As detailed here, I complained about AT&T wireless to the Secretary of State and the Better Business Bureau. I was contacted by their "Executive Response Center" via both a phone call (with information for calling them back when I had time to talk), and US mail. I called back today. The 800 number was immediately answered by someone who actually had the power to make things better. Since I was already irritated, though, I asked to have my contract terminated as of today (so, when number portability happens for cellular phones, I can switch providers and keep my number without paying the $175 early account termination fee).
The woman I spoke to was several orders of magnitude better than the reps. I spoke to before (probably because she can actually do things to fix customer problems). She also reminded me that I would most likely have to sign a new contract with a different provider and purchase a new phone (I knew that, and it's just their attempt to keep me locked into their service, but it was still nice).
If they hadn't been so bad before, I might have almost been tempted to stay. (When I escalated the issue before, they should have sent me to her department. I shouldn't have had to do the extra complaining).
I hope she gets paid more than the other reps!
I'm sure she does, seeing as she doesn't have to talk to customers, and there's no normal escalation procedure to get to her.