AT&T Never Again

[Zeke]

We are completely fed up with AT&T. We will be jailbreaking my wife?s iPhone tomorrow and I will NOT be buying the iPhone that I had planned to buy until Apple gets an alternative to AT&T.

My wife bought our kids each an $80 AT&T phone to replace their pre-paid AT&T Go phones. The younger son decided he didn?t want to replace his old phone, so she took the unopened, unactivated phone back to the AT&T store. They said there was a $35 ?restocking charge? for returning the $80 phone. When my wife asked why they hadn?t told her about the restocking charge before she bought the phones they said the notice about that is clearly printed on the back of the receipt. Never mind that the receipt isn?t available to read until after you?ve bought the phone. They then said that if she hadn?t left the store with the phone they could have taken the phone back without the restocking charge, but that since she had left the store with the phone there was nothing they could do. Of course, this simply demonstrates that had they WANTED to they could have given her a full refund, and it wasn?t really ?out of their hands?.

It gets better. Not being one to take abuse without a fight, my wife then stood outside the store attempting to sell the unopened phone to passersby, explaining about the restocking charge and why she was trying to resell the phone. The manager of the AT&T store then approached her saying he was going to call the mall security guard if she didn?t leave. Her response was to call the guard herself and ask how far she needed to be from the AT&T store to be legal. The guard advised her that it wasn?t permitted to sell anything on mall property without a lease agreement. My wife then went to see the mall manager, who ended up buying the phone from her at the original retail price.

AT&T will never see another dime from us?EVER! No matter what! For any product or service! I am an Apple investor, and I will oppose any further dependence or association with AT&T for Apple. Apple is a reputable company. AT&T are simply pirates out to rape the public at every opportunity. Die, AT&T, just die!

 

[BLiNK]

wow. never seen one of these threads before
why people come here and waste their time and efforts in doing this, i'll never know.
just do it and get it over with already.

 

[dbjaime3]

I read your post and I understand your need to vent. I feel this way with large companies from time to time and I too post on boards, and email the company on why I am leaving, it makes me feel better.

 

[lungho]

<rant>

Dude, you're going to find out that all carriers suck in customer service....at least the ones in the U.S. do. I've rarely been in a any phone store where it did not take me 2hrs or more to get a new phone or some kind of service.

If I could leave you a box of tissues, I would. But since I can't, I'll tell you that nobody cares what your whining about cause most of us have already experienced similar problems.

Be a man, grow up, stop crying, and stop letting your kids make decisions involving $80 phones.

</rant>

 

[cardfan]

We are completely fed up with AT&T. We will be jailbreaking my wife?s iPhone tomorrow and I will NOT be buying the iPhone that I had planned to buy until Apple gets an alternative to AT&T.

My wife bought our kids each an $80 AT&T phone to replace their pre-paid AT&T Go phones. The younger son decided he didn?t want to replace his old phone, so she took the unopened, unactivated phone back to the AT&T store. They said there was a $35 ?restocking charge? for returning the $80 phone. When my wife asked why they hadn?t told her about the restocking charge before she bought the phones they said the notice about that is clearly printed on the back of the receipt. Never mind that the receipt isn?t available to read until after you?ve bought the phone. They then said that if she hadn?t left the store with the phone they could have taken the phone back without the restocking charge, but that since she had left the store with the phone there was nothing they could do. Of course, this simply demonstrates that had they WANTED to they could have given her a full refund, and it wasn?t really ?out of their hands?.

It gets better. Not being one to take abuse without a fight, my wife then stood outside the store attempting to sell the unopened phone to passersby, explaining about the restocking charge and why she was trying to resell the phone. The manager of the AT&T store then approached her saying he was going to call the mall security guard if she didn?t leave. Her response was to call the guard herself and ask how far she needed to be from the AT&T store to be legal. The guard advised her that it wasn?t permitted to sell anything on mall property without a lease agreement. My wife then went to see the mall manager, who ended up buying the phone from her at the original retail price.

AT&T will never see another dime from us?EVER! No matter what! For any product or service! I am an Apple investor, and I will oppose any further dependence or association with AT&T for Apple. Apple is a reputable company. AT&T are simply pirates out to rape the public at every opportunity. Die, AT&T, just die!

