AT%T is charging me $205 for Unauthorized port of my number.

Question

Someone had my phone number ported to another company without my permission or knowledge. Now calls to my number go to someone else's phone and AT%T expects me to pay an early termination fee because of that. AT&T said they would waive the ETF only if I ported the number back, but I must give them the new company's account number and pin. I obviously don't have those so I offered to open a new line. It seems like a fair offer to me. I would continue to pay for the number of lines I am contracted for and they wouldn't charge me a ridiculous fee for something I had no control over.  I guess fairness is to much to ask for from AT%T.

GeekBoy · Answer

@exCustmr wrote:Someone had my phone number ported to another company without my permission or knowledge. Now calls to my number go to someone else's phone and AT%T expects me to pay an early termination fee because of that. AT&T said they would waive the ETF only if I ported the number back, but I must give them the new company's account number and pin. I obviously don't have those so I offered to open a new line. It seems like a fair offer to me. I would continue to pay for the number of lines I am contracted for and they wouldn't charge me a ridiculous fee for something I had no control over.  I guess fairness is to much to ask for from AT%T.The difficult thing is that inorder to port your number away from AT&T the person had to have your account details.  This is the same reason that AT&T is asking you for that information to transfer the number back to them.  If AT&T were to port the number back without the correct authorizations, they could be doing something wrong.  If your identity was stolen, get a police report for it and speak with AT&T provinding that police report information and they may be more willing to assist you. From AT&T's point of view, it is entirely possible that you and a significant other transferred your service to a new carrier, and now, after a break-up you are trying to stiff them with a huge bill at the new carrier as a form of 'revenge'.  There have been many cases where following a break-up one party reports the other's cell phone to AT&T as stolen causing it to become unusable by the 'ex' leaving them with an expensive paperweight.  AT&T does not want to get caught in the middle of 'family squabbles', so they tend to require a bit more than just a phone call to resolve issues like this. I wish you luck in resolving your issue, and if I were you I would be more concerned about how and why someone would port your number to another carrier than the ETF you are facing from AT&T...

exCustmr · Answer

If AT&T would have accepted my offer they would

@GeekBoy wrote:
@exCustmr wrote:
Someone had my phone number ported to another company without my permission or knowledge. Now calls to my number go to someone else's phone and AT%T expects me to pay an early termination fee because of that. AT&T said they would waive the ETF only if I ported the number back, but I must give them the new company's account number and pin. I obviously don't have those so I offered to open a new line. It seems like a fair offer to me. I would continue to pay for the number of lines I am contracted for and they wouldn't charge me a ridiculous fee for something I had no control over. I guess fairness is to much to ask for from AT%T.
The difficult thing is that inorder to port your number away from AT&T the person had to have your account details. This is the same reason that AT&T is asking you for that information to transfer the number back to them. If AT&T were to port the number back without the correct authorizations, they could be doing something wrong. If your identity was stolen, get a police report for it and speak with AT&T provinding that police report information and they may be more willing to assist you.

From AT&T's point of view, it is entirely possible that you and a significant other transferred your service to a new carrier, and now, after a break-up you are trying to stiff them with a huge bill at the new carrier as a form of "revenge". There have been many cases where following a break-up one party reports the other's cell phone to AT&T as stolen causing it to become unusable by the "ex" leaving them with an expensive paperweight. AT&T does not want to get caught in the middle of "family squabbles", so they tend to require a bit more than just a phone call to resolve issues like this.

I wish you luck in resolving your issue, and if I were you I would be more concerned about how and why someone would port your number to another carrier than the ETF you are facing from AT&T...

If AT&T would have accepted my offer they would in no way be caught in the middle of a family squabble. That sounds more like a scape goat than an actual concern anyway. The one thing they would loose by accepting my offer is a quick payday of $205 without providing any service in return. If that is there only concern then I am glade I am no longer bound by their ridiculous contract. I found a T-mobile monthly plan for half the price, so I will make the money back in a few months. AT&T, however lost a decade long customer and thousands of dollars in overpriced payments. I guess things did work out for the best.