Contributor
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17 Messages
AT&T, when you're done destroying my new personal S21 Ultra, would you please fix it?
My personal Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is brand new. I purchased it March 5. Activated the line mid-February 2021. On March 19th I was on my phone. I noticed an ATT OTA update. Not unusual for software updates to be performed remotely by carrier to a customer's phone. But as I watched this happen, I noticed that it was not a good thing. First a notification appeared saying (not verbatim) "AT&T updating in the background". Then the phone shut off. It came back on. Next the Samsung device wellbeing app crashed. Thats the app that controls the blue light filter. This caused my screen to dim very dark brown and get very hot. It was at that point the phone restarted a second time. From that point on it was a whole new animal! A second "Android Setup" appeared and was running. By second I mean, other than the Android Setup already on my phone that came preloaded. This new Android Setup performed several updates. Added Device Policy apps. Something caused my personal data to separate. My personal account was separated into "work" and and "personal" profiles....But I don't have an employer and I don't own a business. ALL of the data that separated was my personal data. Permissions manager disallows me to manage settings. They are grayed out. I cannot change anything and I can't factory reset to remove the software. I've tried. Since March 19th, I've learned that all Enterprise mobile device management is built that way on purpose. So it cannot be removed. I can not tell the difference between apps that are supposed to be on my S21 and apps that were put there by this update. even if I could tell the difference they can't be uninstalled. Like I said, I'm just a residential wireless customer and this has been done by mistake. I don't care how unbelievable this is to you. I've been told no less than 20 times this is never happened before. Well its happened!! I'm so tired of explaining this problem. somehow I'm responsible for convincing each AT&T employee that I'm telling the truth. It's like I've been pleading my case infront of a jury to decide! March 19 ATT ruined my phone and violated my personal account and data. The software wiped out at least 200Gb of my personal data that was on the phone when this happened. The ATT setup process took a long time on my phone. I've never seen this being set up before but I would guess it took much longer than if it had been a company phone. As more software was running, the phone was freezing. It restarted a second time, which I suspect happened in error. From that second autorestart ATT program called "IMS service" didn't stop running. A message that Android security enhancements had been added. Also I noticed that Samsung Knox security enterprise mobile device management software was newly added. Since around the 22nd of March, I have been locked out of all my ATT preloaded apps. I don't receive calls sometimes. I can not access my ATT profile or wireless account online. This software doesn't permit me to do much at all really. ATT has made a huge mistake by remotely reconfiguring my phone with this secure enterprise software. I'm unable to change any settings on my personal phone and I can't get their help to make this right. reps hang up on me they argue with me and they accuse me of making it up. This is an expensive nightmare. ATT residential wireless was a huge and expensive mistake. If that's not bad enough, They've added on a third mystery wireless line that doesn't belong to our family and they're charging me for that unused service too. I've been hung up on tons of times since March 19... Four times since yesterday. The AT&T supervisor "aj2zn4" I just spoke with accused me of fraud and was very clear her thoughts that I did this to myself. And then hung up on me. Just fyi, we customers choose to hold for 45 mins to speak to a rep. When you hang up on me, and I keep calling back, that is because I am desperate. No one would ever hold for 20 minutes and do it four times in a row if they're just "making it up". Only people like me who are desperately trying to get help would do something so insane as continue calling ATT support. I've been PLEADING with every rep I speak to lately "please don't hang up!". Only a few haven't. Most have - all three supervisors have hung up on me. I've been to the ATT store. I've called ATT Business as a residential customer. I've chatted with protech support. I've talked to ATT tech support, and ATT wireless service, and ATT wireless account services, and ProTech. I've even done that thing where they look at your screen and try to help you. I haven't stopped working to get ahold of someone at ATT about rolling back this mobile device management enterprise software for nearly three weeks. I'm ready to give up. I'm paying for the phone, Protect Advantage insurance, a personal cloud, call protect plus, and Signature Elite plan. None of that matters and ATT doesn't CARE. I probably hold a record for number of reps and Supervisors to hangup on a customer....And that's not because I'm beligerant. The hang ups happen to me the moment after I say I'd like my issue to be escalated. At this point my only choice is find a way to turn off autopay? I don't know what other choice there is for me.
Accepted Solution
Official Solution
GLIMMERMAN76
ACE - Expert
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23.8K Messages
3 years ago
Send the phone in to samsung for warranty service. They can wipe it and set it back to normal. You can also wipe it from the bootloader. Samsung makes these updates not att.
Youbreakwefix is also a samsung warranty depot
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PeskyP
Contributor
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17 Messages
3 years ago
@GLIMMERMAN76
So simple! Thank you... That is the most useful piece of information that I have received so far. I've put in a whole week's worth of my time by now to fix this. Between all the hours on the phone, going to the ATT store, and twice to IBreakUFix over this, you'd think I would glean some relevant answers by now? Nope. I'm still having this issue on a brand new S21 Ultra and it happened March 19. I bought it March 5, and ever since the issue ATT has been totally different toward me...Ever since I signed up for a $1,000 phone 30-month installment agreement suddenly they're not as helpful anymore. 🥶
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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113.2K Messages
3 years ago
AT&T is very limited in what they can do. They can replace the phone for you under warranty, but they may not be able to provide you with a brand new phone.
