Trade in dispute

You can file a Better Business Bureau complaint.  No idea if it will work in your case.

Same thing happened to me, they said my phone had a damage screen and they only offered me 35 dollars. They also stated i sent my old phone too late when I recived a email from att that i had to send my old phone within 30 days of acivating my new phone which is what i did. I talked to them and said they will open a case. 

This exact same thing happened to me except worse. Is there a specific department that handles these types of disputes? I still have all the information and receipts from both the old phone that was traded in, the new phone and line that was opened but not credited, as well as another receipt that paid the phone in full. Att has never been honest or transparent with their promotions or services. When I traded my old note 8 in, they were running a promotion that allowed for working phones but with cracked screens. I fell for it, and now I’m out my old note 8 that was owned outright and unlocked, I never received my 1k in bill credits and am still making the required full monthly payments on the new line upgrade.  Then I paid $1200 on top of never receiving the monthly credits which was never been refunded, and after my phone was stolen, they had the nerve to tell me my upgrade wasn’t insured.. I have proof of everything but no one actually wants to right the situation, only try and sell me something new from the previous situation.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

@hktennisguy 

I still have all the information and receipts from both the old phone that was traded in, the new phone and line that was opened but not credited,

as well as another receipt that paid the phone in full.

Wait?    What receipt for which paid off phone?  I hope you are referring to the phone you traded in. I hope you are not referring to the brand new phone which was required to be purchased on installments and paid for over 36 months? 

AT&t's promotions are very transparent and every single bit of it is published online. All you have to do to read the promotion is go to att.com select the phone you want to purchase and click on the blue banner that says get this phone free or get this phone for $800 off. Then click on see all the details. This will show you all of the fine print including the list of eligible phones, the fact that it takes 3 months for your promotional credits to kick in. It also tells you what your part is to keep an unlimited data plan with a minimum cost for one line of $75 before discounts (The current starter plan qualifies. The current value plus plan does not. Meterred plans do not)

https://www.att.com/buy/legal/23100080

and after my phone was stolen, they had the nerve to tell me my upgrade wasn’t insured..

ATT Trade-In Promotion for a new Apple iphone - 3 of the 6 phones on my account took advantage of ATT's trade-in promotion to purchase a new Apple iphone and receive credit toward the. new iphone fromthe trade in Apple iphone. One of the old Apple phones was turned in at a local ATT store but the other 2 Apple phones were mailed in with boxes ATT provided through the trade-in promotion. After the phones were received by the trade-in company that ATT uses for this promotion, the credit promised for the old phones was downgraded. After spending hours and hours on the phone to find out why they did not credit my account for the full amount promised for the two phones, I was told that one of the phones would not power on and was an 11 not 11 promax 250. The second phone was also credited as the lowest level iphone 11 not what we actually returned. I disputed both claims spending at least 15 hours on the phone in 3 phone calls. The ATT customer service representative could see that the one phone that the trade-in company claimed would not power on was in use up to the day we sent it in for trade in. In addition I had the IMEI numbers for both phones I traded in but the trade in company could care less. I was transferred several times to the trade-in company who claims they cannot do anything. The only have the information the trade-in company was what was entered into their system(one damaged phone that was an iphone 11 and one iphone 11 which is not what was sent to them). The ATT customer service representative was completely frustrated and understood that the only way I could possibly have the IMEI numbers that showed an iphone 11 promax and an iphone 11 128GB was if we actually owned those phones. On two occasions the ATT customer service representative stayed on the call with the trade-in company and she realized it was a useless circle. Customer Service cannot affect a change to the credit I was supposed to get unless the trade-in company corrects the issue but they have no authority and no information other than what was entered into their system. I have been cheated by ATT out of hundreds of dollars over the this trade-in scam. The phone we traded in to the ATT store in person was the only credit of the 3 iphones that we received the promised credit for because it was checked in by an ATT employee and we have a receipt. ATT's trade-in promotion is a scam. Not sure if it is an ATT scam or a scam orchestrated by the trade-in company but I was cheated.

You should understand that AT&T did not have the phones that were mailed. Actually they only briefly had the phone that was turned in at the store. All of the phones go to a third party business that takes trade-ins from not only all the service providers, but they did my trade in for a Google pixel directly purchased from Google as well. This business is called Hyla Mobile and is in la Verne Tennessee. They are not AT&T, they are not Verizon or T-Mobile, or Google. But I completely separate entity.

Each phone is identified by its IMEI number. I have discovered the hard way doing an upgrade through Verizon that the IMEI may not correctly identify the phone. If it doesn't, they don't visually distinguish, and make corrections.

If a phone was powered on when it was mailed, It certainly would no longer have power when it arrived at Hyla which could have taken a full month. If it doesn't power on they aren't going to charge it to see if it powers on.  It's a dead phone and minimum scrap value.

I advise everyone to do their purchases and trade-ins in corporate stores. Hand over their phones in person and make sure that the IMEI correctly identifies the phone. Some of these phones are dual SIM, both Sims should be checked to make sure they are identical in identifying the phone.

As I mentioned I had a problem back in February I did the S23 upgrade offer. Despite both of my phones being used on the network and identifying correctly in my billing, neither one was identified correctly for trade-in purposes. Because I did my trade in at a corporate store they were able to make the appropriate corrections before the phones were even sent in.

    I wouldn't expect anyone else to understand this or know this, but we are a system run by computers and computers make mistakes. In this case the mistake probably originated with the manufacturer.

I also am a victim of one of AT&T's fraudulent trade-in promotions.  In March of this year I decided to take advantage of the promotion to upgrade to the Samsung S23 Galaxy "FREE" ("up to $800 off 256GB").  I read, and re-read, the promotion details/specifics and followed them to the letter.  I was ready to finally upgrade the phone I was using; my (still in great condition, paid off) Samsung Galaxy S6.  I found it was eligible for trade-in according to the promo. I received the new phone on March 13, 2023.  As per AT&T's specific directions, I prepared, packed and mailed my trade in via USPS using the label and box provided on March 22.  Although the promo stated that credits could take up to 3 billing cycles, I wanted to make sure my trade-in was received.  So in early April I checked the status using the tracking # on my USPS receipt.  This is the response I got from USPS Tracking: "Delivered to Agent, Picked up by Shipping Agent March 24, 2023, 4:17 am".  No updates on att.com status either.  So on April 3, I had an online chat with customer service at att.com.  I expressed my concerns but she assured me there was no problem, and that it usually takes at least 3 to 4 weeks after the phone arrives at their warehouse before they can process it.  So I kept checking my trade-in status on my account and it never moved from the "started" position.  Now here we are more than 3 billing cycles later and no credit (not even the $35 my phone should be worth), no letter or any notification stating where my trade-in phone is.  I have attempted to resolve this over the phone with customer service.  Wasted hours on the phone (with customer service @ 1-800-331-0500) with absolutely NO hint of a resolution!  Was told phone wasn't received until May 1, 2023 and I missed the 30 day window for trade-in. What??  I advised rep I wanted this escalated and I wanted to speak to a supervisor.  I was told no one was available but someone would call me back in 2 hours.  Never received a call or contact of any kind.  Tried to call again a few days later was supposed to be getting transferred to a supervisor and wound up back at the welcome message.  It should be noted that my phone is one of five that are on an AT&T account in good standing, all with unlimited service.  I would appreciate any assistance I can get!

You have proof with your tracking info.  Did you save it? 

Yes I did, I have the USPS receipt.