AT&T Community Forums

AT&T says I sent wrong phone and charging me $800!!!

So I use AT&T Next and I get a new phone every year. I have to mail the phone back to AT&T using their own label. Every year there is some kind of problem where they say they didn’t get the phone, but then they say they found it.

This year I traded in my iPhone 14 Pro Max to get a new 15 Pro Max. I put the 14 in a box and took a picture of it, and brought it to the post office. A couple weeks later I got some weird package with a broken phone saying I sent the wrong phone. I figured it was a scam but I had send them my old phone so I disregarded this. Fast forward to December - AT&T is telling me they didn’t get my phone because I sent them an old BlackBerry. I’ve never owned a BlackBerry in my life. She sends me pictures of the box that I had sent, where the label is clearly torn and there is extra tape on the box. It’s obviously been tampered with. But she’s telling me that the box hasn’t been tampered with, and there’s nothing they can do and I need to pay the $800. I asked if I could send the picture of the box I have so she could see it’s clearly different but she said they can’t take pictures from customers. I’ve been a customer of AT&T for 15 years. Now I’m being accused of scamming them. I’m also an attorney and I plan on filing a (Edited per community guidelines) for this $800 because this is completely insane. Also I will obviously change carriers.

Responses

ATTHelp

Community Support

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232.9K Messages

6 months ago

Hello! We understand where you're coming from, and this is not the experience we want you to have with our services. Let's get this checked.

We'll need to look into your account details to understand the situation better, and assist you, so we're moving this conversation to a direct message. Please look out for a DM notification from us.

Looking forward to speaking with you!

Thanks for visiting AT&T Community Forums.

KellyS, Community Forums Specialist.

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HarleyB

3 Messages

4 months ago

Same exact thing is currently happening to me. I told the AT&T rep that the box they took a picture of is different than the one I sent and she hung up on me. I will never use AT&T again and I will warn everyone that they are a bunch of scam artists.

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formerlyknownas

ACE - Sage

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118.4K Messages

4 months ago

It is unlikely that your old phone ever made it back to AT&T. Probably was lifted by someone at the post office, or less likely the courier.

Every effort should be made not to mail your phone. The people at the post office know what these packages and labels look like and they know what's in them. A factory reset phone that anyone can use.

If you are doing an early upgrade, make sure that you purchase in an AT&T store, and on the day you pick up your phone be ready to factory reset and hand in your old phone.

If you're doing a trade-in deal, you have 30 days to go back to the store and trade in your old phone to get credit against your new one. Do not forget because if you go past 30 days you get book value which may be a fraction of its value.

Just an FYI The trade-in facility and the trade-in process works the same way with AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Google, and Samsung. All of these manufacturers and service providers mail through the post office, the courier, and then to Assurant Mobile in La Verne Tennessee. Only your early upgrade, warranty or insurance returns go back to AT&T.

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HarleyB

3 Messages

4 months ago

@TheGalen78 Can you share the picture of the box and phone they emailed you? I would like to compare it to mine to see if they use the same picture for everyone.

(edited)

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