TEMPLE, Texas — Editors note: AT&T responded to some questions after this story aired on Wednesday.
Laylee Muslovski lost her husband, Peter, to COVID-19 on Dec. 9 last year. While still grieving, she now had to transfer multiple accounts into her name. Muslovski didn't think her AT&T account would be so much of a hassle that she would need to call 6 News, but that's what happened.
6 News was able to fix it, and spoke to AT&T about what other customers could do in the same situation.
Muslovski originally believed she could just go to AT&T with her basic account information to switch, based on an initial conversation with representatives. It was not nearly that simple.
"When I got there they said. 'Oh no, so sorry, you will need the death certificate.' I said, 'No problem, things happen, I'll get it,'" Muslovski said.
She returned with the death certificate, which she also showed 6 News, but it wasn't enough.
"They started asking, 'what's the PIN number.' I don't have one," Muslovski said.
Muslvoski told 6 News her husband may have had a PIN number, but it wasn't on any account documents. She said the AT&T employees would only make a note about her account, said they couldn't help her and told her to call customer service at 611. Customer service representatives on the phone said they needed the PIN number as well. Muslvoski was stuck.
"They said 'We've got to have that four-digit code, it's the only way,'" Muslvoski. "It just really hit me the wrong way... people are going through a lot right now. This shouldn't be this hard."
She then called 6 News' 6 Fix.
6 News reached out to AT&T Wednesday and provided all Muslovski's information, including the death certificate, to corporate representatives.
AT&T had a corporate representative call her back that same day. That representative was able to use other information on the account to verify her identity and the PIN was no longer an issue.
"I'm guessing they have a little bit more leeway as far as the information collecting and what they can use," Muslovski said.
But what about other customers in the same situation?
6 News asked AT&T what you should do to resolve the issue besides calling the local news station. An AT&T spokesperson responded with the following statement Thursday:
"To protect our customers’ security and privacy, we authenticate the identity of anyone who attempts to make changes to an account. In this instance, those protections interfered Ms. Muslovski’s attempts to transfer ownership of the account. We contacted Ms. Muslovski to apologize for the delay and were able to authenticate her identity and complete the transaction.
We recommend customers visit a corporate-owned AT&T store, with the appropriate paperwork. In this instance, the customer visited an authorized AT&T retailer, not a corporate owned store."
Of course, Muslvoski said she wasn't told about going to a corporate store until she was contacted by corporate representatives.
She's said she's glad she called 6 News.
"Unless you had sent your emails and made your calls, I probably would never have heard from AT&T," Muslovski said.