Sadly, I am reading that what has happened to me has and is happening to others.
I went into the Lenox Mall AT&T store in GA to add a line and phone to my plan. The sales rep Chanel (on her first day) told me that they were running a special program and that she could give me a free iPad and add a phone without increasing my current monthly bill of $160 a month. I was hesitant to do it that day because my current phone had a cracked screen and I wanted to use the insurance I'd been paying for to get a new phone (with the $125 co-pay). She told me I didn't need to do that because she could get me a replacement phone for free. So I agreed to two Windows 8.0 phones (not the new 8.1 phones that were avaliable)
Seriously, she told me explicitly that I could get two new phones and an iPad for FREE because I was a loyal customer and that my bill would not go up. I questioned this several times! I even said, "What's to prevent folks from taking these free things and then just walking away if they have no contracts?" The sales rep told me that this was AT&T's way of thanking us for being loyal customers for 20 years.
As soon as the Bill came in (for $260 instead of $170) we went to the store and spoke to the manager. We told him that if he couldn't fix it he needed to cancel the plan. He said he would fix it and explained that the extra $90 was due to the monthly charges for the two phones and the iPad and that I was on a 3year payment plan!!!!! Why would I pay $300 for an old model Windows Phone over 3years never mind $500 for an iPad!!!!!
Then the next bill came in again at $260 we went to the store again, spoke to the manager. The sales rep claimed she didn't tell us that the phones were free!!! I couldn't believe it. She was so sweet and said that there had obviously been a miscommunication, but they would fix it.
I came home and called AT&T on the phone. I got $60 taken off my next bill and a promise they would look into it, escalate it, and I would hear back in 4-6 weeks.
Then the 3rd bill came in for $260 again. I called AT&T and the very nice guy on the phone said nothing else had been done about it.
I am currently on the phone with AT&T now and have been on for two hours