Trade-in Problems

I wish you had hollered before your 30 days was up.

Unless you get a full credit as a lump-sum I would advise you not send your phones anywhere.

The trade-in deal sends your phone's to a third-party recycler who will have absolutely no idea that AT&T might have said they will take your phones late.

AT&T keeps insisting on the phone that they've given "extensions" of the 30-day deadline, but at this point I'm not really confident that that's going to be the case if I'm ever actually able to send the old devices in.

Hello ryanjhill, let's get you pointed in the right direction for support with your trade-in.

We understand the trade-in process can be frustrating. In order to receive assistance with a trade-in. Please reach out to AT&T Trade in department. They have a chat option or you can call 1-888-445-6005 M-F 7am-7pm CST S-S 9am-5pm CS.

Let us know if this helps!

Thank you for visiting AT&T Community Forums!

Carlton, AT&T Community Specialist 

As I said in the post, I've already spoken with the trade-in department multiple times. No one there has been able to give me a solution beyond trying to send me the shipping materials again, which has already been attempted three times.

Based on the many other posts in this forum about this exact issue, it seems like this is a systemic problem that AT&T is just unable or unwilling to solve, hence the FCC complaint. This shouldn't be nearly as difficult as it is, and I'm sure that if it was costing AT&T money rather than costing their customers money, it'd be solved immediately.

I'm going to second what @formerlyknownas said: Unless the person who responds to the FCC complaint tells you to, don't send those phones anywhere, even if the kit arrives tomorrow. 

Hello @ryanjhill, we can help you take a look into your trade-in.

We would need to gain a better understanding of your trade-in.

Please share with me which trade-in promotion you used for your device? Did anyone email you a shipping label? And have you been charged the full price for your new device already?

Learn how to stay eligible for your promotion.

Let’s meet in a Direct Message to discuss your trade-in option. Please check your Direct Message Inbox (it’s the chat icon next to the bell icon in the upper right corner of the Forums).

Please verify your account, so I can help you today!

Danielle, AT&T Community Specialist 

Since AT&T seems to want to keep these conversations private, an update here. AT&T in direct messages now tells me they’re not going to honor my trade in despite telling me before that they’d extended the deadline. No further explanation, just the rote repeating of the trade in department phone number. This is really approaching scam territory. I’m continuing with my complaint to the FCC and would encourage anyone else having this problem to do the same.

Yeah, I knew that "extend the deadline" was a bunch of bull hockey. No one likes to tell customer bad news, so they sugar coat, withhold information, or sometimes just make things up so customers are happy. 

JanitoAuntie,

I sent my phone in in October 2022. I called AT&T to ask why I there wasn't a shipping label in the box to send my old phone (Samsung Galaxy s8). The operator I spoke with emailed a shipping label. I sent in my s8 and I have the receipt with the tracking number to prove it. I called back to find out why I was paying full price for my ne s22 phone. I explained to that operator that I sent in my old phone. While talking to her I looked up the package at the post office website with the tracking number and the information said that my phone was delivered two days later to the address on the label on the package. The operator said that it was sent to the wrong address. Today when I spoke to a manager she said that they never received the phone and they are refusing to give me the credit I deserve for the phone. I believe they are lying about receiving my phone.

After signing up for a new account and requesting trade-in shipping materials almost three months ago, I still haven't received anything and am still being charged full price for the new devices associated with my account. I've requested new shipping materials from the customer service department three times, but haven't gotten anything. My local AT&T store also won't take the trade-in, saying I need to go through the online trade-in process. There doesn't seem to be any consistency about what the policies and practices are. On the last phone call I made to the trade-in department, a representative suggested that I should mail the old devices myself to the PO Box listed on my bill, but another representative on the same call told me they wouldn't be accepted without the official trade-in materials. Having read a lot of similar posts on this forum, it seems like this is an ongoing and widespread problem, so I'm filing an FCC complaint. I'd suggest anyone else faced with this problem do the same via this link.

I'm having the same problem and no help from at&t.