A few months ago, it seemed like every third phone call that we got on our business line was someone from AT&T asking to speak to the person who handled our phone service. So when they called one day and the alternative to talking to them was paying bills – a task I’ll happily procrastinate doing – I stayed on the phone and agreed to let them review our phone service.

The rep told me that we could get a better deal on our package of phone services if we signed up for AT&T Universal Messaging. And as a thank you, they would send us a $25 Visa gift card. OK, fine. Sign me up.

I hung up and forgot about the entire phone call until a letter from AT&T arrived in the mail a couple of months later. Instead of the usual “your contract is about to expire and your rates could go up” message, enclosed was the promised gift card.

While an unexpected $25 isn’t exactly winning the lottery, I was happy to take the money and run an errand to Target. All the items that I buy there that get entered in the “Household” category in QuickBooks can really add up, so this was the perfect time to use the gift card to shave a little off the total.

At the checkout stand, I handed the AT&T gift card to the cashier and watched the screen so I could feel the victory of saving some money. She swiped it once, and nothing happened. And then again without so much as a penny coming off the $95.36 that I had spent.

Neither the cashier nor her supervisor had an explanation as to why the card wouldn’t go through; I had definitely activated it. Now I felt like $25 had been taken away from me, so I was determined to find out why the card didn’t work.

At home, I retrieved the letter that accompanied the gift card from the trash and called the number for “Card activity.” After I made my way through the phone tree, all I was able to get was an automated voice telling me that I had a negative $15.62 balance. Wait, they’re giving me $25, how did I end up owning them money on a prepaid gift card?

I tried the number for customer service on the letter. After making my way through the phone tree and techno-pop hold music, I was connected with a sweet girl who confirmed, that yes, I had a negative balance. I explained that I had tried to use the card at Target but that it wouldn’t go through. She conferred with her supervisor and said to give it a few days for the transactions to clear and then the card would show the correct balance.

Two weeks later, nothing had changed when I checked the balance online at www.myattgiftcard.com. I called again. I was put on hold again then given a different number to call. I spoke with David (although I’m sure his name was Rajnesh) and he referred me back to the original number. I called again and got the same story.

At this point you may be thinking, why am I pursuing this with such vengeance? It’s not like I’m really out $25; it was money that was never mine in the first place. Two reasons: I’m cheap and I want my $25 and second, I love a challenge. So if it’s me versus AT&T, I’m up for it.

I spoke with four different reps and three different supervisors, until I got one that said that AT&T had sent out a batch of “hot” cards, meaning they actually didn’t have any funds on them. They apologized for the inconvenience and said I could expect to receive a new gift card in about six to eight weeks.

Last week, I got my new card. And when I tried to activate it, I got a recording telling me the status prevents them from activating it and to call the AT&T Customer Care Center.

Yes, I’m conceding defeat. An hour of phone-tree hell made sense if I was at least going to get $25 for my effort. Three hours…not so much. As Cesar Millan says to a bulldog and Steve sometimes has to say to me, “Drop it.”

So how does this experience affect my opinion of AT&T? Did I think more positively about the company before the gift card fiasco? If their goal was to create customer loyalty and generate warm and fuzzy feelings, it had the opposite effect. And these days, companies need all the goodwill they can get.