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AT&T review: false advertising technique 19

M
Author of the review
12:00 am EDT
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This review was chosen algorithmically as the most valued customer feedback.

This is a very serious matter: On August 15, 2006 I switched phone service from Verizon to AT&T based on your agent's recommendation. When I asked whether or not there is activation fee, she said "no". But later I found out that there was activation fee charged. She also put me into the WorldNet service that I never requested. I tried to call your agents and wrote letters and e-mails many times at no avail. It appears that your entire company agents are trained to gang together and refused to make the adjustment. I felt that for $65, AT&T is willing to go so low and this far and emotionally violated your customers. I would like to re-emphasize that your agents did in fact promise that there was no activation fee or I would never make the switch. More disturbingly, I found out that your company indicated that on the record that I was informed with the activation fee on August 15, 2006. Therefore this record must be changed, adulterated or simply erroneous entry. AT&T’s practice is totally unethical and nacceptable to the standard way of civilized corporate conduct. Please provide me with the names of your senior management of customer services that I can write to and voice my complaint, because one of your customer service representatives, Justin Williams, has refused to forward this letter to the corporate ladder. He said that he is the “highest level” of customer complaint. It seems to me that most of the AT&T's ordinary customer representatives behave like robots and they are not empowered to resolve customer related issues; they have poor English accents and extremely poor service attitudes. They are just repeating the so called “AT&T corporate policy” and they need to be constantly reminded of the importance that customer service is number one. If AT&T continues this practice of violating customer's right and furthermore, insisting to adulterate phone log records to cover up AT&T agent’s mistakes, I can assure of you that AT&T will not survive the current intense competition in the world of telecommunication. At this time, I would rate AT&T service and attitude to be a disparagingly low score, far less than other companies. If this matter is not properly resolved, my entire acquaintance, friends, associates and family members may stop using AT&T services and switch to other companies, by learning my horrible ordeal with AT&T.

Sincerely,

Michael

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19 comments
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applejuice100
Schaumburg, US
May 30, 2010 10:30 pm EDT

it sounds like most of the problems that everyone seems to have is when you call customer service. Here's an idea...why dont you go to a corporate store and deal with someone face to face instead of you being lazy and calling customer service who wouldn't give a [censor] about you and your situation because once you get off the phone with them could give two [censor] about your service agreement and contract..they just want to get the sale and after that their done. Might be a good idea...

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Brianna85
washington dc, US
Feb 13, 2010 2:51 pm EST

they are getting back on track

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Brianna85
washington dc, US
Feb 13, 2010 2:50 pm EST

excuse me ben from sc? you're saying at&t doesnt have reps in 3rd world countries? hahahaha..then you're not updated. please read and search more. sprint may have reps from 3rd world countries but look at them, they're not getting back on track because of these people. AT&t? hahaha.. you'll have your time.

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Brianna85
washington dc, US
Feb 13, 2010 2:18 pm EST

then switch to sprint.. i love sprint! they offer a great value!

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Nathanael
Mableton, US
Dec 22, 2009 12:27 pm EST

I was introduced by one of the agents about a special deal and there would be no activation fee and she was going to enroll us in a package that gives us up to $700 worth of services for $220. I asked her for her direct number, her name and her work ID. She gave me her email address instead, saying that they don’t have any work ID and she can’t answer phones directly. Her name is LATOYA SIMMONS and her email address: ls928k@att.com.

I called in to check on the account and found out that there were charges for activation fees (I said fees and I will let you know more about this) and I bought 2 phones from her and she told me that will work as a temporary number before our numbers get ported over from T-Mobile. I called one of the agents and he said how there were services found in my account that adds up to $700 and they’re not in a package but as individually. They didn’t bill the first month and they bill the second and the amount was over $900 dollars. So he allegedly changed that; however, I’m being billed so high.

Then it turns out the temporary numbers for 2 phones they added as separate family lines. So from 2 phones there was a family line for each. The ported over numbers they stuck that as an additional lines for our temporary numbers saying that it's a family line. So I talked to them and they drop the charges to $600 dollars. Now we’re being billed for over $300 dollars for 1 month. I don’t know why but it is so high and the more agents I speak to, they all are playing the "I don’t know what you’re talking about" game. They’re like I can’t see if another agent made changes to the account and how they can only see what they did. That’s B.S., and they know it.

