Contributor
•
3 Messages
At&t giving me the run around over $25 a month.
I have been an At&t customer for over 5 years on a family plan with my parents. Recently, I was finally eligible to upgrade my phone and did so. About a week prior to this, my parents decided to take advantage of the new pricing plans and switched us all to the 10GB data plan for 5 phones. Saved us all some money so yeah!
Then comes a week later and I am the first eligible to upgrade. I did gladly as I always did via online after the 2 years and resigned the new contract. Prior to this I had spoken online and on the phone with several customer service agents as I compared phones. Finally decided on one and was happy. Until we got out next bill. From the switch my parents made, all our data plans should have been $15 a month. Mine was still $40. When she called to inquire about it, she was told that I had changed my plan by upgrading my phone and there fore was not eligible. We both went back and forth with various customer service agents from online chat, phone, FB and twitter. We got a few refunds and credits, but still to this day I am the only one who has to pay the $40 dollars a month. My father upgraded recently and talked ot someone at a retail store...decided to go with the Next plan. Mentioned my issue and he was told that if i had sent the phone back within 14 days and chosen the next plan, I would have been eligible for hte $15 data plan and $25 savings a month. Never once was this mentioned to me when I was talking to anyone in the time after I got the phone nor after we got hte bill. I have been talked down too, told I should have read the contract more carfully and what not. I feel like I have been abused and that no one cares. This is $25 a month we are talking. To me that is a lot of money. I wish there is something that could be done about this other than a credit one month which only helps that month. Every other month I still have to pay the extra. I figure i wont hear form anyone or if I do, once agian I will get hte run around or told I am stupid like one agent said.
MicCheck
ACE - Expert
•
14.4K Messages
10 years ago
You're not paying "extra". You received your discount on the purchase price of the phone. Your father, since he chose the Next program, isn't receiving the discount on his equipment, so he's eligible for the discount on the monthly plan.
If you had chosen the Next plan instead, you would still be paying extra each month; $15 for the plan and then at least $25 for the equipment.
0
0
gypped
Contributor
•
1 Message
10 years ago
I'm going through the same thing....ripped off but for a number of reasons with no consistency.
I added my daughter to our account and am being charge $40 when the other two phones are being charged $25 (per month). I have contacted ATT three times and have received three different answers.
1. It's because the phone was purchase refurbished (through ATT)
2. It's because the phone was added a month after I changed to family plan and it is under a new contract which is now $40 per month.
3. It's because the phone was added after 6/8/14 and the special promotion was over even though my original two phones are charge $40 per month then discounted $15 each this one is not discounted.
So, ATT, what is it? If I call again, I'll get another reason. I call it bait and switch. "Add another device for $15." "Oh, it's under a new contract and it changed two minutes ago to $40."
Screw ATT. I have been a customer since LA Cellular, then Cingular and now ATT. Thanks for such wonderful treatment, ATT!
0
0
GeekBoy
Master
•
4.1K Messages
10 years ago
Was your daughter's phone added with a 2 year service contract, or did you do an outright phone purchase and add her as a month-to-moth phone without a contract?
If her phone was added under a contract subsidy, then that's the real answer. If you read your monthly bill, you will see that your existing phones are charged $40/month for the lines on the Mobile Share plan, then the ones which are not under contract (or under contract with a special promotion where the contract was in effect propr to February 2014), those lines will rceive the $15/month "out of contract discount". When you read your bill, you will see that the line added for your daughter doesn't have that discount, which implies that it is under a new service contract.
If you go sign a new service contract and upgrade either of the other phones now, you will see that they will also lose their discount and be billed at the full rate of $40/month. $650 smartphones aren't free, and you do still end-up paying for them even when you get them at the contract subsidized price of $199. You could purchase the iPhone for full price and keep the $15/month discount, but if you do the math, I think you will find that the contract will save you a little money in the long run. $15 x 24 months = $360. The discount you get for purchasing the iPhone on contract is about $450, so you save about $90 over the 2 year contract, so in this case, keeping your discount may have cost you a little more in the long run.
0
0
GeekBoy
Master
•
4.1K Messages
10 years ago
So, by reading your post, I see that you made an invalid assumption and didn't research your costs before you upgraded your phone, and you are blaming it all on AT&T. Your parents changed their billing plan, and you assumed that your upgrade options would be the same as they were on the old plan, and you were incorrect. If you had read the details on the new plan your parents were on, you would have seen that they were receiving a discount for the lines being out of contract (or receiving a promotiona discount if their contracts were in effect prior to February 2014). You signed a new contract, so your line is now under contract, and the contract was not in effect prior to Feb 2014, so you are no longer eligible for the discount.
When your father upgraded his phone, he used the NEXT plan, so he did not sign a new service contract, and he is still eligible for the "out of contract" discount on his line.
It is all very clear and very consistent with all the materials AT&T published for the Mobile Share Value plans. I still don't see how AT&T is "giving you a run-around" it sounds more to me like you are trying to give them one to get a discount that you are not eligible for.
0
0