A New York Times Writer on AT&T's '24/7 Customer Service' <G>...
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24/7 Service, but Who's Counting?
By MATT RICHTEL
The New York Times / Dec. 9, 2001
I REALIZE now that I've been a bit of a rube when it comes to understanding the concept of time. And I'd like to thank AT&T for helping me to better grasp the idea, by enlightening me to the space, time, customer-service continuum.
It began when I received a bill from AT&T Broadband, which provides my cable television service. The bill said the company provided "24-hour customer service and repair." Because of a billing discrepancy, I called the phone number provided, and heard an automated message saying the service was open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and asking me to "please call back during normal business hours."
Naturally, I was surprised, having clung to the traditional definition of "24 hours" as including the middle of the night and other, less popular times of the day. However, I was willing to admit that I was confused, given that AT&T, as a premier telecommunications company, knows a thing or two about communication. Besides, I'm loath to disagree with the company that controls my access to "The Sopranos."
Seeking insight, I called the public relations office. Andrew Johnson, a company spokesman, said 24-hour service, in the form of actual human beings, was indeed available. He assured me that he would look into the matter and get back to me, though several days later I still hadn't heard from him.
I received a more elaborate explanation from Gary Morgenstern, a spokesman for AT&T's long-distance unit. It also offers 24-hour customer service, Mr. Morgenstern said, and he let me know the company stands up to the claim without caveat.
"Our numbers take calls 24 hours a day," he said, "7 days a week."
Oh, I said. Your numbers?
"There are some times when you can't reach someone live and you might have to leave a message," he explained, noting that the phone numbers were always answered, though sometimes by an answering machine.
The new math was eluding me. I called DirecTV, an AT&T competitor in the television business. A salesman said the company offered legitimate 24-hour, 7-day-a-week service, with a small catch.
"Only during business hours," he said. Otherwise, he said, I'd get automated service, which, he noted, would be there without fail.
The world as I knew it was coming apart. How had I made it past 30 with such a tenuous grasp on science? Why had Copernicus deceived us so? If the telecommunications giants were to be believed, "24 hours" was a relative term.
Then a realization: Of course! If I followed the time precepts and wisdom of AT&T and other telecommunications giants, other enduring mysteries of life would also be explained.
For instance, my grandmother said she was recently overcharged $145 by AT&T for long-distance service. When she called to complain, AT&T said she was the one who had made the mistake, but that it would explore the matter and get back to her "within 24 hours." Three days later, no one had called back.
It's clear why. What Grandma didn't realize was that that AT&T's definition of 24 hours didn't include many of the day's hours — and thus was not continuous — so they probably wouldn't return her call until the "requisite" 24 hours had passed. (On the upside, after she made repeated calls to AT&T — serendipitously, between 9 and 5 — it acknowledged that it had overcharged her, and it credited her account.)
In another instance, a friend of mine ordered cable service from AT&T Broadband and made an appointment for installation between 8 a.m. and noon. But the crew never came. In fact, he was stood up on three separate days. Of course they didn't show up! He, too, had relied on the outmoded Earth's-rotation concept of time. Simpleton.
Mr. Morgenstern, meanwhile, said AT&T had received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for service. That honor, Mr. Morgenstern suggested, meant that the company's customer service was excellent. "We won it sometime in the 90's," he said.
Specifically, the award went to the AT&T Consumer Communications Services division in 1994, a fact that reinforced just how tenuous my grasp had been on time and its relation to telecommunications providers. My outmoded lunar calendar indicates that this is 2001, which is also the year I thought I most recently tried to contact customer service.
AT last, convinced and humbled, I made a decision. I would adopt the new concept of time, and I would deal with AT&T on its terms. Perhaps other frustrated customers, now aware of the lingua franca, should do the same.
For instance, people at your phone company might call to say you are late in paying your bill. With confidence, you may tell them that you're right on time. Specifically, you can say, "I pay my bill 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." At last, maybe you and the telecommunications providers can understand each other.>> |
