Contributor
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Service Discount - Deceiving Applications
I've always enjoyed my service with AT&T and think they treat their customers well. I recently started a new job a few months ago, and found out they had a cell phone discount available.
Turns out I can get a 13% discount on my phone service.
My normal bill is $105.54 per month. So, logically I assumed I should take amount and multiply it by .87 (taking off 13% of my bill) which would bring my bill to around $92.00. After a month passed, it showed a discount had been applied, but to my dismay there was only a $5.20 discount. Which is definitly not 13% of that number.
So I called AT&T and they said that it only applies to the "Data" Portion of my plan which is $40.00 a month and to nothing else, and that it has always been this way. I chose not to argue and instead take this here.
In what realm does it make any sense to only apply a "Service Discount" to only the Data portion of someone's plan? If I got a regular employee discount at a resteraunt for 13%, they wouldn't take my bill and say, "Okay now, this discount only applies to the chicken sandwich, your fries and drink are still being billed like normal." I would just get a 13% discount over all the food I bought.
I can say as a customer, I feel pretty upset about how very stingy it appears AT&T is being on this. If there's a way to get my plan to apply the discount over the whole plan (like it should) I would appreciate that.
My bill is divided up into "Monthly Charges - Jul 10 thru Aug 09", and "Other Charges and Credits". Since my "Other Charges and Credits" is mostly taxes, I could even see them only applying it the "Monthly Charges" Tab... but just to the Data? No, that's just trying to see how little you can get away with having to discount the plan.
GeekBoy
Master
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4.1K Messages
9 years ago
What portion of your bill you can get a discount on depends upon the agreement arranged between your employer and AT&T. Similar to you I qualify for an employee discount and when I was on an older (now grandfathered) Family plan, the discount only applied directly to the "cell phone plan" itself (the minutes only) and not the extras (SMS, data, insurance, etc). When I switched to a Mobile Share Value Plan, the discount once again, only applied to the "service" portion of my bill (the Data) and not the "extras" (voice, SMS, insurance, etc.).
When you get a discount an a restaurant, it does not apply to the taxes and gratuity (tip), so the discount does not apply to the "entire bill" like you described you expected on your initial computation. The discount does not apply to the taxes and fees. The other portions of your bill that are excluded from the discount means that your employer isn't willing to pay more money to give you a better discount. The reality is, they don't have to give you any discount, so perhaps you should just be happy for any discount you can get, and 13% off the Data potion of your bill is still better than no discount on your bill.
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