Were you mistakenly told your plan had changed?

When I first got the letter about losing HBO, even though I didn't change my plan, I called into them to ask what was going on. As most have experienced, you get nowhere trying to find out what happened. On my January AT&T/DIRECTV bill they finally pulled the $15.99 credit so I called in and told them to just cancel HBO/Max. Frankly, didn't watch much on those channels anymore so it will be interesting to see if I miss it going forward. 

Also lost my incentive, "HBO for life".  It was married to my unlimited wireless plan.  The TV plan married to my wireless plan was Direct TV Now for $10/month at the inception of AT&T's streaming TV service and incentives.  Then the TV service went to AT&T Now and the price increased annually to $59/month.  Now it's Direct TV Stream $79/month.  Now no HBO. 

I have also spent hours on the phone with AT&T, passed around from department to department as if they're not the same company.  In the end, the answer was tough, it's gone, "HBO's decision, not ours."  Well, that's not "HBO for life", so AT&T should pick up our bill for HBO if HBO changed their contract.

Long and short, AT&T does not care and does not value customer loyalty.  My recommendation is dump AT&T and shop different streaming services and wireless plans as I am.  I was "got" by AT&T as I feel the rest of you were. 

@JE1103  The sunset date for HBO Max was Dec. 6th, 2023. This is from a previous post of mine.

Contact Max Support at 855-442-6629, or go to Max.com, sign in with your AT&T login on a laptop, phone or tablet first,  and then create a Max username and password. You can then use that username and password to sign in on your television or other devices by “sign in” instead of signing in with the provider. That has worked for some but not all.

AT&T spun off HBO Max (now called Max) over a year ago. It is now owned by WBD (Warner Brothers/Discovery) making its own decisions as to who has access or not. The migration of legacy AT&T accounts to Max did not go well and has been fraught with many problems. Some customers were able to get their AT&T logins merged to Max but their service was downgraded to Ad-free, two concurrent devices, full HD only. If you want 4k HDR/Atmos (Ultimate Tier) you need to subscribe directly to Max and pay for it. Your original TOS stated that "terms were subject to change", and being as AT&T no longer controls Max, that certainly qualifies as a change. Also, any changes you made to your plan after activating your "HBO Max for Life" promo also affected that promo. Max (WBD) is in control now so it's up to them as to who gets free access to their full HD tier or not. You can try to contact AT&T Support and see if they can sync your account info to Max but it's hit and miss.

I never opted in for the "HBO for life" promo because nothing is ever truly free nor lasts for "life". Pure marketing. Again, AT&T has zero control now over Max.

I was recently lied to by AT&T and lost my Max service. My husband and I have been with AT&T for at least 20 years, if not more, and we were straight out lied to at one of the corporate AT&T stores. The experience of resolving part of the mess was absolutely awful, and we were left having to pay several hundred dollars. One of the issues was the store person telling us that we had to add a "ghost line" in order to keep our mobile hotspot GB, which was totally not true. That unneeded line cost us several hundred dollars. After hours on the phone, I was able to get AT&T to remove the Insurance Charge that I did not ask for and was not told about for the phone that I did not have on the phone line that I did NOT need (that the clerk knew I did not have). Why on earth would anyone put insurance on something they don't have? I was not able to get AT&T to remove the 2 months of charges and fees for this unneeded line. I am currently trying to get signed copies of the agreement(s) with AT&T and that is proving to be impossible. Why won't AT&T provide me with signed copies? Anyone dealing with AT&T should make sure they have in writing what they are being told because AT&T will NOT take responsibility for employees lying to you. It's pretty much, Sorry About Your Luck!!! 

@gloriahopp65  If your plan changed from when you first activated your "free HBO Max for life" offer then that cancelled your HBO. It's in the TOS that you read , "terms are subject to change". Besides, AT&T has nothing to do with Max now that they are owned and operated by WBD (Warner Brothers/Discovery). They now decide who gets free access or not.

Did you actually sign an order or did you just check a box that says you have read and understood the terms? If you did sign an agreement did you ask for a copy? Your receipt should have indicated that Asurion insurance as well as the NextUp plan was added. Both of which you could have easily cancelled within a specified time frame. Are you sure it was a Corporate Store and not an Authorized AT&T Retail Store? They both look exactly the same so it pays to ask when you go in.

I have had the same issue with the extra ghost line as well when my son went to upgrade his phone. They said it was cheaper in the long run. Who knows? The whole billing and discount schemes are so convoluted. I have had ATT and Uverse, then direct TV when Uverse left my area for probably over 15 years or more. I am about done with ATT now that they have dropped my HBO credit I have been getting on the unlimited plan. It was really the only reason I have stayed with them as my signal kind of (Edited per community guidelines) anyway and I know I can get a much cheaper phone plan. As soon as my current phones are paid off it will be time to go. 

@star457  Any cellular watches added? That would account for an extra line charge. If you changed your original plan in any way after you activated your HBO Max then that's why you lost access. It's in the TOS that you read. Besides, as I mentioned above, AT&T has nothing to do now with who gets continued access or not. That's all up to the new owners of Max (WBD). 

No, no changes. I understand nothing is guaranteed but it would have been nice after being such a long time costumer and spending close to 400$ a month on phone, tv and internet that someone would have taken the time to notify us that the benefit was ending and why. It would have saved a lot of customers and employees countless  frustrating hours on the phone. Very poor business practice. 

Did you read the TOS?