AT&T apologizes to customer who was threatened after two e-mails to CEO Stephenson

Giorgio Galante is a developer of iPhone apps and is a customer of AT&T. On Wednesday he sent an e-mail to AT&T Wireless CEO Randall Stephenson. The subject was the carrier's elimination of unlimited data plans. A week earlier, he had sent a separate e-mail to the CEO trying to get the carrier to move up the date when he would be allowed to upgrade his phone so that he could pay the discounted price for the next-gen iPhone when it launches. An AT&T representative replied to the first e-mail by turning down the request. Galante responded by saying that he planned on leaving AT&T for Sprint and the new EVO 4G that launches today. AT&T responded a lot more harshly, "I want to first thank you for the feedback," said the AT&T rep in a message left on Galante's voice mail. The rep continued, "Going forward, I need to warn you that if you continue to send e-mails to Randall Stephenson, a cease-and-desist letter may be sent to you." The whole thing has left AT&T looking mean and petty and comes at a time when the carrier is the first and only one of the big four U.S. carriers to put an end to unlimited data. With the whole affair becoming a public relations nightmare, AT&T did the only thing it could do-it issued an apology to Galante, who was called by a senior vice president who said that the company was sorry. To the public, the operator tried to set things straight: "We are apologizing to our customer," AT&T said. "We're working with him today to address his questions and concerns. This is not the way we want to treat customers. From Facebook to significant customer-service channels, AT&T strives to provide our customers with easy ways to have their questions addressed." Apology accepted? Not really. Galante says that he still is leaving AT&T for Sprint and the EVO 4G and that while it was nice to hear from some of the carrier's top brass, it would have been better to hear from Mr. Stephenson himself.

source: DallasNews