AT&T Community Forums

Help With AT&T Trade-In Program for New Customers

One of the reasons I made the switch to AT&T is that I would get credit for my old phone with my previous company, which was only 6 months old so I still owed a significant amount on it. I was initially told that credit would be given within 2 weeks of AT&T receiving the phone. It was really challenging just getting the right shipping materials - it took 4 different reps and another 2 weeks for me to get them as no one seemed to understand what the program even was. I was told to call a local store and have them send them out to me (I live 50 miles from the nearest store) but the store sent me back to AT&T after telling me that didn't make sense at all. I was then sent the wrong return materials by a rep that were meant for a defective AT&T phone even after asking her specifically if this was for the trade-in program for new accounts and she said yes. I have a copy of the chat. Nevertheless, I finally received the right shipping materials, sent the phone in, and have confirmation via USPS it was delivered and received by AT&T on July 19th. That was now nearly 4 weeks ago and the status still shows not received. When I chatted with a rep, they assured me I would receive credit within 2 weeks, then another tried to explain, well it's 2 weeks after they actually "receive" it in the system. When contacting support, I was told they did have the phone and it was in processing - when I asked how long it would take, I received this message: "As stated, your device has been received and is currently being processed by our inspection team, which will be verifying the device's details and condition. Once processing has been completed, the system will be updated and you should receive a confirmation e-mail, no later than next week."

Well, guess what. It's past "next week" and the status still shows "not received." There is no number to call specific to this, and the chat reps don't seem to really know anything about it. I've had to pay for my phone with my previous company, well over $500 - this is getting beyond ridiculous.

How can I get this resolved? I feel like I'm getting the run around, and combined with other misinformation I've been given by AT&T reps, I am extremely disappointed in the customer service I've experienced thus far. At this point, my next step is a complaint with the BBB/FCC (FTC?).

Responses

formerlyknownas

ACE - Sage

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117K Messages

7 years ago

Since you have confirmation the phone was received by ATT, that's good. I'm not happy with the rest of the nonsense you went through. Reps should know about the switch offer, which has been ongoing for over a year and a half.

Send a private message through the forum by clicking here @ATTCares

This is not a chat line, you will have to wait a few days for a reply. Reply comes in the envelope at top right or you can include your contact information. Please copy what you wrote above and include that in your message.

let us know how it goes. If you don't get a resolution or response, PLEASE, post on this thread again.

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KCinWashington

Tutor

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7 Messages

7 years ago

Thanks so much for your help! For some reason I can't find where to private message via the link you included, I'm only seeing a forum? Can you let me know how that works when you have a chance? I still haven't received any response from AT&T whatsoever so really hoping this will help. Thanks again, Karen

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KCinWashington

Tutor

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7 Messages

7 years ago

Weird, tried it again and now the send a message button is popping up, for some reason it didn't before. Going to send a message now, thanks again for your help.

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KCinWashington

Tutor

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7 Messages

7 years ago

Well, no one ever replied there or anywhere else. I ended up having to contact the president's office to get a resolution. Thankful for that, but no apology whatsoever for all the empty promises and lies. The customer service is astoundingly bad, worse than I've ever experienced. As a new customer I sorely regret making the change.

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formerlyknownas

ACE - Sage

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117K Messages

7 years ago

I will forward this thread. 😖

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ATTKevin

Former Employee

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408 Messages

7 years ago

@KCinWashington wrote:

Well, no one ever replied there or anywhere else. I ended up having to contact the president's office to get a resolution. Thankful for that, but no apology whatsoever for all the empty promises and lies. The customer service is astoundingly bad, worse than I've ever experienced. As a new customer I sorely regret making the change.

Hello @KCinWashington,

I'm very sorry that you did not receive a response from your private message. I'm accountable for the responses on this board, and I take full responsibility of what happened.

Upon investigation, it appears that the routing system for your message never routed the message to any group. It went off into what I can only imagine is the warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Ark never to be seen again.

I sent this off to our engineers to figure out what happened so other customers don't end up getting missed like you did.

I'm glad you were able to get your issue resolved through our Office of the President and I again apologize that you had to take that route to get this fixed.

Thank you to @lizdance40 for pointing this out - And @KCinWashington@, if you ever need anything, please feel free to @Mention me (@ATTKevinCS) or send me a private message. I'll be sure to give the VIP treatment next time for what you went through on this.

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