I have been battling with AT&T back in forth that started in late September, which = unhappy customerX3. This all came about when I reserved an iPhone 6 64GB at BestBuy where I'm an Elite Plus member, thus for $1 spend I get 25% Rewards Points; more importantly, almost 80% of the staff at my Best Buy no me by name and always eager to assist me no matter the reason for my store visit (probably because I'm a laid back person and love to make people smile/laugh). Sorry for the tangent, but just wanted to point out Best Buy cares about their customers and go above and beyond to satisfy their loyal customers.
Okay, so I go into my local Best Buy store to reserve my iPhone 6 and let them inspect my iPhone 5 to determine promo trade-in offer. A guy assisted me from my hometown that has been with Best Buy for 7 1/2 years and is mobile dept. head. Flash-forward to the end of the transaction after he confirms my line was eligible for upgrade, then proceeds to select device info. in that I was looking to upgrade to. At the end of Best Buy Mobile upgrade process, the full retail price + plus sales taxes (9.75%) amount shows on the screen for customer to review even though all that was being purchased was $50 Best Buy gift card to reserve phone. I glanced at the full retail (plus tax) on the register screen before signing on the dotted line, which is where the confusion and headache began for me. ***$921.89 was total dollar amount shown****
This is where it got fun, because I knew for a fact the the set retail price for the an iPhone 6 64GB was $749.99 (confirmed with a close childhood friend who works for Apple. From there my CPA mind kicked in and I quickly figured out final cost of phone should be $823.11 (749.99 X 9.75%)based on 749.99 retail price due to me being a loyal Apple Customer (8 devices and counting). A knew employee of Best Buy decided to argue against me, which only drove me more to get to the bottom of why there was a $98.78 difference in after tax prices of two different amounts. However, since I was only paying $50 up front to reserve iPhone and would pay $299.99 (minus $50) when phone arrive at store.
Later that night I logged onto my AT&T wireless account and went through the 2-year commitment upgrade process. After selecting the 64GB iPhone 6 2-year commitment price of $299.99, a link appeared for to show a side-by-side comparison of upgrading via AT&T Next Program vs. 2-year Commitment. A window appeared after clicking on the link and it showed the set retail prices for 64GB iPhone 6 as follows:
- $749.99 under AT&T Next Program
- $839.99 under 2-year Commitment**
**Most everyone that owns a smartphone, knows Apple's "it's their way or the highway" mentality. Thus, I called Apple and had them view my screen as repeated upgrade process via att.com. Once the Apple representative saw the two different price, they validated I was correct in thinking that apple authorized retailers, wireless companies, etc. could not in any way show a higher price than the retail price set by Apple***
The next morning placed a call AT&T Customer Service/Relations and asked Representative to go through upgrade process, hoping it would shine light on why I was upset and confused. Long story short, Rep. played it off like it had to be a computer glitch and thanked me for pointing it out. Next she told me to go ahead and upgrade before promo period ends, then new phone is received and activated they would compensate me for my troubles, kindness of pointing out pricing error, and for being a long-time loyal customer; did not give any specifics on how they would compensate me, I figured it would be in the form of a lump-sum bill credit enough to cover the next few bills in full like AT&T has done in the past when in the wrong.
It appears that AT&T is not the company they use to be who valued customer loyalty and always strive to provide the best customer experience by the simple fact that I was told by a AT&T Customer Relations Rep. to go with the Next Program when I upgrade because would be easier to issue bill credits, free month(s) of service or free accessories. As instructed I selected the AT&T Next upgrade option even though my gut was saying, "No."
**Bottom-line: When a customer upgrades and goes with 2-year contract to get the discounted price for the selected smartphone, AT&T looses money. On the flip side, if they choose to upgrade via AT&T Next Program: they would pay more taxes for phone b/c taxed on the full retail price of $749.99; Next Program puts more money in AT&T wallets because in at the end of the installment pay agreement, customer over time has paid full retail price for phone vs. $299.99 discounted price (figures based off 64GB iPhone 6); lastly, AT&T Next program gives AT&T full ownership rights of phone until end of installment plan period or customer pays remaining phone balance early (similar making payments on items being held on layaway or consignment; the retailer/vendor retains ownership rights until balance is paid in-full)
P.S. Hopefully this will help others who recently upgraded in last few months and are skeptical that AT&T truly looking out for your best interest as they went over and over a side by comparison of AT&T Next Program vs. 2-year commitment route that we (Americans) were accustom to. **FYI- they exclude monthly $15 smartphone fee when computing overall cost via Next Program to make Next Program look even more enticing**
Thanks for letting me vent my frustration!