AT&T’s CEO, Randall Stephenson

…or you’re gonna feel the wrath of their legal department…  Really..?  REALLY..?!?

I saw this on Engadget and just had to say something.  This is probably one of the biggest BONE HEAD moves I’ve seen from a CEO, especially in the wake of AT&T’s controversial data plan fee increase.  AT&T sent their legal team after one of their customers after he sent 2 (yes, just TWO) e-mails to AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson, over the course of two weeks.  This is one of the rudest things I’ve ever seen come from a public figure.

Huh?  Wait… Public figure, you may ask.  Yes, folks…PUBLIC figure.

You see, AT&T is a publically traded company.  Anyone can purchase AT&T stock; and that company’s CEO is the public face of that organization, and is subject to public scrutiny (as the CEO of BP is quickly finding out). For all that Randall Stephenson knew at the time of this incident, the customer in question, Giorgio Galante, could also be a share holder (and I really, REALLY hope that he is).

See, Giorgio Galante sent AT&T’s CEO two emails over the period of two weeks, resulting in a phone call from AT&T’s Executive Response Team; and a warning that further emails will result in a cease and desist letter. From the Engadget article,

What did Giorgio’s emails say? The first was a request to bump up his iPhone eligibility date and a request for a tethering option, and today’s outlined his displeasure with AT&T’s new data rates and ultimate decision to switch to Sprint and the EVO 4G. That prompted "Brent" to call Giorgio back and thank him for the feedback, but also politely warn him that further emails would be met with legal action.

AT&T…

Legal action…  Really..?!  LEGAL action?  After only two (2) e-mails..? 

Now, could these e-mails have been sent to some OTHER, perhaps more appropriate AT&T employee?  Could Randall have handled this differently? (Say… passing the mail to a customer service VP/Director..?  Contacting his IT VP so that Giorgio’s e-mail address is filtered and blocked..?  Or maybe just simply IGNORING Giorgio’s just TWO e-mails..?  Just sayin’…) Of course; but that’s not the point. 

Randall Stephenson is the face of AT&T; and one of HIS customer’s was resourceful enough to find his e-mail address and to contact him about a couple of concerns he had.  Again, for all that Randall Stephenson knew Giorgio could have been an AT&T stock holder.

In a world where Steve Jobs ACTIVELY and openly communicates DIRECTLY with customers, (and he likely has a LOT of customers e-mailing him) having one of Apple’s PREMIER partners respond to one of their customers (remember, this guys is an Apple customer too… he has an iPhone…) in such a manner is a bad, BAD move.

If *I* were Steve Jobs, I’d get on the horn IMMEDIATELY and school the pants off of Randall Stephenson and his Executive Response Team.  Randall’s comments lost not only a customer for AT&T, but for Apple as well, as Giorgio (likely) won’t buy a new Apple iPhone after its announced this month.  He just bought an HTC product on a different carrier; and committed to a new 2 year contract. 

That’s NO 4G iPhone, NO 4G iPhone Apple Care, and NO 4G iPhone accessories for Apple (not to mention the really crappy new data plans that AT&T is releasing next week.) Steve… you might want to jump on that…  I mean, how many people is Giorgio gonna talk to?  How many people are going to read this and the Engadget article?  How many other technology sites and blogs are gonna pick up this story..?  God forbid either article gets Slash-dotted…

Randall Stephenson owes Giorgio Galante a personal apology… at the VERY least.  But that’s just me.  I neither love nor hate AT&T as a corporation.  While I left AT&T for T-Mobile about 3 months ago, it had nothing to do with their fees, their policies or their people.  It had everything to do with their poor voice and data coverage here in Chicago.

I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below.  Please feel free to add your voice to this story…

In case you missed it, T-Mobile re-released their HD2 ROM with the reasoning for the pull this time being bandwidth issues.

We had a user comment on what we Posted about the pulling of the ROM.

I have the upgrade running on my HD2 and it has gave me nothing but awesomeness, phone works a ton better then when it shipped and I have not had a single battery pull or reset since the update, visual voice mail working, no more text bug, and supper fast,”NO LAGG”,…So I have to say in my opinion the upgrade works wonders.

So it appears that all is well with the ROM, and no changes have been made to the build.

Let us know your thoughts on the new ROM, below.

[WMPoweruser]

Will the complete saturation of the wireless spectrum by 2013 be cause for the end of the world?  As many predictions are floating around about the doom of the Earth as we know it, is this one to fear also?

I doubt it.  As with the other rumors there are just as many things to say against it as to say for it.  Such as I see a lot of service providers stepping up their systems to 4G and higher and some of them struggling to make 3G a reality for their entire network.

I use AT&T and enjoy it for my smartphone uses.  I don’t have 3G where I live but Edge is working pretty good because it doesn’t have issues with saturation yet.  How long will this last?  Who knows.

I do fear that they are way behind some of their competition that have had 3G across the US for a while now and are stepping it up to 4G at a good pace.  I don’t see there coming a time when the lack of spectrum will cripple the advancement of our mobile signal hungry toys.  I could be wrong but there always seems to be a new breakthrough when the situation arises.  Time will tell and most likely the Government will “as always” have the perfect solution.

Check CNet for the full story.

Let us know your thoughts below.

Is your carrier dropping the ball on speed and strength in your area?

Enough said, I think.  The recent updated ROM by T-Mobile  has been pulled for various inconsistencies not found in the original ROM.  Apparently it was released in record time from the HTC upgrade but they apparently faltered on testing it out thoroughly.

It is completely beyond me why carriers think we enjoy the crapware they demand be on our devices.  It seems like people are more and more just fine with the branding that is infiltrating our entire lives.

Oh, yes I definitely want my browser to be reminding me what carrier I am using and taking up precious screen space.  This is just one example but they are very numerous in my experience.

So is this bothersome to others or is it just me?

Did you become victim to the HD2 T-Mobile update?

Drop a comment and let us know your thoughts.

[wmpoweruser]

Oh goody! 

Just in time for the new iPhone announcement and release in the next few months, AT&T has increased (nearly doubled) its Early Termination Fees for Smartphone’s from $175 to $325, the AP is reporting today. ETF’s for feature phones will drop $25 to $150.  The new fees apply to all new accounts or account/phone upgrades as of 01-Jun-10.

The fees are supposed to drop $10 per month over the life of the 2 year contract that you shackle yourself to.  In the end, (at the end of 24 months) there’s still $85 to be reconciled somewhere, though. I’m not sure if AT&T is going to eat that or if they are going to saddle end user’s with it. 

Interestingly enough, when VzW raised their ETF’s in November of 2009, it sparked a Federal investigation that is ongoing.  I would assume that regulators will get wind of this, and add it to the mix.  I’m glad I left AT&T, as there is NO way that I’d be willing to cover the additional $150, 4G (4th generation) iPhone or not.  Unless AT&T is going to do some DRASTIC horse trading and dramatically lower the prices of ALL of their Smartphone’s, including the iPhone, they’re going to hear the out cry from the masses on this one.