Sure, Steve Jobs might be a
one-man email PR machine, but his pal Randall Stephenson at AT&T doesn't appear to be quite as gregarious -- as reader Giorgio Galante found out today, sending AT&T's CEO two emails in two weeks results in a phone call from AT&T's Executive Response Team and a warning that further emails will result in a cease and desist letter. What did Giorgio's emails say? The first was a request to bump up his iPhone eligibility date and a request for a tethering option, and today's outlined his displeasure with
AT&T's new data rates and ultimate decision to switch to Sprint and the EVO 4G. That prompted "Brent" to call Giorgio back and thank him for the feedback, but also politely warn him that further emails would be met with legal action. Ouch. As you'd expect, AT&T just lost itself a customer. We've followed up with Ma Bell to find out exactly why they went the lawyer route instead of oh, say, filtering Randall's email -- we'll let you know what they say.
P.S.- Amusingly, Giorgio says he emailed both Randall Stephenson and Steve Jobs last year about offering tethering and actually got a response from Steve -- maybe these two CEOs need to talk about more than data rates and service quality the next time they meet up.
posted June 2nd 2010 9:00PM
"I'd like to remind my customers that further e-mails to the CEO will result in, Execution!"
/hand wringing and
"Bwah! HA! HA! HAAAAaaaa!"
/leering and evil smirk
Vampires get old after all but they never lose that "evil-spark!"
If it means this tool is off the network and no longer consuming more resources than he is worth, good God damned riddance to him.
I just love the prevalent presumtuon that each customer seems to think his or her business isn't just worth having, it's absolutely essential and no company could possibly be better-off without them. These are the folks who usually become lifelong alimony payees by virtue of how much the value of their absence outweighs even those stiff costs.
Obviously, ATT can't say so without a public that's unable to get over itself whipping itself into a lathered frenzy, so I'll be happy to say it for them as a shareholder.
Go be a canker sore to Sprint, T-Mobile, or any other provider whose network you want to bring to a crawl and provide unlimited valet service for $1.99/mo. (until they too brand you a parasitic tumor who would be FAR better-seved elsewhere and deny what you value even more than flat rate all-you-can-syphon service, somebody you believes to be obligated to entertain your tantrums for the sake of your lacking of any meaningful life pursuit).
Your $30 data plan isn't worth the space upon any CEO's radar that you want to occupy for the sake if amusing yourself. And don't kid yourself, even your dog is rolling his eyes about you when you're not looking.
And as a T customer, good riddance and stay the hell off the network I use. Given the unanticipated overwhelming marketspace "smart" devices have created, anybody who thinks any other provider's network wouldn't have been strained even worse is kidding himself.
Given the extent to which so few (
@Madlock You sound like another one of those capitalist tools who believes having a death grip on the means of production entitles your kind to the status of American royalty. In my various places of employment (before recent retirement), I encountered a number of jerk managers just like you and every one of them was a corporate ladder-climbing, butt-kissing, back-stabbing tool who cared for naught except the size of his next bonus.
The CEO of AT&T has shot himself in the foot and that is somehow the customer's fault? Puhleeze, we are not all idiots.
@richard6789
I argue in favor of heaving ho someone whose primary gripe seems to be his belief that he can no longer consume resources at rates 30x the average user’s and you brand me as a capitalist tool? There hasn’t been a reach like that since Manute Bol retired.
Precisely how did T’s CEO manage to shoot himself in the foot over emails he most certainly never read to which he hadn’t responded? I’m sure he’d be among the first to step forward to take responsibility by stating that every employee reflects upon him to a certain extent, but how do you and the other residents in the proletariat wing of the Old Rhetorical’s Home reason that CEOs and “capitalists” are always to blame, yet never entitled to any credit? Ah yes… being a victim is just SO much easier.
He’s most certainly handsomely rewarded, as are most shareholders without whose investment and ownership you’d be left with nowhere to go and no one to blame. While no CEO or shareholder is likely to be any less concerned about his own compensation than the average rank and file, very few became CEOs by complaining about how much someone ELSE was making or endeavoring to avoid responsibility and the additional demands that come with them (like providing you and those of your ilk with places to retire from).
