Misrepresentation by salesperson in AT&T store

"Prepaid phones are always discounted, which is why they can be locked." So what does "COMMITMENT SAVINGS $0.00" mean?

...or doesn't it mean anything?

ATT sells many phones, some are actually branded as prepaid phones, others are not. Prepaid phones are normally sold at a discount but not always. Whether a prepaid phone is sold at a discount or not, the 6 month requirement to unlock still applies. If you bought a phone not specifically branded as prepaid, the “no commitment” tag would waive the 60 day requirement for service if you had gotten postpaid service. Unfortunately, once a prepaid SIM card is put into any phone whether it was specifically branded as a prepaid phone or not, ATT’s system automatically applies the 6 month requirement. I believe this is a fault of ATT’s system. So, if you bought a phone not branded as prepaid and paid full retail price for it, there really is no reason for imposing a 6 month requirement but the system does anyway once activated on prepaid service.

@UlysseG

You're being pretty harsh with the people at the AT&T corporate store. You're telling me that they would knowingly fail to inform me of the real policy in order to sell a cheap phone, and take advantage of my being a foreign resident?

That's what they did.  There is no way they don't know.  Every single employee goes to 'school' before they even hit the sales floor, to learn the basics that are required.  The lock policy is 101 material.  And because every US carrier has at least some kind of a lock policy for every single phone, it's inconceivable that they would not know. 

If that's true, then things look even worse for AT&T and their reputation.

Not every person or store lies to customers.  You are bad luck that you got one we're not only the employees but even the manager is willing to look someone in the face and tell them a bold-faced lie. 

No, I think that what happened is that I purchased the phone outright (see my comment just above) and prepaid for a month of service, and that prepayment is being construed as a kind of 6-month term agreement.

No honey, your were lied to.  The policy is for all At&t phones. 

Isn't that what the "COMMITMENT SAVINGS $0.00" means to you? Anyway to me "COMMITMENT SAVINGS $0.00" = "COMMITMENT 0".

I have actually never seen that sign and I suspect that the manager of the store made that up to bolster his untrue statements and Shady business practice.  Please make sure you confirm the address of this particular location directly to AT&T so that they can replace the store personnel with people that don't lie to customers. 

AT&T and their people need to make some things a little clearer if they don't want to look like some very sleazy operators.

Or maybe that's just the world we live in nowadays?

As I said, they are not all underhanded Liars. Unfortunately you found an entire store full.  I have no doubt that the manager is directly at fault for the behavior of his employees, and that he encourages on ethical Behavior. The best thing AY&T can do is replace everyone at that location from the top down.

It does happen. Where I live in Connecticut I am within a half an hour's Drive of about five or six AT&T corporate store locations. One of them was Notorious for having incompetent unkempt, and untrustworthy employees. That store had a change in management and a good clean out, and now is actually very good.   But it took complaints direct to get it done

Responding to formerly;

"I have actually never seen that sign and I suspect that the manager of the store made that up to bolster his untrue statements and Shady business practice."

Can we assume that none of the other experts on this forum has heard of the line "COMMITMENT SAVINGS $0.00" being on an invoice from AT&T?

Again you're being pretty tough on the folks at that store... Honey. After all, it's on Magazine Street, the Rodeo Drive of New Orleans. I'm not saying I don't trust you, but I prefer to wait and see if anybody knows more about that invoice line... or is willing to take some responsibility for my situation.

Meanwhile I'm posting to several other cell-phone forums to see if anyone there knows anything.

suit yourself, UlysseG, but formerlyknownas knows more about AT&T wireless than 90% of the Wireless Store sales staff and a large percentage of the store managers.

@UlysseG So what phone did you buy? Did you actually buy a prepaid phone or a “regular” phone but activated on prepaid? If the latter, that actually could explain the store employees not knowing.

Fine. Thanks. So you agree that the line "COMMITMENT SAVINGS $0.00" was added to the invoice at the initiative of the store manager to fool me? I find that a little far-fetched.

The phone I bought is a Calypso2 U319A.

Oh well, that’s definitely a prepaid phone. You are definitely more forgiving than I would be. I don’t buy no one in the store knowing about the 6 month prepaid requirement either.