I’m not paying any more money to them and I’m going to start boycotting them. Whose with me?

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Jeff Orr
Spanaway, US
Oct 13, 2009 11:21 pm EDT

Anyone else been lied to when they called to cancel services and they transfer your call to the Retention department? This happened to me and my girlfriend. She called AT&T to cancel as her contract was up, she told them that she was unhappy with AT&T and was thinking about going with T-Mobile. Well the retention person told her that they can give her a deal if she stayed with AT&T, the deal is as follows that they told not only my girlfriend but myself over the phone. Family talk plan for two phones, 700 mins for $50, unlimited media package for $15 a $100 rebate to be credited to her account and a promise to add over 500 mins to her Roll Over Min's. Sounded good, so we decided to stay with AT&T and signed a new two year contract to find that our bills were $179 a month, far more than what they promised us, called AT&T and spoke with 3 different reps who read the offers and then I requested to speak to a supervisor who then told me that the Retention Department could not offer such a deal and basically called me a liar! I asked them if I could speak to a Manager, he replied that he was the highest I could go! so I demanded again and again, so he told me that he would have a Manager call me, they have not called at all. I am tired of Deceptive practices to keep us as customers, anyone else been lied to? let me know. If we can get enough people to come forward, maybe we could get a CLASS ACTION suit filed on them.

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ibleavncarma
Arlington, US
Oct 06, 2009 1:46 am EDT

If I was not under contract I would leave at&t everytime I have to call it ruins my whole day I got charged for internet ringtone that i never ordered they were texted to my phone and i did not delete them right away was charged 59.00 and 11.00 on my husbands phone it is always something, i did not know when you replace a phone they start another contract for 2 yrs it was not even a new phone just a plain ole phone the other on had broke i hope they go down in flames

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nakedtruth
New York, US
Sep 23, 2009 11:59 pm EDT

Ness1986 why do you defend a company that steals from people, treats its customers like dirt, and sneaks in "hidden charges" left and right? Apparently you're already bought and paid for by AT&T. Does your store owner wipe your A** when you go to the bathroom like you wipe his? When YOUR money is stolen, we'll all be laughing.

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l09411
, US
Sep 23, 2009 9:28 pm EDT

i signed up online, and read everything they sent me. and even if i didn't read the fine print, i should have been given the CORRECT info from the at&t. is that too much to ask ? i think the reps were poorly trained, that's at&t's fault, because they were giving me all different information. i'm you got a good laugh at someone else expense. thanks for your input and helpful advice.

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Ness1986
Anaheim, US
Sep 23, 2009 7:51 pm EDT

Haha..the rep was amazing who helped you..he hustle u. but the fault aint the rep its urs for not doing ur homework and finding out about the service. Each store has a rules and services letters and it says even in the small ink everything u complaining about. you complain about the rep but he just doing his job if ppl would stop being lazy and read what they signing then u wouldnt of had this problem...i just think its so funny how many ppl like u blam others for ur mistake:D

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L0941
, US
Jul 04, 2009 4:53 pm EDT

So lost my job, then my AT&T cell phones were disconnected for non-payment on 5/5/9. I spoke to a rep in May, who told me I have 59 days to make a payment of 719.00, then call in and they'll take off the termination fees. So I made the payment 7/3/9 and then called in today to have service turned back on. Spoke to SEVERAL different reps, all with different stories..."Oh it's been 62 days, oh it's been 61 days, you'll have to pay 18%interest on the balance which includes the term fee, then you have to pay $130 more, then we'll be able to turn back on the phones. I've also been told oh no we can't turn them back on with the same #'s, but you can open a new account online since you made the payment(then they called me back and said, i would have to pay the rest of the balance, which is the early term fee before i can open another account). I've spoken to sups, reps, tech dept...all to no avail. I mean I know they are able to take off the term fees, since I made the payment, I'm not asking for favors. I did exactly what the rep in May told me to do, she said nothing about additional fees or anything. No kind of care for the customer, not trying to work anything out. Even if it had been 65 days, I know a sup could take it further for customer service and set up new service if they can't turn those #'s back on! I was misinformed in May form ATT rep, paid an additional $200 today that they told me I HAD to do to get phones back on, then after I made the payment, I'm again told nope...sorry.

