Posted on 08/05/2013 12:44:27 PM PDT by MacMattico
As some of you know, my mother passed away last Jan. By June we decided to turn off her home phone and because it was my phone number since childhood, I called AT&T and asked if I could have that number as my cell number. They said no problem but there would be a $36 fee to do so. I was fine with that. Within a week, I had my childhood phone number as my iPhone number! They had done all the work and switched me over. I never stepped into a store.
In June , 2 of the 5 phones on our plan became eligible for upgrade. My iPhone 3 (yes I know-- old!) said "not eligible for upgrade until June 2014." I never get new phones so I knew this had to be an error. Even my daughter's 4 was eligible, bought way after mine. But nope! Supposedly when I changed the number I agreed to a new two year contract, and was given a new phone then! I was never given a new iPhone, and didn't ask for one. All I did was make a call and they changed my number and charged me $36.00.
They claim to have no way of checking into this, and Apple will not allow them to upgrade me this early so I'd have to buy a brand new iPhone at the regular price if I want one. Or so they say. My phone is on it's last leg so I need a new phone, and it's become more the principle then the cost.
Can't they track where this supposed new phone I was supposedly sent is? Did some employee just take it, keep it or sell it? Aren't there ID numbers or something they can check? I never complained about not receiving a phone because I never asked for or was offered one!
If they do not fix this, you're going to go down to Boost Mobile and simply have all your phones switched over.
This is the problem. It may have been a mistake by the employee, but it reset your upgrade eligibility date.
I doubt anyone got a new phone. But, you clearly didn't get it: all you have to do is show them that you are using an iPhone 3G, which is about 5 years old.
I would escalate to a supervisor. Ask them to show where you agreed to a new 2-year contract. If you did this over the phone, then you didn't have an opportunity to agree to anything. Even when upgrade via the web (and get the phone in the mail), they have to click some sort of agreement.
None!
I have had similar issues over the years with Sprint. Usually the best way to handle this type of thing is to just to call back the next day and try again. You probably just got a bad representative. Sometimes you have to threaten to take your business elsewhere and get to their retention department before you get a cooperative person.
Sent you a PM.
In my dealings with local Cable Co., taking to retentions will normally get you what they should have done the first time.
You can get an iPhone from Straight Talk. You pay for the phone up front, but that's better than being gigged every month by the contract providers. Either way you pay for the phone. There is no such thing as a free phone, except for ObamaPhones, and you are paying for those too.
I honestly don't understand why anybody would sign a contract with the sleazy cellular companies.
Awesome! :)
On the landline side you can get out of a contract if “they”, the service provider, cannot find an original.
That would include their recordings of your agreement to a new contract.
BTW, now that you have your new number it belongs to you the subscriber. ATT, Verizon, Splint, et all are what we call RESPOTG’s(Responsible Organizations).
A Resporg is a manager of an address or number which you own. They, do not own it, you do.
I would contract with another carrier and be done with them.
With cellphone providers you will pay a termination fee of $200+ to break the contract or you can pay the full price of the phone.
If it were me I’d go down to a corporate store. They are usually located in malls or strip malls. You’ll need to go there, in person, to get the result you want.
The people on the phone have only so much power to help you on the one hand and they are incented not to or their compensation incentives direct them to other objectives that don’t help you.
Corporate stores have way more information at their ready and besides supporting consumers they also support corporate salespeople of ATT and their customers.
There are usually two or three corporate stores within a major county Like Santa Clare, Miami-Dade, DFW, etc. and in some even more but, you need to be sure you are at a corporate store not a consumer store.
Stay away from Kiosks. They will do anything to sell you an accessory.
It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it, since FReeper Silly had deactivated himself!
(s) nully who has AT&T and an iPhone 3...
*nevermind*
I used to work as a contractor for AT&T. Their databases contain an astonishing amount of information. However, it is very compartmentalized. Eventually, you may find a person who has access to the data you need to prove your case.
at&t is a public utility..
as a public utility, if you ask to be connected to a supervisor, BY LAW THEY HAVE TO CONNECT YOU TO ONE..
when you get a supervisor, the first words out of your mouth should be, I want to speak to your supervisor..
you will get your new phone, because supervisor 1 will not want you speaking to supervisor 2, and so on..
I agree with this. And, I think Straight Talk will let you pay off the phone at $25/month over 2 years. At the end of the two years, that payment goes away.
If you buy a new phone every 2 years, the price of the phone is about the same (when you consider the implicit $20/month you pay for the phone while under contract).
I honestly don't understand why anybody would sign a contract with the sleazy cellular companies.
I've only stuck with AT&T because I need the tethering functionality. I can't get it with Straight Talk. And you always have to pay the $20/month subsidy for the phone, even if you aren't under contract. So, you might as well sign up for the contract and get a phone for that $20/month.
Right.
There is always a higher supervisor or boss.
One time, dealing with a customer service guy at a company that sells software, he would not help with an order ‘they’ screwed up. I asked to speak to his supervisor. Transferred to a female who would not help. I asked to speak to her boss or supervisor. She responded, “I don’t have one” and she hung up.
Okay. I called the corporation headquarters in another city and requested to talk to someone regarding the problem. I reached the VP’s secretary and briefly explained the problem to her. She said the VP was not in at the moment but would relay the message. Within an hour the VP called me. I explained the situation with dates of my calls to CS and names of the people I talked to during the month I was trying to get the situation resolved.
The VP said, “give me 30 minutes and I’ll see what’s going on.”
In 30 minutes, he called me back and said the situation had been resolved in my favor and I could be getting the corrected order within a couple of days.
lol
That CS supervisor did find out she had a boss.
I am a AT&T employee. Can you send me your Name and your phone number and I will see what can be done. E-mail to my work email JC1889@att.com
ATT hasnt been a public utility since divestiture. And certainly their cellular side is not a “utility.”
That said, competition is your friend. Take that worn out IPhone down the street to the next vendor and see what kind of deal they are willing to hand out.
The number is yours, don’t sweat that part of it.
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