AT&Thieves

Its a shame when a phone company who is supposed to be providing you a service takes the liberty to ROB YOU BLIND without giving it a second thought.

I have been with AT&T since they were Cingulair (I guess that's how you spell it...).  You'd think I'd get some sort of "grandfathered in" benefits, but no.  Somehow, with my being the one who had the initial account with Cingulair, and then later adding my husband after we got married, just before the company was bought out by AT&T, I was pushed out as the account holder.  This prevented me from making any decisions on an account which used to be owned solely by myself.  According to them, everything now needed to be verified through my husband. Huh??? When did that happen?

But that was only a minor issue in my list of grievances with this company.  One of the main concerns I have is their lack of communication in regards to pulling extra money from my bank account. The first major issue happened during the 2012 Christmas season. Our family plan had two upgrades as a credit on our account, and I decided to use them to get our boys new phones as one of their gifts. I made sure to stay in that store as long as I could to get reassurance that what they were giving me was not a scam. I spoke with not only the representative, but also the store manager who reassured me that by taking advantage of this holiday special there would be no extra charges on my account. Basically we were getting a duty free upgrade according to the impression they had made.

I was excited for my boys because they would be getting the latest model of the LG, the G2, which had been introduced to the market that year, and was a wise investment (that I would be getting for free) according to the store reps.

I walked out of the store after signing the necessary paperwork with trepidation on one shoulder and reluctant enthusiasm on the other.  Something inside me would not allow me to believe the words I had just been fed in that store. (Btw: if you're ever in the Katy, TX. area, and visit the Katy Mills Outlet mall DON'T stop in to that AT&T store.  It's a trick!)

When it came time to get my bill, I was expecting discrepancies, but was fully blown away when I saw that the total charge was over $700.00, and that was only for one month. Included in this $700.00 were a number of fees which were not communicated to me upon purchase, and some I was promised would never show up on my bill in the first place. I was livid! I wondered how any company could justify racking up over $500.00 in fees with loyal customers who paid their bill every month.  Oh, and did I mention this particular account, one which I was not allowed to make decisions on prior to this purchase, had been given over to my husband with full rights to all decisions made?  YES I DID!

I wish I had caught on to the scam the moment the representatives decided it was okay to allow me the decision to get the phones for my boys, but yet did not allow me any other rights to changes on the account other than that.  My mind was so clouded with the excitement of being able to give my sons this type of gift for Christmas that this major flaw in service was overlooked.  My husband had to step in and go to a downtown location where those employees noticed the apparent discrepancies on our account, and the negligence of the AT&T representatives at the Katy Mills location.  Thankfully those gentleman corrected the problem.

The fun didn't stop there though.  Just last year my husband was due for yet another upgrade (Oh those upgrades... What a trap...) Now mind you, we were used to our upgrades being free as long as we were willing to sign on to another two year agreement (the trap).  Since he was ready for a new phone, my husband went ahead and signed on the dotted line while under the impression that this particular phone would also be free.  But, what AT&T failed to tell him when he got the phone is that they no longer provided free upgrades with contract renewals, no, my husband and I would be paying the full cost of his new phone in addition to our monthly bill. This would not have been a problem if they had let us know before signing the agreement, because then we would have promptly decided that his old phone was good enough, picked up our things, and walked our behinds right out of the store.  That choice was taken from us, all in the name of getting more money.

So for all of you current, or prospective AT&T customers be prepared to bend over and take it for how ever long they have you locked in.  As for me and my family, we'll be done in two years... (I hope).