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nakedtruth
New York, US
Jun 26, 2009 4:31 pm EDT

Most Americans will rejoice greatly when this lying pack of thieves goes down big. God knows how much money they've stolen from me over the years with local phone service--you know, the "Federal Subscriber Line Charge" which I've found out is just a scam. You're right that talking to their customer service is like speaking with robots. The fact that this company is not already bankrupt almost proves we no longer live in a free enterprise society. How can a company go on like this?

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lilash84
Killeen, US
Feb 03, 2009 7:17 pm EST

Mar-Apr- Had probs w/bill my sister hadn't paid asked for suspension... paid bill in May... this is how everything started...

May 2008- First payment made on bill of 100 and some odd dollars... can't remember exact amount... money was still owed... made second payment mid-May by cash in the cingular wireless store on Business 190 in Killeen, TX. I had 2 lines on my account... I asked for one of them to be cancelled in which I had to pay early term fees which was fine... I also asked to have my phone suspended due to me being deployed. The number I requested to have suspended in May was [protected]. I didn't need a phone while I was gone so that's why I asked for it to be suspended... had to pay bill in full for it to be suspended.

Oct 2008- Came home on R&R from Iraq, found out that I had a 1500 dollar bill from AT&T... called them to find out why as I had asked for my account to be suspended... also my phone had been found and was reported as stolen at first, when I recovered it I found out that the person who found my phone made calls to everyone in my phone to find out who owned it... i was turned off shortly after that and he was kind enough to return the phone to me upon our return on R&R. I called to try to resolve issue w/bill... didn't get an answer had to go back to Iraq...

Dec 2008- Took leave to come home for Christmas from Iraq... got to the states called AT&T. Explained to them the situation they stated that the money I had paid to them in the store was never applied to my account and that the military suspension never occurred on my bill. The dropped the late fees and early termination fees, but told me I was going to have to pay for the bill itself again. They had stated that it was going to be pulled out of collections... It wasn't. My balance went from 1500 to 663. I told them that I would pay it in January even though I was upset because I had already paid it once, I need a phone. I redeployed back to Iraq shortly after that.

Jan 2008- I called AT&T from Iraq regarding my bill... I told them I was going to make a partial payment on the 9th and pay the rest on the 6th of February. My payment was given, and then I started speaking with the representative on the phone about all of the probs I had been having w/them. They then chose to refund my money and told me that they were going to bring my balance to a zero dollar balance. They then asked me if I had a way to fax over my orders to them, I explained to them that my things are in a CONNEX and I do not have access to them as we are set to return to the states in February. They said that it was fine that they were going to refund my money and drop the balance and that I had nothing else to worry about because it was their mistake. I told them no I just would rather pay for it because I don't want to have any issues turning my phone on when I return to the states... They told me no we don't want you to have to pay for our mistake. So I said ok and went with it. About a week passed and I called back to ask them why my money hadn't been refunded to my bank account yet, because my bank statement was showing a pending transaction of payment to AT&T. Please note I have been with this cellular provider since they were Cingular Wireless back in 2004. I spoke with my financial institution and AT&T at which they eventually figured out how to put the money into my account that day. I then asked them if my balance had been dropped to a zero balance yet. They said no ma'am you owe us 663 dollars at which time I blew up because I was like no they said they were going to drop it and why did you guys refund the money if that wasn't the case this is why I just wanted to pay the bill in the first place. They had me on hold for a total of 5 hours I spoke w/around 8 different people that day. I then called my sister who called up to their office for me because I had to get off of the phone. I gave her my account info to take care of the issue. She stated she called and that she eventually spoke with someone who said it was going to get taken care of. I called again a week later, still no luck with the bill... it was still listed as 663 bucks. I explained to the reps that I never avoided paying the bill and that they had agreed to drop my bill to a zero balance which was why they refunded it.. have been battling with this argument ever since... they stated today that the charges are valid... I explained to them the fact that I paid on the bill and they refunded it and the reason they refunded it was because the bill should have never been accrued in the first place... spoke with several associates have been on hold for hours at a time. They stated they weren't dropping any charges even if they had said they were going to and that I still owed them that money... tried to reason with them they said that they weren't going to change bill at all... I told them that it wasn't fair to me as the customer and my sister called as well... they didn't care. I told them that it was bad business and that I was going to report them to the BBB. I went through with them several times and opened several cases to try to resolve this issue through AT&T. After today, I no longer believe that I will remain an AT&T customer, because it isn't my fault that they chose to return my money and told me they were going to drop my balance... nor is it my fault that they didn't apply the suspension to my account... I was under the assumption that that had been taken care of when I was deployed and I come home to find a 1500 dollar bill on my table... that isn't the way to treat a customer. Also my sister tried to speak with them and they were rude to her and unwilling to handle the situation... bottom line is I paid on the bill... they refunded it and told me that they were going to drop the bill. They didn't do that and regardless of whether the bill was valid or not, someone along the way realized that there was a mistake on AT&T's end which is why they refunded my 300 dollar payment... I feel that they should honor this and remove it from my credit report. We even tried to reason with them today and told them that we would just pay the 660 in full on Friday the 6th of February to get my phone back on... they are now saying that even if I do that I will have to pay a deposit again on an account that they should have never sent to collections. They messed up my credit because of this as well and I am highly upset.

