What Happens on the AT& Side
by Crash 24601
AT&T has approximately 85 million customers. If you have, or have ever had, AT&T long distance, they have information about you. Even if only a fraction of those customers call in for customer service on a given day, it's a major operation to handle those calls. Most customers will call with problems about their residential billing or service. The primary number they dial will be: 1-800-222-0300
And thus begins their journey into the gigantic entity known as AT&T Customer Service.
The System
After dialing the 1-800-222-0300, a customer reaches the ever widespread voice mail menus to navigate. But by the time they hear that, much has already happened. The system reads the calling phone number via Automated Number Identification (ANI). The system then looks up the records of that phone number and knows such things as the local phone company and the average monthly amount spent on phone bills. (This average monthly bill is over a selected period of time, not necessarily current.)
The customer is then placed into a voice mail system (known inside AT&T as the Conversant system) that can be tailored to what the computer already knows about them. For example, in 1994 NYNEX began printing long distance bills on the back of the phone bill. Literally thousands of New Yorkers called AT&T questioning where their long distance bill was. After realizing how much time was being spent by live representatives simply telling people to turn their page over, that message was added to the Conversant help for those people calling from the NYNEX area.
Conversant will read back to the customer the number they are calling from (effectively acting as an ANI service) and asks if that is the billing number they are calling about, and offers the option to put in another number if they are questioning another phone number. In such cases Conversant will also ask for the digits following the phone number as shown on the phone bill. This is to verify that the person has their phone bill and is assumed then to be an authorized party. An incorrect entry drops the user to a live representative, as do most errors.
Having been authorized to work with the account, Conversant prompts the user for which month's billing they have questions about. Conversant allows the customers to get listings for numbers that appear on their phone bill (and only numbers that are on their phone bill, stopping it from being a free Customer Name and Address [CNA]). The system even allows customers to remove charges from their own phone bill that they disagree with. This is limited to a small amount, of course. If any large amounts are requested, the call is dropped to a live representative.
The menus and information on Conversant are updated quite frequently - for improvements, to add current common billing questions, and simply because the customers never seem to like the way that it is, or even that it exists.
At some point, by pressing 0, or through some error or safety measure on Conversant, many of the customers end up with a live representative. There is no central customer service department that calls are transferred to. There are various centers across the United States and various departments of customer service within. Conversant selects a place to transfer your call based on call volumes at each center, and what it may already know about you.
For example, there are departments set up for customers who historically spend less than $15 a month, departments for larger spenders, etc. The sub-departments are not a strict guideline as to where a call may go; it's a preferred destination. If one department is overloaded on calls, Conversant will roll their overflow on to other departments.
When a call goes through to a live account representative, your phone number appears on their computer terminal, often with a message telling them what you were doing in Conversant when you were dropped out - often as specifically as which phone number you were trying to get a listing on. With a single mouse click, your name, address, and most current bill appear on the screen. This generally happens before the representative says "AT&T, this is X, may I help you?" They will also ask you for your name, address, and phone number. They already know these - they are looking at it on their screen. This is just for verification.
The People
The people working on the other end of the phone call are typically in a hectic environment. Each department has a "talk time" which is an average amount of time they are expected to be on the phone per call. These can be as little as little as three to four minutes depending on the department the customer is connected to. It is therefore to the representative's benefit to get you off their phone in as little time as possible. Of course this is an average, so if you're trying to figure out who phreaked your phone bill to the tune of two thousand dollars, they can take the extra time to help you out.
Representatives have great leeway as to whether or not to credit a customer. Although there are policies regarding what to credit, what not to credit, and what to follow up on, a lot of claims become judgment calls. An example would be a customer who calls to deny making a few dollars worth of calls each month. Eventually a representative will make the judgment call that enough is enough, and the easy credit is over.
On a given day, a rep will be yelled at and abused many times, talk to people who simply don't understand how the telephone system works, are absolutely paranoid about the phone company, have genuine mental problems, can hardly hear, can hardly talk, require a translator, as well as people who are schemers, cheapskates, and plenty of people with genuine billing problems. Depending on the department, and call volumes, a rep can take between 100-200 calls in a single day. It can be a stressful job.
Unlike the commercials, the real people at the other end of the line are in a room with a hundred or so other reps. They wear sneakers and have plenty of toys, magazines, and lots of food on hand to combat stress.
The Computers (And What They Know About You)
Representatives are armed with a computer terminal that runs two main programs.
On one half of the screen is Intelligent Work Station (IWS), which is essentially an online manual. They can search for keywords, policies, rates, send e-mail, compose a letter to a customer, and other such tasks.
