Fun with phones

Well, we're going to be moving my dad closer to us (more on that later), and I've been trying to find him a new apartment, get moving arrangements made, change-of-address notifications sent out, new bank accounts set up and money transfers made, insurance company/coverage changes handled, etc. There's a LOT to take care of in a move, especially in one across country.

I figured getting him local phone service would be the easy part, since AT&T covers the landline service where he'll be living, and he already has them for his current carrier. Guess what? I figured wrong. First, the AT&T representative told me he would have to run a credit check on Dad before they could set up the new service. OK, he's a current customer, no big deal - right? Um, no. The AT&T provider in *this* part of the country has no way of accessing the AT&T account records of anyone in the *that* part of the country. Customer service: Strike One.

Then the rep couldn't find the address of Dad's new apartment in their system, despite giving him BOTH alternate street names. Yes, there are two. Apparently the road got renamed after the apartments were built. The apartment manager gave me a sheet they hand out to all new residents, telling people what specifically to say regarding the physical address when dealing with AT&T. Guy couldn't find it, under either variant. But he *could* find a similar address that *might* be the right place. But it might not be, either. Customer service: Strike Two.

Finally, told me there IS no service to Dad's new address, based on what he could find in their records. That's odd, everybody else in the building has AT&T as their local carrier. Customer service: Strike Three.

AT&T . . . YOU'RE OUTTA THERE!

So when we get Dad out of the old apartment and cancel his current phone service, we're not getting him a landline here. We'll buy him a basic cell phone (a smartphone would just confuse - and frustrate - the hell out of him), put him on our calling plan (YEA VERIZON! . . . although we liked Alltel better), and cancel the emergency-only 10-minutes-a-month cellular plan he has now. Cost for us: about $20 a month. Savings to him: about $60 a month. Advantage: We'll be able to text him instead of calling with reminders and quick messages. AND he won't have long-distance charges to worry about anymore. Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

Addendum: I forgot to mention that the guy couldn't find the correct building address in the system by finding the apartment office **because the residential division can't look up business numbers**, even though they're both serviced by AT&T! Idiotic system they have there.

I do have to say, we had AT&T cell service back in the early days and their customer service was top-notch then. We've also had them as our long-distance carrier in the past, and the customer care wasn't as good as with cellular. Now, I'm even less impressed, at least with the residential service care.