It’s so much more convenient when those nasty detail are left to others, leaving you with as much time as you like to complain about “the man” and how much a share of others’ money and achievements to which you’re morally entitled to help yourself. But inevitably and invariably, when you’ve spent the last cent of everyone else’s money and there’s nobody to invest and manage to provide you with places to do your ranking and filing (and retiring), you’re left precisely where you seem to be… staring at a computer monitor, free to work yourself up into a lather over someone else’s experiences because it’s so much easier than accounting for your own.
You’re not constrained by trivialities like reality or reason; those are someone else’s problem and that’s precisely how you like it. You’re ever-free to partake in any dividends without ever having to be responsible for them. What’s tragic is that most outgrow their Peter Pan mentalities by age 9. Enjoy your retirement.
And what I am I (or anyone) "entitled" to receive from AT&T? Precisely nothing the moment it's decided that it's no longer profitable to them for me (or anyone) to continue being a customer.
@Madlock Touched a nerve there, did I? So, if you're not a jerk manager, just what kind of jerk are you? Oh, BTW, I do not have to account for my achievements or well-earned entitlements to you or anyone else (except the IRS, who gets a big chunk every year.)
Fact is, years ago, I was unceremoniously dumped without notice as a cel fone customer of Verizon because I would not go with their "no other choice" upgrade from the old analog media modulation to the "new" digital modulation at twice the price monthly plus a whopping charge for a new phone, activation, etc. I then dumped their landline service, chose another cel carrier and landline carrier and never looked back. They still keep sending me mailings wanting me to comeback as a customer. I just dump their mailings in the trash.
As for my view of jerk managers, their favorite scam is to announce that they have an open door policy for any kind of complaint (confidentiality "guaranteed"), then when you take them up on that invitation, they find a way to burn you with what you shared. Kind of like what the "T" is trying to do to this customer, but they got a s--tload of blowback. Have you read the two e-mails that got Brent's panties in a wad? Bet you haven't. BTW, the recording of Brent's call threatening the customer sounded exactly like a college kid reading a scripted response that was provided to him by management. Brent's problem now is that Brent will be the one fired and management will still get their bonus.
You remind me of the type of manager who is deathly afraid that someone you manage is going to come up with a better idea and you won't be able to steal it from him. So, rather than accept input from the "rank and file", you make un-informed decisions (it's also called "shooting from the hip") and instead of dealing with the issues, choose to attempt to discredit everyone else. There's a lot of manager's out there just like that. You seem to be a good example.
You're a mile off the mark with the "proletartiat" and "Old Rhetorical Home" descriptions, but that is probably in line with your tendency to attempt to discredit anyone who disagrees with you. You have a nice day now, y'hear?
So...How long before someone signs this pretentious dude up for a gajillion email lists.
We apologize to this one customer, just him... To all our other customers, Fu%& off!
Sincerely,
AT&T
what a dork. Make his lawyers earn their money.
I have had AT&T service since cell phones first came out. I've was switched and forced to get new phones when Cingular took over. Then AT&T again. What a nightmare. I had 4 phones on my service when I married a year ago. At an AT&T store they supposedly combined my lines on to my husband's plan. Two of my phones were currently active and one line, they told us was going to expire in September which was put on my husband's bill as a separate plan. From that day forward I had no access online to my old account and I did not receive a bill. Now I have a bill from a collection company for non-payment and an early termination fee! We have been on the phone with them going from one supervisor to the next. Plus 2 -3 trips to the manager of the AT&T store to get her to fix her error. One customer service representative went through the charges and agreed that they should be dropped but she was overruled. We still have 4 lines on my husband's account, who has also been with AT&T for 12 - 13 years. As our phone contracts expire we will be dropping off too. We are telling all of our friends, families and co-workers about what horrible service we have received! We have about 40 websites between us plus multiple Twitter accounts and we will spread the news of just how horrible the service is and that we are switching to Verizon as soon as out final contracts have expired.