T-Mobile rep saves the day after AT&T customer service goofs up on a phone call

T-Mobile recently came to the rescue of a consumer who had purchased a 50GB data-only plan from AT&T for his iPad. To his surprise, this morning his account showed that he had no data available. After putting in a call to AT&T, the consumer was told that he would have to drive to an AT&T store to get the problem resolved. The distance to and from this location came to 100 miles and he was about to find out that the person he spoke with at AT&T's customer service number gave him incorrect information.

The consumer drove to an authorized AT&T retailer in Colville, Washington which is where AT&T customer service told him to go. In his post on social media, the consumer, who goes by the name of Expensive_Service_67 on Reddit, said that when he got to the store it was empty with one AT&T employee reclining back on his chair. When the consumer explained to the rep why he was at the store, that his account incorrectly showed that he had no data available for his iPad, he was told, "I don't usually work on data plans for iPads because they typically don't work."

After coming up with that strange answer, the rep then took the consumer's iPad and scrolled around on it before stating that there was nothing that he could do. Instead, he told the consumer that he would have to go to an AT&T Corporate Store to fix the problem even though he was directed to the Colville location by AT&T customer service

Considering that the closest corporate store was another 75 miles away in Spokane, this was not a journey that the iPad owner wanted to take. The rep did have one other solution. He told the consumer that if he paid for another month of data, perhaps the issue would be resolved. But the rep did issue a warning. If this payment did not fix the problem, it could not be refunded.

At this point, our hero was getting more than a little peeved at AT&T. Realizing that there was a T-Mobile in the next block, he drove over to the store where it must have seemed like Grand Central Station compared to the authorized AT&T retailer as there were two reps and two customers already in the store when he arrived. Speaking to a rep named Alyssa, the consumer explained what happened with his AT&T data plan and his wasted trip to the third-party AT&T retail store.

Alyssa spent an hour talking to the iPad owner to discuss the plan, to make sure that the SIM card worked, and to be sure that the payment went through, which it did. So the consumer got home, and his iPad worked perfectly leaving him to close his post by writing, "Sayonara AT&T, and Thank you T-Mobile!"

This is the kind of story that shows that not all reps are looking for ways to scam you by adding lines or accessories to your purchase without your knowledge. What Alyssa did that day, going above and beyond the call of duty, has brought T-Mobile a new customer that might end up moving his entire family to T-Mobile. Who knows? He might tell his friends what happened and they might switch to T-Mobile.

And here's a note to T-Mobile. This is the type of behavior that should be rewarded. Instead, carriers prefer to reward a rep who can convince a customer to buy a new case that he doesn't want, add a new charger that he doesn't need, or pay for insurance coverage that the consumer cannot afford. That is the problem. T-Mobile should be rewarding and not punishing reps like Alyssa who took the time to stay with the consumer until she was sure that he was leaving the store with everything he wanted and nothing that he didn't want or need.