Most people who follow me on Facebook and Twitter have come to realize that I’m not shy about expressing my opinion about AT&T Wireless’ lack of coverage and poor service in my city and neighborhood—which just so happens to be Los Angeles, California.

For the last two years, I have had little to no coverage in my home and other areas of Los Angeles, often getting the “Searching” or “No Signal” notice on my phone. Last time I checked, LA is the second largest city in the US, which makes me wonder why one of the biggest wireless providers isn’t delivering in one of our nation’s biggest cities.

My neighbors and friends, equally frustrated with the lack of service, have also tried everything to voice their opinions—ranging from calling AT&T, to going to their stores, which ironically, had no signal inside the store (aka the store on Beverly and La Cienega).  One of my friends even carries a newspaper ad in his back pocket showing AT&T’s claims for excellent coverage in LA.  None of these efforts proved to be worthwhile.

Making matters worse are the endless Luke Wilson commercials touting AT&T’s fantastic coverage. Don’t mock me Luke Wilson. I doubt you’ve spent endless hours on the phone with AT&T trying to get the service that you paid for.

Why haven’t I just switched carriers?  The quick answer is, I’m in love with my iPhone, and in all honesty, after having invested in both an iPhone and Blackberry with AT&T, it’s hard to justify making the move and dealing with cancellation fees.  So I’ve lived with the problem, and continued to complain.

What does one do when they are paying for a service and not getting it? Well, if you’re me, you resort to social media to broadcast your sentiments.

Step 1? I created a Facebook Page as a place for customers who are not happy with AT&T service in LA to voice their complaints.  It started to gain some traction and participants, and then suddenly, POOF! The page was removed.

Step 2? Check out blogs and features discussing customer unhappiness with AT&T’s coverage, dropped calls, and 3G network issues, and share! share! share!  At the very least, misery loves company and there seems to be a lot of miserable AT&T customers.

Step 3? Madly complain on both Facebook and Twitter. Not surprisingly, there is a community expressing their concerns about AT&T on social networks. The most popular being found under #ATTsucks, #ATTFail, and my favorite, the very negative buzz around #LukeWilson for being the new face of AT&T’s coverage across the United States and Verizon attack ad.

While I was taking action in the Social Media universe, I continued calling AT&T to complain and finally canceled my Blackberry, which showed zero minutes for over three months, only to be charged with a cancellation fee (this story isn’t about good customer service, it’s about social media).

All this went on for over a year, with no success, just more misery.

And then, one day it changed.

A woman by the name of @ATTNicole stumbled upon one my Tweets.  She reached out and asked me about the problems I was experiencing via Direct Message.  After a few back and forth messages, I came to realize that Nicole is a Social Media Manager with AT&T, and her job is to monitor what is being said.

The tweets led to a few phone calls, and Nicole- who was incredibly patient, understanding, and communicative- looked into all of my complaints.  She pulled up my record, saw I was charged a cancellation fee when it was clear I didn’t use any minutes or have service, and kept me posted on improvements to service in my area. She even responded to my friend’s email and called to hear his complaints about coverage.  After much back and forth, she told me she had good news to report in the next couple days.  Being pessimistic when it comes to AT&T, I was reluctant to believe her.

And then, something wonderful happened. On New Year’s Day I had five solid bars in my home. Not just when standing in the northern corner of my house on my tippy toes to get a hint of a signal, but everywhere. My friends in the neighborhood all called and texted me: “What’s up with AT&T, I have coverage”.

Now, I don’t know that Nicole had anything to do with there being service in my area– that is most likely the result of a new tower they have been building. But what I do know is that of all the people I have talked to at AT&T over the last two years, Nicole is the only representative who truly listened to my issues, responded and proactively tried to resolve them.

So while I’m still not a huge fan of AT&T, I am a huge fan of Nicole’s, and as much as I can complain, I also give credit when it is due.  So thank you Nicole… and a reluctant thank you to AT&T for recognizing the importance of social media as an extension of customer service.

Now instead of complaining, I get to learn how to use the phone feature on my iPhone, which I’ve been unable to use for way too long.

Lori Dicker is Co-Founder and CEO of KARMA Media Labs.