Goodbye, AT&T

So after attending the New York Rangers home opener Friday night, and then going back again last night and having no service for almost the entire game (two and a half hours), I've decided enough is enough. My contract is up in January, and I'm saying farewell to the iPhone (for now) and AT&T and going to Verizon.

I figured I'd send one last email to my old pal, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson to let him know, even though they apparently threaten cease and desist orders to people contacting him now. 

Too bad. Here's my farewell to AT&T:

Mr. Stephenson,

Just to give a quick re-introduction of who I am (and in case you're thinking "this name sounds familiar to me"), I emailed you back in December 2009 to let you know about the problems I've had over the last thirteen years of my mobile marriage to AT&T (not including the break when your mobile division spun off to Cingular), most recently involving the lack of service at my office in midtown Manhattan.

At the time, someone from your office named Kim Scott became my point of contact, and after it was determined that the reason for the issues in the buildings on Park Avenue at the 53rd-54th Street intersection, by one of your senior engineers, was the lack of towers in the area. Ms. Scott then went on, in great detail, to read from a script and explain that this was not considered an AT&T issue and as such there would be no further steps taken.

Okay. Sure, I can see that. Lack of towers owned by your company unable to service an area is certainly not AT&T's fault, and shame on me for even thinking that your company should bear any responsibility for the fact that you can't provide service to areas of a major metropolitan area like New York.

Anyway. The reason for this email is to let you know that after my experience last night, I can't wait for January. Why? Because that's when my contract is up, and, much as I would like to purchase an iPhone 4, the fact that I spent three hours watching a hockey game at Madison Square Garden last night and wound up using my friend's Verizon Droid to check my voicemail has convinced me, finally, that your service still sucks and is not going to improve.

So, the long and short of it is, I'm breaking up with you. And it's not me, it's you.

It is a disgrace for me to continue paying you $200 a month for service that works intermittently. My wife was also with me at the game, and her 3GS phone, although showing full service, was unable to make a call, send or receive texts/emails, and she missed two calls informing her of client reschedules for today. The highlight, though, was the inability to use the AT&T 'Mark the Spot' app, because, as it delighted in telling me, there was no service.

Keep in mind, I'm not writing this as an escalation for support. I'm not looking for someone in your office to troubleshoot or call me or investigate the cause of this latest issue.

I don't want anything from you. I don't want calls from anyone offering to look into this. It's fairly well established by this point that your service is garbage throughout most of NYC, and for whatever reason it hasn't improved in the last year. So instead of burning $200 every month for service that works occasionally, I'm simply writing this to say good-bye, effective January 2011.

Congratulations on offering such poor service and customer support; you've finally driven me off.

Oh, and if you're thinking of sending me a nastygram 'cease and desist' voicemail/email, save your typing. I don't intend on contacting you again...although it says quite a bit about your company that you react that way to customers with legit complaints. I guess attempts at bullying customers is easier than fixing your network.