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Granville
,
Oct 01, 2008 2:05 am EDT

AT&T false advertising is rampant in all their departments. Here's an example - my latest communication to AT&T:

I have REPEATEDLY requested broadband access at my home/business location in Vale, NC, and AT&T has either denied access or not followed up.

My business is going down the tubes and I AM SICK AND TIRED OF SEEING YOUR BROADBAND COMMERCIALS ALL DAY LONG, BRAGGING ABOUT BROADBAND ACCESS ANYWHERE! I am MUCH CLOSER than the end of the rainbow, the island wreck of Amelia Earhart, or the domain of the yeti, yet you say you cannot bring me broadband?! I intend to take action regarding this false advertising; quite possibly legal action. DON'T ADVERTISE WHAT YOU DON'T DELIVER. I INTEND TO COMMUNICATE YOUR DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING ALL OVER THE INTERNET!/

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Jessie
,
Apr 24, 2008 10:36 am EDT

They are the worst company over all. They all pull crap out of their A**, and every person you talk to has a different answer. Pathetic

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Ben fom SC
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Jan 06, 2008 6:46 am EST

Michael,
I was an employee of Cingular/AT&T Mobility from almost 5 years, and left the job this year. I am very sorry to see the issues you have experienced with a company I have enjoyed working with so much over the last couple years. AT&T corporate stores do not issue credits of waive activation fees, this is one thing that does not happen. Sometimes they will give extra rebates on equipment to cover those fees for the customer. Authorized dealers are known for waiving those fees and doing anything possible to get a sale. I would be sure that your bad experience is from a authorized dealers and not a corporate store, most employees at cor stores are trained better and are more customer serviced minded. One more thing you can do if you are still unhappy, you can send this letter to "the office of the president" of AT&T Mobility. Call customer service and request a mailing address for that name. They will probably try to resolve your issue if you are still a customer, but just inform them that you have already tried to find a solution and this is the only option you have left. Hopefully that will help you out.
Kay Huether-You have no idea what you are talking about! You are probably a troll trying to create more conflict on this matter. First, "AT&T is a corporate bully". Go to google and do a search on AT&T charity's, donations, donated air cards to the military, political donations to both parties. Second, "using 3rd world country reps". There are NO call centers for AT&T Mobility in 3rd world countries, maybe you get this thread confused with another company like Dell or Sprint, or who knows, but you again have no idea what you are talking about. Again, they do not have Indian reps nor the Pope working for AT&T, go troll elsewhere!

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Darlene Dekerlegand
,
Dec 28, 2007 11:23 am EST

I am considering a class action law suit against AT&T for false advertisment practices. Are you interested?
Darlene D.

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Kay Huether
,
Jul 03, 2007 1:22 pm EDT

Welcome to the club Michael. AT&T is nothing but a corporate bully, using third-world country reps who have the language skills of 5 year olds and do not have the intellect or the knowledge of U.S. business practices to adhere to the rules or even give a damn. According to AT&T, the customer is always wrong. Their Indian reps are infallible. I didn't know the Pope worked for AT&T.

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yurma
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Jan 04, 2007 4:07 pm EST

They will survive because other companies no better or even worse. Verizon for example.