Scammed at BJs

1.  The people manning the kiosk at BJs or Sam’s or Target or Costco are NOT ATT employees.  They work for a contracted company like Smart Circle and carry the reputation of being less than honest.

2.  FREE phone means 36 months of credit.  No one will hand you a new phone and allow you to walk away.

3.  The ACP program is no longer accepting applications and will soon be cancelled with all carriers.  It ran out of money.

Unfortunately, we’ve heard similar stories time and time again.  I’m not sure what your options are at this time but they are limited.  

@formerlyknownas  what say you?

@skeeterintexas  🎯

@Haybre1711 

 I was told my first bill would be around $75 and that in conjunction with my health care employee discount and being recently approved for the ACP government plan my bill would be around $20 a month.

Your promised bill was based on you providing legitimate proof of employment for your health care workers discount, and your ACP program code to apply that credit to your account at least until ACP ran out...

ATT isn't responsible for the end of ACP or transferring your ACP to at&t for the brief time left to that program.   Your ACP had a program number which has to be moved from previous carrier.  Did you provide AT&T with your ACP program number?

Your employed as a health care worker, eligible for health care workers discount as an essential employee either as a doctor, nurse, physicians assistant, one of the other applicable jobs, or an essential worker at a hospital...

Yes or no?

If you qualify for the employee's discount, that discount is 25% off of your service only.

That makes premium less than $65 before taxes 

Starter only $49.25 service only before taxes and phone installments and credits.   

    ACP $30 would have reduce those to $35 and $20 respectively, before taxes and phone costs.   

Those prices include the stackable auto-pay and paperless billing discount if you are using a debit card or checking account. 

It takes approximately three bill cycles (90 days) for the credits on your iPhone 14 to begin.  

So I don't see any lies. I do see delayed credits and perhaps missing information on your part.

1. I feel bad for anyone who can be grouped with “your people “ .  You’re apart of the problem.

2. I’m almost certain that 100% of us who have complained about this ever had the thought that the people offering us a promotion with ATT a. weren’t employed by them b.  considered that we were ever being lied to  or c. that it was even possible for such a job based off of lies even is allowed to exist!  

3. When I was told to cancel my current ACP benefits, It never dawned on me to research when they closed out applications!  I had just been approved a month prior and it’s a program i have had to use more then once in the past couple years,never running into any issues.  Unless i sit home all day reading about jobs that scam you and when the government runs out of money for each and every program they offer,   I never would have know that you could only transfer benefits to keep them when they directed me to cancel then reapply with them.  

4. I’m not sure if you have ever suffered (you kinda sound like someone who was born with a silver spoon in their mouth) I pray one day you never have to feel what it’s like to tell someone you’re struggling, need to cut costs , only to have them take advantage of you to earn a dollar, and then be told “it happens all the time” from just another non empathetic, selfish person , trolling the internet supporting the problem more then what’s morally right.  

5. I would rather be the good person who was unknowingly scammed than someone who would ever comment the way you did on a topic that is wrong in every way.  

6. so sad how we are expected to know better when it comes to something like this.  next time, unless you can offer help to someone who was scammed and misinformed, keep those little fingers still and away from the keyboard you probably call home.  we do not need anymore people with no moral code offering their two cents 🙏✌️

1.  There's no such thing as your people here. Skeeter is a current AT&T customer I am a current Verizon customer, former at&t customer.   Facts are what they are. Based on your post, there were no lies told 

2.  A lot of people complain because they did not read or understand what they purchased, And you are an example.  One of the biggest complaints is not understanding the installment and bill credit business model which was created by T-Mobile and is now used by all service providers. Both Verizon and AT&T delay the bill credits. My understanding is T-Mobile doesn't, they'll just take them back retroactively if you didn't meet the qualifications.  

3.  So maybe you knew exactly the same thing the person at BJ's did?  (Nothing).  Like it or not it was up to you to transfer your program code.  But that's irrelevant as it is ended due to no funds, and if you are employed, you may no longer qualify.

4.  Oh pul-eeese... Skeeter has been on this forum longer than I have and she has probably seen me post this before ... I do not have a 4-year college degree. I have 2 years of community college, which I paid for myself.   In the late '80s I lost absolutely everything. I married a dirtbag who ruined my credit took out loans in my name.  Ran up every single credit card that I could get because that's the way his crazy family thought everyone was supposed to live.   By the time I got rid of him, I was stuck with a mountain of debt in a rat infested apartment, I got downsized out of my job, my car got stolen.  I was eating spaghetti 7 days a week because it was the only thing I could afford. My landlord didn't want to lose me as a tenant so he actually lowered my rent substantially.  (It's not easy to rent an apartment with rats) I sold everything I could just to meet my bills which took me years to pay off.  Because of that experience I have absolutely not allowed myself to get into debt ever again.  Not a mortgage, not a car loan, not a credit card that I couldn't pay off every single month. And put aside a rainy day fund which carried me all the way through the pandemic because I had no work.    

