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!