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From: andrewda@idsvax.ids.com (Andrew R. D'Uva)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Sprint Wars - AT&T Did it Better For Us
Message-ID: <12707@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 26 Sep 90 17:38:50 GMT
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In article <12457@accuvax.nwu.edu>, gtisqr!toddi@yang.cpac.
washington.edu (Todd Inch) writes:

> And you want to talk about Customer Service?  Took six calls, with
> LOTS of auto-attendant menus and "on-hold" time to.....
	
	The customer service aspect is a real problem for Sprint.  We
had just about gotten fed up with them when they initiated a "Premier
Accounts" group (our usage was running $700-800/mo) with a different
number.  Service was MUCH better on that basis.  There were other
problems.

> I also don't like being slammed, but that did show me true costs, and
> they (AT&T) paid for the changeover themselves.  

	I've found that AT&T is often more than willing to pay
associated switchover charges or startup fees, usually by LD
certificates.  In our case, this added up to several hundred dollars
saved.  You definitely should not be afraid to ask for a "deal," after
all, they DO want your business.  Sprint does not seem to want that
business.  When I had almost decided to switch back to AT&T (their
rates were cheaper ... more on that later) I called Sprint and asked
them if our business was really important to them (i.e., how could
they match rates, offer premiums, etc) and received nothing but
Sprint's much praised "can even hear a pin drop silence."  They just
didn't want to be flexible.

> Interesting note here, GTE swears the LD carrier cannot authorize a
> changeover (maybe local policy?), that the subscriber has to call it
> in himself, but obviously it can happen here.

	In our case, the local company in one area (Bell South)
switched over primary access without EVER contacting me.  This was in
line with my wishes, but I never even spoke to them ... just AT&T.
New England Tell (NYNEX), on the other hand, practically demanded
everything in writing before they would do anything ... (And, as it
turned out, they flubbed the service order even after I had put it in
writing!)  I guess that the RBOCs vary in policy application.

Now about AT&T and their rather novel approach:

	AT&T came to us, analyzed our calling patterns and told us
that they could not, in fact, save us money over Sprint WATS.  

BUT>>> What they could do was enroll us with a reseller of their
service.  All customer service and billing would be handled through
AT&T, but we would incur a small monthly fee ($25) from the reseller.
If I agreed to this, I could "buy" AT&T service as part of a large
group of people in my area (I don't even know who they are) at rates
significantly lower than Sprint's.  Technically I have PRO-WATS, but
the people at AT&T Pro-Wats can't figure out (I called them) where the
additional discounts are coming from.  My AT&T representative claims
that this is a convenient way for AT&T to avoid what she called
"restrictive regulation."  Worked out quite well, too.


Andrew D'Uva
andrewda@idsvax.ids.com <== Internet  ((Add your favorite 3K signature file))