 5.  With the information you have provided, I see no scam.  The iPhone 14 was indeed offered free even to existing customers as long as you maintained an unlimited data plan. Bill credits start an approximately 90 days. And Based on the starter plan, and you being eligible for 25% health care workers discount and you transferring your ACP, which you didn't, that price would have been correct.   If you didn't do your part and provide documentation to verify all that, there's not much AT&T can do about it. 

6.  You were provided with information and facts that are easily available online. Both in on AT&T's website, the FCC website, information widely circulated about how ACP works.   Based on the information, the advertisements, I still see no lies told by BJs...

The only surprise here is that BJ's (just like Costco and Sam's club)  didn't lie for once. All of the information you were given is correct. They only missing information is the timeline you should have expected for bill credits on the phone, The start of the discount for your hospital/healthcare worker employment, and the expiration of ACP. 

Providing the documentation for discount and  ACP was entirely on you.  Everything you signed either on paper or on a tablet would have included information on when your discounts or credits would have started. 

Im going to say that it’s your fault your ex did everything he did to you .  you should have known better.  it’s nobody’s fault other then yours that you fell into debt and he deceived you.  call him a (Edited per community guidelines) all you want.  You married him, it’s on you that you didn’t see him for what he was.  all fault lies on you.  you never should have trusted that he was someone he wasn’t and believed him when he told you he loved you.  No fault of his at all.  or maybe that subject literally has nothing to do with me, I should keep my crooked  opinions to myself, and move on!   I’m sorry you found your comfort in an att forum .  Telling mislead ppl your delusional perception of things that Literally have zero to do with you and will never bring your life anything worth living for is just proof that your still stuck making poor life  decisions just like the ones you made with that ex of yours.  Take yourself to a beach concert, dance barefoot, and find something that actually feels good inside.  This is my first online complaint and i already want to be sick with the level of internet trolls i’ve crossed paths with.  Prayers coming at you strong today!  

Hello @Haybre1711,

We comprehend the situation, and we would like to get you all the help needed. 

The Community Forums are a public support option where other users, and AT&T, will try and assist with high level support needs.   This means we won’t be able to look into account specific concerns.  To get the help you need for your unique issue, please review our Contact Us page, and choose the best option to reach out to us.  You can call, chat, or reach out via social media and we can review your specific issue and provide you support.  If you feel your issue isn’t account specific, and can be answered generally, please let us know and we’ll be happy to help. 

Hope this helps! Feel free to revert for any further questions. 

Thanks for visiting AT&T Community Forums,
Gary, Community Forums Specialist.

@Haybre1711  Two words:  Caveat Emptor.  

@Haybre1711  Maybe you shouldn’t get a new phone, if you can’t afford it on your own. Maybe you should try prepaid service if you have to rely on the government to help you with service. Maybe you should have waited until you actually have a job so you can pay for things on your own. 🙄

Wow, just wow. Read the receipt, read the TOS, and read the offers and deals listed on AT&Ts site. AT&T will only honor what is listed there, in detail, regardless of what an independent Retail operator, who AT&T has no control over how they conduct their business practices, tells you.

@Haybre1711 

You see here's the difference between you and I ...

I know it was my fault. There were red flags from the day I met him. But I was young and I thought it was in love and I married him anyway. And every time he pulled a fast one instead of making sure he couldn't do it again, I was young and in love and I let him do it again. 

Took me 3 years of an absolutely miserable relationship to get out. 

But I learned. I learned to follow my gut, to pay attention to things, to be prepared for things, to not allow myself to be taken advantage of. 

   I also learned how to squeeze a penny till it yelled for mercy.  I learned to get my butt in gear and hustle if it meant side jobs and 16 hour days.

  I learned to prepare before I make a purchase by doing a little research. I read things before I sign them, and I know what I'm signing matches what I researched or I'm going to walk.

And because I learned I managed to sail through 2020 on my savings. I own my own house, I have three cars. All paid off.  

The saying is:

Good decisions come from experience, but experience comes from making bad decisions

And that was only one bad decision. I'm 61, I made plenty in my youth.  So I'm older and wiser and I have better insurance 🤣

And, unless you misinformed the representative, everything you were told at the time was correct.

It was up to you to comply with requirements