3 Messages
At&t worker never turned in my trade in phone and it's not in their store.
I received my new s24 ultra in late January. I turned in my s23 ultra in mid February. I was on my way to work and the guy coming from the back room seemed like he was in a rush. He asked how he could help and I said I was there to turn in my old phone. He held out his hand impatiently and so I handed him my phone. He looked around and picked up a sticky note pad and took down my name and number. He seemed done with it so I said 'that's it?' and he said 'that's it'. I never even got a receipt or anything. I didn't think about that until later. I just trusted him. He worked there. So then in March I get an email saying at&t hadn't received my phone and that I'd be charged the full amount if they didn't get it. So I called at&t customer service and the man I spoke to said that they did have it and that he didn't know why I received that email. (This is seriously wild from multiple angles)
So I got off the phone, relieved that it was just a fluke. Well yesterday I was just charged $600. Absolutely stunned. I don't know why that guy lied to me on the phone. But I'm pretty sure at&t records all of their calls so I'm going to get to the bottom of this either way. At&t, can you help? Can anyone help me with this? The store is under new management now and said they did a full sweep of the store and there were no extra phones. At&t's customer service told me yesterday that if I could get the store to put a note in my file with my old phone's edei (I think?) number that they would refund the $600. But I don't have the phone(obviously), and the store says they don't either. Please help!
Thank you, Robert
formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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118.4K Messages
2 months ago
This is absolutely *not* how early upgrades with return are supposed to happen. 🤦🏼♀️ Apparently no one told you. And because you didn't know what you were doing, the person in the store took advantage of that.
You cannot turn in an early upgrade at a store unless you Are swapping it out for the new phone in the same store at the same time. It had to be mailed with a label from AT&T, which was probably in the package that came with your new phone.
(Only phones that are participating in the trade-in deal can be turned in later, within 30 days of activation of a new phone)
They're always has to be proper paperwork, and a sticky note is not right. If it were a trade-in you would receive a receipt which includes the fine print of the deal
Since it was an early upgrade, it had to be returned to AT&T by mail. The only way to do a return in a physical store is to make your purchase in that store, receive your new phone and hand over your old phone in the same transaction.
Was the store an AT&T corporate store or did it say authorized retailer somewhere on the front? Because I'm thinking this was not an AT&T owned store, And you just hand it over your phone to someone who works for prime or some other authorized retailer, and it's long gone.
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ATTHelp
Community Support
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232.9K Messages
2 months ago
Hey there @Robvnm,
Thank you for reaching out to us. We are here to help you in any way possible. However, we will need more information in order to get you the assistance you need.
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Robvnm
3 Messages
2 months ago
@formerlyknownas: I thought for sure you could mail it in or take it to an at&t store. I'm not sure if it's a corporate store or not, I never looked at the front of the store like that. I should be getting a call from the gm today. Hopefully I'll get more info on what they can do. But they can't just get away with stealing my phone. Which seems to be exactly what happened. Thank you for your reply.
@At&t: I will definitely follow up through one of those outlets as soon as I've talked with the gm of the store today or tomorrow. Thank you for your reply.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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118.4K Messages
2 months ago
The information I provided in my earlier post is particular to early upgrades. The phone has to be turned in either at the time you get your new phone in a store, and receipt should be provided. Otherwise you must mail your phone and you have to have a label so that your phone is connected back to your account and you get credit for the return.
This kind of makes me think you ought to file a police report
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Robvnm
3 Messages
2 months ago
Yes it was an early upgrade. I keep calling it a trade in because that's just how I see it, me trading in the old for the new, but I should be more careful with my terminology so it's less confusing to others. And yes, I agree with you on the police report. Depending on how this is handled in the coming days I'll be doing just that. Along with the BBB.
(edited)
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