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New Member

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13 Messages

Thursday, February 13th, 2020 5:58 PM

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Avoid this company!!! Bait and switch tactics on consumers

I upgraded my phone to unlimited starters because it was literally the exact price I was paying for 9gb a month. They told me on the phone that I was eligible for a free iPhone 8 with my upgrade. Of course I asked, how much it’s going to cost me monthly and I was quoted a price of around $115/month for both lines which was just a $20 increase from my current bill. So I found it hard to believe and called back the next day to verify that the price quoted was correct and they quoted me the same price. After verifying the price I spoke to my wife about adding the line for my son and we agreed for that price it was do-able. So I called a third time to place the order & verifies a THIRD time on the price. Long story short my $115/month bill ended up being $291.77 for the 1st month and told it would be $198/month there after after talking to two different managers. I explained I got 3 quotes for $115/month and they said that wasn’t possible Ang there employees must have made mistakes. They also did not inform me that I lost my corporate discount on unlimited plans so I lost 25% of my bill that the 3 reps told me I would still get. I asked to return the phone and cancel the line and they refused to comply with that. They said it’s too late. Of course it’s too late. I just got the bill after all this and now I’m stuck with this company that has no integrity for there customers and no accountability or ethics when using bait and switch tactics on their consumers. The conversations are recorded when you call in. I requested that they pull the conversations and both managers refused to address my request. I have been with AT&T since they took over Cingular over a decade ago. Avoid this company and their bait and switch tactics at all cost!!! I can see by reading other stories that I’m not the only one they’ve done this to.

New Member

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13 Messages

4 years ago

Filed a formal complaint with the BBB.

(edited)

ACE - Sage

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116.6K Messages

Just an FYI. Filing a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau will get you a phone call from AT&T upper management. They May confirm that the bill is correct. But if not correct, they will match the published price for 3 lines on unlimited starter which is $130 after auto pay and paperless billing.

🐾 I don’t work for AT&T or any carrier. Never have, never will. My replies are based on experience and reading content available on the website. If you posted personal information, please edit and remove.

Award for Community Excellence Achiever*
*I am not an AT&T employee, and the views and opinions expressed on this forum are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote, or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party.

ACE - Sage

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116.6K Messages

4 years ago

The published price on the website for unlimited starter for 3 Lines is $130 after auto-pay and paperless discounts. That does not include any phones.
When you buy a new phone and add a new line, you're going to pay $30 activation fee for a new line. You are also going to be charged installments for the first three months and then you will be reimbursed on the 3rd month. And then every month thereafter.

New Member

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13 Messages

I understand that aspect. I anticipated the $30 activation fee and I do have an installment on another phone but the installments were included in the total price given by all three employees. I made sure to get a total monthly bill because I do live on a budget. I did anticipate the $30 activation to be additional as I stated. I also paid the taxes on the free phone prior to shipping which was also anticipated. What wasn’t anticipated was $178 price difference in my monthly bill. I tried explaining that I couldn’t afford this and that I only did this because of the low cost I was quoted. I explained to the manager it’s like getting a car price and quoted for $20,000 and you sign the contract and a month later get the bill for $35,000 and there’s nothing you can do. I should at least be able to return the phone which is in mint condition based on the fraudulent quote I was given.

New Member

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13 Messages

the phone that was added was free. And it was only two lines which is $120 not including the paperless and auto pay discounts that take it down to $100/month plus my $26.78 installment for the other phone and the $30 activation. So unless taxes are and additional $140+ then there’s definitely a bait and switch tactic taking place. However, I truly find it hard to believe that 3 people told me the exact price for the my monthly bill with installments and discounts (25% corporate discount) and they were all wrong???

Former Employee

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32.9K Messages

prices quoted do not include taxes and other government fees

-------------------INCLUDED IN EACH POST FOR CLARIFICATION______
While AT&T employees do look at forum posts from time to time, we are here to represent the forum with our experiences as customers and do not represent AT&T in any official capacity with our responses and do so on our own time unpaid and off the clock. As employees we are not rewarded nor compensated to participate in these forums This forum is comprised of regular customers to communicate with other customers to offer advice and share experiences same as any other user Although there is a small team of customer care specialists that monitor the forums the sheer volume of posts are simply too many posts for these agents to respond to each one of them.

New Member

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13 Messages

taxes and government fees should not be more the my actual phone bill

Employee

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797 Messages

4 years ago

Hello,

Corproate discounts clearly only apply to Mobile Share (not unlimited plans), with the exception of Military or First Repsonder discounts. The quote appears to have been assuming that discount worked. I would do future business at your local corporate AT&T store to make sure you get the right information and meet all the promotional requirements for offers like a free phone. That quote appears to have no tax and fees included, which are always on top of that price given.

New Member

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13 Messages

I just don’t know how with even taxes and fees, plus activation that there is roughly over $110 extra that is included on the pricing. That was unexplained by management when I spoke to them. That’s based upon the $180/month quote they gave me on future bills. The manager couldn’t completely explain either

New Member

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13 Messages

and even with my veterans discount they said I get more from the endorsement of $10 off a line, so my veterans discount is actually $4 more a month than the current discounts.

ACE - Sage

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116.6K Messages

You mean 25% military/ veterans discount? Corporate discounts are not allowed on the unlimited plan, but your military discount is worth 25% off the entire plan cost. So the $135 base plan for 3 Lines is $33.75 off. Making 3 lines just over $100 before tax and installments.

