AT&T Wireless has confirmed what its customers have been saying: its customer-service software had massive problems in recent months. The company made the admission as it officially put itself up for sale.
Executives said installation of a new software system was bungled, causing the company to sign up only 128,000 new subscribers in the last quarter of 2003, several hundred thousand fewer than expected. It cost $100 million to correct the problem.
The process of signing a new customer or making changes to an existing account, which normally takes a few days at most, wound up taking three weeks or more in some cases, chief executive John D. Zeglis said.
To make matters worse, the foul-up occurred just as new federal rules allowing customers to take their numbers with them when they change carriers went into effect.
During the first weeks of "number portability," AT&T Wireless lost more customers than it gained, Zeglis said. Many customers who tried to switch to AT&T Wireless gave up and went to other carriers. Even customers trying to switch away from AT&T, like Anthony of Austin, had problems.
Cingular and other companies are pursuing a takeover of AT&T Wireless, which was spun off from AT&T in 2001.
