Dumb And Dumber

Yeah, this is a great way to build customer loyalty:

Sure, Steve Jobs might be a one-man email PR machine, but his pal Randall Stephenson at AT&T doesn't appear to be quite as gregarious -- as reader Giorgio Galante found out today, sending AT&T's CEO two emails in two weeks results 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. 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.

Sheesh.

I should note here that about a year ago, while battling a massive AT&T billing screw-up, I emailed and snail-mailed Stephenson myself, and also wound up talking to Brent in the executive service office. Unlike literally everybody else I've dealt with at the Death Star, he couldn't have been any more helpful, and fixed all the months-long problems to my satisfaction.

Guess that word got out.

UPDATE: AT&T has apologized, rather profusely, noting that executive service rep Brent was "not having the best of days today." I can believe it; in all fairness, the guy was nothing but professional and polite to a fault whenever I spoke to him.