Community Support
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6.7K Messages
Death In The Family - How To Cancel An Account
A loss in the family is something we know can be a difficult time in your life. It can be even more stressful when we are attempting to close out or cancel their account. We would like to help make this a bit easier to for you.
Contacting Us
If you know the PIN, you can either Chat With Us or Call 611 from an AT&T wireless phone, to cancel your family members account.
Come See Us
You can come see us at an AT&T owned retail store. You will need to bring:
- Your photo ID (Government Issued)
- Death certificate
- Obituary with decedents name
- Accident report
Find a local store now.
Note: Authorized Retailers are unable to cancel accounts.
What You Need To Know
- The balance on the account is the responsibility of the estate.
- Early termination and/or Transfer of Billing Responsibility fees won't be charged on the user's line of service.
- The account can't remain active under the name and Social Security number of the deceased person, with the exception of customers living in Oklahoma. A Transfer of Billing Responsibility is required to keep the wireless number with AT&T service.
- Installment plans may be adjusted for all lines of service if the account holder is deceased.
- Installment plans may be adjusted for an individual wireless line if the deceased was a wireless user on the account.
ChrisZ, AT&T Community Specialist
*I am an AT&T employee, and the postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent AT&T's position, strategies or opinions.
neveragain2019
Contributor
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1 Message
4 years ago
I am having the exact same issue! I have contacted AT&T twice now and they refuse to cancel the account because I don't have the PIN. I went to their local store, but the waiting list to be served was ridiculously long. The "customer service" representatives as well as the "supervisor" were all very rude and equally ignorant. They insisted that I get the PIN - from my DEAD parents - multiple times! I find it extremely odd that of the dozens of accounts that I have had to work with, AT&T is the only one that has insisted upon me physically coming to a location. They are also the only company that has had zero compassion or professionalism during this time. As a consumer, I can assure you that I will not ever do business with AT&T after the way they have treated this sensitive matter. I have spent more time and effort, and experienced more frustration, attempting to deal with this $80 per month service than was required to deal with Social Security, life insurance, annuities, IRA accounts, banking accounts, and every other utility account combined. Shame on you, AT&T, for your poor practices and lack of service.
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JediLodge
New Member
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1 Message
4 years ago
I have been trying for nearly a month to cancel my brother’s account. He dies in the hospital 1/7. He and his nurse talked to me over his phone a few days before he passed. He had been found incapacitated in his home by sheriff and EMS after a welfare check. The hospital had his wallet but his cell phone disappeared from beside his bed. He was in SC and I was on the west coast. He has no other family. I have been trying to get the lines on his wireless account deactivated - fearing fraud would happen using his stolen phone. I couldn’t even get a report filed because I didn’t have any required insider information on his account. After multiple attempts, I finally got a rep to accept that he is deceased, and the supervisor was going to retroactively terminate. She switched me to the retention team and was going to explain, but I was dropped into a blind queue and started over. Except this time all I get is additional usage after his death is $1150 - sorry we can’t disable the account. It feel like they are scamming the dead and people should know this. I wasted several hours on phone with them today. Several more over past 3 weeks. They claimed they are preventing fraud by keeping me from disabling the account for my deceased brother. LOL!!!! Preventing fraud by allowing use of a stolen device.
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NunyaBusinesz
New Member
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1 Message
4 years ago
this is such a load of bull (Edited per community guidelines) that I can smell it through my phone. My mom passed, I called every company and closed her accounts, but att made me go into 2 of their stores (kinda hard without a vehicle I might add) and y’all say that the installation fee is terminated? Then explain to me why it’s still on the account and also, if the estate can’t/won’t pay then what happens? How long until the account has a $0 balance?
(edited)
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cnb1969
New Member
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1 Message
3 years ago
We have been trying to cancel my deceased father's wireless at&t service for months now... since October. Very similar situation as all of the above. Asked for pin, which we obviously don't have, went to the store, showed the death certificate but cannot get his account canceled! Not only that but we are getting past due bills on the account. When we call to again explain that he is dead and the account is supposed to be canceled - they still can't seem to cancel it! It is beyond absurd! Is there anyone with a brain cell who works for AT&T who reads these messages and can help?
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baseballisback
ACE - Professor
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7.7K Messages
3 years ago
This forum is a customer-to-customer forum. It is not official support. If the links in this thread don't work, call 800-288-2020 or start a new thread.
As this thread is very old, it will now be closed.
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