Mobile Share Value Plans Questions and Discussion

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@lmkatz wrote:
I have spoken with others to whom these factors were not explained. I think it's a gimmick! and a ingenuous.

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I admit that when I first heard of these plans I walked into my local AT&T store and the clerk there didn't even understand them, but that was only 2-3 days after they were announced.  My wife & I spent 45 minutes in the store talking to the rep and she kept telling me that we weren't eligible for the $25/month discount even though the AT&T website indicated that we were.  That was an honest mistake made because the girl hadn't learned the nuiances of the new plans by the 2nd day they were available.

I still spoke with the girl about something else and after we left, my wife was furious because she swore to me that the girl in the store told us that we were late in our payments, even though we were fully paid and had no balance due at the time.  While it was a little vague, because the girl was using the term "arrears" she was actually talking about an internal term for pre-paid/post-paid service plans.  Our AT&T accounts had been around for so long, they were on an old billing system and she couldn't make the adjustments we were requesting because of that (and her being far too literal in what we had asked to be changed).  My point here is that my wife heard the clerk say one thing, when in fact the clerk had not said that at all.  It is quite possible that the people you have spoken with were so excited about getting a new "toy", or "saving money" that they didn't listen to when they were told and they only heard what they thought should have been said to them.  This is all too easy to happen.

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@lmkatz wrote:
I have spoken with others to whom these factors were not explained. I think it's a gimmick! and a ingenuous.

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they are explained - on the tv commercials there is a footnote, on the web pages there is a chart showing exactly what you pay. People have been yelling for lower prices for service when they own their own device, now they are getting them and the now the people that are yelling are the ones that want both - lower service cost and the carrier footing the majority of the cost of a new phone. Note the pricing structure that is explained on the web site, not much of a gimmeck if it is spelled out to the savy consumer

How is it that some people apparently either can't figure out how to do some online research on AT&T's website, or can't be bothered to do any research that doesn't require some company representative having to explain the details in person?

What I find a bit ironic is some of these people insinuating that they couldn't find any such info (online) about how the MSV plans work when it comes to phone upgrade pricing...yet they managed to find this online forum to complain about how they were duped/misled/etc.  Next thing you know, these people will claim that the info folks like wingrider posted in this thread wasn't there previously when they tried to look for it on AT&T's website...or other lame excuses like they can't read the fine print that scrolls by or flashes quickly during those AT&T TV commercials.

I called to cancel and was transfered to what I'm now being told is the customer retention center. 

I was told that they would bring my bill down to $145 with 3 lines of service and give me two new Iphones early for $100 each and give me  a $100 credit if I stayed today. Then I was told that if I added a 4th line I would be charged $160 per month plus taxes and get a free smart phone.
I've gotten the bill and it is $215 plus taxes.

I am going to contact the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney Generals office and anyone who will listen. 

I have called AT&T many times to be told that a manger is going to call me back....has never happened. I have been told that all voice calls in that department are recoreded and a manager will be able to listen to it to find out what was promised. And, if that is the case they have the ability to overide the system and give me what we agreed upon. Never happend.

I have been told that this persons boss who told me this is what we are agreeing on has never called me back. I was even told by a rep they could see in the notes where it was promised. 

I will not stop until this agreement is honored. I was leaving for a much better deal, why would I agree to this. 

Does anyone have advice to help remidy this situation. This has to be illeigal ? 

I have 4 different accounts with AT&T and I've been a customer for years, way back before PacBell was bought out by AT&T. Customer service has gotten so bad that I've decided to terminate all of my accounts and take them to Verizon or whatever.

I just spent 50 minutes on the phone trying to fix a double billing problem. This is just the latest in a long series of problems that have been happening for the past 6 months or so.

Just a few of the problems: We bought Uverse and scheduled the tech person to hook it up. Three times he didn't showed and lied saying we weren't home. Finally, AT&T said they would credit us for the service call. However, the service call showed up on our bill anyway. We had to spend 2 hours straightening that out. Then they added an in-home line insurance charge that we didn't order. We spent another hour getting that taken off the bill. But the next month it showed up again. Again we spent an hour on the phone getting that reversed. The next month IT SHOWED UP AGAIN! Another hour on the phone. It won't surprise me if it's on the next bill too.  Then I switched our wireless phones to their new shared plan, the one for $170 for 4 lines. I was promised that the new price would apply to all 4 lines. When I got the first bill it was over &190 because they didn't apply the price to one of the lines.  Even though I had the chat transcrip where AT&T promised to apply the price to all lines, they refused to do it. I spent 5 hours total that day. The customer service rep first tried to deny that it was offered on all lines, then when I copied her the chat transcript she said they were talking about the Next program instead of the shared plan, then she said they meant I only got the price for one month! I still haven't gotten the price they promised.

