AT&T Customer Service..... (too) busy

This afternoon I called AT&T customer service on behalf of a senior citizen who is entitled to free Directory Assistance because of visual impairments.

Did you know that persons who cannot dial telephones can get free 411 service? There is no charge for providing telephone number look-up and I think the operator will even place the call. If you sign up for this service (or assist someone in signing up for it), be sure to obtain the exact nature and amount of how calls placed by the operator are billed.

The reason for calling was that the form sent by AT&T to the customer included a return window envelope, but the form letter did not contain the address to which it was to be mailed. There was no address to show through the window of the envelope! In fact, AT&T sent two letters to the customer on the same day! And sent both with window envelopes that could not be used!

After navigating the lengthy voicetree of AT&T and trying to guess which of the options might lead me down the correct path, I finally heard, "We are busy serving other customers and cannot accept your call at this time. Please call back later" or some such nonsense.

The message might as well have said, "We're too busy now, because we don't hire enough employees to serve you efficiently. Why did you waste your time calling and punching all those buttons?"

Don't you just love it when big business does that to you?

Every business could take a good lesson from the Moen plumbing company; you know, the people who make faucets? When you call their customer service department, you hear a friendly message that asks you to leave your name and number and which informs you that you will be called back within a certain number of minutes.

And do you know what? It works! Their customer service agents call back promptly. A computer dials your number and a mechanical voice tells you that Moen is calling and asks you to hold just briefly. Very quickly a Moen rep comes onto the line.

Now THAT's customer service!

By the way, if you want to try to reach AT&T for the free 411 service, call 800.288.2020 I hope your luck will be better than mine was.