AT & T: Return to Sender?

Stung by the cost and hassles of offering resale local phone services to California residents, AT&T; has begun sending some of its customers back to Pacific Bell. The long-distance giant, which began reselling PacBell local phone service to customers in December 1996, had stopped taking new orders for service last February.

But AT&T; also has stopped processing orders for changes in directory listings, new phone lines and customers who are moving, according to Kathi Oram, an AT&T; spokeswoman. In those cases, AT&T; is recommending that the customers return to PacBell, and they are giving them a long-distance certificate worth $54 as a goodbye present.

Still, Oram insists that it is still providing service to its local phone customers, and she rejects the notion that AT&T; is abandoning its residential service and is paying customers to leave. “We are not giving customers money to switch back to PacBell,” Oram said. She would not say how many customers had been switched back to PacBell at AT&T;’s behest.

“It’s on a . . . case-by-case basis when customers call us with an issue that we don’t have the ability to process,” she said. “If a customer calls us and says ‘I need another line’ or ‘I’m moving,’ we suggest that they return to Pacific Bell because we aren’t processing any orders with Pacific Bell anymore.”

Oram said AT&T; fully intends to offer local phone service, but it will not be through the resale system, which requires AT&T; to pay PacBell wholesale rates to offer phone service over its copper lines and equipment.