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Tutor

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3 Messages

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2016 9:04 PM

Switcher Program Is Misleading/Scam

Back in April 2016 my husband and I decided to switch to At&t from Sprint because we have Direct Tv and would liked to have only had one bill to pay. They are/were offering the UP TO 650 per line switching credit. We owed Sprint 128 ETF and 200 lease buy out for Each line. Which totals up to 656 for two lines. When we turned in our phones (which we had to do) both were 1 year old Iphone 6 64gb, the lady who was signing us up told us after looking over our phone making sure they were not damaged that the value of our phones would be 200 each; Which we would recieve in bill credit. After all said and done we have our new phones with At&t I go and submit our final sprint bill with all the break downs on it that showed exacly what was owe for each thing. after waiting some time and Sprint now on our butts about paying them and said they have sent it to collections (hurting my husbands perfect credit) I call At&t and they said they have recieved our final bill everything looked good and we should be getting our VISA cards 4-6 weeks. The VISA cards finally come and each were only 128 totaling 256. So I call thinking maybe we would be getting the other 400 seperate because they were seperate things needed paid off. After about 5 hours on the phone today I learn that the 200 that was given us as a bill credit was part of the rebate for the Lease Buy Out. So now my husband and I are left to pay a little over 400 to what now has been sent to collections because its been so long waiting to only find out we were lied to in the beginning and we wouldnt have ever switched known this would be the end result. We only had 5 months left with Sprint and our service wasnt terrible we just wanted to bundle. Now I am wishing we never would have even thought about this. Has anyone had any luck getting the rest of the money they were owed?? If so what are the steps even in long and tetus. I am not looking to make bank, I just want to cover what I thought was going to be covered. Also if I would have known we essentially were going to get any money for our rather new Iphones (because the 200 bill credit was supposedly the lease buy out rebate) I wouldnt have ever agreed to that kind of offer. Very frustrated and alot of tears have been spilt over this ordeal

Tutor

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2 Messages

7 years ago

So my wife and mother in law were stiull undder contract with our family plan at Verizon, I was in the clear.  We switched as a family seeing the $600 free AT&T fee payment credits everywhere.  The store clerk that helped us was good on the phone change, but never brought up how to ge the $600 credit .

 

Verizon charged us $662. in cancelation charges on my wifes and Mothers part of the account.

 

My wife contacted AT&T for the credits which were to come on Gift cards which is not like getting transfer fees paid, this is the first part of the scam.  Now we were out 662 and the gift cards weren;t going to pay any bills, were they.

 

After a couple of months my wife contacted AT&T  to find out what was the holdup.  It was only then that we heard that "um Sorry you have to trade in Smart Phones and you only get credit for that value...which lets face it is pennies and NOT the $600 that was advertized.

Teacher

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45 Messages

7 years ago

I believe you are right. They had the nerve to tell me I DID NOT TRADE IN MY PHONE, BUT DID TRADE IN MY FINACE'S PHONE. WHO STOLE MY PHONE? TOMORROW, I AM TAKING SERIAL NUMBER TO POLICE DEPARTMENT.

Teacher

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45 Messages

7 years ago

YES, YOUNG AMERICA.....THEIR PHONE NUMBER IS 866-852-8617

ACE - Sage

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116.4K Messages

7 years ago


@kbstarfish wrote:

I believe you are right. They had the nerve to tell me I DID NOT TRADE IN MY PHONE, BUT DID TRADE IN MY FINACE'S PHONE. WHO STOLE MY PHONE? TOMORROW, I AM TAKING SERIAL NUMBER TO POLICE DEPARTMENT.


Did you trade in the phone that was under contract/device payments?    You have to trade in the device actually on the final bill, you can't substitute.  

 

 

Tutor

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2 Messages

7 years ago

To pay off my two phones from my old carrier totaled 700. not including etfs. I received 75. credit while there getting my phones. I don't believe getting back 500. total for both phones is a fair amount. So, I don't agree with your reply, that they pay off etf and the balance due on the phones. I done the math, 500. for 700. dollar phones and then some other charges is not even paying me back for the phones they now own. I do believe Young America are scamming customers and taking money from the top. Its total bolgna.

Mentor

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21 Messages

7 years ago

So very true..... AT&T owes me 300.00...
Can't wait for contract to be up...

Tutor

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2 Messages

7 years ago

Me too, promise of $600 to cover transfer frim Verizon was actually a "up to credit if you turned in perfect smartphones worth much more"

Very misleading.

ACE - Sage

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116.4K Messages

7 years ago


@BentMeOvr wrote:
To pay off my two phones from my old carrier totaled 700. not including etfs. I received 75. credit while there getting my phones. I don't believe getting back 500. total for both phones is a fair amount. So, I don't agree with your reply, that they pay off etf and the balance due on the phones. I done the math, 500. for 700. dollar phones and then some other charges is not even paying me back for the phones they now own. I do believe Young America are scamming customers and taking money from the top. Its total bolgna.

@BentMeOvr

If you owed your last carrier both payments on phones AND ETF on your lines, you were "bent over" before you ever got to AT&T.

You should not have an ETF and device payments that add up to far more than your phone sold for at retail.  This seems to be a Sprint tactic.  They double dip, putting both a lease on the phone and ETF on the line of service.  The total adds up to far more than the retail price.  

Contracts are just as shady, but then until recently all carriers were using contracts and collecting far more than retail cost.  

The reimbursement offer from ATT and Verizon specifically offers to reimburse "ETF, lease or device payments".   The word "OR" is important and a deliberate dig at Sprints double dip policy. 

If you're done with ATT so be it.  Just don't be fool enough to go back to Sprint.

 

 

 

Mentor

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21 Messages

7 years ago

I hear ya..... We shouldn't believe what we hear on advertisements...... That was just terrible business

Scholar

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51 Messages

6 years ago

I just wanted to let you know, I am having the same problem! I only switched to bundle and I too thought they would pay up to $650 per line and did not understand that they bill credit I received for 4 iPhones would be counted towards what ATT woyld pay, my total with T-Mobile came up to $1200 for 5 lines. I have been insulted by people on the forum and I am now in danger of being sent to collections.
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