I have been an AT&T wireless client since 1992 and was dismayed at my experience over the last 3 days.
We have 10 devices on a Mobile Share plan and upgraded 2 of our phones on Sunday. 2 days after the upgrade I received a text stating "Upgrading (my number) on a 2-year wireless agreement increases the Mobile Share Value smartphone access charge for this line to $40/mo. Other charges apply. To learn how to keep your Mobile Service Value discount or for more details visit att.com/planchange."
Any required change to my plan was NOT disclosed to me at anytime during the purchase. The change will cost me $180 per year. Interestingly, it had only been a matter of days since I had received a text that I could upgrade my data to 30mb a month for no additional charge.
As a result of receiving the text I called customer service to inquire about this additional charge. It took me 10 minutes to talk to the first customer service agent who ultimately, and without letting me know it was happening, dumped me back into a queue and 5 minutes later my call was answered by another representative in collections. That rep told me there were no additional charges on my bill for the Mobile Share Value access. I finally asked to talk to her manager and her manager confirmed the additional charges would show up on my next bill. She did credit the upgrade charges for the 2 phones, but since that bill was not available I have to call back to ensure that happens.
After that she informed me she would have to transfer me to Customer Care to take care of the Mobile Share Value charge. After waiting 10 minutes a Customer Care I explained my situation for the 3rd time and after putting me on hold for 5 minutes he came back and said he was sorry, but there the best he could do was to give me a $25 one time credit. After confirming he could do nothing and having him apologize 3 additional times I asked to speak to his manager. His manager was very curt, patronizing and completely unhelpful. He informed me that the change was actually a discount that was going away because I upgraded the phones so it really wasn't an increase in fees. After much back and forth he told me if I wanted to stay on the original Mobile Share Value plan either 1. I could take my phone back and sign up for a different plan or 2. take my phone back and pay full retail price for the "device".
To reiterate I was NEVER told that I would be charged $180 a year when I upgraded my phone and after spending over 1.5 hours talking to AT&T there was nothing you can do about it. I have been a client for over 22 years, upgraded countless phones and have never had a problem like this. I feel that the way this charge applied was at best misleading, at worst unethical.
I would like to know if there is anything ATT can do to rectify the situation?