Complain about a product or service

AT&T Wireless

AT&T Wireless • Billing disputes • Unexpected contract expiration • Network problems • GSM service • Number portability • Sales practices • Customer service • GO Phone • Everything else --- News • Cingular-AT&T Wireless Deal is Done • Cingular Buys AT&T Wireless • Software Glitch Blamed for Losses • Cingular, AT&T Wireless In Merger Talks • AT&T Wireless Leads In Number Portability Problems

Although AT&T Wireless shares the name of its former parent company, it has long since moved out and started life on its own. But even as an independent company, AT&T Wireless displays many of the same traits that have caused its parent to watch its once-massive customer base ever so steadily erode.

You can't say AT&T is no longer innovative. Whereas most cell phone companies insist their contracts run until the moon has turned to dust, AT&T now waits quietly for some favorable contracts to expire so that it can hit customers with the highest rates imaginable. Don't laugh, it happened to Alina.

A few recent complaints:

Burt of Downingtown, PA July 10, 2009

I have been an ATT customer for a long period of time, almost ten years. I have always upgraded my phone and renewed my contact as frequent as possible, which I would think to ATT would mean something as I carry the most expensive plan on the market. At any rate, the new IPhone 3GS was released, I want to upgrade, they told me it was Apples policy and not theirs on the upgrade that did not allow me to pay any less than 700 for the phone. I personally contacted Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple and he informed me that it is the policy of ATT. The only thing they want to do is lie and cheat a valued customer. Therefore, I now want a new IPhone 3GS for free. I do not appreciate fraudulent business like theirs.

Connie of Serena, IL July 10, 2009

I have 3 phones with continual "No Network coverage" at my home. After a trip to the store where they were purchased and no satisfaction (I was told to purchased a newer phone w/3G capacity but I had to extend my contract) My 3 phones are 12 mo. old and I won't extend my contract. I have 12 mo. left on all three. I called customer service spoke w/Ashley.After much discussion I was told my "buy out fee 120.00 per phone. OR I will send out free of charge - no obligation- will not effect our current contract a Nokia 2600 to see if a 2G phone works in my area. If it does they would switch me free of charge... not acceptable to me as I have 2 other phones in the same condition but reluctantly I agreed to try the Nokia to see if I got reception.

As the call ended Ashley said to activate the phone I needed to agree to a 2 yr. contract - I said NO I won't. She assured me all was documented and as soon as the phone was returned it would be cancelled and cost me nothing. The call ened. I immediatly called the store where I had been earlierand asked if I had a 2G or 3G phone that customer service had told me you couldn't tell just looking at my sim card like you had done - the info was in the computer. She (Stephanie, Ass't. Manager) pulled up my account and told me I had ordered a Nokia phone and they extended my original contract 1 yr. She gave me the phone # for customer service. I have to use my land line, my cell doesn't work from home.

I called, gave the order number and asked to cancel/refuse the order. Was told I couldn't, the order had been processed. 55 min. later I got a manager who also couldn't/wouldn/t reverse or stop the order. Was told to either try the Nokia phone when it comes or refuse it. Once it is returned all would be fine. The additional year will disappear. I justed looked at my bill online and I have been billed for an upgrade. So at the end of the day I still have 3 phone with No Network Coverage and ATT Cingular has billed me for a new phone and extended my contract. Now what?

Christine of Philadelphia, PA July 9, 2009

I purchased a refurbished phone from AT&T back on November 27, 2008. The phone stopped working 3 months ago. I have been communicating on the phone and via e-mail with representatives rom AT&T and I keep getting different stories. The rep that e-mailed me told me it would be no problem to get them to exchange my phone and when I called they said there was nothing that they could do to help me. Why do they even sell these phones if they are only going to carry a 90 day warranty. I would have nver purchased this phone if there was supposedly only a 90 day warranty. So now my options pay over 300 to get out of my contract or continue to walk around with a phone that does not work.

