Sales rep misinformation

Typically the summary reflects your total costs before any credits or discounts are applied. It can be quite a shock and I don't know why AT&T does that. Usually it can take a couple of billing cycles before your bill reflects what it should be .

However, you did business with an AT&T Retail outlet (Target, Costco, Sam's Club, etc), not AT&T, which are not owned or operated by AT&T and are not staffed with AT&T employees. They just make a sale however they can, quite often by misleading the customer or not completely disclosing the terms, and then passing that information on to AT&T, who has no way of knowing what was said or promised to the customer. The same is true for the Authorized AT&T Retail Stores, which look exactly the same as the Corporate Stores.

It would have been advantageous for you to start questioning the bill after the first billing cycle, or checking your account online for accuracy. The fact that you kept paying the bill just indicated to AT&T that you were agreeing with the charges. The receipt that you received from the store should have had some details as to what you agreed to and it would have been a good idea to check the AT&T website to see if what you were sold was listed. AT&T will only honor what is listed in detail on their website for their promos or deals.

You can try to file a complaint with the BBB which will go straight to AT&T Corporate and a Senior Manager will contact you. You can discuss the matter with them and they may be able to help. That's as high up in AT&T as you can go. Just have all of your documentation (receipts, etc) on hand when they call.

We were not even given a receipt. So your telling me that at& t does business with these huge stores to bring in clients through sales reps. But then they don't take responsibility for their services by saying oh. No it wasn't me.. seems like (Edited per community guidelines) to me. It's still your employees bringin in new clients. They need to take full responsibility for the way they represent your brand.

Also we already paid a few higher billing cycles. The last payment in September was 213 and after we changed it to my name nothing else changed it went up to 398. Come on. Seriously! Your telling me a name change caused us 200 dollars. That's (Edited per community guidelines).

@irisgalaviz1  To be clear, we are not employees of AT&T. We are just customers like yourself so they are not "our employees". Our answers are based on experience and are meant to help you understand what happened. AT&T is not perfect and certainly has lots of room for improvement.

I am not a fan of the retail stores/outlets. AT&T, from the very beginning, should have had better control over how these independents conduct business on behalf of AT&T. However, these are long term contracts written by lawyers so nobody here, and probably at most of AT&T, know what went into these contractual agreements. When they come up for review I certainly hope they are re-written for more customer protection, or just not renewed period. 

From a business standpoint , it does makes sense. Let someone else purchase or lease buildings/kiosks, hire staff, pay staff, and just share profits with AT&T. Implementation-wise, it's a hot mess with most, but not all, retail stores and kiosks. Technically, you did business with a retailer, not AT&T.

If you were not given a receipt or any kind of paperwork at the time of purchase, then I would have canceled and walked away. Even if you signed/agreed electronically, there should have been some sort of written acknowledgment of the transaction. Not getting any type of receipt is a big red flag.

File the BBB complaint.

That colorful document called summary of charges, or customer service summary says right on the top of it it is not a bill. And as ottoPylot says it does not include any of your discounts or credits.

Put it another way it's wrong. Many of us have been saying for years AT&T needs to stop sending out this bogus document because all it does is freak people out. Clearly you know what that feels like

If you switched billing responsibility to someone else on your account in order to take part in one of the discount programs, for example someone who's a doctor, nurse, physicians assistant, military or veteran or teacher, or some other first responder there's a significant discount offered on postpaid unlimited your way plans. If you were told you were eligible for this discount if that person was the account owner and did not switch ownership when you signed up, that is not the fault of AT&T, or even the big box store that you signed up with.

People that work in Best buy, Target, Walmart, Sam's club, Costco call BJ's wholesale club do not work and are not employees of AT&T. They work for a franchise business that leases the AT&T name and is supplied with AT&T products. Just like your local McDonald's. Your local McDonald's is not owned by McDonald's Corp USA. It is owned by an independent franchisee

What else is on your bill?

Totals don't mean a whole lot, details do.

I see nothing wrong with the $190 price quote for service but if you're paying for extras like insurance and next up early upgrade option which is $6 per phone line, those things add up.

The price for five lines depends on which plan you have chosen for each line.

With full credit on trade-in phones, before tax, and after auto pay and paperless with a debit card or checking account the unlimited starter plan is $150 for five lines.  I'm sure you can do the math based on the other prices of 35 for the extra plan or 45 for the premium plan..  

Hi @irisgalaviz1, we understand the situation you're in, and we're here to help give you the right information.

