Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Beefstorm posted:

My manager caught wind of my handling this megathread.

:colbert: What platform is that on?
:) The something awful forums.
:colbert: Is that popular?
:) I guess.
:colbert: Can you do something like this on reddit?
:( ...no

There's a very sparsely used sub reddit.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

hotsauce posted:

If you have more than two lines its pretty compelling. If you have exactly two lines its kind if rapey vs individual data plans IMO.

You pay $300/month? Yikes.

I don't know what math you've done, but 2 lines on mobile share, sharing 1 GB, is cheaper than 2 lines on a 700 min, w/unlimited text and each having only 200 mb.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

hotsauce posted:

My wife has an iPhone 4s that she loves however she is eligible for an upgrade now and has unlimited data.

Can she upgrade say, in a few months and keep unlimited data or will we be forced into a share plan? (which we don't want)

I have an individual 5gig plan, she has unlimited. We want to keep it that way. Should she do the upgrade before Oct 26 (or whenever the "we only offer shared data thanks" goes into effect)?

Lblitzer posted:

AT&T still allows you to grandfather unlimited plans through upgrades. Just call customer service to get it switched to a single plan and do it quick as they're going to stop offering anything but Mobile Share pretty soon.

Did you read the OP? READ THE OP.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Yuriki posted:

This is kind of a really dumb thing, but I used to be a premier customer because I have a FAN, but I still have my FAN but my account doesn't go to premier customer support and it uses the normal AT&T store to buy phones (no free shipping). Is this a thing where FAN users are regular accounts now and don't go through premier or is this something I can bring up with AT&T?

Every few (2?) years those FAN discounts get renegotiated. Verify with your HR department that the agreement is still active.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Pissingintowind posted:

AT&T hosed up my FAN discount. The discount is 20% off of the primary line's plan, plus 20% off any data packages over $25.

My 3-person family plan is set up as shown below.

700 minutes - $60 (-$12 for FAN)
Unlimited family texting and mobile-to-mobile - $30
Line 1 - $10
Line 1 3GB data - $30 (-$6 for FAN)
Line 2 - $10
Line 2 3GB data - $30 (-$6 for FAN)
Line 3 - $10

I didn't notice, but for the past few months, I haven't been getting the $6 discount on Line 2. Now, most recently, I've also stopped getting the $6 discount on Line 1. To fix this, they want me to mail forms in and hope for the best. Seriously? You email me a form to mail in to my corporate email address that validates my FAN?

I'm ready to just tell them to go gently caress themselves and switch to T-Mobile. Even with eating the ETF I'd still come out ahead after a few months. Who knows why I haven't done this already.

Check your bills people!

Show me the request to have you validate your employment status.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

myron cope posted:

My sister/brother-in-law have AT&T phones through work. They're looking for a security system and I told them about Digital Life. Can they get it billed separately from the work phones? Since they can't just add it to the phone bill. I literally have no idea how it works. I figured I'd ask here since according to you guys it's the big push right now.

Digital Life can be billed separately.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Pissingintowind posted:

Simple Choice: http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/individual.html

Line 1 with 2.5GB (tethering included) = $60
Line 2 with 2.5GB (tethering included) = $40
Line 3 with 2.5GB (tethering included) = $20
Their "FAN" equivalent = 15% off total bill, so $102 total.
International data and SMS roaming is also included.

AT&T Mobile Share: http://www.att.com/att/planner/index.html

Line 1 smartphone: $35
Line 2 smartphone: $35
Line 3 smartphone: $35
6GB group data (tethering included): $90
FAN discount = 20% off the data portion, so $177 total.
No international data or SMS roaming included.

Basically with or without the FAN, AT&T is $25 per line per month more expensive. Considering that an AT&T contract is 2 years, that's $600 worth over the term per line.

T-Mobile is really making changes for the better.

