andywilson.com

Six months ago, I dumped my landline. Who needs it? I do all my talking on my cellphone anyway. And AT&T has been my exclusive cellphone provider since the first iPhone came out.

The only problem is I didn’t really dump my landline. Instead, I transferred it from AT&T to Time Warner. I didn’t do it because I had a problem with AT&T. I did it because I didn’t care about the landline, and TW offered me a bundle deal that required me to take a landline from them, and was considerably cheaper as a bundle than if I just took my internet and tv without phone.

Since then, AT&T has bombarded me with requests to return. They’ve mailed me, emailed me, and most annoying of all, they have called me again and again. Each time, I explain that I don’t want their landline– I don’t really want any landline. And each time I have asked them to remove me from their list and not call me again. But the calls keep coming– sometimes several a week.

How is it that a giant company like AT&T doesn’t understand the basics of marketing? Marketing is about building a relationship with your customers, and relationships have to be built upon mutual respect. But instead of respecting my desire to switch, or at least my desire to not be contacted again, they continue to harrass me with offers for their service. And now they have used up my goodwill to the extent that I would consider cancelling my cellular service (2 iPhones and a Razr) just out of spite.

In order to try and win back $20/month of my business, they are tempting me into dumping over $200 a month in business.

When will they learn?