About 2 weeks ago my phone would not text out and after talking with some personable folks at at&t I felt I was in good hands. The problem came when I had to talk to warranty and another department. I was told by a person there to purchase another phone. Why would I purchase another phone for 100 dollars if the first issue wasn't fixed?? I said I don't even like this phone and why would I do that when the last time I saw these for sale they were 50 bucks?? Stay with me it gets better or worse...In the attempt to speak with supervisors after this phone call I was put on hold many times warning the gals who could barely speak English which is another mistake (not acceptable in customer service) that the longer they kept me on hold the more upset I would become. Interestingly enough when I finished the phone call with the guy who told me to buy another phone, my phone began to text out immediately afterward. I thought this suspicious. After going through several persons who tried to waste my time repeating my story back to me when what I wanted was to find supervisors. I think I ended up almost 2 hours later talking with Natasha. She heard me out. She was very cool and at the end offered me a credit to purchase a go phone. I thanked her. I looked at the go phones but these were a no go. I went online a few times to buy phones at the at&t site but I was denied. one of the problems i had was at the check out where I was asked for a billing plan of 40 bucks which I already have in place. So i didn't bite asking myself why would they charge me again for this when I have it in place as an existing customer? The next time I attempted to purchase a phone I couldn't do it because the phone was refurbished and the chat lady told me sorry. I was initially told by a nice lady that I would be eligible to buy a phone early in February but when I went to buy a phone elsewhere it was not updated in their system. Making customers wait a year to get another phone seems ridiculous especially if we are having issues with older model phones! I tried to purchase yet another phone from Best buy online. This is my 7th or 8th attempt at going to a website and trying to buy a phone. After spending time filling out the pages with information I was again denied. When I went to Best-buy the gal told me to call "customer care" and the "attention" department because her experience was that they will sometimes move the eligibility time frame sometimes within 7 days but it has to be on updated in their system. The first guy I talked with was resourceful. The second guy said OK we can do this today if you want we value you as customer blah blah blah, (the truth is they have some many customers they are not worried about losing some) but

you have to buy it over the phone. He tried selling me on a blackberry torch for 250.00. This was kind of insulting on a few different levels, one because I was at a store where they were selling them for tax with 2 year activation, and two he was willing to move up the time when I could upgrade as long I was willing to be gauged. I went across the street to the main at&t store in Murietta Ca and spent sometime looking at the demos for different smart phones. They were 100 dollars verses the 250 he was eager to charge me. I went to Walmart and looked at the same phones and they were 50 dollars with 2 year activation. I don't like the At&t website because it is difficult to get in touch with someone at At&t. I'm thinking that because there is so much confusion with this stuff and customer issues I start to question and then believe the recent article online about at%t having the worst customer satisfaction ratings. I think at&t has to much competition to treat loyal customers this way. Besides it is common knowledge that people can get out of them by selling them online. My calling plan is simple and manageable at 40 dollars a month along with a few extras. I would like at&t to send a white or black blackberry, Experia or Motorola front flip phone for 50 bucks and renew my contract.(Yeah right!) I want the most basic data plan. If they refuse this, I at least want someone to upgrade my eligibility status to NOW so I can take advantage of the holiday offers out there especially at Bestbuy before it is to late.