Who else got ripped off by an ATT Trade in?

The $800 is in the form of a monthly bill credit paid out over the 36 month installment on the new phone.  It’s not a lump sum payment.  You are always going to be charged the monthly installment for the new phone ($27.78) on your bill.  If you were getting you “$800” credit, there would be an offsetting credit of $22.22 also on your bill.

Are you saying that you aren’t seeing the credits on the bill?  Do you have tracking info or a receipt that shows you provided your trades to AT&T?  Has it been more than 3 billing cycles since you sent in the trades?

Also, how long ago was this?  I don’t think that AT&T has offered $800 credit for iPhone X for iPhone 13 for a couple of years.

So if I buy a car and take my trade-in they offer me $5,000 on a $25,000 car but then only give me $25 a month and make me finance the $20,000 for 3 years at a high interest rate you think that would be fair? ATT took my phones offered me $800 per phone (2 phones)in great condition and told me I would only be financing $400 on the new phones. I was told I get credit for my old phones, and have the newest iPhone, and my bill would go down. Later I found I was not allowed to pay off the $400 to have paid off phones again and I pay $165 a month for service on two lines. If I quit ATT I lose everything and still have to pay full price for the phones even though they took my trade. All ATT is doing is locking people into a high-charge 36-month contract and reselling their phones for a full profit. This is a big scam and there are hundreds, maybe thousands of people complaining ATT on Facebook and multiple (Edited per community guidelines) listed online. 

You’re NOT being charged interest on the phone 🙄 and you’re NOT locked into staying. You can pay off your device at any time and move along. Also, AT&T does not even get your trade in phone, so they are not reselling it. If you choose to do something outside the terms you agreed to then the you do not get the credits. You agreed to the promotion but obviously didn’t read what you were agreeing to. 

@cannimagine 

So if I buy a car and take my trade-in they offer me $5,000 on a $25,000 car but then only give me $25 a month and make me finance the $20,000 for 3 years at a high interest rate you think that would be fair?

It's not equivalent.

The car dealer is in the business of selling cars. Not gasoline.  

If you want a lump sum for your trade-in do business with the dealer, not the service provider. That would be Apple, Google, Samsung, Motorola, each of them will provide you with a lump sum for your trade-in - No service obligation.

AT&T is a cellular service provider (so is Verizon, t-mobile) and their purpose of offering these deals is to keep you as a customer long enough to make back the money they are *losing* on giving you a deal on the phone.  

    Look up the term loss leader. It's a marketing term.  Something is provided at a 'loss' to get you to purchase the actual business product.

   For example that cheap gallon of milk or free big gulp with fill up advertisement at your local Cumberland farms gas station is a loss leader so you will buy gasoline from them because you need milk and a drink - rather than going across the street to the station that only sells gasoline.  

It is absolutely fair. AT&T is providing you with a expensive piece of electronics and they have every right to make their money back on that hardware by selling you service.  

FYI trade-in phones do not go to the service provider they have no use for them. Trade in phones go to Assurant Mobile in Tennessee. Assurance takes the trade-ins from all of the service providers and manufacturers. They are refurbished, or recycled.  

YES!!! I just switched to them, 2 top of the line phones with top service plan and smartwatch line. They did not send the kit. I was told that it was coming and now it's three days late and they say I don't get my promotion. I originally was told that I had a 30 day extension by Mabel which apparently was a lie according 2. The next person I spoke with at the trade department. So I see this as an issue that others have experienced as well as the lady. I talked to you last said. Yes, they've had this issue before and that it always is just too bad, so sad. They don't have any way of extending anything. So looking for lawyer regarding (Edited per community guidelines) and ADA concerns because I was asking for assistance by actual person due to disability when I called but got the run around, was flat out lied to, scammed and cheated for my money. I was told to mail-in the phones with the trade in they may. Or may not honor the trade in. But I definitely would not get the phones back. That's rather fishy. So I will be talking to my news, the lawyer, ADA, and BBB and looking for new service.i guess. It's a shame because all was all in for ATT over Verizon but big mistake. 

There's no trade-in department. It is a completely separate business in La Verne Tennessee which is why AT&T cannot extend the trade in deadline. 

Sell your old phones on Swappa. You'll get a lump sum and you can use that to help pay off your new phone at any time, unlock it.  

I filed a complaint with the FCC to start. There are soon many websites that discuss this kind of practice. Now they are telling me they didn't send the kit because they didn't process the.trade in while on call. No documentation of it. I.was on phone for hrs doing that. On multiple days. The first time nothing happened so when phones never came I called and did it all by phone. Then he tried to change my monthly payment and I said not doing it then. He said oh it will be what you thought once all discounts kick in. Now they never will because they didn't do anything with the info I spent hours providing them. They certainly were not going to hold while i.read every piece of every document. They always say oh well you can reach back out. Like I want to start over again. Nobody has authority to do anything. I wonder if the CEO of ATT knows the shady practices and no way to really dispute anything. 

Was sent a return label and to send my 2 iphones 12s in back in November. Call a few months later and was told they were there and being processed to be patient. Called today, nothing can be found. My tracking number doesn’t work any more and there is no proof that they received my phones. I HAVE THE EMAIL THAT THEY WHERE RECEIVED! Now conveniently everything has disappeared. No trace of anything. I was told I would get $1000 for each phone. I wish I would have researched first. This seems to be an ongoing scam. AT&T provides you with very minimal info and tells you it could take 3 billing cycles. Then after that you call, and they tell you to be patient, it is still processing. When all they are doing is waiting you out! Do not send these crooks your phones! $2000 gone! 

@goodrb33  You posted this in another thread so I'll cut and paste my response here: phones returned to AT&T DO NOT go back to AT&T. They go to a third party who processes the returns and then notifies AT&T that they were returned. Given the number of daily complaints posted here, it's my opinion that the problem in a lot of cases is either with the return service (UPS, USPS, FedEx) recognizing the return phone boxes and exchanging them or the third party company. In either case AT&T should be looking harder into this process.