Are you actually looking at a bill? Or are you looking at the customer service summary, which does not include any discounts?

If you had a corporate discount on your previous plan you will want to change that to your military discount which will take 2 to 3 months to kick in.
Credits for the installments on the free phone also take to three bills to start.

Have you actually read the bill compared to last month?

🐾 I don’t work for AT&T or any carrier. Never have, never will. My replies are based on experience and reading content available on the website. If you posted personal information, please edit and remove.

Award for Community Excellence Achiever*
*I am not an AT&T employee, and the views and opinions expressed on this forum are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote, or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party.

New Member

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13 Messages

I had a corporate discount on which they said did not apply. However I am a first responder and a veteran, but they stated that the current $10 off each line promotion for the 2 line plan I have is actually a better deal and wouldn’t apply the additional discount. I was looking at the bill and the managers were doing the same when looking over any changes they could make.

New Member

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13 Messages

I think the issue that’s not being communicated was the reps gave me my discount on my lines and then added my installments for my 1st line and that’s how it came out to $115/month. That was done by all the reps. But unfortunately that was not true, however, all I asked was for a way to return the phone due to the misinformation and improper amounts provided by the reps and they told me no I’m forced to pay everything even though the incorrect info was provided by 3 of their reps. I’m just frustrated because they can provide you with I’ll information and you’re forced to pay whatever they say there after with no ramifications, they didn’t offer a single credit for the miscommunication to even lower the bill other than $40 they charged me twice on. Where is the personal accountability on behalf of people they employ? They can easily pull the audio recordings that are used for “quality assurance” on all three phone calls and verify that these were the numbers that I was quoted. It even started the price quoted in one of the notes from my call is what one of the managers started and they still wouldn’t honor it. Or at least credit this month to that amount and change my plan to a more reasonable one that I am correctly informed of the correct monthly price.

New Member

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5 Messages

4 years ago

You are 100% correct ... AT&T are among the worst companies in America, and anyone who is not trapped with them due to location should avoid them at all costs as you say. This is what happens when a company has a near monopoly on services in a geographical area, and have no scruples about screwing customers at every opportunity.

We need high-speed internet from more companies and more competition so behemoths like AT&T can't exist due to competition from smaller companies who do value customers and are honest (AT&T are just the opposite), and can offer the services at lower cost with better customer service and clear pricing arrangements that don't constantly change on a whim without any notice or permission.

New Member

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5 Messages

3 years ago

When I ordered the 6 new lines and phones online with the $1,000 rebate - it seems that AT&T's Trade in Dept was not notified of the transaction.  

Now that I've ported all my numbers from T-Mobile - ATT&T's Trade in Dept will not send us the Trade in packages with our offer.  They claim that my offer was only available in Iowa and Nebraska (if that were the case, they wouldn't have sold and finalized my contract).

How can I get AT&T to honor their contract with me and not Bait and Switch for a $700 offer?

This is a Federally regulated company, surely they must have a mechanism to handle problems like this?

Tutor

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10 Messages

3 years ago

They screw people on billing constantly.  I canceled my phone service with them because of this, and now my DirectTV bill just went up by $56/month with no explanation, and fortunately I'm moving to a place in January where I can dump that too and be completly free of AT&T forever.  You're probably out of luck on your contract as a big part of AT&T's business philosophy is clearly to change the billing rules randomly, and often, and I've been told more than once that the lower price I had been paying was a mistake that they found and corrected, and I'm lucky to have gotten a discount I didn't deserve.  They truly are the worst of the worst.

ACE - Sage

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116.6K Messages

3 years ago

@Bait_and_switch 

the only $1000 ‘rebate’ is the $1000 credits over 30 months with trade in On phones that exceed that cost.  Samsung Note 20/ultra for example.   That promotion has been over for a few weeks.

That aside, AT&T trade in promotions have been ongoing for several months now. File a Better Business Bureau complaint online and someone from AT&T upper management will contact you on how to trade in your old phones..

(edited)

New Member

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4 Messages

3 years ago

I too have been a victim of AT&T "bait-and-switch" trade-in discount fraud.

On 08/27/2020 I purchased Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G and sent them my perfectly fine Samsung Galaxy Note 9 in it's original retail packaging. Trade-in Reference Number: (Edited as per community guidelines). My trade-in was processed and completed on 09/22/2020

I called AT&T several times, during that time and was told: "Just wait, it may take up to two billing cycles for that trade-in credit to be applied to your account". And now, when three months have passed, they are telling me that my trade-in is damaged and worth only $27.00. Needless to say that no trade-in credit was applied to my account and I can't get it back either. Catch-22. Win-win for AT&T and Loose-loose for me :-(

I will gladly join any (Edited per community guidelines) suit and will testify against AT&T bait-and-switch tactic. Please contact me. I also filed BBB complaint. 

My name is: Michael (Edited as per community guidelines)

E-Mail Address: [email scrubbed]

Phone number:(Edited as per community guidelines)

(edited)

ACE - Sage

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116.6K Messages

3 years ago

@michaeldoc69

You are limited to arbitration and small claims are the Supreme Court of the United States.

No cl(Edited per community guidelines) action is permitted. Read your customer agreement. 

(edited)

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