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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Post Your Problems Column

Posted on: Friday, 9 January 2004, 06:00 CST

Jan. 9--Kathy Pattak of Castle Shannon has been a longtime customer of AT&T.

The communications giant provides her with wireless, long distance, Internet and cable services.

She was inclined to go with AT&T when it came time in early 2002 to obtain wireless service for her son, Cory, a student at Syracuse University.

But Pattak, 52, a health and physical education teacher at Foster Elementary School in Mt. Lebanon, did her homework first. She researched the calling plans offered by other companies.

Although an AT&T salesman told her Syracuse is not in what is known as an AT&T "home area," Pattak selected the company after she was assured her son would have reliable service.

"I've had AT&T wireless service since 1999 and never had a problem," she said.

Her son used his cellular phone throughout the summer with no problems. The problems began when he returned to school in late August.

"Calls were cut off on a regular basis," she said.

Months went by. The problem continued.

Last January, she contacted Ericsson, the manufacturer of the cell phone. Ericsson said it would need the phone for at least a week to see if some defect was causing the problem. Ericsson suggested she ask AT&T for a loaner phone.

An AT&T customer service representative told her the company doesn't provide loaner phones.

But, before AT&T would replace her son's phone, the representative said it wanted to "reprogram" it. That required Cory Pattak to call AT&T on a regular phone and follow a customer service representative's reprogramming instructions.

The reprogramming didn't work. Her son's calls continued to be cut off.

In late February, AT&T sent him another Ericsson phone, identical to the first one. It didn't resolve the problem. His calls continued to be cut off.

Kathy Pattak said she told her son to "just live with it" until he came home for the summer.

When he came home in June, Cory Pattak called AT&T and spoke to several customer service representatives and eventually a supervisor. He told them what had happened and said he wanted to cancel the service without paying the $150 cancellation fee.

He said the supervisor was sympathetic but couldn't waive the fee.

Kathy Pattak also called AT&T. She spoke to six customer service representatives. She said they understood why she wanted to cancel the service but said they also couldn't waive the fee.

On June 30, Kathy Pattak called to cancel her son's cell phone service. During the conversation, a man who identified himself as John told her what her son should have done when his calls were cut off. John said her son should have pressed the redial key within 30 seconds so the phone records would show the call had been cut off. Cory Pattak had been pressing the No key.

"That made it appear he had chosen to end the call," Kathy Pattak said. "[That] would explain why the calling records do not show as many dropped calls as were occurring."

She said John apologized repeatedly because his colleagues had failed to tell her and her son to press the redial key when a call was cut off. She said John also apologized for those who had assured her that AT&T could provide reliable service in Syracuse.

Kathy Pattak sent AT&T a letter detailing the problems she and her son had experienced. She asked that the cancellation fee be waived.

AT&T responded with an unsigned letter saying that the company wouldn't waive the cancellation fee.

Kathy Pattak sent me a copy of her letter to AT&T, the company's response and a cover letter. I faxed them to AT&T's public relations office in New Jersey.

Mark Siegal, an AT&T spokesman, said the company would review the paperwork. He said the company has a 30-day, no-questions-asked cancellation policy, "the most generous policy in the industry. But, after 30 days, you're on the hook for the cancellation fee."

Kathy Pattak said she would advise consumers "to make sure they get a phone that has reliable service in the area you want to use it in. Cory now has Verizon's wireless service and it works fine."

If you have a telecommunications problem that you are unable to resolve with a company, call the Federal Communications Commission consumer hot line at 1-888-225-5322.

Lawrence Walsh can be reached at 412-263-1895. His e-mail address is pyp@post-gazette.com.

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To see more of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.post-gazette.com

(c) 2004, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

T, ERICY, ERIC,

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