New Member
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1 Message
Military voluntary suspension nightmare
I am having a very hard time understanding how difficult it has been to have my account turned back on with AT&T after serving overseas for the past three years. I have spent the past three days going back and forth between the local AT&T store and 1-800-331-0500. Initially, I attempted to turn my phone back on en route to the US but was given the option to go into my local store. The local store told me they couldn't do this and that I'd have to call the 1-800 number; to which I asked, "with which phone would you like me to do this?" Next I called the 1-800 from my wife's phone (Verizon that she also suspended but was able to switch back on immediately) only for the representative to tell me my phone number was not available anymore and convinced me that I needed a new phone number with a brand new plan. After attempting to log in to my account, I realized that my military suspension was still there and so was my phone number. After using chat, they activated the account but I was again sent into the AT&T store to get a new SIM only to have the store's authentication token system down and referred me back to the 1-800 number store (again using my wife's phone) to change the plan on my own from military to the plan of my choice before going back again to the AT&T store to receive a SIM card (rather than waiting for one to be mailed to me).
Is this really how you "take care" of those that are military individuals? If I was single or without a family member willing to help, I would have ZERO ability to contact anyone.
MicCheck
ACE - Expert
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14.4K Messages
2 years ago
The deployment cancellation and reactivation is done online: https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1046235/
Assuming you elected to keep your number and it's been less than 39 months, that should easily get everything working again. If you're still having trouble, there's an email address expressly for members of the military to use on the page I linked.
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djnandz
New Member
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1 Message
2 years ago
I feel your pain.
I recently switched to AT&T(about six months ago) due to a PCS move, worse experience so far; I have spent countless hours dealing with AT&T’s customer service over something’s that could be easily fixed by the click of a button. It seems as if they have little to no training in regards to helping their customers.
I’m coming up on a deployment in the next few days, and I’m having the most difficult time trying to put my number on hold and canceling my current service; because for some reason AT&T forces you to cancel your service and not just suspend it while you’re deployed for nine months, go figure! They advertise how much they care and support the military, yet their military support team doesn’t even have a direct phone number, just an email and a fax number which are useless.
I’m highly considering switching carriers after my deployment is done. I’m completely fed up of this nonsense.
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MicCheck
ACE - Expert
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14.4K Messages
2 years ago
The military cancel (which is functionally the same as a suspension) can easily be done online...see the link I posted above. I'm not sure why you think the email is useless. Many customers are upset AT&T doesn't do customer service via email; that's one of the ways AT&T give something extra to the military.
You didn't detail the other issue, but I'd venture to say that if it could be solved with the click of a button, it would have been solved with the click of a button.
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ATTHelp
Community Support
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232.9K Messages
2 years ago
We certainly don't want to lose you as a customer, @djnandz. Let us help shed some light on how military cancellations work.
As @MicCheck mentioned, you have two options:
This can be done online.
Customers associated with the following organizations may qualify for Military Cancellation:
You can visit the full list of eligibility requirements on our support site.
Before you cancel service here are a few things to keep in mind:
Please let us know how this information helps. We're here if you have any additional questions!
Sydne, AT&T Community Specialist
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