AT&T service upgrade doesn't work out for North Carolina customer
GOLSDSBORO, NC (WTVD) -- It was supposed to be a simple upgrade, going from AT&T's basic DSL package to their faster U-verse service, but for Ethel Mae Daniels, she said that switch turned into months of frustration.
Ethel was happy with her old AT&T service, but said when the company called her to switch to their newer, faster, phone and internet service she went with it. She said they told her the DSL service was being discontinued, but she could keep her old phone number if she switched to U-verse.
A few days later, Ethel found out that wasn't true.
"Can you imagine, having a telephone number for 20 years and all of a sudden, you don't have it?" Ethel said.
Without warning, she said her original phone number was gone.
"I was so upset," she said. "They gave me a temporary number and I asked them, would you please do something to let the people know that this is a temporary number or something."
The number was how Ethel, an 83-year-old woman, stayed in contact with her doctors and family.
"That was my lifeline," she said.
She called AT&T to try to get back her old number and some of features of her original plan that she said disappeared with the new number, but she said the calls to AT&T didn't seem to work.
"So after going back and forth for so long and different ones were telling me things they were gonna do and they didn't do it and it would just get worse and worse," she said.
Her bills kept coming too, often listing a different account number and charges she didn't understand.
"They were still sending me bills and they were getting higher," Ethel said.
All she wanted was her old service and old number back, so she reached out to me and I got in touch with AT&T and after two months of frustration, Ethel got what she was looking for. She had her original phone number back and her original DSL service.
"That's what you did for me Diane," she said. "I will never forget you. You've been my angel."
A rep with AT&T said, "Providing great customer service is AT&T's top priority. We're glad we could work with Ms. Daniels to find resolution, and we regret she was inconvenienced."
