DALLAS – One Rowlett woman says business to her catering company came to a near complete stop when she tried to switch her phone service. The new phone company hit a snag that cut service to her business line.
After 21 years in the same location, a ringing phone is a sound Nikki Jackson hasn’t heard in nearly a month.
“I wanna dance right now,” she said.
It’s not because customers haven’t tried to be in touch.
“I’ve never had another business number. People know that number. “It’s easy to remember,” Jackson said.
It’s because when she recently tried to switch her service to AT&T, she says the promises the company made turned out to be, well, half-baked.
“They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. All free equipment, no strings attached. They said I’m gonna save $140-$150 a month and I believed it,” Jackson said.
But less than an hour after the technician left her shop, her usually busy business came to a crawl.
“I’m texting him. Hey, my phone isn’t working. My internet is not working. No response,” she said. “Phones not working. We can’t call out. Nothing’s coming in.”
She turned to social media to try and save her small business.
“We’re going live. We’re posting. We’re running ads, everything,” she said.
But compared to the same day’s sales a year prior, her business was down $2,300.
She tried every number she could find for AT&T.
“From the 17th to the 19th I have documented 87 calls, 19 hours and 40 minutes of conversations. So I list two days of work on the phone just trying to get the phones to ring so I can make money,” Jackson said.
She even visited three different AT&T stores.
“I drive to this one over here, one on Centerbrook, and on in Rockwall. They said there’s nothing we can do,” she said.
She also tried switching her service back but because all communication had been cut to her devices, she couldn’t execute two-factor authentication. And when she tried to update proof of who she was to another method, she says she was told “we can’t change it for 30 days. Your account is too new.”
That’s when Jackson reached out to us. We contacted AT&T and almost instantly Jackson got a call back.
“I woke up to a call from the office of the president. We are gonna get you taken care of,” she said.
While they were able to switch her back to her previous provider, remember she depends on her business phone to stay in the black.
“I need my business number to ring,” she said.
Compared to the same time period in 2024, the loss to her business after nearly a month without a phone has her seeing red.
“I’ve lost at this point $21,000,” she said.
A spokesperson for AT&T would not speak to us on camera but did tell us in part, “We have apologized for the inconvenience in this particular instance… We took immediate steps to offer a temporary solution and connect her business. We have honored her request and assisted with the transition of her service to another provider.”
But what about the big bucks this small business is out?
“We’ll give you $2,000 and you go away with that and sorry,” Jackson said.
Jackson said when it comes to how she does business, that kind of customer service is not a recipe for success.
“This is AT&T,” she said.
We followed up again with AT&T several times asking about Jackson’s request to make her financially whole after those 20 days with no phone service.
We also asked if service really ever was available in her area since a month before this transition she had been told it was not.
A company spokesperson did not expand their original statement in a way which provided any additional clarity.
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