As @OttoPylot mentioned, please do find the proof of purchase to file an FCC complaint so that we can manually research if you did qualify for any existing promos at the time, you made the trade in.

You can do it online or call 1-888-225-5322 to file a complaint by phone.

Please review our article to check the status of trade in and the eligibility. Through which you will know if you were qualified for the existing promos.

Please get back to us if you need any further assistance.

Thank you for contacting AT&T Community Forums.
Catherine, AT&T Community specialist.

The exact same thing happened to me. April 5th, I was approached by a sales rep in the electronics department of Walmart. He did these calculations for my three phones, asked about possible discounts, and showed me an amount of less then $100! (Yep, big sucker here).  He checked out my phone, told me I would get a brand new Iphone 15 pro., but the other two phones were too old, so said the other phones were eligible for the Iphone 15 Plus, and the Android 24 (something). I was like this is awesome, give me a price for an additional line (I'm so upset), and he gave me a price of just over $100. I'd been with Verizon for 20 years, and I was tired of the loyal customer, never getting any of the promotions of free phones. So, I left Walmart thinking I am saving $60. month. Well then they started charging the tax 238., so I had a pending on my bank account, but then they were being shipped separately, so 179. for one shipment, and the remainder of that on another hold on my account.  I get the phones. Wow! these are brand new and fast! Then I get a bill from Verizon, thinking okay, my final bill 170., then a couple weeks later 173. from AT&T, and all this is coming out automatically out my bank. Oh, but then 388. comes out from Verizon, probably to pay off the cell phone that I shipped out (a whole other fiasco), then two days ago I get a bill from AT&T for 470. that is due May 31! Whoa! In less than two months, that's 1400. in cell phone (Edited per community guidelines)!  Oh, and did I mention, the sales person told me that when I activate the phones, let him know, and he will waive the activation fee!  Yep, I even have a text message from the (Edited per community guidelines), saying so! In tears I called AT&T yesterday, since you know, I have electric bills, mortgage, etc. that I might want to pay.... Seriously, this is criminal. I can't even return the extra line, somehow (I wonder who) added all these things from one bill to the next, insurance, some fee to be eligible for a new phone in 18 months. Like, no way!  I walked out of Walmart thinking I was saving money.  My phone I was getting a $1000.  (only $800. now) credit for, is credited $40. a month on my bill. Not when I actually need the break on an enormous bill that I had not accounted for!  Fed up and now broke!

@asilkee  AT&T kiosks in place like Walmart, Target, Costco, Sam's Club, etc are independently owned and operated totally separate from AT&T, and are not staffed with AT&T employees. They just resell AT&T goods and services however they can, sometimes misleading the customer or not telling them all of the details of a plan or offer. And AT&T will only honor what is listed, in detail, on their website for their promos and deals, regardless of what the non-AT&T salesperson told you or lead you to believe. If the deal sounds too good to be true.......

What did the receipt indicate and did you read the TOS? Unfortunately you did business with the retail operator, not AT&T. AT&T will process the order that is sent to them but they have no idea of what you were told or promised.

@OttoPylot  I understand, but you would think that AT&T would want to protect their brand and image. Ultimately, it's their reputation that tanks, when Walmart or other stores misrepresent them, and it is AT&T that benefits and they allow for their customers to dragged through this.

While in the store, the sales guy, had an ipad, he did everything on that, and it was initial here, initial there, it wasn't until a few days later, I read in part,  the contract, which is extremely small and it said, the cost was 215./ month and I called and complained then, and my only option at that point was to send back the new phones after I terminated my verizon provider. Then what? Beg Verizon to take me back! But, somewhere all these additional charges mysteriously appeared in the second bill. I called and yelled about the first bill, why would I tack on more fees, in addition to the activation fees he said he will remove. It's unethical! 

@asilkee  I agree that AT&T should have entered into these long-term contracts with the Retail operators with a lot more control than they have now. It does nothing for AT&T's image with these kinds of issues. AT&T is more than capable of damaging its reputation on its own without any "help" from the retail operators, be they brick and mortar stores or kiosks in malls and stores. 

All you can do is document what you have and file an online complaint with the BBB. That gets forwarded directly to AT&T Upper Management and someone will contact you. You can discuss the issue directly with AT&T. That's as high up in AT&T that a customer can go. But keep in mind that you did business with an independent retail operator, not AT&T, so AT&T MAY be able to help you to a point but there's no guarantee.