I ordered their online fax service for my business. When the confirmation email hadn't arrived by the next day I called AT&T. At first noone even knew what the online fax was. After being disconnected once and being transferred around for at least an hour I was finally connected to their web hosting department. That person said that my order had never been processed so she set it up for me. The next month I was billed twice because the first order finally went through. I spent another hour correcting (I hope!) that mistake.

Then there,s the problem with AT&T changing the authorized person on my account so I couldn't make changes, not calling back when promised . . . . and on, and on and on.

I was told basically the same thing.  I was on the phone for over 3 hours yesterday and talked to 4 different people.  Each time it was suppose to be someone higher up and they basically all told me the same thing.  This is the right price on your bill, you were "misinformed", we are sorry and tough.  So basically they can lie and lie and lie and they don't give a care about the customer at all.  I am shopping around today to move all of my services elsewhere.  They are nothing but crooks!!!!!

Not that this is anything new, but ATT Customer Service is absolutely the worst. 

They've outsourced to some foreign country and no one really listens.  They're reading from pre-prepared scripts on what they are supposed to say and it is just awful.

My story is that after 4 months or so after UVerse came into my neighborhood, there was nothing but problems.  Either my DSL or land line, or both, were either non-functioning or compromised.  ATT would never admit that it had anything to do with the new UVerse until I talked to a fellow who had been an installer for over 20 years.  He gave me the scoop on why my problems would occur when UVerse entered the scene.

As far as my cell phone service with ATT, dropped calls or audio that was so bad that I rarely used my cell phone.

The culmination of all this nonsense came on Friday, 5/2/14, when I noticed that it was not my imagination that calls I tried making from my land line to a neighboring area code would not go through.  This problem had been intermittingly going on for about 3 weeks when I realized on that Friday that I'd better call ATT to see what in the world is going on. 

I had a very nice gal who, after taking all my info, tried getting repair on the line.  It seemed to take forever.  Finally, a fellow came on the line and told me he did detect trouble on the line but  the earliest someone could come out and repair the problem was the following Friday.  That's when I finally realized that I was not the only one having ongoing problems with ATT service.  That is because the usual time it would take for someone to come out and repair my line would have been next day.  But to wait a week --holy moses! 

After 50 years of service with ATT / Ma Bell, I decided to cut my losses and join the 21st century and get a smart phone then have my land line number ported to that phone.  I did that on Sunday, 5/4.  Yes, it's only been a little over a week, but I've never been so happy.  I thought I'd never have to deal with ATT regarding all these problems ever again.

Then, it was time to pay bills this morning.  I went online and could not find any final bill information.  I called the ~ ~ 2020 number.  Needless to say, I was sent to Indonesia, Malaysia or wherever.  The gal who I was on the phone with could not retain any information.  All I wanted to know is when I would receive my final bill or when would it be available online.  After quite some time of repeating over and over what I was calling about, she not only gave me 2 different final bill amounts but tried to sell me on land line and wireless service --holy toledo, I just cancelled both of those.  Yes, I was talking to an automoton. 

My ATT entire experience iin the last 4 months or so has been unpleasant that I don't know how they can stay in business.  It's just horrible.

Thanks for letting me vent,

Linda

Dear Teacher,

I was stunned to read about your experience as it exactly matches our own experience. Same number kids except two boys, not girls, and same lack of notification by AT&T despite numerous opportunities to do so because I'd spoken with AT&T on so many occasions in an effort to make an informed decision. On two recent occasions when calling to discuss the shockingly higher bill that was a far cry from $160, both agents told me, "yes; I agree it is not fair", and "I'm sorry you were not told about upgrading." In our cases the boys did not upgrade in the classic sense of the word. Their phones stopped functioning - one was dropped or had something dropped on it accidentally, and the other simply failed, period. 

I repeatedly asked about the impacts of replacing these two phones on our new, "awesome", money-saving mobile share plan, and each time I was told there was no impact and was cheerfully supported in my choice to move to the plan that was seemingly "perfect" for us. All of that was too good to be true.

Today I was contacted by a different sort of agent. Her tone and approach were about as authentically understanding as you could ask of someone professionally trained to deal with long-term customers that are outraged over this treatment. She offered a one-time $25 credit to our bill ("as a means to offset the higher cost"), and she went ahead and applied this credit despite my not actually saying "yes, I'll take it." She advised me to continue to check on the Plans and Services pages within the website, not the homepage, for what will apparently be some future addressing of the situation by AT&T. She didn't yet know what the resolution would be, but she said that this was a significant issue that has AT&T very concerned about the failure of properly conveying the fullest details to customers - from AT&T representatives down to the 2nd and 3rd party retailers like Best Buy and others that are part of the problem.

My first inclination is to drop AT&T for this and, indeed, that is the plan. There are just too many affordable options out there to stand by and let them get away with this. 

Sincerely,

bent