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Only buy from Sam's Club AT&T - here's why
I currently work as an authorized dealer for AT&T in Sam's Club and am making this thread because of all the misinformation surrounding the Sam's Club program and wanted to educate potential buyers with accurate information and highlight the benefits you get when going with Sam's as opposed to your normal AT&T retail store. I work at the Palmdale, California club. My name is Matt N. - say hi if you see me :)
*Disclosure: promos might differ depending on when you read this. Time of writing is 09/23/2021
What type of customer should buy from Sam's AT&T?
Anyone who is NOT already an AT&T or Cricket customer. Why? Because of the port-in promo. As of now, there is a 25 month promo for porting your existing number from Verizon, T-Mobile, ect. over to AT&T. Here's how it works.
Each line you port over from a competitive carrier receives $250 in bill credits OR $10 off AT&T corporate pricing for each line for 25 months. After 25 months it goes up to the original $140 you would've been paying anyways.
Example: Four lines of unlimited talk, text, and data (starter plan) is normally $140. When you buy in Sam's however, it's ONLY $100 for 25 months. That's a total of $1,000 in savings ($250 × 4). You don't get that deal at your corporate AT&T store.
Reason # 2
Each $30 activation fee per line gets waived. In the example of 4 lines, that's an additional $120 in savings.
Reason # 3
You get the EXACT phone you want. So many times when I wanted a new phone, I was at the mercy of the stores available inventory. Sometimes they had the phone but not the color I wanted. Or, they had the phone and color but not the storage I needed. Who wants to make a dozen calls and drive all over the city to get a phone. I'm not buying a car!!! With Sam's, you pick the exact phone you want and it gets shipped to your home within 1-2 days. Think of it as Amazon Prime for your phone. If you're a little patient, you don't have to compromise.
Reason #4
You get to stack promos. Currently, AT&T is giving $1,000 in bill credits when you trade-in a iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11 or newer towards an iPhone 13 Pro & Pro Max. If you trade iPhone 11 and get $1,000 in bill credits and purchase a iPhone 13 Pro 128GB which is $1,000, it becomes free.
Example: If you're a family of 4 and all have an iPhone XS Max or newer, you can get 4 new iPhone 13 Pro's 128GB and unlimited text, talk, and data for $100 (+tax & fees add $10) because you're stacking both Sam's port-in promo with AT&T trade-in promo!!! Yes, you read that right! Four lines of unlimited talk, text, and data with four iPhone 13 Pro's 128GB included for ONLY $100 + tax & fees (so about $110ish give or take all-in).
So why the misinformation and what should you REALLY expect?
All promotional credits can take 2 to 3 billing cycles to appear and this is where customers get confused or are flat out upset because their salesperson did not properly educate them on the process.
So if you're expecting to pay $100 for 4 lines of unlimited talk, text, and data with 4 new iPhone 13 Pro's on your first bill, you're in for a rude awakening.
Allow me to explain:
Your first bill is going to be typical AT&T corporate pricing, NOT the Sam's Club price you were quoted in the store.
That means you will see $140 for unlimited service instead of $100. You will also see $27.77 for each iPhone 13 Pro ($999.99 / 36 = $27.77) on the first bill as well. So far, we are at $251. Then you need to add $30 activation fee per line so 30 × 4 = $120... add that to the total and we are at $371. Also, there could be prorated charges of service depending on when you bought the phones and when your billing cycle starts. I've seen bills $400-500. That's the first bill.
Second bill: You'll see a credit of $30 per line credited back to you for the activation fee being waived that was charged on the first bill. You should also see a credit of +$10 per line credited to you (this is the port-in promo credit) but it could also appear on the third bill.
Third bill: You will see the credit of +$27.77 per line for the iPhone 11 trade-ins making the iPhone 13 Pro essentially free.
Fourth bill: You will be reimbursed for any over charges from Sam's Discount to retail pricing that you paid on the first/ second bill. Your bill might be $-36 for example because AT&T owes you for charging you regular price.
Who this is not for:
If you can financially afford the high up-front cost of admission so you can benefit from the long term savings, then this is for you.
However, if you are living check to check and cannot afford the initial cost of entry OR are expecting the quote you received in the store to appear on your first bill, THIS IS NOT FOR YOU!
If you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask!
rebeccaechols1984
New Member
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1 Message
11 months ago
To bad all reps aren't you. I got scammed by ours and am stuck with $480 bill I can afford!!! Anyone who is thinking about this should avoid it because they are liars that just want to make a sale!!!
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rg_austin
New Member
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28 Messages
10 months ago
All this is good on paper. I signed up at Sams Club, ported 4 lines and I didn't get my port-in credits yet even after 10 months.
