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AT&T Trying to Pull a Fast One with PocketNet?

Posted by timothy on from the anyone-else-get-anti-slammed dept.

If you didn't know, PocketNet is the free analog web service for AT&T Wireless phones. The FCC recently gave AT&T and other carriers the go-ahead to phase out analog services over the next four years. AT&T is apparently very eager to phase you out as soon as possible, including unceremoniously dumping your PocketNet access. Here's what I found out after noticing an innocuous line on the last page of my bill that said 'Other Data Charges and Credits Service Cancellation Charge .00.' After waiting on hold with customer service for 20 minutes while they researched the issue, they told me that: PocketNet was discontinued (wrong), my PocketNet was canceled because I didn't use it (very wrong) and once you canceled your free PocketNet you could not reactivate it (I had never canceled it in the first place). If you have PocketNet, you may want to want to see if your service is still working. I could tell by the vague and evasive answers from AT&T PocketNet customer service that the rep knew they were doing something 'bad.' He kept trying to tell me I would be receiving a letter where I could opt to continue the service and kept patently ignoring my question about why my service no longer worked now and why my bill said it was canceled. Finally, he said 'check your phone.' Voila, the service was back on.

4 of 16 comments (clear)

  1. I noticed this as well... by zoloto · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... and sat on hold for a whole hour while the reps "checked in" to see if i was still there. After bouncing around to what seemed like a hundered different people, just before my customer rep said goodbye, i noticed the service working again. I had been playing with the phone for the whole hour...

    Very odd don't you think?

  2. AT&T has a policy of lying by Wonko42 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Last year, when I was researching cellular service providers, I made the decision to go with AT&T. I ordered the service, they sent me a phone, and I spent the next few days calling customer support trying to figure out why I could *sometimes* call other people, but other people couldn't call me.

    In the end, it turned out they had given me a phone number that was technically in the same area code, but was long distance from where I lived, and due to the funky nature of the ten-digit dialing here in the Portland area, it was pretty much impossible to call my phone from my house. They also claimed they couldn't give me another number because they'd run out.

    Needless to say, I attempted to cancel my service. The representative I spoke to seemed happy to comply, but then asked me how I'd like to pay the cancellation fee. I laughed, thinking he was joking, and he asked again. I informed him that the contract I agreed to had clearly specified that I had a 30 day grace period. He claimed that didn't apply in this circumstance. I told him to go read the contract again, because it did. Finally, he agreed not to charge me a fee, but then he told me the accounts department had shut down their computers for routine maintenance and suggested I call back the next day.

    The next day, I called again, waited through the phone queue, and reached another representative. Again I was told the 30 day grace period did not apply, and again I had to argue for a good fifteen minutes before he agreed to cancel my account. Surprise surprise, he proceeded to tell me that the accounts computers had gone down for maintenance. I said, "Gee, that's funny, because they were apparently down for maintenance all last night, too." He said "Um" a few times, stuttered a bit, and then told me it was my lucky day because the system had just come back up.

    Suffice to say I won't be doing any business with AT&T again anytime soon.

  3. My sister went through this too by arcadum · · Score: 4, Interesting
    She's living in Corvalis (OSU) and her cell phone provider gave her a number from Eugene making everyone pay long distance rates... She spent nearly half a day on the phone trying to get a local number.

    ---
    Never stop dreaming.

  4. Pocketnet death date. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I recently had to reactivate my PocketNet (my phone was sent it for repairs). I've had quite good experiences with it. The one time I had a problem it was pretty nasty: it turned out that the only solution was to give me a new IP address but it took a LONG time to figure this out. It was really great when tethering was free, but now they've figure out how to charge for it and it's pricey (5c/kB).

    Anyways, I asked the rep how much longer PocketNet was going to be around. He said that there are three possible termination dates: July 2003, Dec 2003, or at the latest (and unlikely) July 2004. Sounds like they're shooting for this summer. I complained about the data rates being high for GPRS (especially compared with free for PocketNet) and he suggested that the rates were likely to go down "after Christmas."