Mobile Share Value Plans Questions and Discussion

 the website and the stores clearly show that you will pay 40 dollars per month on every phone that is on a 2 year contract. therefore, you will not get the "discount". the website states everything that you need to know. even if you go to the stores, those displays will tell you also. i had no problem understanding how the mobile share plan works. when you take the time to do research, it helps a lot. 

Yes I understand that the website contains the fine print and if I had read the website, I would have had the pertinent information to make an informed decision.

However, I wasn't planning to change my rate plan but was on the phone with customer care for a different reason. During the call he  pitched me about the moble share plan and told me that I could save me a lot of money each month by switching.  

We had 5 lines at the time of the call - 3 phones not on contract and 2 phones still on contract. He said that the main line would pay a higher fee and the 4 additional lines would be $15 each. He did not mention that the $15 rate is only good for as long as you keep your current phone. He also didn't mention that after the switch our 3 phones which were out of contract would no longer be eligible for a subsidized upgrade even though they had been prior to the call. How is one supposed to know that the $15 rate applied to only non contracted phones when his offer applied to our contracted phones as well as 3 noncontracted phones?

Customer care reps should have been instructed to have their customers read through the fine print before letting them commit to switching. Had I been instructed to do so, or even if he had mentioned the effect switching had on future upgrades, I would have known to upgrade my 3 phones prior to swtching plans. We just were lucky that our 4th and 5th phones were upgraded 6 months prior to the switch.

We kept our old phones until this month when Best Buy had their promotion. i thought since the deal involved a trade-in and it was from Best Buy, that it might not affect the monthly $25 discount. But to make sure, I called ATT customer care prior to going to Best Buy. Customer care assured me that my monthly fees would not be affected by this promotion since my phones were out of contract. Either the rep lied to me or made a mistake and gave me wrong information. Now I am stuck paying $1800 over the next 2 years for the lines I upgraded.

My 1st call to customer care the rep kept me on hold for more than an hour until I gave up. My second call ended when a supervisor promised to call me back in an hour. That was yesterday and I still haven't received any call back. 

I am beyond frustrated! I just would like AT&T to be responsible for the misinformation given to me by their customer care rep and give me my discount back. That is the ethical thing and the right thing to do. 

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@suehyin wrote:

Yes I understand that the website contains the fine print and if I had read the website, I would have had the pertinent information to make an informed decision.

 

However, I wasn't planning to change my rate plan but was on the phone with customer care for a different reason. During the call he  pitched me about the moble share plan and told me that I could save me a lot of money each month by switching.  

 

We had 5 lines at the time of the call - 3 phones not on contract and 2 phones still on contract. He said that the main line would pay a higher fee and the 4 additional lines would be $15 each. He did not mention that the $15 rate is only good for as long as you keep your current phone. He also didn't mention that after the switch our 3 phones which were out of contract would no longer be eligible for a subsidized upgrade even though they had been prior to the call. How is one supposed to know that the $15 rate applied to only non contracted phones when his offer applied to our contracted phones as well as 3 noncontracted phones?

 

Customer care reps should have been instructed to have their customers read through the fine print before letting them commit to switching. Had I been instructed to do so, or even if he had mentioned the effect switching had on future upgrades, I would have known to upgrade my 3 phones prior to swtching plans. We just were lucky that our 4th and 5th phones were upgraded 6 months prior to the switch.

 

We kept our old phones until this month when Best Buy had their promotion. i thought since the deal involved a trade-in and it was from Best Buy, that it might not affect the monthly $25 discount. But to make sure, I called ATT customer care prior to going to Best Buy. Customer care assured me that my monthly fees would not be affected by this promotion since my phones were out of contract. Either the rep lied to me or made a mistake and gave me wrong information. Now I am stuck paying $1800 over the next 2 years for the lines I upgraded.

 

My 1st call to customer care the rep kept me on hold for more than an hour until I gave up. My second call ended when a supervisor promised to call me back in an hour. That was yesterday and I still haven't received any call back. 

