes, despite my running AVG and Internet Security religiously with every update and never opening emails sent from unknown users and every other brand of safe computing you can think of, they want to charge me $180 for the next year so they can log on remotely and wander around my system to fix it.

Really? REALLY???

You think I'll pay you half the cost of a new computer when you can't even keep your own billing straight? You think I've forgotten that you literally hounded my father into the grave over your double billing error? Or the hours I've wasted teaching your tech support what you couldn't bother to keep in your records? Or that I had to pay for a modem that your shipping department lost? And now you want to turn your people loose remotely on my systems when the 3 browsers came back "unsupported" on your system despite being the most up to date versions of all 3?

I DON'T THINK SO!

I'm stuck in a cell phone contract unless I want to buy out. But I'm now actively looking for something to replace my DSL line and the local-only phone service I have until September on a promotional deal. That's because I no longer have the income to pay those charges for local phone service that exceed my weekly food budget!

It won't be Comcast Cable. I haven't forgotten watching my neighbors call on a daily basis to try and get service. I haven't forgotten the constant outages, fuzzy pictures, and no-shows in spite of confirmation numbers from agents. Nor the constant hidden charges. Or the 2 hours on hold waiting for "service." No, I've happily lived without a TV set.

But I'll be shopping for an alternate internet provider. AT&T, you've EARNED your worst customer service rating. I'm tired of cheap equipment that burns out on an annual basis, if not sooner, while you charge me when your sloppy shipping department loses the returns. Returns which I faithfully package and drop off at shipping offices at my expense in time and gas.

I'd rather wipe my hard drive and reload. Yes, some of us still know how to do that. But I don't trust YOUR system. Why is it my free accounts aren't hacked? Only the expensive ones I pay YOU for while you try to discourage me from using Outlook from my Office software suite so you can have the convenience of your lousy webmail system that doesn't meet my needs?

Thanks for trying to charge me additional for service that should be a part of any internet service provider. I didn't have to call you and report the websites for the bad guys. I thought you'd want to shut down the Russian dating sites, not extort more money from their victim.

Don't try to sell me a business site again. If your home service is this bad, do you really think it's an incentive to pay more?

I remember deregulation of the Bell System. We got wonderful customer service after years of arrogance. Now you've bought up all the little guys and the monolith is back. Any competitors to AT&T in northeast Florida? I'm looking.