http://thederekjohnson.disqus.com/SMS Marketing SoftwareenFri, 07 Aug 2009 17:02:16 -0000http://thederekjohnson.com/2009/08/06/free-year-of-freshbookscom/#comment-14451506^^ That is a very awesome story Kristin! That is a great story you will have forever. <br> <br>Every time that I have a problem with a major (usually faceless) corporation, I cross my fingers &amp; pray that I get connected with a CSR like you. <br> <br>I was going to write my own story but Kristin's deserves some serious reward by right-ing a serious mistake and seeing it resolved. She has my vote, DerekRay PetersFri, 07 Aug 2009 17:02:16 -0000http://thederekjohnson.com/2009/08/06/free-year-of-freshbookscom/#comment-14429603Rock on Derek.... Very cool idea!AndrewFri, 07 Aug 2009 09:30:36 -0000http://thederekjohnson.com/2009/08/06/free-year-of-freshbookscom/#comment-14416989It seems that AT&amp;T has been getting a bad reputation in the blogosphere lately, and as a former employee, it’s hard for me to respond because I see the perspectives of both the consumers and the company. Trust me, in my time there, I heard of and saw bad customer service experiences, but there are also the good experiences you don't hear about often. I got flak for taking too much time with customers on the phone, but I like to give a personal experience. It’s especially hard getting an irritated customer just off of a call that did not resolve their issue. I worked billing and tech support for customers with small business to large corporate accounts, so it was important to me to help things run smoothly.<br><br>I got a call one day from an extremely irritated business owner, wondering why his bill was almost $16,000, about $15,500 over his usual bill. After a bit of research it looked like a second account was opened in his name, all his other lines transferred over and a new line added to the account with a $10,000 deposit billed. When the lines were moved over to this account, the data plans weren’t carried over, for whatever reason, and the rest of the bill consisted of data overages. To say he was unhappy is an understatement; all of the changes, including the new phone line, were NOT authorized by him at all. He had been calling for two weeks trying to get things corrected before being sent to collections for non-pay, but it seemed like he was tossed around to various departments that never resolved the issue.<br><br>I promised him that by the time he hung up the phone, everything would be corrected. I refused to transfer him to another department, because I was afraid that he would just be passed around once again. He cooperated with me, and stayed on hold while I contacted Business Receivables Management, Activations, and the High Level Adjustments team; all those who had the resources and authorization to make the changes I needed. In the end, I was able to get all of his numbers back onto his original account, removed the invalid data overages, and eliminated the unauthorized line and deposit. A $600 bill was a lot more manageable for his company.<br><br>I took heat from my manager for staying on the phone for 4 hours instead of pawning him off somewhere else, but I wanted that issue resolved then and there. It was unacceptable in my mind that he was put in the position he was in the first place let alone stretching the issue out for two weeks. I understand mistakes are made, but keeping the customer, rectifying things, and hearing his relief made that call worth it. I don't work there anymore, but I know my old teammates... there ARE still good things happening at AT&amp;T.Kristin MarshallFri, 07 Aug 2009 01:31:33 -0000