Thread by @nitadee, @ATTHelp Can someone please explain how it is your business practice to [...]

@ATTHelp Can someone please explain how it is your business practice to repeatedly call my elderly parents after 5pm and scare them into making payments over the phone?

@ATTHelp It behooves any business to avoid such practice on any and every day, but the fact that this is your practice during a pandemic is frankly infuriating. It's not an "inconvenience" for which you should merely apologize either.

@ATTHelp There are several—plenty—of things you can do to correct this behavior, but I'll start here: Your policies, procedures, and scripts need to be revised, and ...

... Paul Crew needs to be among the first to be re-trained in light of the exasperation and frustration he caused my 73- and 72-year-old father and mother last night.

@ATTHelp The amount of which my sister and I already worry and take painstaking effort to support and look out for our parents is taxing enough without having to field calls from them expressing panic and bewilderment at being bullied and taken advantage of.

@ATTHelp I actually wasn't sure your list of ills and questionable practices and tactics could get any longer, but here I am, tacking this on to your:
- disorganized and disjointed account management practices ...

- overly-complicated, dubious, and ever-shifting pricing and promotional contract schemes
- mysteriously appearing and disappearing "universal" charges
- decentralized and ill-connected customer service support
- threatening and coercive practices to illicit payments prematurely

@ATTHelp With barely a hello, Paul immediately upset my unsuspecting father by asking "How would you like to pay, today?" He barely knew who he was talking to, let alone being startled at the fact that he apparently owed someone he had no recollection of needing to pay.

@ATTHelp When my father informed Paul that he was mailing in his payment first thing in the morning, Paul had the gall to say that was unacceptable and would not work and that my father needed to pay right now, at that very moment.

@ATTHelp I don't know about you lot, but I do not take kindly to anyone ever telling me what to do with my money.

I get that from my daddy.

And now you're getting this thread because your behavior—DURING A PANDEMIC—is reprehensible.

@ATTHelp Now old men are prone to be ornery, but after a certain hour in the day, some of them may also require a little more patience and explanation. My father received neither.

@ATTHelp At some point my mother, startled by the velocity and tone of voice disturbing her evening peace, asked Paul to please talk slowly so they could understand who he was and what he was asking. She didn't receive any patience or explanation either.

@ATTHelp I won't go too deep into the fact that my parents both have health concerns that can be unduly affected by stressful exchanges like the one they had with Paul Crew. As I've said, coercion shouldn't be a part of your customer service approach for anyone, elderly or not.

@ATTHelp The fear and panic Paul caused my parents to experience was completely avoidable. The two-plus hours my sister and I both had to spend researching, troubleshooting, and rectifying the situation should've been spent doing better things.

@ATTHelp I've worked in customer service and alongside call center representatives, so I've directly experienced the instances where de-escalation tactics should be deployed to diffuse both the customer and the employee. Y'all need to do better. Today.

@ATTHelp I hate that we had to spend another hour reassuring our parents that they were okay, and that they'd still have access to the lifelines that TV, internet, and phone services provide during a time when they're more isolated than usual.

@ATTHelp I really hate that y'all still haven't reimbursed them IN CASH for the 3 months they overpaid y'all last year when you were still billing them for an account that had been closed in another state. The VISA card you twice said you were sending never arrived.

( @ATTHelp I've lost count of the number of times I've had to call to try and have that issue resolved. It should be more than a shame that years of customer loyalty are rewarded with broken call transfers and empty assurances of repayment.)

@ATTHelp I hate that Paul caused my parents to feel inept and embarrassed at being coerced into doing something they weren't comfortable or sure of doing. I hate that I worried about how stressed they still looked and sounded, even after an hour of reassurance.

@ATTHelp I hate that they're surreptitiously tied to a yet-again-extended contract with your company, due to a recent service "improvement" visit that has resulted in—don't you love to see it— additional charges to be billed for future payments.

@ATTHelp I would like for you to pay them via check the money they are owed—not in account credits to be applied to future bills. Actually, I don't want any future bills. I request that you dissolve their contract without incurring a payment penalty.

@ATTHelp (cc: @ATT) In fact why not do away with contracts altogether? Your "moral and business obligation" should extend beyond supporting law enforcement reform. Start right at your corporate home by creating and advocating for systemic changes to your current business model.

@ATTHelp (cc: @ATT) Because I'm sure that you're aware how your current practices negatively impact and tax your customers, right? And I'd be willing to guess that might include an inordinate number of Black, Brown and other underserved people, no? "Stand for equality" there too.

@ATTHelp At any rate, I still want my parents to get paid what they're owed and to be released from their current contract. We will happily return all of your equipment promptly and in full, just like we pay our bills.

@ATTHelp Those 2 things are the least your multi-billion dollar enterprise can do to drive change through action, for abusing two people who legitimately need and actually like your services. I expect and would love to hear from you and resolve these issues in Paul time. Thanks.

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