On the other half is RAMP (formerly known as RCAM). RAMP is the heart of AT&T customer service, it's essentially a terminal into a monolith mainframe that tracks the billing for millions of customers. RAMP typically keeps the most current three bills online for each customer (the older ones are archived and can be sent to hardcopy for access). RAMP also keeps customer information such as notes on the customer and calls they have made. While the customer is explaining how someone broke in and made adult phone calls on their phone, the rep might be reading in the notes from last month about how the customer explained it was their 13-year-old son who made the phone calls.
RAMP is where changes to the phone bill can actually be made, credits given, calling plans changed, names and addresses changed. It allows for searches for related calls - while Customer A explains that they don't recognize that number on the bill to Person B, the rep can see that Person B regularly calls Customer A. Reps can look up a phone number to get a listing if the number in question is an AT&T customer.
Calling card accounts can be added or seen (although reps cannot view PINs). RAMP more than occasionally slows down and partially or completely goes down. During this time reps are not supposed to inform the customer that "the computer is down." Instead they do what they can on paper, do their best to make judgment calls without being able to see the details, and maintain the facade that everything is normal to the customer.
With some local phone companies, RAMP also allows the AT&T rep to see some of the customer's general information with the local phone company. This is generally not useful except for trying to see at which end an error might lie. And with some local phone companies, the AT&T rep actually can see nothing about the customer, not even their AT&T long distance charges.
This occurs with a few very small phone companies, where AT&T finds it easier to simply contract out the billing entirely to that phone company.
Common Scams
Naturally AT&T is the target of many schemers and bogus claims.
"I had a check for XX dollars that I could cash for changing to AT&T, but I lost it. Can I get a new one?" - The customer will be transferred to a special department that can check to see if the check was cashed or not, and decide if the customer genuinely needs a new one.
"I didn't accept the charges on that collect call." - The rep will check to see if you've ever accepted a call from that number, or made one to that number before. If it's a single call, and not too large, the rep will generally credit it.
A collect call is one of the most accurate calls that will show up on a bill. Basically if your bill says you accepted one, someone at your house did. On larger claims, or many denials of collect calls, the rep can inform the customer that the charges will stand unless the local phone company verifies a problem with the lines.
"No one here made these adult/900 calls." - The rep will inform the customer that, yes, they did originate from their house. If the customer presses the rep they will get a one time bill adjustment for the calls. No further bills will be adjusted unless the local phone company verifies line trouble.
"I've been offered XX dollars by another phone company, I will leave AT&T unless I get the same from AT&T" - The rep will inform the customer that AT&T hopes they stay, but doesn't match other offers. In other words, goodbye.
"Can you tell me who this phone number belongs to? It was on my answering machine/Caller ID/some other company's bill." - This is essentially someone trying to get a CNA listing. A rep will inform them that AT&T can't look up phone numbers for them that do not appear on their bill, although often a rep will go ahead and look it up as it takes less time than arguing AT&T policy with the customer.
"Someone broke in and made these calls." - The rep will ask the customer to mail in the police report.
"My friend made these calls. I didn't authorize him to." - The rep will inform them that since the phone is their name, they have taken responsibility for it, and to go ask their friend for the money. Some reps might point out that this is the same as calling the water company to tell them you won't pay for the water their friend used when they took a shower.
"My call never connected but I got billed one minute." - This is very rare for domestic calls. It almost always means an answering machine answered. The rep will inform them about the policies and credit them. But reps don't like to give credit for these on a recurring basis. On short international calls, the rep almost always take the customer's word for it.
Common Complaints and Actions
"You charge for directory assistance?!" - Customer informed there is always a charge for directory assistance, has been for many years. Given one time credit.
"What are these calls to Guyana?! (or various third world countries)" - Customer is informed they are adult phone calls. One time credit if customer presses.
"I didn't make this call!" - Rep will offer to take off small calls without question. If customer asks, a listing will be given. This is the most common call taken. Amounts over fifty dollars will get a line check by the local company. Credit will be given if a problem is found. Smaller amounts are judgment calls by rep.
"It's not the 12 cents, it's the principal!" - Often same as above. Rep will credit call because he knows it's the 12 cents, not the principal.
"This says I talked 20 minutes - I know I never talk more than 10!" - Rep will inform customer that AT&T times calls to the tenth of a second (essentially "we are right you are wrong"). Usually will give one time credit.
"I want to complain about X" - Rep will listen, may or may not actually bother to type it into the computer. This is a good time to catch up on other things.
"There's a 3rd party call on my bill I didn't authorize!" - Will always be credited to customer. Calls are billed back to originating number, often with an extra charge for having been investigated. Large or frequent amounts are handled by corporate security.
Obligatory Closing Statement
Information is inherently usable for good or bad. Many people believe it's best to keep everyone, including themselves, in the dark. I, however, believe it is good to be informed about how the world works - particularly about people or institutions who have information about you, and have control over your life. To be uninformed is equivalent to blind faith.