Write a letter to AT&T and mail it (not email). Worked for me. They responded after a month or so and made things right with 2 free months. Don't be nasty but just explain why you're upset.

 

[Hack-My-i]

yea all carriers suck but i agree...AT&T IS THE WORSE CARRIER I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH!!!!! IM WITH U BRO!!!!!

 

[iBoxtaboy]

It's the store that really didn't know how to properly handle your complaint. You should have just taken it to AT&T management by either calling the service line or written them a letter. They would've made things right if escalated to the right folks within the organization. The employees of the store don't give a rats arse about customer service, as it's not their reputation at stake.

I had an employee at an At&t store tell me once to keep the receipt for my purchase of an iPhone case because I could return it for up to a year if it was defective for any reason. It all depends on who happens to be working at the store. Sorry to hear about your experience, but it could've happened at any carrier's store. The store you went to just happened to suck.

 

[Hack-My-i]

i had several bad experiences with their customer service so to me, they suck period!

 

[animalhouseusa]

All carriers charge a restocking fee. The salesperson should have told but most will not because they want the sell and the commission. I have only been with AT&T a couple of months and they did say I could return the phones in 30 days but never mentioned the restock fee but I knew this was there.

 

[Hack-My-i]

i've returned a phone when i had both, verizon and t-mobile and was never charged a restocking fee

 

[plevine1]

Forget about the issue with customer service. I can deal with those "people". I have greater issues with ATT weak cell service.

Never had a problem with Verizon. That new Droid is making me think......

 

[Zeke]

<rant>

Dude, you're going to find out that all carriers suck in customer service....at least the ones in the U.S. do. I've rarely been in a any phone store where it did not take me 2hrs or more to get a new phone or some kind of service.

If I could leave you a box of tissues, I would. But since I can't, I'll tell you that nobody cares what your whining about cause most of us have already experienced similar problems.

Be a man, grow up, stop crying, and stop letting your kids make decisions involving $80 phones.

</rant>

So that's your definition of being a man? Sitting on your rump and letting some minimum wage loser mistreat your wife while you do nothing? After I've made as much noise as possible around the internet I'm going back into that store and "discuss" the situation with the manager. You can bet he'll be peeing down his leg before I'm done. "Be a man...", indeed. You might try it sometime.

 

[lungho]

So that's your definition of being a man? Sitting on your rump and letting some minimum wage loser mistreat your wife while you do nothing? After I've made as much noise as possible around the internet I'm going back into that store and "discuss" the situation with the manager. You can bet he'll be peeing down his leg before I'm done. "Be a man...", indeed. You might try it sometime.

Somebody needs a hug.

 

[Thomas843]

That's why you always read the fine print. I just love people that blame there misfortune on anybody but themselves.....

 

[BuddhistGirafe]

Move to Canada and come on Rogers, I have had nothing but happiness and success from them. Apart from the mad rates I pay for my iPhone, which is around 110 a month.

 

[anon(22163)]

I understand and it is crap. My iPhone was broke the second I bought it. The ATT store would not replace it. They said go talk to Apple. I literally just bought it.

Kudu's to your wife for objecting without getting hauled away by the cops.

 

[big9erfan]

So that's your definition of being a man? Sitting on your rump and letting some minimum wage loser mistreat your wife while you do nothing? After I've made as much noise as possible around the internet I'm going back into that store and "discuss" the situation with the manager. You can bet he'll be peeing down his leg before I'm done. "Be a man...", indeed. You might try it sometime.

Mistreat your wife? Did he slap her around a few times? I must have missed that in your post.

The sales person was doing their job, and most carriers charge a restocking fee on returns.

 

[jhamilton3]

I've had some bad experiences with AT&T and Verizon.. the only carrier that had good customer service with me was Sprint..

 

[Microcosmos]

I think we're all missing the real point here, which is: AT&T allows you to buy $80.00 iPhones and use them without a contract on a Go plan?! That is stellar!

 

[ghostface147]

Sorry to hear about your issues and you should be upset, but for me, no issues here. Solid 3G coverage, 850 Mhz spectrum, good customer service when I needed it, and great data speeds: