Tuesday, November 2, 2010

AT&T is not making me a satisfied customer

I am really disappointed with AT&T. Below is the letter I wrote to them.

I purchased an IPhone 4 as an upgrade in Sept at a corporate store. I asked about insurance. I was given only one option - a $70.00 year plan. I asked the salesman if something happened and i had to replace the phone, how that would work. He said instead of paying the full price, I would pay an amount that would be the like the upgrade fee I had just paid. I paid for the plan. I was not told this was not an insurance plan.

Today my phone was stolen from by bag. I called to file a claim. After several calls I was transferred to Apple where i was told that what I had purchased was not a insurance, but it was an extended warranty. It would not work for a stolen phone or a phone that had been damaged. I was told my the lady at apple that this was a very common thing for ATT customers to be misinformed.

After several more calls (approximately 2 hours on the phone) I was put back to customer care. I was told that there was nothing that could be done despite the fact that i had been misinformed by an ATT employee. I was not asking for a free phone. I only asked that I be able to purchase a phone at the same price that the salesman had told me I could. The last person that I spoke to said there was nothing he could do, but he would credit my account for the current balance. That would have been 199. He only credited it 100.00.

I have one line that has not been used in a year now. I could not cancel it even though my son had moved to a foreign country because I did not have his utility bill. It was suggested that I upgrade that line and buy the phone on that one. That would be fine, except my son will be home in 9 months and he wants an iphone as well. That means that I will have to order a new line of service in order to get him the phone he wants. I will continue to pay for a phone line that no one is using - at 10.00 a month I have already spent 120. I will have to spend an additional 240 on a line that no one uses in order to get him a phone.

I am very, very disappointed in this whole situation. I feel I am being penalized because of the incompetence of an ATT employee. Instead of offering me insurance as I requested, I was given a warranty. It is very frustrating to me that ATT will not stand behind their customer when it was an employee who misinformed me. There should be some way for me to be able to repurchase an Iphone 4 for the 199 without adding another line of service or jeopardizing my son's line and his ability to purchase the type of phone he wants.

As I said, I have paid 10.00 a month for 12 months and have another 9 months before he comes home. That is 210.00 of fees for a line that is not used by anyone. If I had not purchased the insurance I would not even be asking for this. In good faith, I bought a year of 'insurance' that turned out to not be insurance.

I would really appreciate someone taking care of this matter for me. As I said, I would be willing to purchase the phone at the rate of 199 and not jeopardize any of our other plans. I will also purchase the insurance that is 11.99 a month- an option I was not offered in September. I was told today they could not make it retroactive as that would be fraud. I think being told that I have insurance when I only have a warranty could also be construed as fraud. I have been a loyal customer for a very long time.

We had decided to stay with ATT despite the fact that my daughter has awful coverage in Santa Fe. At this point, I am very disappointed we made that decision. I wish I had been given the opportunity to purchase insurance for my phone. Had I been given that option, I would have paid the copayment today and had another phone on the way. Instead, I have no phone. The cell phone is the only phone that I have. I use it for personal as well as business. I will probably lose business because I am unable to access my phone. I must say I am a very dissatisfied ATT customer.

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