Sounds like you've done the math. I hope you're frequently out of the country and never ever leave a dense metro area.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Duckman2008 posted:

I don't know if we need to go that hyperbolic and white knighting.
That wasn't my intent, only to point of that the "pros" of the T-Mobile are rather restrictive before they really make sense. They aren't competitive for a reason, and it's their general lack of coverage. So they make these fun gimmicks like international roaming to create a perception of value. You have to acknowledge that T-Mo has run the numbers and wouldn't back any initiative that isn't making them money; i.e. so few customers will travel internationally that they can absorb the cost and still profit from what looks like good PR.
I'm currently one of the last people to white knight for AT&T; I'm irritated beyond belief over some of the (retail) changes that have happened over the last 5 years. Helping people and making them happy has taken a back seat to "growth."

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer
EDIT: Nevermind.

obeyasia fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Oct 30, 2013

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Maneki Neko posted:

Jesus, sorry AT&T retail employees, because as far as I can tell you will never make any commission off me.

Stay out of Company Owned Retail stores you jerk.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Siroc posted:

So you have no incentive to lower bills unless you're feeling nice? That's a crappy way for AT&T (the company, not you front line guys) to treat customers.

I agree, i wish I got paid on my Customer Survey scores that say how happy you are. Or atleast they used that as some kind of multiplyer.

mAlfunkti0n posted:

Is there any way to get a free femtocell for those of us that seem to exist in a black hole? While my connection here is better than it was with any of the other carriers, I still miss calls if I have the phone in my pocket, or if it's not in the "right spot".

Get Uverse TV, Digital Life, or Activate more than 2 (smartphone) lines of service at a retail store, and a manager would probs let you slide with a free one. Anecdotally speaking, of course.

AT&T will most times give them away when you buy whatever they are pushing at the moment.


obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer
I'd love to get the low down too, Sticky.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

echobucket posted:

My AT&T account rolled over to a new month and it's still showing like I have 2 mobile share plans. Is this normal?



What did customer care tell you when you called them about it?

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

EbolaIvory posted:

Order phone online using brothers line.
Goto store.
Activate phone on brothers line while reminding the rep he's going to need to put the old equip back on.
Activate new phone on your line.

The "brothers" line new SIM can be deleted from the cart during the DF process to avoid it being activated and cutting off his line.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Beefstorm posted:

Our manager has recently stopped caring about bill credits. It seems like everyone's activation fee is waived now a days in my store. Anyone know if there was a change in attitude from corporate?

Not in my region. Those are still written in stone here.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Duckman2008 posted:



I will bet that AT&T will phase out early upgrade options over the next year to encourage people to go with Next.

They already have. Its a solid 24 months, unless you do Next which can be done 4-5 months early.

Cromlech posted:

That's a shame and very interesting. Now that you mention it, I remember hearing many of the reps push Next VERY hard onto people and onto myself as well. I know that Next is a big rear end ripoff (sorry AT&T guys, but the 2 year contract poo poo is bad enough!) but to the older, more easily impressionable people who walked in, they definitely went into full sales mode and kind of really dug deep to get people to commit to it.

What do you think is the best option?
Some suggest everyone buying at full retail with no contracts. This seems to work in other markets, but as you know, North America is typically an anomaly with regards to how people spend money and their value expectations. A quarter, at best, of the US buy phones without subsidies. It's the standard now, good or bad, but at least AT&T is making moves to steer away from 2 year contracts. This time last year, there was no other option on any carrier.

obeyasia fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Nov 13, 2013

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Duckman2008 posted:

You can still process early upgrades with no override , although it counts against the stores upgrade override percentage. You won't find reps even mentioning it anymore, but it isn't officially phased out. Just on its way out.

Must be a regional thing then. It is gone gone gone on ours. There was a cut off date, be aware. If you had an "early" upgrade before such and such date, you kept it. Otherwise it's a hard 24 months now.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Duckman2008 posted:

I think we are talking about two different things. What you are saying there is a full upgrade, which indeed you can't do a full upgrade for 24 months. What I am talking about it an early upgrade, where the iPhone 5S is $450 instead of $200 as an example.

Oh yeah. That's there. Ill be surprised if that goes away. Getting people in 2 years without a full discount? Seems like a money maker to me. I'm not bothered enough to break down the math, but its got to be close to what NEXT is with regards to total out of pocket cost.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

hotsauce posted:

Can some AT&T goon help me here? Quick background:

My wife has AT&T and her monthly bill is $75, like clockwork. I recently added a non-contract (BYOD) plan to hers. Got 5gigs w/tethering ($50) and add a line ($9.99). Math tells me that's $59.99 before taxes and fees. We have a 23% FAN discount which should knock the added line down to $38 or so pre-taxes/fees.

