Att and Costco kiosk scam

Fun fact:  I worked at a Starbucks kiosk in a big box store.  I wore the green apron, had a Barista pin and knew how to make the drinks but I DID NOT work for Starbucks.  I worked for the big box store. 🤷‍♀️

Moral to the story…don’t let the logo fool you.  🤪

@Wwdd Did you cancel the lines and return the phones?

I never made or receive one phone call with any of the lines, I returned all phones the same way the came unused. I was charged for service because the sales guy didn’t port over my line properly instead he give me new numbers even I was consistently telling him I wanted to keep my number that I’ve been using for 20+ years. The way how he does it is he’ll open new lines for me with new numbers but lie to me at first. After I sign everything, he then told me not to worry, I won’t lose my number, all I have to do is call the VIP number after I receive my phones and have them complete “port in” process and active my phone. The moment I signed the paperwork, I enrolled auto pay with my checking account(to qualify discount), the new number was generated and activated right away and I’m bound to pay, I was charged activation fee as well. Totally SCAM! I kept telling him that I want to keep my old number, he open new numbers for me anyways, now I have to pay for new number and activation fee for some numbers I don’t even know and never used. The worst part is Costco offers 90 days buyers remorse but these scammer tell people after 3 month your bill will be much lower. 

@Wwdd  How long did you wait before returning the phones and canceling the lines? 

Right after I received the phones I called VIP# tried to activate my line but lucky my wife said maybe I should ask them just to confirm the bill, that’s when I find out I was scammed. So I canceled it right away before I even active any of it. So all lines were canceled the same day I received the phone approximately 4 days after Costco visit. Phones were shipped back a few days later they already received them a few days ago according to the tracking info. 

@Wwdd 

It would be closer to being an authorized Foreign Affiliate, or possibly dual status Fed Tech, State Employee, or possibly contractor. That would be someone under an approved association but not employed by the main body (Army in your example).

To other valued Costco Members: I wish I had read this post before singing up with ATT at a kiosk in Costco's Mesa, AZ store.  In my experience, Costco does a very good job of vetting their products and vendors, NOT in this case. My mistake was that I trusted too much in Costco for bringing in legit vendors.  I had an almost identical experience as described above and in other posts below.  I was promised a rate of $160 per month for 4 lines.  After 3 months of "wait time", my bill continues to be $230.  After multiple calls, I haven't been able to resolve.   Customer service is spotty at best. Long wait times. Some agents try to be helpful, others not. ATT's system is very disorganized as they can't seem to tell who signed up for what plan and when. Even though the agents claim to be recording everything, every time I call back it's like starting from ground zero.  Aside from the billing issues I'm experiencing, my daughter brought her own device and it took me 4 weeks to get her line successfully switched over since she brought her own device.  Any savings I thought I was going to have was evaporated by my personal time resolving all the issues. Service is worse with noticibly more spots to/from where where calls and service drops.  I miss my former carrier that I had been with for over 15 years.  My recommendation is to NOT go to any COSTCO ATT Kiosks for Cell Service!!!  @Juniper - thank you for your helpful replies @Costco - Please pull all ATT Kiosk Vendors from your stores if you haven't already done so! 

@jmaas 

Four phone lines on The premium plan with Costco's signature discount program applied would be $150 before taxes.   

If you are still paying installments on phones and not getting bill credits, did you trade in your phones within 30 days? Has it been 90 days since you made your purchase? 

As for coverage, it was entirely on you to return your new phones within the 14-day return window, or at least not trade in your old phones within the 30-day window so that you had the opportunity to go back to your previous service provider and not owe AT&T for all of the new phones 

@formerlyknownas - thanks for response.  Yes, we traded in 3 phones (2 galaxy note 9's both in great shape, and an older iphone 7+), my daughter wanted to keep hers so that one came over a byod.  I can also confirm that we did turn in our phones within 30 days, used appropriate mailer packages, and followed required timelines.  My wife remembers receiving email confirmation that her phone one was received. I can't recall receiving confirmation receipt about other two, but I'm confident they were received and I'm sure I have paperwork buried somewhere. We love our new phones and tested them out before sending in our old ones.  It's not the phones we're having issues with, rather, its the price we're being charged for them that does not match the original agreement.   I'm encouraged by your estimate of $150, which makes sense to me that we should be seeing $160/mo after taxes or close to it. To be clear, the kiosk salesperson stated this price would INCLUDE to cost of the 3 new phones so as long as we traded in.  We would be very happy with this, but unfortunately I'm running into a dead end with customer service.  They asked for "evidence" of the $160, so I texted them a picture of the paper I had at Coscto on which I wrote $160 when I was standing at the kiosk. I realize this isn't a signed contract, but I wanted to make sure I understood the bottom line that was being promised before switching over and thus made the notation. Yes, we made the purchase back in November 2023. I had been patiently giving it the "three months" that they kept talking about (Dec, Jan, Feb) and started calling in March, connected, and was expecting to see an adjustment in my April billing - nope.  Same $230/mo.  Frustrating.  I'm going to give it one more try with customer service this week and then take another's advice on this forum to file with BBB.  I don't see any other recourse at this point. Do you? You mention "bill credits" what are these?

Sorry so many of you have been screwed by ATT. They cancelled my new contract today. Initially I was furious!  Claimed fraud. Boy, am I glad I have nothing more to do with them when they canceled me. Lessons learned: do not buy from kiosk in Costco. Thanks for everybody's wisdom and advice.