The expectation is that the customer needs to call ATT to get activation fee credited and to get the credits for porting.
I had to call every month for 4 months to get activation fee credited. I am calling every month after seeing my bill that my credits for porting didn't start. What a pain in the rear? I totally repent switching to ATT.
Sams club also says that all national offers by ATT are applicable like trade-in promos, phone discounts etc. There's a 25% discount for existing internet customers, still there. I am not getting that too.
Every time I call the customer service, I need to play the whole movie of what's happening. They can't resolve and transfer to next level, 90% of the time the call/chat gets disconnected. If connected, you need to explain everything again. They say promos are applied, however I don't see on my bill.
You think all this will be automatic, just like the charges they add if you use anything beyond the plan. But no, it seems like a tactic to make as painful as possible to get the credits.
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OttoPylot
ACE - Expert
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20.7K Messages
10 months ago
@rg_austin Sam's Club uses AT&T Retail Stores. They are independently owned and operated. separate from AT&T and are not staffed by AT&T employees. Some, especially Sam's Club, will say and do just about anything to make a sale even to the point of misleading a customer or not explaining fully or clearly what you are actually signing up for. ONLY offers and promos that are listed on AT&T's website will be honored by AT&T, as it is their promo/offering.
You should have received paperwork that should have detailed what you are agreeing to. Anything that differs from the official AT&T offering you will have to take it up with Sam's Club or file a BBB/FCC complaint against the AT&T Retail Store in Sam's Club.
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rg_austin
New Member
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28 Messages
10 months ago
@OttoPylot
I am talking about promos listed by AT&T. Sams Club website and paperwork say that national promos by AT&T are valid in addition to what you get at Sams Club. However, my complaint is that we have to call AT&T to get any of these national promos. Not just these national promos, but promos offered at Sam Club like waiving of activation fee and credits for porting also need calls to AT&T customer service. I didn't get my credits for porting despite I am calling every month for 10 months. Don't tell me this is fault of Sams Club.
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CellPhoneGuy
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16 Messages
10 months ago
@OttoPylot can I ask you a serious question?
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OttoPylot
ACE - Expert
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20.7K Messages
10 months ago
@CellPhoneGuy Uhh, sure.
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OttoPylot
ACE - Expert
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20.7K Messages
10 months ago
@rg_austin Then take your paperwork and and any promo offerings into a Corporate Store, not an Authorized AT&T Retail Store, and ask them to explain it to you. If they can't, they should be able to contact Support or Loyalty from within their store and you can discuses it with them.
(edited)
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CellPhoneGuy
New Member
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16 Messages
10 months ago
@OttoPylot Just curious about your existence. 18.5k messages on an AT&T message board? That's pretty random. Are you an AT&T employee? Or PR?
I just can't wrap my head around why someone would invest so much of their time to something that otherwise seems so arbitrary.
What's your motive? Why are you dedicated to this forum?
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OttoPylot
ACE - Expert
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20.7K Messages
10 months ago
@CellPhoneGuy I've been on the AT&T forums for many years. Mostly in the MicroCell and now the Cell Booster forums. That's the area that I have the most experience in. I am not, nor have ever been, an AT&T employee, just like the other ACE's. We volunteer our time to help customers where ever we can based on our experience because AT&T Support is quite often of no help at all because they just read from the script, whereas the ACEs have actual hands on experience in a lot of areas so we can often offer better help that ATTHelp based on what we've learned. There are other ACEs who have been around longer than me. And, we have no problem at all pointing out where AT&T has been an epic failure in a lot of areas, where quite often they are.
We get nothing for this other than a lot of grief. Think of it as a Community Support hobby.
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jrw024
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1 Message
8 months ago
I have a few reasons why you should NOT deal with AT&T in Sam's club. First off, they are independent contractors and after they get their sale they are pretty much MIA. Chances of you seeing the same rep in your Sam's club after that is slim to 0. They give you their personal number but then don't answer or block you. We got swindled into switching carriers last week. Phones came in and we were told the porting over would be easy. I have now been without cell phone service since 9/30 and its 10/4. I was told to go to a corporate store. They tried to help and ultimately the phone has to be replaced via warranty but something the store can not do because it did not come out of their inventory. I ended up tonight having to use my old iPhone and have ANOTHER line added to the account just to be able to have cell service. Spoke with my Sam's rep finally today and they were supposed to have someone call me to go over the process of getting a new one sent out .. well that (Edited per community guidelines) gave them my cell number that DOES NOT work to call me on! Just save your self the trouble and DO NOT go to service providers in Sam's or Costco.
(edited)
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