Sizzel is not stake, form is not substance. I just fired AT&T.

You'd think this would be entirely obvious but apparently to many businesses it isn't. I offer, as a case in point, an event that occurred today.

For some months I've been getting one and sometimes two calls a day from a telemarketing firm that says they are "Credit Card Services." They want to lower my interest rate. Now I've already asked them a couple of times to stop calling as I'm not interested. Never mind, they continue to call. So today I tried again. Now here's where things get somewhat bizarre. The agent got abusive! I'm not sure why he thought, I'm of course assuming that he could think, that being abusive was some how going to get me to become a customer, but that's what he decided to so. I asked for his identification and to be referred to a supervisor. That seemed to really set him off and he became even more abusive. So I decided to complain to my phone company, AT&T.

So I called AT&T and after listening to their IVR system not offering anything relevant to my needs (I remain disadvantaged by the notion that I'm the customer, but that's a problem for another day), I finally got to a nice enough chap who said he wasn't the right person but he'd connect me to the right person. There seemed to be some hope. The 'right person' answered and after dragging me through the same information the first person asked (I forgive, without prejudice, AT&T for not being able to connect their own systems so I don't have to provide the same information to multiple people, another problem for another day) she said that I needed to speak to AT&T's Annoyance Center and provided a number. She also provided a number for the do not call list (mind you I'm already on the do not call list, but at least she was trying).

Still with some hope, I called AT&T's Annoyance Call center (person two could not transfer the call there ... I've been operating on the delusion that AT&T is a plausibly capable phone company). Now here's where things get truly interesting! AT&T's Annoyance Call center is a fully automated system! There are NOT people present! Someone from AT&T should try to explain t me how a customer that goes to the trouble of going through two wrong agents and making two phone calls over an annoyance call, said customer reasonably presumed to be upset enough to go through those hoops, is served by a fully automated system. Hey AT&T you are in a service business. I've already got 5 phone numbers and the only reason I even have a hard line is my security system. But wait, gentle reader, there's more. After collecting my phone number the automated system went on to explain that I need to file a police complaint AND dial *57 for which there would, of course, wait for it, be an extra charge, and, oh by the way, AT&T wouldn't provide any information about my abuser to me only to the police.

Now I can file a complaint with the local police department. But, of course, they have real police business to attend to and, frankly, this doesn't rise to the level where spending my tax dollars to chase an abusive telemarketing firm makes any sense. Is this AT&T's way of saying that they really don't care that a service I buy from them is being used to abuse me? I am after all the customer! Does AT&T think that I will continue to do business with them after they decline to help me stop an abusive telemarketing firm?

AT&T has a lot of form in this area but no substance! They have an Annoyance Call operation but it doesn't do anything to assist a customer in dealing with annoyance calls. Doubtless AT&T will cite the law in this area as telemarketing calls are not necessarily illegal, even when they become abusive. But that's really just another way of saying AT&T doesn't care about me as a customer, only the law! Indeed, it's worth noting that AT&T may well have the telemarketing firm as a customer and might have other very profitable relationships in that marketplace.

So what to do? It's simple really.

1. Fire AT&T. Their service is overpriced anyway and I can save $20+ per month. Hear
   that AT&T, you're fired!
2. Only connect the land line to the security system.

Problem solved.

There is, however, still something about this that troubles me. While I can solve the problem, when did it become acceptable to us as a society to let this kind of thing occur? When did it become acceptable for a business like AT&T to create a non-service service, to let form triumph over substance? Why do they think that will help them keep customers? I'm inclined to the over broad observation that one of the fundamental things wrong with American business is an attachment to form over substance. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that an upset customer isn't going to be well served by an IVR, though it may take an accountant or MBA graduate focused on cost/the bottom line/next quarter/Wall Street/... . It shouldn't take much thought to understand that if you're in a service business suggesting *57 and an additional charge isn't service and may well irritate a customer to the point of going elsewhere with their business. It's a sad commentary on the state of at least some American businesses.

Oh, by the way ... AT&T in the mourning another company will be providing land line service at $20/month less cost. You're fired!

I'm glad I've got that out of my system!