What does customer service mean (was: Why does support lie about plan costs?)

After 2 hours on chat and getting so fed up I was ready to move to Verizon I called to make sure my numbers could be transferred. The customer support agent asked why and I explained, and she looked at the account. Turns out someone made a change on the ATT back end that dropped one of my discounts that led to the $50 increase. My account was fixed and I am back where I should be, and got credit where I was overcharged for 2 months.

I still have frustration with the chat support agents I talked to that kept telling me it was a miscommunication, and that I had to get to the point where I was ready to leave before someone actually looked at the problem. That is the opposite of customer service.

So, in other words, no one lied to you about the plan costs. Someone just screwed up your account. Yes? If so, maybe you should edit your thread title.

Better?

What does customer service mean (was: Why does support lie about plan costs?)

Hey, at least he came back

Just to clear it up, you cannot stack the 2 discount offers.  You can get either the military/first responder 25% OR get the Elite plan for the same Price as Extra’s FULL PRICE if you have a signature discount.  

There is a difference between the offer which reduces the elite plan to the cost of extra’s REGULAR COST, and the military discount which takes 25% off all of the unlimited data plans.  

Your military discount would have reduced cost on extra: 

Military discount is 25% off entire plan cost.  
5 lines on extra, $175 - less 25% = 131.25

5 lines on elite, $225 - less 25% = 168.75

Signature discount give you $10 off the elite lines, which equals the price of the Extra plan, which would mean your plan cost would be $175, or $6.25 more than with military discount.  
Extra 5 lines, no signature discount $175

Elite 5 lines, with signature discount, $175

So if the OP thought they were getting another $10 off or getting the Elite plan for $131.25, Thats not how it works.  

with taxes of about $5 - 9 per line, expected bill would be  Somewhere in the ballpark of  $193 - $213

"So if the OP thought they were getting another $10 off or getting the Elite plan for $131.25, Thats not how it works."

Liz, your footnote says you don't work for ATT but you offer a lot of information. That information I would expect customer service reps that DO work for ATT to have and be able to explain to a customer. You can see from the chat I posted I very clearly asked if I could upgrade at no cost. Multiple times I restated my question then asked for clarity/confirmation. Every time the answer was yes, I could upgrade for not one penny more. If the answer had been different I would not have upgraded and this post would never have been made. So yes, according to the chat I posted up top that is clearly how it works coming from someone who does work for ATT.

When I got a bill the story was different. When I reached out to customer service I was essentially told I don't understand English. They made no attempt to figure out why, they just said I misunderstood.

Bottom line is that after I started taking steps to move to Verizon they put my bill back where the customer service agent said it should be. The missing discount was autopay that was somehow still showing on my account but i was not getting credit for.

That information I would expect customer service reps that DO work for ATT to have and be able to explain to a customer.

Yeah, you would think that but definitely not always the case, especially so with chat agents. 

@ejcleek  I swear they don’t understand the nuances of discounts and stacking, and the exceptions.  
While the ad does say you can get Elite for the price of extra with the discount, it’s the full price of extra.  
   No carrier that I know of allows you to stack 2 employee/military type discounts.  You pick the best one, which for you is military.  
My info is correct.  No matter what was done as far as credits, the correct cost will not allow you to stack and will settle on the 25% off price.  Don’t be surprised when you plan is price corrected.  

When they correct the plan I will call them again. I asked several times for them to just roll back my plan and refund the additional charges for 2 months because I took the upgrade under misinformation but they couldn’t even do that.

As a customer I have to ask what the options are, and I make decisions based on what the company rep tells me. If a company rep says you can have something for $10 the company should honor that. If the rep gave bad info that is the company’s issue to resolve, not the customer’s to pay for.

And next time you call, they will put you back on Extra.  AT&T won’t keep crediting you $30 every month.