Tutor
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AT&T ‘Authorized Retailers’
In my opinion, stay away from AT&T ‘Authorized Retailers’. These authorized retailers are not owned or managed by AT&T in any manner. Authorized retailers are like car dealers. They make up their own rules and contracts and will sell you anything they can get away with. The employees in an authorized retailer do not work for AT&T. Many of the authorized retailers want their customers to think they are walking into an AT&T owned store by having a large AT&T logo on the front of the store. Some authorized retailers design the stores to look like AT&T corporate stores. It’s very deceptive.
I had a problem with a phone I purchased at an authorized retailer. I went to another AT&T store that happened to be an AT&T corporate store. The corporate store would not help me at all because I bought from an authorized retailer. The AT&T corporate store had no records of me purchasing the phone and they did not have the authority to touch the phone. I was told I am stuck dealing with the specific authorized retailer that sold me the phone.
Authorized retailers usually do not have the technical skills or equipment that a corporate store has. If you have a problem with the phone, hardware or software related, a corporate store is in a better position to handle your request. Authorized retailers are not interested in follow up service; they are interested in sales.
There are other retailers that also offer AT&T services, like Best Buy, but at least the people walking into a Best Buy know that the AT&T services are a side business. How many people walk into an AT&T authorized retailer and think they are walking into a store that is owned and managed by AT&T?
Stick with the corporate stores if you have a choice. They are well organized, professionally managed, will provide follow up service, and you are dealing directly with AT&T corporate. Not some third party.
1429JP
Contributor
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1 Message
7 years ago
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JLucier8847
Contributor
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2 Messages
6 years ago
I am currently dealing with that same problem. AT&T Customer Service, by phone, was willing to help, but the authorized retail store would not honor what Customer Service said it would do for me. I have been in touch with Corporate Headquarters in Dallas, Texas. They opened a complaint and I should hear from them within 48 hours. Hopefully, something will be done, but with what I have been through at the store and with Customer Service, I am not going to hold my breath.
Lesson - Buyer Beware. DO NOT DEAL WITH AUTHORIZED RETAILERS, DEAL WITH CORPORATE OWNED STORES OR ONLINE SALES DIRECTLY WITH THE COMPANY.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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117.4K Messages
6 years ago
@JLucier8847
Authorized retailers dont have to honor ATT offers from Support. They also don’t do warranty exchanges. They don’t have to participate in sales and they can have their own sales.
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DM5847
Contributor
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1 Message
6 years ago
You are incorrect...that story could've been mine, and I DID go back to the AR store when I had a problem with my less than one month old purchase and was told they could do nothing for me...out of frustration, I drove 25 miles to a corporate store, where they gave me the 411 on AR stores...who not only sold me the phone TELLING me they were a corporate store but royally screw up all my account settings. I will NEVER go back to an AR store...EVER
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JLucier8847
Contributor
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2 Messages
6 years ago
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PensacolaSteph
Contributor
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2 Messages
6 years ago
This is not true. Authorized retailers are not owned by AT&T but they are most definitely managed by AT&T. Prime communications is AT&T's largest authorized retailer with over 600 stores open in the United States. Each store has an AT&T employed manager that oversees all operations as well as escalations. Every employee of Prime Communications is trained in the exact same program that AT&T company owned employees are. The benefits of doing business with an authorized retailer is that most of the time they are less busy than company stores so the wait time is longer, and the employees are held to less strict sales goals so they spend the extra time with you to set up email and contacts and bluetooth,etc instead of being sold to and kicked out of the door.
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GLIMMERMAN76
ACE - Expert
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23.9K Messages
6 years ago
@PensacolaSteph
Yeah I have a friend who is a manager at a Authorized retailer and I can tell you his pay check is not from ATT... If you look at a AR you can see just how bad the customer service is by looking at yelp and google ratings. Best buy is a authorized retailer when you get down to brass tacks.
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PensacolaSteph
Contributor
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2 Messages
6 years ago
of stores. The actual retail store manager is employed by the authorized
retailer. And the customer service complaints out of the corporate store in
this area greatly outweigh the ones from the authorized retailer. People
just assume AR are bad so they dont give them a chance or go in expecting
the worst, but really AR can do anything a corporate store can and almost
always in hours less time because you don't have to wait.
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IHAVEABRAIN
Contributor
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1 Message
6 years ago
You are all so naive. Customer service varies everywhere. You cannot generalize it is the same Corporate vs. Authorized Dealers. Depends on the individual serving you. Stop being so ignorant! It makes my brain hurt!
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Suze127
Contributor
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1 Message
6 years ago
I purchased an iPhone 8 at a local authorized retailer the phone stopped working after 36 hours It overheated and home button stuck. It's dead I went back to return & exchange to be told they don't exchange or return I have a contract with no specifications on a return or exchange policy nor that I would be on my own even if defective. They were quick to take my money I spent literally hours tonight on the phone looking for a resolution to find none I have to go to an Apple store which is not local, to get my phone fixed Ive had it two days I should get a new one not fix a $600 phone. What a rip off What business never has to take anything back? There is NO return policy posted in the store I want a new phone and I don't want to wait weeks or drive a couple hours to get one, NEVER ever shop at authorized retailer Never again its a rip off Our local store is terrible. frat boy service, HIgh pressure on Direct TV Killingly CT the worst
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