Keri of Altoona, IA July 8, 2009

My husband & I have the family plan with AT&T and the reception/service is horrible. I could go on and on about how it drops calls, cuts out, how I get no service available messages, etc. I am just fed up with the service, or should I say lack thereof, that AT&T has provided us. We have been with them for 7 years now and we cannot believe the way we are being treated by customer service reps and by managers. All we are asking is to get out of our contract without any type of termination fees and they will not work with us. They cannot even provide me a copy of the contract with my signature showing I agreed to extend it 2 more years when I was forced to get another phone to see if the reception would be any better.I believe that if an individual receives a service, they should pay for it & vice versa. If AT&T cannot provide reasonable reception to us, then they should be ethical about it and terminate the relationship without trying to squeeze one more dollar out of you. For anyone that is considering AT&T, please run. I would rather have no phone at this point. I just want out of my so-called contract! I am sure I am not the first person to complain about this and it probably won't make a difference to AT&T but I if I could stop one person from getting service with them, it would be worth my time that I am spending writing this.

Shaun of Eaton , OH July 7, 2009

I purchased a 3g iphone about three months ago from an AT&T store in Fresno CA. At the time of purchase I was told by the sales person when asked that after the 30 day trial period I would be able to turn off/eliminate the additional 30 per month internet fee at any time and would be able to keep using the IPhone's web browser as long as I had a wireless signal. I specifically asked this question because I already pay for and receive DSL service and would not need the additional internet service AT&T provides. Shortly after purchasing the phone a cost of 199 + tax. My wife and I had to relocate do to a military obligation so I decided to keep the internet service until we could re-establish home DSL service at are new location.

Today 7-07-09 after getting my internet service up and running I contacted AT&T to cancel the internet portion on my IPhone and look into buying a IPhone for my wife when I was told that the sales person was either misleading me or was misinformed when he told me I could cancel the internet portion when in fact it is required to keep the iphone according to the person I talked to on the phone. Meanwhile I either have to keep paying the addition 30 a month or I can 1/ sell my iphone 2/ buy a different phone (150 and up) or the cancel my account and pay an early cancellation fee of about 175 per phone.

I feel I am a victim of false advertising and tricked into buying a phone and am now stuck with either a plan I cannot afford or pay an unreasonable fee to keep my service. In addition the representative I talked to said they could not waive any fee's or help in any other way besides giving me a 30 dollar credit on my next bill.

Layne of San Juan Capistrano, CA July 7, 2009

Purchased a Blackberry Bold in April 09, had to replace on April 13, 2009 due to malfunction, returned that one to AT&T 4/29/09 due to malfunction, returned that one on 7/5/09 due to malfunction. Requested to return the phone for a refund and go back to the iphone...they refused. They are sending out another Blackberry Bold on 7/7/09. Do not want this phone. Want to go back to original iphone (willing to purchase). Requested a refund on the Blackberry bold, AT&T refused refund.

pearse of yonkers, NY July 7, 2009

i bought an iphone and later found out that i was charged 850.i,ve tried dozens of time,s to talk to an at&t rep.but they keep giving me the run around.ive also been verbaly abused by phone reps.who havent tried to resovled this situation.I have no more choice but to write to you,i cant let this guy away with this,i might have let this go but then they switched my phone off because i owed 78 which i was going to pay but didnt get time.I just hope that there is something you can do about this as i have had enough of this.

Cathy of Bowie, MD July 5, 2009

I called At&t to inform them that I was still having problems with a phone that I had only six months. I have had four replacement phones which still had the same trouble. I explaines all this to Ms. M who said she understood and that I could get an upgrade or a phone of equal value. Ms. M said take your time and research the three phones she gave us to research were Blackberry Bold, Pantech Duo, and Black Berry curve. We sais alright and she said that she would document our records so that when we called back another rep would not have a problem placing the order.

Well, when I called back I was told that I could get another replacement phone, and that was the best the warranty department could do. I again explained the situation and was transfered to another department were I again explaine dthe situation and was told well we are sorry, but that is the best we can do. Than I was transfered to another department and had to explain again because they also wanted to send an replacement phone(which each dept called it something else), but none of the departments would give us a new phone. It went on for three hours and each time it got worst to the point that I was sick to my stomach that I was so angry that they did not care about our concerns.

