Reader Ian launched an EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) that landed on AT&T and resulted in some excellent customer service:

Greetings O exalted ones!

:-p

I just wanted to share a success story from several months ago, in which an EECB scored a direct hit on AT&T Mobility, and resulted in some top-notch service while my problem was resolved.

I have an iPhone, and use a GoPhone prepaid plan with it. I started using my phone a lot more for work, so I needed to change my rate plan to get more minutes. This in and of itself was quite an ordeal, as I was told several different stories about when in the billing period I could change my plan, but regardless, eventually it was done.

And then I started running out of money. Fast.

It turns out that they had removed the data package from my account, so I was paying 10¢/kb. And I go through a lot of data. It was adding up to $150-$200 per day, and I kept having to reload my account to be able to make phone calls. When I called AT&T to resolve this, I was told that they had to escalate it via email, and that it would take a week or two, and I just had to wait. The agents I talked to said that they could refund the amount charged so far, and I could keep calling to do this, but that was extremely inconvenient.

So about 4pm on a Tuesday, I sent off my EECB. I laid out all the background and what was going on, and how this was not only affecting my productivity (since I use my phone a lot for work, keeping up with client emails, etc.), but also was putting me in quite a financial pinch, since I had to add several hundred dollars to the plan before they had processed the refund (in the form of a credit to my account).

The next morning, I got a call from someone at the “Office of the President of AT&T Mobility”, and she called me back every day until the problem was resolved. She credited my account every morning for the previous day’s charges, and even called me on Friday afternoon to make sure she credited me enough to get through the weekend.

All in all, I ended up getting absolutely top-notch service, and was turned back from being an extremely dissatisfied customer (I had even unlocked my iPhone and reactivated my previous T-Mobile account just in case, and back when this happened, unlocking it took almost 2 hours).

Thanks for everything you guys do for all of us consumers, and providing the resources and advice to make sure we get taken care of!

~ian

For more information about how to learn to launch your own EECB, click here.

(Photo:Vince Brown)

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