I'm thinking about signing up for U-Verse, so I thought I'd give AT&T a call to see what my options would be and what the prices were like. Almost a decade ago I had U-Verse, but then I ended up cutting the cord and going in a different direction for a while. Now it seems I'm subscribed to a crazy amount of streaming service, and I'm ready to convert back to standard cable in the hopes of combining my bill and maybe saving some money in the process.
I decided to wait until later in the evening to call, hoping the wait line would be less busy. AT&T offers phone service, internet service, dish service and DirectTV so I know they get a lot of callers. It didn't turn out to be too long of a wait this way, but first I had to readjust a bit because it turns out that the phone number I called is as ancient as me! Even though I had this number written down somewhere, when I called I was told, "Thank you for calling AT&T customer service. The number you have reached is no longer in service. If you'd like to place an order for one of our services or have questions about existing services, please call 1-800-288-2020."
When I called the second number, I got through directly to AT&T and was greeted by a virtual assistant, who asked me, "In a few words, what are you calling about?" I responded, "Sign up for U-Verse." It then asked if I was adding the service to an existing AT&T account and I said I was. Then, it said, "I see the number you're calling about and used it to look at your account, is that the account you're calling about?" When I conferred, it said, 'Please wait. I just sent you a link where you can learn about availability in your area. Please say what you would like to do next."
At this point, I browsed over the link quickly, but wanted to talk to someone to see if they would offer me a special promotion so I went ahead and said, "Talk to a customer service agent." This did the trick because after it got my passcode from me it put me on a hold line. It was funny because the system said they had long wait times, but I only had to wait about a minute before a sales agent picked up. The agent was helpful and spoke clearly which helped while we discussed what deals my account was eligible for.