You’ve got to admire Dave Lieber’s cojones. For a while now, the “Watchdog” columnist for The Dallas Morning News has been absolutely eviscerating hometown company AT&T for its, uh, poor customer service. And today, in a column headlined “Customer is always right: AT&T’s lousy,” the writer announced he was launching a #shameATT campaign on Twitter. He followed that news with nearly 20 withering snippets from AT&T customers and former employees, all basically blistering the company for the tone-deaf way it treats its constituents.
At a nonprofit luncheon earlier this week, a top executive with the telecom giant went on at considerable length about the company’s good works. About how AT&T is the country’s largest union employer, for example; about how it’s a leader in diverse hiring practices, a lavish spender on infrastructure, a major local taxpayer and, in general, just pretty great all-around. There’s much truth in those assertions, I’m sure. But, for companies dealing on a large scale with the general public, “customer service” is where the rubber meets the road. We’ve asked AT&T to comment on Lieber’s Twitter campaign, but so far haven’t heard anything back.
