No, really. I’m seriously about to write a large block of text about how good my experience was with AT&T’s customer service…or at least a small group of folks at AT&T who take customer service seriously.

I spend a lot of time on this blog railing on bad customer service. It is absolutely a never-ending surprise to me, though it probably shouldn’t be, that customer service has devolved into an ever-increasing series of bad interactions that leave you with a bad taste in your mouth, and the sure and certain feeling that companies just don’t give a damn. Why should they? No one compels them to give a damn. Why worry about going the extra mile when the customer isn’t going to go anywhere. Even if they do decide to go somewhere else, in many cases, where would they go?

Unlike 30 years ago, when the primary business you dealt with was a local entity, large multinationals are so insulated from the damage that one customer can cause to the bottom line that YOU, as the customer, have virtually no power. It’s a rare event that causes a mass exodus from a company, and in the absence of events like that, a single voice, or a dozen voices, can be viewed as expendable.

Given all that, it’s rare that I have an opportunity to talk about a truly great experience with customer service. When those opportunities present themselves, I’m more or less compelled to share them. And when that customer service comes from a corporate giant, I’m reminded of the fact that large organizations are made up of lots of little people. Those people can choose to believe in their organization’s duty to its customers, or they can choose to show up and draw a paycheck without breaking too much of a sweat.

I recently installed a new alarm system in my home, and was looking as options for having that system monitored. I could go with tradition monitoring, requiring me to have a landline installed, or I could put in so-called “alternative monitoring”, either IP-based or cellular, or a combination of the two, using the landline as the primary with a cellular backup. While exploring the options, I really needed to have all the costs associated with each of the options. Reluctantly, I called AT&T to see what the options were for installing a landline in my house. All the wiring is there, but I don’t have it feeding anything since we use cell phones exclusively.

My first experience was with someone who just shows up and draws a paycheck. The CSR listened to my questions, and let me know that she’d be happy to go ahead and set me up with a landline for $16.95 a month, and then began extolling all the virtues that this new line would come with. I cut her off and explained that what I was looking for was an out-of-the-box solution. I don’t need call features, long distance, or any of the bells and whistles that are normally used to sell someone a dial tone. All I needed was a local line that could dial a number and receive local calls. I explained that I would be happy to pay for any additional use at a higher rate, since I plan to only use this for alarm monitoring or emergency service.

So, what happened? Epic failure. She asked me to hold on a sec, and transferred me to the repair queue, where I was told I would need to wait an addition 15 minutes in the queue to get to a rep. 15 minutes to get to someone to tell them that I had been “mistakenly” transferred? No, I don’t think so. I started thinking that cellular or IP monitoring was in the cards, and tweeted my frustration, and CC’d the AT&T customer service Twitter account. Honestly, I expected nothing to come of it.

As I was going to bed that night, I was checking my Twitter feed, and saw that I had been contacted by the CS account. The tweet requested that I follow them, DM them my address and let them help. So, I did, again, expecting nothing to come of it beyond a courtesy “Yeah, sorry”. For grins and giggles, I also mentioned that I had an iPhone issue that needed to be resolved, but also required some “not according to the CS script” thinking. For the tl;dr crowd, the summary is that from this point forward, my experience has been nothing short of inspiring.

The next evening, I got a call from Leslie, who identified herself as a social media manager. She was absolutely wonderful to deal with. She let me know a little about her group, and how they are empowered to work as an advocate for each customer, and to provide resolution for people’s issues, even if it’s not according to AT&T’s normal policy. She gave me clear and acceptable timelines for when she would be contacting me with updates, and what I could expect the process to look like. She did tell me that she couldn’t guarantee that we could get me exactly where I wanted to be, but that she would be working on this until we had a final resolution, and that she would be looking at every avenue available to her to make sure I was a happy customer.

She also gave me her direct contact number, and made sure I knew that she was my single point of contact, and to call her directly if I needed a status or needed to discuss my request. Seriously – the number rings at her desk, and she picks up. Who does that these days? She sent me a follow-up email detailing what we had discussed and reiterating the timelines she provided me. The email wasn’t even a form letter – again, who does that? Hell, even *I* use form letters when dealing with my customers.

The iPhone issue was resolved exactly as promised, and well within the time frame provided. The landline issue is still up in the air, but I have had two contacts from AT&T regarding it already, and I expect to be satisfied when we’re done that we’ve done everything possible to make it happen. That’s a key statement. I fully understand that both of my requests were outside of the norm, and that I was, essentially, asking for a favor. I don’t necessarily need to have my preferred ending to feel like I have received excellent service. What I do need is for someone at AT&T to hear me when I ask for something, and not reject it out of hand because it’s not on the script.

That’s the essence of every customer service interaction. Like the Stones said – “You can’t always get what you want”. In this case, Leslie and AT&T followed through with the rest of the line, because I feel like I got what I needed, which was “to be heard and considered as an individual, not as an annoying waste of time.

Win, lose or draw on the landline, this was a successful interaction, and next time I have a minor annoyance with AT&T, they have enough of my good will in the bank that I’ll be much more accommodating to them.