I just had a rather dirty business experience with AT&T. I sent a news tip to engadget in the hopes theyll publish my story (because I really want people to know of the kind of things being done here)

heres the email I sent them:

I'm not exactly this is the right place for this, but I've always liked this site as a general tech news site, and I really think this should be public knowledge at least some.

Ok so about two weeks ago my mom told me the sprinkler system at our house had stopped working all of a sudden. This was around the time we had our Comcast cable switched to AT&T. At the time I didnt care much about the sprinklers (I'm fifteen, I've got better things to worry about like school) So anyway the problem continued for weeks. We couldn't figure out the problem. There was some construction going on in our house on one of the bathrooms, so we figured they had turned off the plumbing for that. But then one of the workers came up to us and told us that the pipes were backing up when they tested the plumbing fixtures they were installing, and that we should get it looked at. Thats when we knew there was a problem. We called our sprinkler system's maintenance guys out to our house to look at the system. They looked at the electronic control box and at each of the individual sprinkler heads. They also checked the water at the tap on the side of our house and made sure the power to the electric box was fully connected. Everything appeared fine, but then one of the men decided to follow the power cables to our control box and see if there was a problem. He followed the cable not too far before he found that it was cut.

What had happened was the AT&T worker who installed our cable found the sprinkler cable when he was installing it. Our sprinkler system happens to use the exact same type of cable that Comcast uses to hook up their system. The worker had found the cable and cut off a ten foot long section, then re-buried the cable. This was to make sure that even if we decided to switch back to Comcast, we would be unable, because the Comcast lines already broken, but we wouldnt be able to tell because it was buried. The problem is, he mistakenly cut off a section of our sprinkler's cable, causing it to fail, causing us to investigate it.

we did manage to snap 6 or so pictures of it with a cellphone before the maintenance guys fixed it, including some really clear images that undoubtedly show the cable was cut on purpose, and if you're interested I can give you those pictures.

now I understand AT&T not wanting to lost business, but when they deliberately sabotage any rival companies who we might want to switch to, thats just really dirty business. On top of that, technically speaking, those cables are our property. that means that they vandalized and destroyed a customer's property (actually, who cares about us being customers - anyone's property!)

now I doubt we will be able to do much to the company directly, just want people out there to know what this company is willing to do to keep customers, and maybe why others might be having problems. (AT&T could get more customers by FIXING THEIR SERVICE, because since we switched to it theres been a lot of freezing tvs and our internet has a bad connection)

so thanks for just reading my story, if you want the pictures you can have them, if you dont even want the story, thats fine too. do what you wish, I'm just glad I can expose this kind of dirty business to a group of people who have an effect on the tech world.

I know, its really rant-y but I would really hate for a well-respected company to be able to do this kind of thing to their customers and have no one know.

In my opinion one person does not represent an ENTIRE company.

Just like one person cannot be the whole team.

You may get the guy fired, but AT&T will say they never told him to do that and all the blame will go to him.

I would let it slide if I were you since it's the guy's job that's on the line, nothing else, you won't get any gain because AT&T will just say "Nuh-uh, we did not tell him to do that."

In my opinion one person does not represent an ENTIRE company.

Just like one person cannot be the whole team.

You may get the guy fired, but AT&T will say they never told him to do that and all the blame will go to him.

I would let it slide if I were you since it's the guy's job that's on the line, nothing else, you won't get any gain because AT&T will just say "Nuh-uh, we did not tell him to do that."
They guy DOES represent AT&T at that house if he wears that AT&T outfit and goes to their house in that giant van. Same way Obama represents Democrats, McCain represents Republicans and Bush represents the Americans as a whole, even if you don't like it.

In my opinion one person does not represent an ENTIRE company.

Just like one person cannot be the whole team.

You may get the guy fired, but AT&T will say they never told him to do that and all the blame will go to him.

I would let it slide if I were you since it's the guy's job that's on the line, nothing else, you won't get any gain because AT&T will just say "Nuh-uh, we did not tell him to do that."

I agree. It wont do any good to drag it out.

As a business owner, I make sure my techs know what they are doing. Aside from their application and resume, they have to pass a Pre-Hire/Skills Test.

I have hired a few that actually failed the test. Only because they knew bulk of what's expected, but they learned it incorrectly. Having said that, it's the responsibility of an employer to train their representative. If said employee makes a mistake, the fault is placed on the employee and then the employer.

This goes round and round - it will result in the employee getting the sack and the employer making good on the error at once.

In my opinion one person does not represent an ENTIRE company.

Just like one person cannot be the whole team.

You may get the guy fired, but AT&T will say they never told him to do that and all the blame will go to him.

I would let it slide if I were you since it's the guy's job that's on the line, nothing else, you won't get any gain because AT&T will just say "Nuh-uh, we did not tell him to do that."
I know, its more because I want them to know that we at least will DO something about it.

obviously writing an article (or actually having someone else do it...) isnt going to do much, but if this is common practice (whether at&t admits it or not) at least some people will know what is causing their problem.

and I didnt write it for me, I know my family (mainly my mom) was really upset so I offered to submit an article online somewhere, and of course she jumped on the idea.

(she also called the sprinkler company to tell them that the guys who fixed it were so amazing, because to find it they did something their job didnt even require)

Honestly what he did is common. Its just unfortunate that your sprinkler systems wire resembled the one used but the communication companies. Most people will remove as much old wiring as possible. It helps so that techs that later work on the site dont have to decipher what wires they need. Even if you decide to swap back to Comcast they would likely run a new line anyway.

Can we see those pics plz?