A Year's Worth of This

Wireless Post-Paid Account Holder

I am not even sure why I am writing this, as I don't believe AT&T will help in any way at this point, but I am so frustrated, and locked into AT&T financially, I don't know what to do at this point. It is a long story, so I am sorry right off the bat.

A year ago my wife upgraded her phone. We received the upgrade, and the shipping label to return her old phone as a trade in. Due to an error on AT&T's side, the phone was sent back to us saying it was the wrong phone. This started a two month back and forth of me calling and chatting online with multiple agents, having to explain the issue over and over. They would say it was cleared up, I would ship the phone to AT&T, they would ship it back. Over and over. I was even charged for the phone at one point. I was sent to the AT&T store, and in front of a store full of people, was informed that they had no idea why I was coming to them as if they could help in some way. I took time off from work. I drove around town. I followed instructions, sat on hold for literal hours. Talked to more agents than I can possibly keep track of, telling them over and over again this story as it would get longer and longer. My wife was stressed aggravating her medical condition. It went on and on and on. All over a Galaxy Note 7 that had been returned a year previously during the recall. Finally AT&T resolved their issue and they refunded me and we moved on.

Then my father passes away from pancreatic cancer. It takes two weeks of dealing with multiple agents to resolve dealing with his phone account with my mother, who is quite understandably concerned with other things. I am sent in circle after circle with different answers each time, some say I have to take a death certificate and power of attorney to a AT&T store, some say I have to take other routes, until one agent simply says "Oh, we can just turn off his phone and be done with it". So why weeks of different agents?!

Some time goes by, I decided to talk to AT&T about our wireless plan. I speak to an agent who tells me how wonderful it would be to change to the new unlimited plan. He assures me that I will see no cost increase in my bill. I ask, repeatedly if there will be any hidden fees, any taxes, any change to my account that will cause a cost increase because my wife will kill me if I upgraded our account and increased our bill. He assured me at least three (if not more) times there would be no increase. I get my first bill, and I have a cost increase of $30 per month. So I contact AT&T and I am informed that my plan had previously included my company discount with AT&T, which I was aware of. What I was not aware of is that my company discount did not apply with the new plan. They also let me know that with my old plan was no longer available, and I could not go back to it. Again, I was frustrated.

So last week I contact AT&T and ask about getting DirecTV. I am assured, repeatedly that DirecTV will be part of my current account and all will be well. After I make the order, I find I have a all new second AT&T account, just for DirecTV. So I think it is understandable that at this point I am upset and have some trust issues with AT&T. My phone screen is cracked (admittedly, my fault, but it is the second time in a year and a second claim would cancel my insurance, along with the deductible cost outweighing the upgrade cost) and my phone has started heating up to the point it is burning my ear. I decide to contact AT&T and say "According to the website, I owe another $58, and I can upgrade, maybe after all the trouble they have put me through, and no effort on their part to make things right, we can see about maybe waiving that little bit, get me a phone that doesn't injure me and we can all call it a clean slate and start over." After one agent transferring me to another, I speak to agent number four who, after 20 minutes of assuring me he is going to make things right, his solution is to say "You can just pay $58 dollars and upgrade, and that would solve your problem." After pointing out to him I had repeatedly stated I was already aware of that fact, this just proved he wasn't listening, and I was told "Well that is all I can do." Did he mean do nothing, because that was no different than what I could have done on my own, without 2 hours of chats and transfers.

So on the survey I say I am dissatisfied, and, when it gives me the opportunity to "Let us help make this right" I speak to another agent. I think this is some sort of escalation agent, willing to turn things around. After 20 minutes of explaining what has happened her solution... "You can just pay $58 dollars and upgrade, and that would solve your problem." At this point I am just angry. I tell her I am upset and I wasn't to escalate the issue. She tells me "We don't have any specials right now on upgrades, so I can't escalate this." This of course just makes me more angry. So here I am, mad, with no resolution, and stuck with this company who obviously has not only no concern for their customers, but a severe lack of respect for them too. So yes, I am stuck with AT&T because I am still paying off this overheating phone and my wife's phone that I still owe several hundred dollars on, and a company that has lied, misrepresented, ignored and frankly insulted me.

Again, all that being said, I don't expect a resolution here, but I am at my wits end, and simply don't know what else to do. I have had a year of garbage customer service and I am literally sitting here in tears going through all of this again. I just don't know what else to do at this point.