After several request to speak to a manager you never believ what they did transfered me to the insurance department. After explaining to the insurance department they took our information and transfered us to a department that was saying something about an Affidavit and a waiting period in order to be approved. Than I hung up and called again and asked to speak to a manager again I explained the situation and and was told that the best they could do was another replacement phone. By that time I had spoken to six people with no resolutions that I was just tierd and told them to send me the phone but this is not the end. That is why I am sending this believe it is much more that I went through, but it wpould take me to long. Ihope this will at least help another supposinly valued customer.

kurt of Battle Creek, MI July 3, 2009

Have a Prepaid GoPhone Monthly charge 39.95 on credit card My card Expired wish made the payment fail (had a rollover Account balance of App 200.00 at the time)Att seize the money and says the have the right to do so, I call it thief this is non used money/minutes I have paid in But they compare it with a cable tv account saying that if I didn't pay my bill a due date the cable would be disconnected..

Peter of Phoenix, AZ July 3, 2009

AT&T is charging me to cancel a plan that was never ordered or wanted. The plan that was ordered could not be made to work after months of wasted efforts. Its that simple but on one at AT&T seems to get it when the fact are perfectly clear.

Spectrum Medical Group had a contract with AT&T for one phone for almost 4 years. We called and added a 2nd line for 9.95. We got the new SIM card and everything worked fine.

The first bill came and it was not what we had ordered. It had added an entirely new line with its own minutes nit the 2nd line for 9.95 but a whole ne added plan. We called and they understood that was not what we ordered and credits were applied while the situation was being resolved to get us what we had ordered.

We were given many different reasons why the bill was not correct over many, many calls and many hours on the phone with many agents. A new SIM card was sent free of charge as one solution which did not work. We traveled to the AT&T store 2 times to only get conflicting information. We were told the issue was with the merger and that we had the wrong color system.

We eventually were told the 2nd phone we added would not work on the AT&T system. We found that impossible to believe, as the 2nd phone is the identical model to the 1st phone which had worked fine for many years. For some reason it was impossible for the billing system to recognize the 2 of the same model phones on the plan we had been sold. After months of efforts I was told I needed to buy a new phone from them to make what I had ordered months prior to work. This was not what I ordered and I had no desire to replace my smart phone.

After more than 3 months and many hours of effort on the phone with technical people and billing people and store people we gave up on getting what we had ordered, adding a 2nd phone for 9.95. We switched to T-Mobile who easily offered us a plan (not 2 separate plans and not having to buy any new phones) in a matter of minutes.

We had informed AT&T we were doing so and they apparently understood after our months of efforts to get what we had ordered from them.

I was shocked to receive our final bill which had a contract cancellation charge for the contract they had not only never delivered on, but had wasted many, many hours of my valuable time on the phone with technical people, billing people and store people.

I was even more shocked when calling and speaking with a supervisor who told me it was impossible to remove the cancellation charge for the contract they never delivered on and could not deliver on.

I offered to pay the service portion but refused and still refuse to pay the contract cancellation fee on a contract never delivered. This more than reasonable offer after all my wasted time and effort over many months was refused.

Now we have a collection agency calling to collect the final bill for a contract never delivered and innumerable hours of wasted energy trying to resolve.

I have never in my 52 years ever had such an absurd experience with a any vendor. To have wasted so much time from so many people who had no ability to deliver to me what I had been sold was bad enough. To have been sent to collections and threatened with ruining my credit rating due to the incompetence of sales people who sold me a solution that never worked, a technical team that could not resolve it and billing department that has no authority other than to bill regardless of AT&T being in error is a joke.

I will never pay this unfair bill. Based on prior experience with AT&T no one will even read this, as you must have piles and piles of such complaints.

If anyone does read this and can rectify the wrong-doing AT&T has done to me, I thank you. I am not trying to get out of a 259.56 bill. As a physician and businessman with significant net worth and business dealings I have never had such a bad experience with so much incompetence in a single company, in so many ways. It is the principle of the matter and having been treated unfairly when the facts are so perfectly clear that is impossible for me to understand.

Back to the top |