Online order cancelled

I just experienced the very same thing.. six times!... Even with a chat rep helping me along with the online ordering, those orders also got cancelled. My last attempt was setting up a new att username/pwd account and using a different credit card - no luck. And yes, store does not honor any online promotions - and they were pretty uhmmm... "not-excited-to-discuss-with-you-about-it" attitude. Things that make one go hmmmm...  - so I guess like George Constanza on Seinfeld, "it's no soup (AT&T) for me either!" - - anyone successful at fulfilling online orders? 

I wanted to bring 4 new phone services from Verizon and my order got cancelled 3 times. These businesses are usually run by incompetent operations people and there is a glitch somewhere. I don’t think they will fix it. Can you imagine a company like Apple makes extremely creative products and they are distributed by sub average people working for these telecom operators. What a waste of economic resources.

It's always mismatched information.  Address for shipping doesn't natch credit card billing, name on account, shipping, credit card doesn't match, etc.

Just happened to me. AT&T sold me on a product--two prepaid SIM cards for my wife and I (Canadian residents) for an upcoming trip in the US.

We made our purchase, diligently completed all the required information and were told the order was placed.

Two minutes later we received an email stating our order was received and "we are working on it." Then after another minute we received an email stating that our order was canceled because "We couldn't verify this order xx-xxxxxxxxxxxxx really came from you. "

Are they serious? If the order didn't come from me, then how could they send me an email stating they're not sure if I'm me? And if they had a concern, why not implement a method to check, like any other online retailer would do, rather than simply cancel a legitimate order? 

Every other online retailer from whom I've purchased verifies credit card billing/shipping addresses BEFORE it accepts the order. This nonsense of AT&Ts of taking orders then unilaterally canceling them later is indicative of a backwards, dysfunctional company.

Since I attempted to purchase prepaid plans, there are no credit checks involved. It's a straightforward prepaid retail purchase. I make them every day and never had this happen.

This is a classic case of a disorganized, overgrown company whose left arm doesn't know what its right arm is doing. The sales department works to sell products, and the security department won't allow customers to buy the products. The marketing people ought to be very frustrated that for all their work to sell products, they are losing sales because their incompetent employer can't complete orders.

This company should be broken up.

Not disagreeing, and why I left in 2019.  

   You can purchase sim card from a 3rd party like Amazon or eBay.  You can't activate and pay for service until you're in the US anyway. 

Any cross checks occur after order is placed:

At&t does not ship to Canada. Or anywhere else outside USA. If you ordered to ship outside USA, order would be canceled. 

If you placed an order for delivery to a US address with a credit card with a non US address, that gets picked up during whatever cross check, and order is canceled.

@lizdance40 

Thank you. I paid with a US credit card in good standing and my shipping address was a US address which is the address on record for the credit card. My intention was to pick up my SIM cards, with service already activated, when I arrive in the US next week. I ordered in advance so the cards would arrive before I get there, rather than wait for days without service and/or spend time fighting traffic and increasing disease risk by going to a shopping mall to visit an AT&T store. Those are common reasons for buying online, correct?

As you can see, I am an organized and prepared person. I have excellent credit in both the US and Canada. I am a US citizen living and working in Canada. I am returning to California to visit family for the summer.

My Canadian cell provider (Rogers) would charge me $10/day per line to roam in the US, so I easily calculated it would be much less expensive to purchase US service prepaid.

I have encountered security measures undertaken by online retailers, but never those so archaic and self-defeating as what has happened to me (and many others, quick research reveals) at the hands of AT&T.

EVERY other retailer I encountered which flagged an order for some reason and needed to verify information employed a mechanism to do so without prematurely and unjustifiably cancelling the order. Obviously, they wanted to make the sale if it was legitimate.

AT&T is so incompetent and disorganized that rather than implement an effective system to discern fraudulent from legitimate purchases it just simply refuses to make a sale whenever its security department gets the slightest bit uncomfortable. In other words, the security office has unfettered power to cancel out the efforts of the marketing and ordering departments as it sees fit--and to lazily and incomptently do so without exercising due diligence. I can only imagine the losses in sales and goodwill incurred by AT&T as a result. A quick Google search, not to mention the many similar posts on this forum, reveal this to be the case.

I was completely open-minded, with no negative feelings about AT&T before this experience. I would have been a new customer, successfully recruited by the marketing wing of the company. I was led through an entire online ordering process (which I chose specifically so I did not need to walk into a brick and mortar store) then happily went on to my next task in preparation for my trip. Suddenly and inexplicably my order was cancelled, negating the entire process through which I just went, with no recourse except to go to a store--which is precisely what I was trying to avoid.

Actually, I do have recourse-- to go to another provider. AT&T lost a would-be new customer (not to mention those that will read this account and be scared off, or my friends and associates I will warn) before it could successfully complete even a simple sale to a legitimate buyer and  make it through day one of a new relationship without alienating a would-have-been customer.

Since it cannot handle online sales competently, AT&T should eliminate the feature from its website and simply instruct potential customers to drive or take transit to a mall to make purchases, in the hopes that the retail floor salespeople are more competent than their e-commerce counterparts.

UPDATE:

I went to the T-Mobile website, and placed an order there with the identical credit card, shipping address, and billing address as that used on the order AT&T canceled. My SIM cards have already been shipped, within 12 hours of ordering and with no problems or additional questions.

If I were a market investor it is quite clear whose stock I would be purchasing.

This (Edited per community guidelines) me off I screwed around all day trying to upgrade my phone to a galaxy 21s ultra. But after 6 times of get confrontations saying the orders were successful they turn around and canceled every one. When I called to get help they said I would need to go to the store with 2 forms of ID just to get my phone.  At the store they didn't listen to me when I said I wanted the 256 GB and they activated a 128 GB phone without telling me.. THEN I tried again to get to my girlfriend a iPhone 12 but the same (Edited per community guidelines) happened. Why have online shopping if you are just going to make your costumers go to the store anyways?

Two forms of ID? Sounds like you were applying for a passport or driver's licence.

AT&T has become overgrown such that there's a lack of continuity between departments. One works to create an online store, while another works to force customers into brick and mortar shopping mall retail showrooms.

And in the process, the company has lost sight of the truth, which is that it has to earn a customer's loyalty, and the customer always comes first. 

That's what capitalism is supposed to be about:  The competitor with superior products and service gets the business. I believe in capitalism, and that's why a competitor got my business.

From the many similar posts on this and other forums, AT&T is losing business left and right because it just doesn't care, and treats customers and prospective customers like ****.