ATT Changed My Plan Without My Permission And Now Wants Hundreds Of Data Overages Dollars

First of all, I have been a postpaid AT&T wireless customer for close to 15 years, and a shareholder for even longer.  I fear that both of those tenures are coming to an end.

On September 14 one of our phones broke. Because we had an apple gift card, we went to the Apple Store in the Willow Grove PA mall to buy a new phone, outright. We then walked across the mall to the ATT store (a real store, not an "authorized vendor") where a friendly gentleman (who worked there) installed a new SIM card and activated the phone. I expressly asked the gentleman whether I needed to do anything to preserve the nature or characteristics of the plan it was on. He said no, it would be the same.

Fast forward to November 14, the Monday following my son's 12th birthday, when we got him a new SE, added to my account. On the 14th, I went online to review the status of his plan and to see why I'd been getting notices about the line with the replaced phone and it's data usage. I discovered that that line had $180 in data overage charges and that, contrary to what I was told in the ATT store in  September, ATT had, on September 14, changed the plan from 3GB to 300MB, resulting in overages which would not have occurred had the 3GB plan been in place. Ironically, the new line, activated by apple, got the 3GB plan.

Still on November 14, I immediately called ATT and spoke with Latoya. She understood the situation, it appeared, and agreed to reinstate the 3GB plan and reverse the overage charges. She seemed very helpful and I praised her. The next day, I went back online to confirm and discovered that in fact the plan was not reinstated, and instead of being credited for the $180 in charges, I was credited the random amount of $40. (And yet more such charges were added!!)  I don't know if Latoya lied to me or just changed her mind and decided to screw me.  Doesn't matter, really.

I immediately called and spoke with a young man whose name I don't recall.

What followed was painful and insulting. The young man agreed that I was the victim of a mistake but insisted that he could only help me if I agreed to subscribe to Direct tv. I live in a heavily wooded area where satellite tv is known to be unreliable and therefore have no interest in direct tv. When I told this fellow that, he took the tack that the situation was my own fault for believing what the guy in the store told me, saying "those guys just know phones, they don't know plans". As if that's in my control. Then he hit me with a gotcha. He said when I became an ATT wireless customer 15 years ago, one of the things I signed gave ATT permission to change my service any time it wanted. Wow. There's a reward for loyalty.

I asked him if there was a supervisor or someone to whom I could address an appeal of his position. He said yes, I could talk to his manager, and put me on hold for 10-15 minutes. While on hold, I did an online chat with T-mobile, who offered me three lines with unlimited data (and text and talk) for a monthly price well below what I pay ATT.

When my call recommenced, the young man was back, not a manager. He said that he spoke with his manager and that I was TSOL because the $40 credit which Latoya gave me made me ineligible for any account adjustments for six months!  But, I explained, Latoya's $40 credit was just a continuation of the original mistake. Well, Mr. man said that was just tough luck. Now was I ready to subscribe to Direct tv -- because now I really had no choice -- or just keep paying outrageous and unreasonable fees.

Really, after 15 years and countless thousands of dollars of business, this is how I get treated?  I'm going to give ATT until Thursday, the 17th to sort this out. Then, after work, I'm going to the TMobile store.  Maybe they have a few less cell towers, but I refuse to do business with a company who treats me this way. After 15 years as a post paid cash cow.