Photo Credit: AT&T
A 90 year old North Hollywood AT&T customer just went to the greatest of lengths to let the company know he wasn’t happy with their service. He didn’t drive to their office to yell at anyone. He didn’t harrass them over the phone, refuse payment.. none of that. What this man did was pull out his trump card which was $10,000 spent on two Wall Street Journal ads, one where they’re headquartered in Dallas and the other in New York City in hopes that Wall Street investors might push them to get service improvements in his community.
The customer, Aaron M. Epstein has been with AT&T since the 60s but it’s been the last 5 that he’s been having internet issues and basically got sick of promises made to him. “For the last five years, as soon as they started introducing streaming like Roku and movies on TV, my internet service, although I was paying for 3.5 Mbps., sometimes was only up to 1.5 Mbps. So, watching a movie through Roku was slideshows,” Epstein said. “So, I put the ad in the paper and believe me, it’s money well spent.”
First of all, kudos to him for being 90 and still on the internet. He even knows his internet speeds as well as his competitors which is a shame because even I don’t know mine. His open letter in the WSJ read, “Dear Mr. Stankey:
AT&T prides itself as a leader in electronic communications.
Unfortunately, for the people who live in N. Hollywood, CA 91607, AT&T is now a major disappointment.
Many of our neighbors are the creative technical workers in the Universal, Warner Brothers, Disney studios in the adjacent city of Burbank and our city.
We need to keep up with current technology and have looked to AT&T to supply us with fast internet service. Yet, although AT&T is advertising speeds up to 100 MBS for other neighborhoods, the fastest now available to us from ATT is only 3 MBS.
Your competitors now have speeds of over 200 MBS.
Why is AT&T a leading communications company, treating us so shabbily in North Hollywood?
Sincerely, Aaron M. Epstein, an AT&T Customer since 1960.”
While reaction to his open letter were mixed he did have a favorite. “The one response I got the most kick out of was in the Jewish Daily Forward; referred to me as a 90-year-old ‘kvetch,’ which I don’t know if you know your Yiddish but ‘kvetch’ means crank.”
The ads ran Wednesday, February 3rd and by 11am he received a call from a spokesperson. “So I am waiting patiently to see what they can do. She says, “We’ll try to get that happening for you sooner,” he said. He credits the media for helping him out saying, “The press that contacted AT&T, that’s where the squeaks are heard… So I appreciate the press,” he added. AT&T said they spent $3.1 billion in the Los Angeles-area as of 2019 in a statement without mentioning Epstein’s case.
One thing is clear about this and that is that not only is Epstein the MVP, anyone who is willing to go to this extent to be heard isn’t to be f’ed with and he WILL be getting improved service… that’s for sure.
