AT&T lost my trade in

Just to correct some misinformation, AT&T never had your phones, never saw them, never got them, not either one.

Trade-in phones go to Assurant Mobile which is a third party recycler and refurbisher business that takes trade in phones from all service providers and manufacturers in the United States.

I have little doubt that an empty box was indeed received. Your phone was most likely removed before it ever got to Tennessee. 

Someone at the postal service, someone from the courier service...but not ATT

The person that I spoke with on the phone at AT&T, is who told me that someone at their processing center told them that the box was empty when it was received by them. They then told me later on that they had the phone that they said was not in the box, which is how my son’s credits were then applied to the account. It was also a person at AT&T that I spoke with tonight, that stated that they (AT&T) had yet to received my phone. 

AT&T should also have something in place to protect consumers that send in their phones for trade in, which apparently disappear into thin air…this is not a rare problem that happens here or there. It seems to be happening everyday. 

Deanne626

Unfortunately, the Trade-In program has been fraught with issues for years. Stop talking to the Trade-In Department, they are a 3rd party vendor and not AT&T employees - they will not help you and cannot apply credits to your account. 

You need to make contact with the Office if the President at AT&T. Explain your case and they are likely to apply your bill credits.

AT&T contracts with 3rd party vendors to receive and process phones for the Trade-In program. That 3rd party then reports to AT&T as to the condition of the phones when received and assigns a value to that phone. The reporting from the 3rd party detailing the receipt of the phone and the assigned value, determine if you will qualify for the full promotional credits offered by AT&T in the advertisements.

This program is ripe for fraud, conversion, and conflict of interest. The loser is going to be the customer in every scenario as you have no leverage once you send your phone. They could report that you sent a fruit salad to them instead of a phone. How do you prove what you sent?

Here where things get sleazy. The way that contracts like this work is that the 3rd party will have an agreement with AT&T that they will receive the phones and keep the devices, likely for resell. AT&T provides bill credits to their customers based on the 3rd party's assigned value of the returned phone - the lower the assigned value (as low as $0 for "no phone received") the less AT&T has to provide their customers in the form of bill credits.

Both AT&T and the third party are incentivized to devalue the trade-in devices as much as possible.

There is no accountability by the 3rd party contractor. Once the customer puts their phone in the parcel and mails it back, they have agreed that the phone is no longer theirs.

The customer is beholden to a 3rd party that wants to keep AT&T happy so their contract is renewed and AT&T benefits from the 3rd party contractor "losing" phones, not receiving them, or receiving phones that were somehow sent in perfect condition but received broken as then they can reduce the amount of bill credits they provide to the customer.

Read though the forums and you will see that your case is fairly typical. Look for references to "OOP" or "Office of the President".

Whatever you do, make sure not to mention the unmentionable term that rhymes with "Gas Fraction Lawflute".

Good luck.

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Donald, AT&T Community Specialist

Same (Edited per community guidelines) i am dealing with.  I sent in a Iphone Pro 12 and ATT sent me back a phone saying this is not the correct phone for trade in.  The phone they sent me back was some government issued phone for low income Maze Speed.  The lady ATT lady i spoke with on the phone couldn't help because the phone they received was incorrect.  however she was able to send me pictures of the box they had received and it was clearly opened an retaped.  i have a photo of my box before i shipped it.   now i am still charged $400 for a phone which i sent and is no longer in my possession and ATT return labels do not allow for insurance.

this is a(Edited per community guidelines)olute garbage as i have been with ATT  for a long time and they take no accountably for the services they offer. They need better traceability to prevent this fraud from their contractors

Same for me too!  We sent 4 phones and lo and behold one of the newer models was “never received”.  I’m fuming.  We were told all the same nonsense too.  

I took the advice of several people in this thread, and reported them to the Better Business Bureau and the FCC. Not soon after I hit “send,” I was getting emails and phone calls from the Office of the President of AT&T. In less than two weeks of speaking with someone there, my phone was paid off. Fingers crossed you can have your issue resolved as well. 

Thank you for the update.  I just filed with the BBB, fingers crossed 

I am dealing with the same issue. Dropped my packaged iPhone 12 off at the USPS for trade-in, as AT&T instructed. I noticed three months later I still had not received the bill credit. Reached out to AT&T and they said that the package was never scanned by USPS. I am infuriated that a system so clearly ripe for fraud by outside parties lands on the customer to solve. It is not okay and a class-action should be explored. If getting a shipping receipt is a requirement for the trade-in then that should clearly be a part of AT&T's shipping instructions, which it is not.

I am going to file with BBB as well but if anyone finds other resources or solutions please let me know.