Teacher
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10 Messages
Deceptive Practices on Switching to AT&T from Verizon
So last week I decided to switch to ATT from Verizon. Verizon is just more expensive and every penny matters. I went to the att site and I do what I normally do on a site, I find the chat window and talked to a rep about switching from ATT. I aksed all the questions I was supposed to ask and she had great answers so I switched. I purchased 4 phones from ATT and the rep gave me details about paying off my fees/ETF fees from Verizon (up to $650 per line for switching). As always when I do a chat, I have my transcripts emailed to me because I want things in writing. When you talk to someone on the phone there is no proof of anything said. So I have the transcripts from ATT on what the rep told me to convince me to switch. She assured me that 100% of the cancellation fees from Verizon would be paid to me via a Visa Reward card (up to $650 per line), as my concern is I have about $2,000 in cancellation fees on my 4 verizon lines in total. I did not want it to be something stupid like they pay part of it and the rest is paid via credits on ATT that I can only use on ATT merchandise/services. The rep in the chat answered that direct question, directly, stating, no 100% of my switch fees owed to Verizon were paid (up to $650 per line) and so I made the switch.
I spent a day or two setting up the new phones and activating them and when it was time to mail the old verizon phones back to ATT to fulfill my part of it, I was told that my old phones have a value of $1100, and that would be given to me in ATT credits and whatever the difference was for the Verizon switch fees, would be given to me via a Visa rewards card to pay for my switch. So my Verizon switch fees are close to $2k. AT&T is going to put $900 toward that via a Visa reward card and the rest is coming to me in ATT store credits that I cannot use to put toward the bill. So when I wanted to save money each month which is why I switched, I am now out $1100 cash all at once to pay the difference to Verizon. I called multiple times as the only info I was given on the switch offer was from the Chat rep and I asked directly about this issue and she assured me I would not be out any money whatsoever and ATT covers my fee via a visa rewards card that is used to pay the verizon bill. I even chatted with a rep 2 days later once I had an huge concern with how this was working out and the new chat agent told me something even more different, which is that ATT pays my entire fee from verizon (up to $650 per line) and whatever my old verizon phones were worth, I got that via a ATT promo card to use at ATT stores/online to purchase any items there or put toward future bills. Obviously this sounds a little too good to be true, but I kept asking and she kept telling me the same thing and even stated she talked to her manager to confirm this.
The good news is I have the chat transcripts that were emailed to me from the ATT site where the reps assured me of this and convinced me to switch to ATT, but the bad news is when I call, no one cares. I even went to my main ATT corporate store and showed the manager and he did not care. What am I supposed to do? Pay $1100 out of my pocket to Verizon when ATT convinced me to switch by lying to me and I have 100% of it in writing? Someone help put me in touch with a contact (not att customer service as they are useless). My next step is to turn this over to my attorney because this is so very deceptive. As I said, I have the chat transcripts saved as I always prefer to use chat because it puts things in writing so I can go back and read them to understand and make sure no one is lying.
MicCheck
ACE - Expert
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14.2K Messages
7 years ago
Based upon your other thread, I think you should have received a reward in the amount you still owed for the leased phone, rather than the ETF. AT&T will only pay you for one, but it should be the higher if that was on the bill you provided them.
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jthomas2
Teacher
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10 Messages
7 years ago
I did ask, got specific and you can see that Jessica said I get the etf covered for switching and a att card for the phones. It never states that whatever I get for the phones comes off the Verizon bill owed. Here is my next interaction with a rep Maria a couple of days later after I activated the att phones and went to the corporate store to turn in my phones to no avail. I have to copy and paste it into 2 postings as it's too long to post all at once. I did remove my contact info from the conversation about halfway down to protect my privacy. Here is the first part of that next transcript:
Reference Number: 742629070259201849
DATE/TIME: 2017-06-04 12:35:20
Your chat transcript:
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE - All replies are automatically deleted.
AT&T : Welcome to AT&T Chat. While we connect you to an agent, please share how we can help you today?
Maria : Hello, my name is Maria. I hope you are having a great day! How may I help you today?
Jason : Hi there! Have a question for you
Maria : HI Jason!
Maria : Sure thing! Please ask away. 🙂
Jason : I recently moved to ATT from Verizon and I am at the step now where I turn in my old Verizon phones so you will pay my cancellation fees
Jason : I took the phones to at ATT store and they said were giving me a $1100 store credit. I was under the impression that I turn in my phones and you guys pay my ETF fees from verizon
Maria : Thank you for that information. 🙂
Jason : So my concern is that once I get my final verizon bill for $2000, that I will be out a lot of money since the people in store said all they could do was give me store credit, not put toward the final verizon bill
Maria : That is actually both correct for the Switcher credit that you are participating in. Please allow me to share more details so that it will be clearer and for your reference, with all issues resolved.