Our next bill is showing as $210.06, a full $135 more. What is causing it to be so high? Also, I know I had a $36 activation fee...but our bill should be $75 + $38 = $113 + taxes/fees from now on, right? Just curious how it's $210. There is some funny business going on with the data plans, as shown below.

If $210 or even $174 is our new rate (took off the $36 activation fee) that's a full $100 more, not $38. Does the $38 for my line become $48 after taxes? Even then, it's $123, which even including the $36 activation fee (making the first bill $159 according to basic math) doesn't explain $210.06.

I know the numbers aren't precise, but I'm prepared to cancel my line and go back to my $30 T-Mobile prepaid plan if I'm facing significantly more than $38 more a month for my line.

Thanks






Probs pro rates because of month in advance billing.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Mr. Onslaught posted:

I've talked to three different AT&T people today and all have told me conflicting information, maybe someone here can help.

I want to buy an iPhone 5c as a gift to replace a beat to poo poo iPhone 4, which started off its own host of problems. I think I have most of them resolved (got the last 4 digits of her social without her realizing it's for an upgrade, etc). Wal-Mart is selling the 16GB 5c for 45 bucks this weekend if you sign up for a 2 year contract, so I called AT&T and gave her account info and asked if she was eligible for an upgrade. She isn't until May 2014 which makes no sense to me since the phone is definitely more than two years old, but whatever.

First dude I spoke to told me I can "tack on" 2 more years to her existing plan and get the phone for the 45 dollar sale price. That seemed like total bullshit so I called again, next guy said "you just can't upgrade it period, go to an AT&T store and hope for a sale" and basically didn't have anything else to offer. Third guy said I can go into the Wal-Mart during the sale, have them call AT&T from the store to help set up the 2 year contract and override her upgrade date or something, and everything from there will be hunky-dory. He put a note on her account for the next rep that gets a call to let them know that this is what I am doing.

It still sounds fishy, and I suspect I'm going to go in and the store will call AT&T and say it's only a partial discount or something. When I tried calling Wal-Mart, they didn't even remotely understand what I was trying to say. By any chance have any of you ever upgraded your phone early through a non-AT&T store and had it go smoothly?

Assuming that works I still dunno how the transition will go. Is there a way to make it so the phone won't activate until I actually give it to her, preferably around Christmas?

This is a lot of jumping through hoops to save like 50 bucks, but she is resistant to upgrading her phone even though I know she would like a new one so I'm trying to make a surprise and this deal seems like the best thing to jump on at the moment.

It sounds like the account is in her name and creating a 2 year responsibility for someone else is a lovely present. If you can't afford to buy the phone at full retail, then abandon this idea of "surprising" her with a new commitment (which is fraud/illegal).

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Mr. Onslaught posted:

I pay the phone bills in our house so it isn't "creating a responsibility" for anyone except myself. Also, I didn't know trying to take advantage of a good sale meant you couldn't afford the item at full retail price, thanks for all your constructive help.

If the account isn't in your name and social security number then you aren't on the hook if things go south. Its cool that you pay the bill but no legal repercussions come your way if it isn't. Are you an authorized user on the account?
I've been doing this 6 years. Your best bet is to get something noted on the account by customer service and visit a COR store to have them execute that. Good luck.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Mr. Onslaught posted:

Recently married so I could probably get myself as an authorized user on the account, but that might raise suspicion. Pretty sure the thing you mentioned about customer service making a note on the account is what the third guy did for me today, I'll try it out and see what happens I guess.

I didn't think it would be that uncommon for phones to be bought as gifts, but I guess I didn't consider the situations where you are obligating someone to pay for a contract. When most people buy phones as gifts is it the full unsubsidized price/unlocked? Yikes.

