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From: jimmy@icjapan.info.com (Jim Gottlieb)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Follow-up: Does AT&T Mail Exist???
Message-ID: <14139@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 29 Oct 90 11:08:56 GMT
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Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb <jimmy@denwa.info.com>
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 774, Message 9 of 12


In article <13619@accuvax.nwu.edu> 0003829147@mcimail.com (Sander J.
Rabinowitz) writes:

>I don't think I am at liberty to discuss specifics, but it is my
>understanding that corrections are now being made and that hopefully
>more information about AT&T mail will be more readily available in the
>future (outside the TELECOM community, that is).

When AT&T first introduced AT&T Mail, they took out full-color
full-page ads in many national magazines touting the service.  But
nowhere in the ad was a number to call for more information.  And a
call to your local AT&T office would return a "We've never heard of
that."

As has been discussed in length in this forum in the past, your
experiences are typical of those found when dealing with _any_ part of
AT&T.

We wanted to buy a System 75 for our office but could never find a
salesperson who was willing to give us a quote.  We bought a competing
brand.

For the record, when _I_ initially called to order AT&T Mail, I was
told that since I didn't have an MS-DOS machine I could not use the
service.  Only because I repeatedly insisted that I knew that that was
not correct was I able to finally order the service.

Whether it is e-mail, long distance service, computers, telephone
equipment, or documentation, one must be willing to beg and plead if
one wishes to buy from AT&T.


[Mocderator's Note: So you remember those ads back in 1985 also?
Wasn't that a gas! Full page ads in {Info-Week} and various other
industry journals, then they told *no one* about it who would be
answering calls from customers. I remember seeing the ad in a magazine
at my office and calling immediatly -- to sign up on the spot -- and
having two reps,  two supervisors and one manager insist that I must
be trying to buy a Fax machine. A third rep, bless her, thought maybe
I was referring to the Reach Out America program. It took me about 6-8
weeks to get a call back from someone who signed me up and that was by
me calling them almost weekly.  I also got the rap about having an
MS-DOS machine and they at first refused to open an account for me.  PAT]