AT&T are Crooks

I have come to the conclusion that AT&T are crooks.  At very best their staff is completely incompetent. Allow me to explain:  

October 2017:  Signed up for service because I had a new job and my T-Mobile signal wouldn't reach my work place.  I was happy with T-mobile.  Their price is much more honest.   

As for AT&T, the person who sold me the phones provide me with a BOGO deal on the phones.  Seemed like a good deal.  Also sold me on Direct TV and DSL Internet.  I was paying 3 bills $62.00 for Internet   $60 for Direct TV and $155 for 2 cel phones with 12 GB of share data.  This was in part due to a discount from my workplace.   I was giving them $275/month.  The salesperson said don't look at your bill for the first 3 months.  It will be confusing.  He also told me I could have the services consolidated onto a single bill.

I tried off and on for 6 months to have the bills consolidated.  Nobody could ever make this happen.  I finally gave up.  Every couple months the discount from Direct TV would not be applied so I had to spend hours on the phone getting it corrected.  Direct TVs service was awful.  Every time it would rain I would lose signal.  The On Demand service crashed nearly every time I went to use it.  The Internet service was 25Mbps but I could usually pull down about 32Mbps, which wasn't too bad.  

The technician also drilled a huge hole in my wall to install Direct TV because my previous wiring used for Dish Network, Time Warner etc.  wouldn't work (I still don't believe that).  Anyhow, I put up with this for 2 years.  I was ready to leave.  Spectrum offered me phone service for 2 phones for $88.00 (tax included).  I could get all my services for 30% less and improved TV and Internet experience (100Mbps instead of 25Mbps) working DVR etc.  I was so ready to switch.  I was going to save lots of money and life would be good.  So I called AT&T and asked how much to get out of my contract.  My contract was up, but I still owed on the phone. Ok, how much will it cost me to pay off the phone.  $178.00.  Perfect, I'll pay for it with my credit card.  Done.  Or so I thought.  Then, after waiting 2 days I receive an unlock code.  What about the other phone...."Oh that one is in contract for 6 more month."  What?  This is ridiculous.  It was BOGO.  "Yeah, but you get a credit each month of service.  You should have read your contract."  I was livid.  What does it take to get rid of you guys?  I give them another $178.00.  Then I go to Spectrum and they say, Oh the Galaxy S8 Active is an AT&T only phone. You can't use this.  ARGHHH!!!  So I call AT&T and ask them to reverse the request to payoff/cancel.   They take care of this after about 3 hours on the phone.  Then, while speaking to the helpful lady, I say is there anyway I can save on my phone bill?  She says, you can switch to the shared 9GB plan and it will be $118 + tax.  Lets do it.  The next month my bill is $229.00.  WHAT?  Are you serious.  I call back they say...oh we see what has happened here, your bill should be $129.00.  Ok great.  Wait until tomorrow and the amount owed will be updated.  I wait and again it still shows $229.00.  I call back and they guarantee me that tomorrow it will work.  I wait another day and again the bill is $229.00.  I call back and get a guy named George that tells me he is a billing expert.  Great, George is going to help me.  George explains that I do owe $229.00 because my plan was changed.  I get frustrated and tell George, why would I switch my bill to save money and pay more.  George agrees and tell me he will work on it.  He then says he has fixed it and my bill is $148.00.  I ask what happened to the $118.00 I was told I would be charged.  He tells me that the previous people were all wrong and insurance was not provided.  So now I'm paying the same as before and I was switched from a 12GB shared plan to a 9GB plan.  

SO, because I tried to save money, I was SCREWED out of a better plan and have spent probably a dozen hours on the phone with incompetent people.  AT&T, this is no way to run a business.  I was misled every step of the way.  I've had many friends and family have good experiences with your network, but mine has been awful.  I am absolutely sick to death with your service and am counting down the days until I can leave without losing more money than I already have.  Also, my signal is terrible. I rarely make a phone call without it dropping it.  My Mom says she doesn't have this with her iPhone so maybe the Galaxy S8 Active just isn't good.  I don't know, but I've voiced what's on my mind and I'm done.  I've given you and your service providers nearly $6,500.00 the past 2 years.  You have given me poor service and grief.  

Sincerely,

Jon [edited for privacy-please do not post personal or unique information such as but not limited to full names, employee ID numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, account numbers, etc.]