Samsung may take weeks to return your phone. Hope you have a spare.
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PeskyP
Contributor
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17 Messages
3 years ago
AT&T could've replaced it under warranty this entire time?? For how long would they be responsible for doing that?
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sandblaster
ACE - Expert
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64.6K Messages
3 years ago
Yes. For the length of the warranty. ATT is an authorized warranty dealer for Samsung.
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GLIMMERMAN76
ACE - Expert
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23.8K Messages
3 years ago
Lets be honest the phones ATT is using are not using OEM parts. I stand behind the fact its better to get warranty service from Samsung Direct than using ATT. Turn around time is about 1.5 weeks. I have done this 6 times in the past 3 years for kids phones. last one was a note 20
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PeskyP
Contributor
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17 Messages
3 years ago
@sandblaster Wow! Thanks for letting me know! I appreciate both your advice so much.
@GLIMMERMAN76 I saw your reply just now after I posted my soapbox rant, and oh my word. Of course!!! Gimmerman76, you're absolutely right about the OEM parts. That hadn't dawned on me. Okay I've changed my mind again. I'm sending this into Samsung to get back the good stuff. I would be okay with a refurb if its parts were original Samsung. But then what if Samsung sends back a different/repaired AT&T phone as my refurb replacement? The best part about this idea is I can move on from these ATT tech support agents. They'd rather die than escalate me. Doing what's right for the customer is a foreign concept. 'Excellent Customer Satisfaction' and 'Loyalty' are NOT two company values AT&T honors. I can acknowledge the poor customer support situation and chalk it up to the pandemic being the reason. I'd be okay with an ATT agent's total lack of training if I weren't also getting their long-drawn-out, argumentative, disrespectful attitude, too. And, from each agent? It feels like AT&T reps are coached NOT to fix a problem on the first call? Even if an agent shows a willingness to help, they've been given zero authority to! If picking their own nose would close an open ticket, an agent would need to ask their supervisor first. Maybe I'm wrong my assumptions? Then I'd have to assume all 10-15 agents (so far) were simply unwilling to help me. AT&T could change their whole customer experience by teaching their agents the concept of timeliness in dispute resolution. Did you know that you can resolve a problem AND make a customer happy both? And do both on the FIRST call? Giving me people benefit of the doubt by lending them understanding - that's an actual concept that exists, too. You wouldn't know it by talking to 4 out of 5 AT&T agents. Explaining stuff to a skeptical d-bag agent is tiresome. They always ask suspicious questions. No customer service agent that untrained should ever have the power to decide whether what I'm saying is worthy of receiving an escalated customer service experience. I'm not on trial here. Nor am I responsible for pleading any type of case to an agent before they grant me actual support and transfer me to a better qualified agent. Especially when first one put charge of vetting me doesn't even understand my product or my needs. It's tiresome. After I've been explaining phones to the first agent over an hour, it's brain-exhausting. Then if I'm lucky they'll transfer me and I still have to explain the whole situation again to the next person. I'm hoping not to explain phones for a while after I go thru Samsung. I do still have to call to AT&T billing. I love how every time you talk to an agent, you have to start out fresh at square one again over and over again. The next agent relies on the notes that the previous agent wrote and if the previous agent put something in there that was completely false? That really screws you!
Would either of you know the direct line for ATT bundled services billing? Or customer retention and loyalty for multiple services? Any of the Bundled or the Multiple Services numbers would help. I'm calling once more to settle everything. ATT needs to reverse mistakes on my account, make new changes to fix it, then refund the money I've already paid. They need to refund me $49 for an extender they failed to ship, turn my fiber gateway back on and fix my phone same day under warranty or I'm canceling. Being hit with a laundry list of issues right off the bat in the very beginning of a new relationship with a company is a huge red flag for me. The way ATT has treated us so far is totally unacceptable. They're giving off signs warning me I may need to get out NOW. If I ignore it and stick with their service out of convenience, I may regret it later on. I'm going to give it one more try.
The only numbers I have are fiber or wireless or billing or loyalty. I need to speak to one competent person that can handle both without arguing and without needing to transfer me (aka hang up on me) to a different services' dept. I'm ready to cancel everything.
Nobody ups my bill over $300 bucks a month and gets away with pretending as if I'M the dishonest one!
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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113.2K Messages
3 years ago
@PeskyP it’s no different than if you have an iPhone and wants an iPhone replacement with Apple certified parts. The older the phone is the more likely you are to get refurbished parts or a completely refurbished phone. Since your phone is brand new and I’m imagining it’s in tiptop perfect condition, you certainly don’t want someone sending you a refurbished inside and out.
Customer retention refers to itself as the loyalty department. There is no special number it’s only an internal transfer. Once you reach the phone tree after you call 611 just use the keyword cancel service and you’ll be forwarded to the loyalty department.
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