XPost: alt.activism.d   
   From: Justice@USA.con   
      
   BEWARE OF and AVOID doing business with AT&T!   
      
   AT&T exemplifies screw-the-consumer corporate arrogance at its worst.   
   DO NOT PATRONIZE AT&T or YOU'LL REGRET IT!   
      
   I had an ISP service package with AT&T Worldnet that included email,DSL, a   
   personal website on their server, and Usenet access. Suddenly they dropped   
   the Usenet service, with no compensation to customers that were forced to   
   find another source. Another example of their screw-the-customer attitude is   
   the fact that reaching a tech support person by phone typically requires at   
   least a 20 minute wait on hold. AT&T once had a good tech support service on   
   Usenet, but dropped that too and became very hard to reach. I should have   
   seen the writing on the wall and dropped AT&T back then!   
      
   This March 2nd I get an email that AT&T Worldnet service, DSL service, and   
   website hosting will no longer be available effective March 31st - A KNIFE   
   IN THE BACK to all their small business and individual customers!   
      
   They arranged a deal with Covad to take over the DSL service, and a new   
   email/web service that allows you to keep your existing email address and   
   ID. You could elect to use AT&T for dialup only, or go to another ISP   
   entirely. In effect, if you wanted to keep your present email address, IDs,   
   settings, and DSL, you are FORCED to accept Covad and still be tied to AT&T   
   as your ISP. Before, if your DSL service went down you had free dialup   
   backup, but no longer. Dialup now costs extra. And since converting to Covad   
   DSL about a week ago, I have already had a service failure!   
      
   For a business, the website customer-screwing by AT&T is the worst of all. I   
   had my site for years and it had a high ranking with the search engines -   
   top10. Now I have been FORCED to move it to another host with a new URL   
   unknown to the search engines. My initial outlay for 3 years of webhosting   
   and a domain was over $150. Fortunately I was able to upload my site to the   
   new host without the typical professional fee of $250 to do so, but it took   
   alot of my time. In addition, I'll have to toss and replace about $50 worth   
   of business cards with my old URL web address on them, replace other printed   
   materials with the old URL, change many documents, and inform many contacts.   
   I will inevitably lose business because the old URL, now in many website   
   links and hard-copy publications, has become useless.   
      
   The forced "migration" process from AT&T was complex and time-consuming, not   
   helped by the unavailability for several days of the means to do so at their   
   website where AT&T stated it would be. Instructions were vague and   
   non-specific, and good luck reaching them by phone! As the service cutoff   
   date approached, nothing could be done due to this and to AT&Ts   
   inaccessibility. Then, one day after completing part of the migration   
   process, CUTOFF! I had NO SERVICE - no web, no email, no DSL, no dialup,   
   nothing! Finally after hours of effort,I was able to establish my DSL   
   service. My Outlook Express was unable to download email until I corrected   
   that too - with no help from these corporate cretins that couldn't care   
   less!   
      
   Now, for the same monthly price as before (under a 1 year contract with a   
   BIG termination fee if you want out), I have DSL, web, and email. But no   
   dialup backup, Usenet, or website as before. The website costs extra now.   
   And will AT&T tech support improve? I wouldn't hold my breath!   
      
   The substantial expenses and inconveniences inflicted by this AT&T   
   customer-screwing is something for which a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT would be   
   appropriate, but no doubt the agreement you are forced into when buying   
   their service protects them from responsibility. Clearly AT&T, with typical   
   mega-corpseration greed and arrogance, cares little for their home and small   
   business customers. This sort of thing will continue as long as they can   
   perpetrate such actions without being held accountable, and consumers and   
   businesses will remain at their mercy.   
      
   When you vote, keep in mind it is the Republican-Conservatives that protect   
   these mega-corpserate bullies and allow them to run amok, unregulated, and   
   perpetrate such consumer-screwing actions as this.   
      
   BOYCOTT AT&T!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)