Contributor
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3 Messages
Lied to in store, no help on phone
I recently went to an AT&T store to add my mom to my plan. She was coming over from another carrier and also needed a new phone. After much discussion with the associate and help from the manager, we agreed on a method that would let me add her to my grandfathered unlimited data plan and only add about $30 to my monthly plan for the line charge for my mom's phone, including her $1 per month installment plan on her new phone and taxes/fees.
Of course it was too good to be true. When I saw my bill it was more like $130 more than my original bill - from $121 to $254! Needless to say I was confused and angry. My mom is a senior who was paying $45/month for her phone plan before and who had other upgrade options with other carriers. I was trying to help her out and the quoted price seemed great. There's no way I'd agree such a large increase on my own plan.
I called AT&T to see what happened, and couldn't really hear or understand what the rep was saying to me, so I decided to go back to the store instead. A different store associate was helpful this time, but I essentially had no choice but to switch out of my grandfathered unlimited plan to a 9 GB shared plan to make it affordable to have my mom on my plan. (If I didn't have my own phone on a installment contract, I would have walked instead.)
I tried to call AT&T again to dispute the original bill. (The store rep told me she couldn't do anything about the original bill, that I would have to call.) After being told by the phone rep that he probably couldn't do anything to help me, but to wait on hold while he did research, my call was disconnected after wasting about 40 minutes of my time for nothing. I planned to call again but haven't been able to carve out the time to do so, so I hope I can get help here.
I'm angry that I had to drop my grandfathered plan and feel like I was tricked into it. And, I also still have this $200+ bill that I wasn't expecting and can't afford.
I don't understand how the original store associate could lie to my face about the cost and I'm still responsible for the fraudulent charge. Is there anything I can do? Thanks.
ATTHelp
Community Support
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232.9K Messages
5 years ago
Hello @kmo629,
We'd be more than happy to take a closer look into your billing concerns. We'll be sending you a private message to request account information shortly.
Sean, AT&T Community Specialist
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mynameis
Associated Member
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118 Messages
5 years ago
More than likely it sounds like you have proration... billed one month in advance (this is normal) plus a partial month, activation fee and perhaps insurance... look at the individual charges under her line and see if I’m correct
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GLIMMERMAN76
ACE - Expert
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23.9K Messages
5 years ago
@mynameis
There is no way proration is going to double the bill by just adding one line. It all depends on the unlimited plan the op is talking about. If its the OG there is no way to add a line.
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sandblaster
ACE - Expert
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64.7K Messages
5 years ago
The added line was probably put on a separate plan. One full month for an additional one line plan plus any prorated charges plus activation fee could easily double the bill.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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118.4K Messages
5 years ago
As @GLIMMERMAN76 wrote, it wouldn’t be a surprise that At&t isn’t allowing new lines on the legacy plan. They would add a separate plan on the same bill.
@kmo629 Credits on the phone don’t show for 3 months. Activation fee, and depending on when mom was added, there could be as much as 7 weeks service on the bill.
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kmo629
Contributor
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3 Messages
5 years ago
Thanks everyone for your comments. I now realized what happened - they essentially gave my mom the same legacy plan that I had, under my account. I want to say it was called Family Talk 450 or something like that.
But, my issue is that the associate in the store told me that all I would have to pay would be the monthly line charge plus $1/month installment on the phone itself, and she would be able to share my data and texts - $25-$30 after taxes and fees. It turned out to be more like $80 per month, without the prorated charges. I never would have added her for that cost. It certainly wouldn't save us any money compared to the $45 she was paying on T-Mobile.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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118.4K Messages
5 years ago
I can’t imagine how they got $30. The line access on the legacy Plan is $40, same as your line access. $40 activation fee, and credits on the phone take 3 months.
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kmo629
Contributor
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3 Messages
5 years ago
@lizdance40 Looking at her portion of the full-month bill that would have started Oct 27 (we did this Oct 5), it says FamilyTalk Nation 450 with Rollover would be $19.99 (mine is $39.99). I guess that's where the sales rep got the number. He said about $20 plus taxes and fees. I wrote it down at the time. The part that surprised me was $50 for data and "pay per message" text charges. The prorated charges for all that for Oct 5-26 was about $65.
In short, he quoted me something that he didn't understand and couldn't offer.
I also get a 25% "national account discount" from a group I belong to, which is something I forgot to mention before. The $30 activation fee was waived and was credited on that bill, as well as the monthly promotional phone installment credit.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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118.4K Messages
5 years ago
@kmo629 Yeah, that’s for sure. I can’t even figure out how he got that plan on there, it should be impossible.
Hope they fix it ASAP
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