AT&T* Long Distance Sucks

AT&T Long Distance customer service really sucks. I got my May 2000 phone bill with multiple overlapping calls on it to the same international number. When I complained, they graciously offered to remove the overlap from my bill, as a "one time only" customer service. They suggested that perhaps I had placed 3-way calls and that would explain the overlap. Since I don't have 3-way calling (or even call waiting), and, furthermore, since the called numbers were always the same, this argument just doesn't hold water. Of course, I've yet to see the refund for the overlapping calls that they promised me.

Now, I've gotten the June 2000 bill with multiple calls back-to-back (but carefully not overlapping) that we didn't make. I called to complain about that, and they explained that their billing system didn't make mistakes, and that we really must have made all of these calls. Since they have no explanation for how their flawless billing system screwed up back in May, I have some trouble believing them.

It seems that they have corrected the flaw of their billing system overcharging with overlapping calls, which makes it much more difficult to show how full of fertilizer they are when they suggest that their billing system is perfect.

When I called, the first person I spoke to would only give her first name, and the second refused to tell me anything more than her name was "Ms. Munoz". She wouldn't give any other way to identify her, making it impossible to file a complaint to AT&T about her, and she further explained that she was as high up the food chain as I could get. Basically, her job seems to be to weave and dodge to deflect people from actually getting anywhere during a call to complain. I guess I shouldn't have expected to have the "let me talk to your supervisor" approach to get any useful results at all.

I dont't wish harm to anyone, but Christians believe that there is a special place in Hell for people like Ms. Munoz, while Buddhists believe that she'll be reincarnated as a dung beetle. So, if you find yourself in a similiar situation with AT&T customer disservice, please let Ms. Munoz know how fond I am of her.

Since I seem to have exhausted AT&T's "one-time" customer service, it seems my only recourse is to complain to the California Public Utilities Commission. Well, I guess I can also vent in this forum.

The cruel trick to all of this is that I have previously had disastrous customer disservice from other long distance providers. Has anyone had good results from anyone who offers reasonable rates (Heck, I'd even be willing to pay a small premium to avoid the Ms. Munoz's of the world) on calls in the U.S. and to China?

* AT&T is almost certainly a registered trademark of AT&T, used here only because I couldn't complain about them without using it