AT&T CEO doesn't want to hear customer feedback

So.....shut up and give us your money?

Customer feedback is supposed to be the backbone of any good business, unless you happen to be a mega-corporation with a legal department that doesn't care much what you think. AT&T customer Alfred Valrie of Los Angeles found this out when he decided to email AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson with a few suggestions on how to better serve DSL customers. The end result was a letter from AT&T's legal department telling Valrie to not-so-politely never do that again, according to a report today from The Los Angeles Times.

After tracking down Stephenson's email online, Valrie fired off an email suggesting AT&T offer DSL customers unlimited data and some type of low-cost text messaging plan with the sign-off "your lifelong customer." Stephenson forwarded the email to AT&T's legal department, which responded in robotic fashion, telling Valrie that the company does not appreciate suggestions. "AT&T has a policy of not entertaining unsolicited offers to adopt, analyze, develop, license or purchase third-party intellectual property ... from members of the general public," wrote Thomas Restaino, AT&T's chief intellectual property counsel, in an email obtained by The Los Angeles Times. "Therefore, we respectfully decline to consider your suggestion."

According to spokesperson Georgia Taylor, AT&T wants to avoid future lawsuits from customers who suggested new features or products and later threaten to sue AT&T for having stolen the idea. "It's to protect ourselves," Taylor told The Los Angeles Times. AT&T does have a lawyer-approved method for customers to supply feedback, such as on the phone with a support specialist or online with one of the company’s carefully crafted forms. Just next time don't email the CEO.