Jason : please
Maria : As for the Switcher credit promo, as I am sure that you are already aware is that you can receive up to $650.00 credits from switching your lines from other carrier to AT&T.
Maria : That is correct that with the trade in of the devices you can receive $100.00 in store credits for each devices.
Maria : Additionally,
Maria : the final bill from the previous carrier of the customers who switched will be paid off as well as long as you upload the copy of your final bill online and has been received by the AT&T system.
Maria : May I ask if you were able to upload a copy of your final bill yet, Jason?
Jason : yes, the att store people input all my phones and said they were worth $1120.00 and they could only give me Att credit for those. then whatever the difference is between that $1120 and cancellation fees from Verizon would be put on a reward card for me to put toward my bill. But it woul dbe $1120 short because they are giving me as a store only credit. So I will owe Verizon about $1,000 because my cancellation fees are about $2100
Jason : does that sound right? I thought you guys covered my final verizon bill, up to $650 per line no matter what, but it sounds like it is split up between store credit and paying off the bill
Maria : That is a very good observation, Jason.
Maria : As per the promo for the switcher credit, I can see here that the in- store credit for the traded in phone is just part of the credits that you will receive and not actually the entire credit itself that you will be receiving via promotional card. I am sorry about that as the store rep might have gotten confused for a little for the provisions of the promo.
Jason : So my question is that I am still not clear about, when I get my final verizon bill for around $2100, is that being paid by you guys or I am using my money to pay it?
Maria : The full amount will be taken care of by the promotional card that you guys will receive for the credit as long as you upload the copy of the final bill from your previous carrier. 🙂
Jason : so what about the store credit that ATT is trying to give me when I turn in my phones at the corporate store location? They are saying they are worth $1120 and that I can only get store credit with that and that will be deducted from my switch cover fees for verizon
Jason : I am just trying to turn in my verizon phones to you guys and follow through with my part of it so you guys will follow through with your part of covering my switch fees in full
Maria : I totally understandt.
Maria : Here's what i can do for you,
Maria : I can go ahead and get the address of the store you went through so that I can coordinate with my manager in contacting them regarding the correct information for the trade in process of the phones and amount of the credit for your devices and also we can put a note on your account for reference once you go to the store one more time.
Maria : How's that sound, Jason? 🙂
Jason : that would be great.
Maria : Perfect!
Jason : So I am correct, right? I give the store my phones. in a few weeks when my verizon bill comes up, I use a visa reward card that you supply me to cover 100% of those switch fees (up to $650 a line)
Maria : Yes, that is correct.
Maria : May I please have the full address of the store you went to, Jason? 🙂
Jason : Yes, let me grab that
Maria : No problem.
Maria : I will be right here. 🙂
Jason : 311 Interstate 20 E
Arlington TX 76018
(817) 466-0701
Maria : Thank you.
Jason : is there some additional credit I get for the phones value, in addition to the paying my switch fees?
Maria : One moment please as I take note of that for you and forward to my manager so that he can contact them. May I also please have your best contact email and number to reach you once we are done ?
Jason : please
Jason :
Maria : Thank you for that information.
Maria : Like I mentioned earlier the credits for the trade in value of the phones will actually be separate from the $650 switcher credit that you will be receiving. 🙂
Jason : so if they give me $1120 for those phones, I still get the full verizon bill paid too and get to keep the $1120 to put toward my att bill or purchase something at the att store?
Maria : Yes, that is right.
Maria : Almost done here, just finishing up with the notes.
Jason : that is what I was thinking with the offier, but the manager of the store said that was wrong
Maria : I totally understand how that could've caused confusion.
Maria : No worries though as we will take care of it for you through my manager here as well.
Maria : Please be advised to wait for 24 hrs for our communication before you go back to the store so that everything will be ironed out, will that be alright? 🙂
Jason : that sounds just fine. So there is a note on my account about this? Will you guys use that email or phone number to contact me when this is taken care of?
Maria : Yes, that is correct.
Maria : We will put a note on your account about what we have discussed and you will be contacted via your phone or email that's why I asked for it earlier for your convenience. 🙂
Jason : but after the 24 hours goes by, like in a couple of days, I need to go back to that ATT store to talk with them again about taking my phones, giving me the store credit or I can go to another ATT store?
Jason : another question. Do I even have to trade in the phones to get the $650 switch credit for you guys?
Maria : You can definitely go to another AT&T store, Jason as long as it is a corporate owned store. 🙂
Jason : most def, I was a little frustrated with my visit there, spent 2 hours with them
Jason : but you are talking to that specific store manager about this, so it would be helpful to go back to this store, correct?