 

I am beyond frustrated! I just would like AT&T to be responsible for the misinformation given to me by their customer care rep and give me my discount back. That is the ethical thing and the right thing to do. 

 

 

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Your wording is misleading.  Your discount is not lost just by switching your phones.  You can switch phones as often as you like and keep your discount as long as you do not sign a new 2 year contract.  The statement you said you were given by an AT&T rep over the phone seems to indicate that clearly too, when they told you that "you are out of contract so you keep the discount".  Had you indicated that you were plannign to sign a new contract, and not use AT&T NEXT or purchase a phone outright, they would have told you that the discount you were currently receiving would be lost as you would no longer be "out of contract".

I understand that you feel misled, and you are now paying much more money than you had expected, but from what you have told us, everything which you were told is accurate, based on the information provided.  It is unfortunate that the Best Buy representative was so eager to see you a new contract phone and unfamiliar with the AT&T billing policies that they didn't provide you with accurate information.  perhaps if you take your issue to the Best Buy manager, they can help you since his clerks seem to have been key in your signing a new contract which is what caused you to lose your discounts.

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@kimmyd321 wrote:
AT&T will say or do anything to get you to agree to a contract. Even lie. I was paying the $40-$25 for my line and when I upgraded the phone they took the $25 discount off. I was informed when I called customer service before upgrading that my rate plan would not change. Now it's been over 14 days and they won't let me return the phone. I guess AT&T is now lying and tricking their customers. If you are not a current customer run,,,,stay away from this horrible company and service. If you have service get out as soon as possible. From what I have read and what a retention rep told me this is happening to a lot of customers. AT&T doesn't care and if you actually get a manager or supervisor they are rude.

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It may be a hard pill to swallow, but your rate plan did not change.  You are still paying $40/month for each smartphone, just as you were before.  That has not changed, so your rate plan has not changed.  The difference is that you are no longer eligible for the "out of contract" discount on your monthly bill.  If some cases, you may have gotten that discount as a promotional deal, in other cases, you may have really been out of contract.  Either way, the rate plan is still $40/month for a smartphone, and that has not changed.

It is disappointing how many people sign a new 2 year contract to get a discount on their phone and still want AT&T to give them a discount on their service for being out of contract, even though they just signed a new service contract.  Either you get a discount on the phone and pay full rates for the term of your contract, or you dont get a discount from AT&T for your phone, and you get a discount from them for your service.  You are free to get your phones from AT&T at full price or using NEXT to pay for the phone in installments, or to even get your phones from another source of your choice.  As long as you don't expect AT&T to give you a discount on the pnone price, you still get the discount on the service. You can have one of the two discounts, but not both (unless you are on the promotional discount for being under contract prior to 02/01/2014).

If you ready you rbill, this is spelled out on your bill as well.  They indicate a $40 smartphone rate plan, then they indcate a second line showing $25 discount for out of contract.  That seems quite clear to me that if you sign a new contract, you no longer qualify for the discount.

Yes, it is clearly stated in the fine print of the commercial. You may bring over your own phone to use (BYOD), buy phones at full retal price, or buy with AT&T Next Program.

SO TRUE!!! I went in to upgrade my daughter's phone today and I told them that I didn't want the NEXT (rip off) plan and they said my bill would go up 30. a month for every upgrade. WHAT!! I don't think so.  I told them that AT&T NEEDED to have the mobile share plan because the other companies were blowing them away with pricing. Sooo, once you go into the plan, you can never upgrade without losing the discount!! Rip off..so what they are doing is making you pay an extra 30 month either way!! AT&T...you are going to lose so many customers when contracts are up. I have 5 phones with you and have been with you for over 14 years and you will be losing this customer!!! FED UP!!! Oh, and I can't forget that I called to activate an old phone that we had until contrat is up and they wanted to know where I got the SIM card and it would have to be approved. I said, look dude...you sent me the SIM card and you're ticking me off!!!