Connecticut: AT&T neglecting wired customers

The Connecticut State Attorney General and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) took AT&T to task yesterday, saying the company is neglecting its wired customers.

In a Monday news conference, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called on AT&T to meet state regulations and fix up to 90 percent of out-of-service phones within 24 hours.  The PR efforts follows a July complaint filing by the Office of Consumer Counsel to the Department of Public Utility Control saying AT&T had not met the state standard in eight years.  And in August, Connecticut Gov. Jody Rell wrote AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson claiming that the company is ignoring older wired customers as the industry goes through technological change.

AT&T is winning no love on call wait times either. Customers calling AT&T's customer service line wait an average of nearly two and a half minutes before someone picks up.  This doesn't sit well when compared to 35 seconds or less pick up time in other states. Twelve percent of callers simply hang up before someone answers.

For the CWA, this is as much of a jobs issue as service quality. AT&T has cut 1,000 customer-service related jobs in the state since 2001, sending call center positions to Ohio and hiring contractors to do other work.

For more:
- StamfordPlus.com reports on CT AG berating AT&T for customer service woes. Article [1]

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