It's tricky because of how conditioned the US is to subsidized phones. Deep discounts mean contracts. And contracts as meant to be kept and enforced by legal means.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Thermopyle posted:

I've got 4 family members all on their own phone contracts and packages that I'm not currently involved in in any way. Wife and I have two smartphones with one on contract.

Is it possible to move their phone contracts on to our package (and I'd increase data and minutes on our package) without paying ETF's or re-upping their contracts?

Yes.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Krispy Kareem posted:

Can anyone think of a reason why you couldn't sue AT&T over unlocking an iPhone? I canceled my service, paid the ETF and it's now been 20 days since I put in my unlock request with no resolution from AT&T. Apparently they changed their policies in September and all unlock requests have to go to some mythical department that is only reachable via their ticketing system. I've had 3 tickets escalate up to them and no one's contacting me back. Helpdesks and escalation managers just keep saying there's nothing else they can do. The initial request was supposed to take 7 days max and they've since sent up two more requests that shouldn't have taken more than 72 hours each. I think there's a glitch somewhere, but no one seems interested in figuring out the problem.

Since AT&T is essentially depriving me of my phone, why not sue them for the value. Worst case scenario I'm out 76 bucks in magistrate court.

You should just lawyer up and find out. This question is typically beyond anything a self identified retail worker is allowed to touch. As a matter of fact, if a customer even mentions litigation, we're supposed to cease all contact with them and direct them to their legal council to contact AT&T through the appropriate channels.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer
This just in, AT&T will discount your (mobile share only) plan by $15 when you do NEXT or bring your own device. Basically accounting for the difference for not having to subsidize your device. Hooray.

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=25145&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=37330&mapcode=consumer|mobile-devices

obeyasia fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Dec 5, 2013

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Duckman2008 posted:

The new plans for Next are great and I am drat excited so far. Next now looks like a legit deal.


Anything under 5 just customer service and no activation fees. 5+ you can get a small 8% discount. 10+ you can have more than 10 lines on certain mobile share.

Overall not much, but you get more support, flexibility and ATT tends to treat business customers like gold.

Be prepared with an actual tax ID.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Edited to direct link to Press Release.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Beefstorm posted:

Reddit sure has a way of delivering...



Link to the original post please.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Shroomie posted:

So my Nexus 4 has gone full retard and I don't want to spend the money to buy a real phone until the new year. If I buy a Lumia 520 GoPhone and stick my regular AT&T SIM in it, will it just work?

Maybe check on an unlocked 525. Double the RAM.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Duckman2008 posted:

Insurance is simple, here are the numbers and you can make your own decision. Assume you are in some type Of agreement where you can't get a discounted phone.

Example: iPhone 5S 16GB.
Outright: $650
Monthly: $7 a month (make sure the $3 MPP isn't there)
Deductible: $199, up to 2 claims

It's really price vs risk. I would say the deductible is the same on the 64GB $850 iPhone, so the model could influence ones decision as well. Overall, most people here seem to not go for it, and the potential savings come at said potential risk.

I don't know 3rd party options well enough to compare.


On a personal note, my one co worker is taking the next week off because he is having a kid (can't blame him). This now puts my store at 3 out of 7 employees (we also have one manager and one assistant manager), and we are a level 2 traffic. I've already been workif 60 hours a week, so this week will be interesting.

I hope your store managers remember how to work OPUS.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

EbolaIvory posted:

Sounds like every store manager I ever had.

I've always been tickled by how out of touch anyone beyond ASM seems to be worth regards to anything regarding interacting with customers or basic operations. Obviously their job isn't day to day operations but at least be able to handle an op. That must be why that have to take regular trainings just in case they are needed for a regional strike.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

direspoon posted:

Did they restructure the Mobile Share plans? Online it looks like now there's no per-device price drop now when you get into higher tiers of data.

Correct.
$40/subsidized equipment line.
$25/unsubsidized equipment line.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

stachatoryR posted:


Is it possible to move us to the new shared everything plan? Can any of you ATT goons help me with that?
Definitely possible. You might as well go to a local COR store and have them do it though.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

CharlesM posted:

Alright, I've done the unthinkably stupid and dropped my Lumia 1020 on a concrete floor about two weeks into ownership. :( Is my best option to use my SquareTrade warranty and pay the $70 deductible? Would it be feasible to repair for cheaper?