Maria : As for the trading in of the old phones, I am afraid that it is indeed part of the requirements for the Switcher Credit.
Maria : Yes, that is correct.
Maria : However since there is a note on your account for reference,
Maria : any AT&T store reps and managers can actually access it as well. 🙂
Maria : But it will be up to you which option will be most convenient.
Jason : no problem at all. So to summarize: So you are giving me a lot of store credit for turning in my old verizon phones and you are also paying my full verizon etf fees, up to $650 per phone, and what you give me as store credit for turning in the phones does not come out of that ETF payment to Verizon
Maria : That is absolutely correct!
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jthomas2
Teacher
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10 Messages
7 years ago
and here is the second part of the transcript:
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jthomas2
Teacher
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10 Messages
7 years ago
I am sure once again I will be told it is my fault for trusting a second employee chat expert at ATT? I am by no means trying to avoid any responsibility, but as a consumer that has not ever changed a phone plan and has absolutely zero knowledge about this, and I ask a chat rep for help and is told what I am told above by 2 different reps, I view that as deceiving.
How am I saving money if I have to pay all this money up front to get out of my verizon contract? I thought I was saving $75 a month on my family cell plan and doing something good to help my families finances. I asked all the right questions and I was not told very many accurate answers. This points to ATT having a whole bunch of untrained staff.
I think those of you that work for ATT or are experts here on this community see how this conversation in favor of ATT and my fault, but for us consumers that never do this or have no experience here, I asked the right questions, asked them again to verify, was told they ran it by their managers to verify again, etc., and was told wildly different info from what the truth is. That information convinced me to switch. Now I get to come up with about $1K very soon to give to Verizon.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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117K Messages
7 years ago
You talked Maria in circles asking questions that didn't have a clear answer on her script. They do work from a script. In the end her answer was wrong.
The offer pays off your phones, in exchange for the phones. The store people who told you this were correct....Jason : yes, the att store people input all my phones and said they were worth $1120.00 and they could only give me Att credit for those. then whatever the difference is between that $1120 and cancellation fees from Verizon would be put on a reward card for me to put toward my bill. But it woul dbe $1120 short because they are giving me as a store only credit. So I will owe Verizon about $1,000 because my cancellation fees are about $2100
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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117K Messages
7 years ago
@jthomas2 About saving money. Right now the wireless service cost of Verizon and ATT is almost the same. They have been neck and neck for about 3.5 years. (Not sure where the $75 a month is from). The way to save is to cut where it is flexible. A big part of the cost of a family plan, but the most flexible is the cost of phones. I no longer buy carrier phones because I can spend far less for an excellent phone if I buy at full price. Best Buy and Amazon are my go to for new phones. I have purchased mint used phones off eBay for 1/2 price just a few months after debut.
Just file it for next time.
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jthomas2
Teacher
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10 Messages
7 years ago
I asked questions because nothing has been clear to me and I needed help. I was not brainwashing att employees or tricking them into answering how I wanted, I just wanted to understand the offer and terminology they were using (like what is the difference between an att promo card and a Visa card). I asked and re-asked. I am just an average consumer trying to understand my choices and making the best decision off that info and I asked employees whose whole job is to help explain things to consumers, the att rules.
I must be hearing from AT&T employees here as when the att staff is wrong/providing poor info, it is because I talked them in circles. Not their responsibility to be accurate and expecting them to know their jobs, when their whole job and reason for employment is to answer questions about ATT.
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jthomas2
Teacher
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10 Messages
7 years ago
I paid $320 a month for 8gb of data a month-to split between 4 phones at Verizon. That included 3 leased iPhone 7 and 1 iPhone SE under a 2 year contract.
My new plan on Att is $225 a month (before taxes) and that is unlimited data and 4 new iPhone 7 that I lease ($25 a month each). I assume after taxes that will put me on about a $75 a month savings and now I don't worry about overages as I have unlimited instead of 8gb in total.
Does not seem like the same price/plan to me and is a significant savings each month (I hope unless I was mislead about that).
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Gary L
ACE - Expert
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16.5K Messages
7 years ago
Wouldn't 4 lines on unlimited plus with autopay be $185, correct?
($145 multiline [2 lines] +$20 * 2 additional lines).
Plus $100 for phones (4 * $25) would total $285. Plus taxes.
Still a better deal, but I'm only seeing a few dollars savings (depending on taxes).
And free HBO...
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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117K Messages
7 years ago
Verizon and ATT do not lease phones. Only Sprint has a lease option.
The Verizon unlimited plan is $5 less than ATT plus plan and $25 more than the Choice plan. I assume you took advantage of Bogo sales and the Choice plan.
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