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shedger's profile

1 Message

Friday, August 18th, 2023 2:53 PM

How to report a employee for misconduct?

Long story short, I was lied to by an AT&T employee at my local SAMs Club kiosk and ended up agreeing to upgrade to a new phone they told me would be free and my bill would be cheaper. Come to find out that was not true and after an hour and a half on the phone with your company I was basically told to go kick rocks and there was nothing they could do to make it right.

After that call I sent a text to the employee that I worked with and told him the situation and that I felt like I was lied to by him and his partner.  All I got back was a Ha! Ha! Emoji.  I would like to formally report him but can't figure out how to do that.  Can someone help me do that?

Thank you,

Starkey Hedger

New Member

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75 Messages

4 months ago

That is not an AT&T employee.

Even if I were willing to return to AT&T, I would never buy from a third-party rep after everything I have seen here.

ACE - Expert

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22.7K Messages

4 months ago

@shedger  The AT&T kiosks in Sam's Club (or Target, Costco, etc) are independent retailers. They are not owned/operated by AT&T and are not staffed with AT&T employees. All they do is sell AT&T goods and services and then pass the info along to AT&T. AT&T has no way of knowing what was said and/or promised to the customer. Technically, you did business with Sam's Club (Smart Circle I think is the AT&T retail owner) not AT&T. If the deal and/or promo is not listed on AT&T's website, which is very detailed, then AT&T won't honor whatever Sam's Club promised you. The same is true for an Authorized AT&T Retail Store so if you go into a brick and mortar store, you need to ask if they are Retail or Corporate.

You can file a complaint with the BBB. They won't do anything with the complaint but they will forward it directly to AT&T Corporate. Someone will contact you and you can discuss the matter directly with them. They may be able to help.

2 Messages

4 months ago

Under the law it is likely irrelevant if they are actual AT&T employees or not.  AT&T allows them to be authorized retailers and act on their behalf and as such they are liable for any deceitful practices they carry out.  This is no different than a company using 3rd party installers to do their work. At the end of the day, they are still responsible for what those 3rd party vendors do in the majority of cases and I would have a hard time believing a jury is going to give them a pass seeing as how they obviously have gotten numerous complaints about this but still continue to allow it to occur.

New Member

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75 Messages

4 months ago

Um, what law is that? AT&T is not responsible for the actions of independent contractors. And I’m not sure what jury you are talking about either, since you are limited to binding arbitration.

ACE - Expert

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22.7K Messages

4 months ago

@MetinE75  The contracts between AT&T and the Retail owners are written by business lawyers so whatever agreements are made are very carefully written to protect both parties and stay within the legal guidelines.  I don't agree with how these retailers operate, and AT&T should have never agreed to the conditions as far as I can see, but it is what it is. These contracts are long term so they are in place for a long time, which is only going to tarnish AT&T's reputation even further.

Being as AT&T has no control over their business practices they are not solely responsible for how the sales are made, they have no way of know what was said and/or promised to the customer to make the sale. They just get the info and process what needs to be done on their end.

 

You agreed to binding arbitration (and possibly Small Claims in certain instances) so there would never be a trial by jury. Your ONLY real option is to file the BBB complaint, which goes to AT&T Corporate and is then assigned to a Senior Manager in the Office of the President. He/she will contact you and you can discuss the matter directly with them. They may be able to do something.

If the deal sounds too good to be true then it probably is. It's always best to take what information is given you and then do your own homework, which, in your case would have been going to the AT&T website and researching all of the deals and promos,

which are listed in detail on their website, CAREFULLY reading all of the TOS's and then decide for yourself if the Sam's Club deal is legit or complete as presented by the independent salesperson.

Caveat emptor.

Community Support

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225.4K Messages

3 months ago

Greetings, let's help you with the information that you need.

Because of the nature of your concern, we are going to send you a private message. Please keep
an eye out for a private message icon to appear on this screen or check your email.

MikeN, AT&T Community Specialist.

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