$70 is VERY reasonable for your situation and I would go that route were I in your shoes.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer
Ive had a good 2 days. 7 NEXTs in a row. Feels good man.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

CharlesM posted:

I got my family members onto my account so it made them mobile share value plans now but mine was existing. He did try to upsell me to a higher data package but I said no. The insurance and all that stuff was existing so I don't think taking it off took anything away. Anyways I was trying to be kinda sarcastic. My point was that guy sucked. I mean it was more about his attitude which I don't really feel like writing all about. It's fine, I can fix it all now that the accounts are joined.

Are you guys still being pressure to push Digital Life?

Edit: is there really a $36 line transfer fee?

$18 per line.
And yes he's probably irritated. But he's not irritated at you, its the situation we have to work within now. If we aren't increasing your bill our managers are breathing down our necks wanting to know why.
4 years ago, I was happy to do whatever a customer asked, with no questions or suggestions for change. I got paid for helping people no matter what they bought or what they did or didn't change. Like dude said above, we only get paid (beyond the arguably adequate hourly) when we increase your bill. If we don't get enough people on Uverse per month, its our rear end. If we dont get enough NEXT per month, its our rear end. If we don't get enough DigitalLife per month, its our rear end. If we don't get enough of whatever AT&T is focusing on that month, its our rear end.
We are put in a high pressure and competitive environment and everyone above us scrutinizing every opportunity we could have had to upsell you anything.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Thermopyle posted:

What a terrible company.

Explain why you think this is bad.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Beefstorm posted:

And the heat is down in my store...of all days.

Ours got broken into the other night. As a result, we had a ply-board door most of the day.

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Thermopyle posted:

There's a multitude of reasons that have been explained ad nauseum by people explaining why net neutrality is important.

Simple explanations of some of the main problems:

1. Company A, a startup, has a cool app. Company B, an incumbent, has a competing app. Company B, using it's monetary might, uses sponsored data to greatly increase the hurdles for Company A to compete on a fair playing field. In fact, it's impossible for Company A to compete on a fair playing field.

Sponsored data reduces competition in favor of incumbents.

2. Sponsored data is a tax on companies who can afford to pay. If you're Netflix and Amazon is paying for sponsored data, you will have to as well.

3. Consumers will end up paying for it anyway! Costs of business (sponsored data) will just be passed on to the consumer either directly through increased costs for whatever service they're using or indirectly through higher costs elsewhere. Thus, AT&T gets to double-dip. They charge the customer for data on their bill, and they indirectly charge the customer through the company providing whatever service the customer is using.

If AT&T wants to increase its profits, the long-term consumer-friendlier move is to, paradoxically, increase the costs of mobile data to the user directly, not distort the market by policies that favor incumbents with deep pockets. Consumers feel like they're having a favor done for them when App X doesn't use up their data allotment, but then those same consumers will still be using App X in 10 years with minimal or no improvements because there is no pressure from fresh new players entering the market.

All of the issues you've reported are long existing in any competitive market, internet or no. If you're gonna be mad, be mad for AT&T not championing change, but hating them for taking advantage of companies desire for marketing seems silly. Aren't you an AT&T subscriber?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

obeyasia
Sep 21, 2004

Grimey Drawer

Thermopyle posted:

Even if your claim that they're existing issues in any competitive market (wrong, cell providers are not a competitive market) was true (wrong, they are not existing issues in any competitive market...I don't even know what this claim means in this context), that doesn't mean we should just go "welp, I guess we should give up".

Being mad at AT&T for not championing change is ridiculous, because they're making a change for the worse which is just another thing to be "mad" at them about. The two issues are not mutually exclusive.

In another delicious illustration of why sponsored data is anti-consumer, I am an AT&T customer because there are no alternatives around here.

Additionally, the implication that I should just switch if I don't like what they do is stupid rhetoric. It's completely possible, even likely, for a company to do bad things, but not bad enough to outweigh the disadvantages of switching (or, in my case, going without cell service).

EDIT: Nevermind. Your opinions are yours, and thats cool.

obeyasia fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Jan 7, 2014

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply