New Member
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5 Messages
ATT charging an extra 6.01 and how I got my money back
Yesterday 6/1/23 I called to remove my watch from my plan. They sent me an updated copy of my new bill plan. I glanced it over and saw on one of my 4 lines I was being charged the extra protect advantage support of 6.01. I decided to go and read all policy changes and I found that as of Feb 24 2022 the insurance would increase from 8.99 to 15.00 and the 6.01 on my bill was a bundle and could not be removed. Now here’s where not one employee at ATT or the insurance company could answer my question and provide proof of this policy change.
Nov 14 2021 I purchased a new phone in store added the insurance of 8.99 through ATT. The store employee went over all the pricing no 6.01 fee.
Dec 8 2021 I purchased another new phone added the insurance for 8.99 again the store employee went over the pricing again. Never mentioned the 6.01 fee and honestly I didn’t look. Most people don’t.
Now back to 6/1/23 I asked when this new insurance policy began because the only information I could find on the ATT site was this increase would start as of Feb 24 2022. The agent looked over my account and said I added the insurance after that date. When I explained that on their website I can see my bills and every bill from dec 2021 to sept 2022 has this charge. I also have my insurance email from when I added the insurance in store. I was told they can’t see that. I offered to email the proof of insurance with the date of 12/8/21 when I purchased the phone they said they could not receive emails. Now after 6 hours of being tossed back and fourth with ATT and insurance and nobody being able to provide a date between 11/14/21 and 12/8/21 when this policy would have gone into affect. 13 employees including supervisor could not find a company policy change and show me proof of this change in 2021. I was able to see all other policy changes even the last increase in 2019 of the insurance on ATTs site. At this point i couldn’t believe that nobody had this answer. At this point I’m tired of explaining this and going around in circles. When the supervisor came on the line I asked how long have you been a supervisor he said since 2019. I said perfect when did the insurance policy increase take affect. He said Feb 24 2022. I said and any phone added before that should have been grandfathered in to the old policy price of 8.99. He said that was correct. I then asked why 2 phones I purchased in nov and dec of 2021 have different insurance charges. He then tried to tell me different phones have different insurance. I said they were the exact same phone. He told me to hold while he spoke to his manager. At one point he came back and asked what I wanted. I said I want to know the date of this policy change in 2021 that I’m paying for. He admitted he could not find anything other then the Feb 24 2022 change that is on the website. He then said this is an insurance issue. I explained how I’d already spoken to them and they claim it’s a billing issue. I then said ATT sends me my bill. When I purchased the phone it was through ATT. The insurance price increasing isn’t my issue. My issue is that I was charged for this increase before the policy date and nobody can explain why. So while the insurance company may have upped there prices you have a contract with them as well and I pay ATT. I simply wanted to know what day these new prices went into affect. This charge was added on and I’m sure many people have missed it. I was credited 150 for 2 years of being charged 6.01. I can only imagine how many other customers have missed this.
formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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111.2K Messages
4 months ago
These are the insurance costs which have been this expensive for several years.
https://www.att.com/offers/device-protection/
https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1009109/
$14 or $17.
They are broken up on your bill, but you cannot just pay just the $8.99 alone. I agree it's an obscene amount of money to pay every month especially when it's half the cost of a phone installment. The frequency with which phones are broken, stolen, or lost is high so the insurance company charges high premiums and a very high deductible.
i
If you don't want to pay that much, buy insurance from the manufacturer.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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111.2K Messages
4 months ago
As for the date you told insurance would increase, it has not increased for you. You'll see this post is from 2019 and the prices are exactly as you describe on your bill
https://forums.att.com/conversations/wireless-billing/has-att-increased-insurance-fees-and-plan-without-your-authorization/5df03323bad5f2f60651c0da
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Lcrivera1110
New Member
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5 Messages
4 months ago
That was not the issue. I get it prices go up. But with the 25 days between 2 phone purchases Nov 2021 and dec 2021 I was charged 2 different insurance prices. Nov 14 2021 for one new phone the added insurance was 8.99 now 25 days later dec 8 I added another new phone and this insurance was 8.99 plus the 6.01. My only question that started this was what was the effective date of this price change. Not one person in the company could tell me. Both companies ATT and insurance did not have an answer. If the price change was affective between those dates and they could show me that would have been just fine. They could not give me a day or show me anything other than the pages I had already read through. Those pages all contained the 15 dollar as the new insurance price for after Feb 2022. One page I found said before Feb 2022 and when reading it had the higher insurance price but no effective date of when this started also. I do live in NY so for whatever reason we have a different policy on the ATT page. So again I asked the question when between Nov 2021 and Dec 2021 did the price change start? Again not one answer. Nobody could tell me why I paid 8.99 for 1 new phone in Nov and when buying another new phone in Dec I was paying 15.00. I can find new policy dates all over the website except for this date and that was what concerned me. I simply wanted to know what the start date was and asked to be directed to the page. Again 13 employees between both companies did not have this answer
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Lcrivera1110
New Member
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5 Messages
4 months ago
Also I’ve seen all the posts. But again to my point I had replaced a phone that was broken October 2020. I had an upgrade and my insurance was added at 8.99. New phone purchase Nov 2021 and insurance is 8.99. It’s still 8.99 today. No added 6.01 on these phones. Dec 2021 new phone added and 8.99 plus 6.01. I was told people were grandfathered in with the old rate until you purchase a new phone. So all that’s fine but I bought 2 new phones within 25 days of one another and nobody could explain why I was paying different prices. Also why I asked about the policy change and effective start date. Nobody had this answer.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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111.2K Messages
4 months ago
It would not surprise me at all that in 25 days the policy would have changed between being allowed to purchase just the $8.99 basic insurance without the support plan...
I do know that when the support package was first allowed some people disputed it and had it removed, but I do not recall when they were no longer permitted to be severed
As I said before there are other options. Purchasing insurance directly through the manufacturer. And if you own an iPhone you absolutely should be purchasing AppleCare Plus or AppleCare Plus with theft and loss. The deductibles for AppleCare are far lower than they are with Asurion.
Same for Samsung insurance
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Lcrivera1110
New Member
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5 Messages
4 months ago
It wouldn’t surprise me either. Prices go up. What surprised me was the lack of knowledge by all these employees.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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111.2K Messages
4 months ago
That doesn't surprise me either. Turn over is high. And even as a very regular participant in this forum for 9 years my memory is not comprehensive enough to remember exactly when the change occurred, I just know there was a change.
In general I am against the insurance and have always refused it going way back to 1995 when I purchased my first cell phone. It costs too much for the service it provides between premiums and deductibles. We have self-insured for years. The losses have been so few that I feel vindicated
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Lcrivera1110
New Member
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5 Messages
4 months ago
You are totally right. I would never purchase the insurance again
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