Credit Where it's Due

I'm pretty cynical of today's businesses, especially cell phone companies.  I complain about them all the time--the contracts, the cost of phones, service, you name it.  Mostly I see cell phone companies, and most US companies in general, as the enemy.  I have to fight to avoid getting screwed.

But AT&T just blew my mind.  Here's what happened:

I'm an AT&T subscriber, having been lured by the IPhone.  A few weeks ago, I committed the ultimate IPhone sin by accidentally dipping my phone in the Gulf of Mexico.  Needless to say, it freaked out.  It's currently chilling in a bag of rice, the chicken soup for a soaked IPhone.  While my baby healed, I had to get a beater phone to survive.  I got the cheapest one I could find, a little $20 guy that looked and felt like it was from 1999. No camera, no touchscreen...cellular hell.

So that's the backstory.  Since I was on this tiny phone for awhile without my usual array of ways to communicate with my friends (Facebook, Words With Friends, Skype) I was texting up a storm.  About two weeks into my new phone experience, I got a message from AT&T at 1am saying that I had gone "significantly over" my text message allowance, to the tune of $50 and counting.  I thought it had to be a mistake--I had 1500 texts--but I was freaked out, because I'd racked up some serious overages before. So the next day I check online, and sure enough I was a thousand texts over with a few days to go in the month!

I totally freaked out.  I went to change my plan, thinking that I was screwed for this month, but in a move of pure grace, AT&T lets you back-date your rate plan changes!  I couldn't believe it--I could change my plan to Unlimited Texting for $5 more and avoid the $50 I'd stupidly racked up.  It sounded so above-and-beyond that (after i changed my plan) I called AT&T to see if it was really true.  It was!
So AT&T not only lets me change my plan if I went over for that month (which takes money right out of their wallet) but LETS ME KNOW when I need to do it!  It's an unbelievably gracious move!
AT&T didn't treat me like a customer; they treated me like a buddy.

So, no more complaining for me about the evil cell phone companies!  Way to go, AT&T.  You rock.