New Member
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2 Messages
Trade-in Confusion
Hi,
I had purchased & activated 2 phones from AT&T last year. The National In-Home Agent who walked into my new home unsolicited and sold me these lines promising me big fat trade-in discounts, messed up big time the trade-in details. He entered the wrong phone numbers in the system. Instead of entering the new AT&T phone numbers, to which credits needed to be applied, he entered my old T-Mobile number for both the accounts!
So when I took my old phones to the AT&T store for trade-in they couldn't locate any trade-in requests for our new phone lines (obviously). They asked me to reach out to the agent who sold me these lines and created the trade-in requests.
I did that, told the agent that retail store couldn't see the trade-in requests he created. To which he said, "I am not a store. I work at the Corporate. Retail stores cannot see what I see or can do".
He then asked me to wait for the return boxes. I waited. Nothing came in the mail. There was a 30-day deadline to return the phones. I kept calling & chatting with him asking him for the boxes. He asked me to wait for the labels. Finally almost 3 months later I received the return labels from the trade-in dept. I shipped both the phones the very same day.
On https://tradein.att.com/trade-in-status I could see that both phones were received by AT&T and status was "Trade Completed and Payment Sent/Promotion Applied".
Long story short. I am out 2 phones, and I received ZERO credit for these phones. It has been 9 months now. I was promised $800+$800=$1600 for both these lines. I lost all of those credit PLUS 2 of my phones (Samsung S9s). All because I was past the 30-day deadline to return the phones.
I have interacted with maybe 15+ AT&T guys, from various depts: Trade-in, Tech Support, Billing and what not. To everyone I mentioned I have the entire chat history with this In-Home Agent in pdf format and I can share it with anyone who wanted to take a look at it and see really happened here. I did take the phones to the AT&T retail store for trade-in but they wouldn't accept them coz they couldn't see any trade-in requests. Besides, it was In-Home agent who delayed sending me the labels/boxes.
Everyone understood the situation, that it was the AT&T In-Home Agent who dropped the ball, but not a single person was decent enough to honor the trade-in credits. One of the techs even mentioned that since I was chatting with this agent on his local number, that's not even considered as interacting with AT&T !!! I was chatting with him ONLY because none of the other customer service folks (in store or on phone) could see the trade-in request this guy created.
At this point, I don't know what else to do. I have been talking to my company's attorney. I have the In-Home Agent's name, attuid, phone number and office address. What (Edited per community guidelines) me off is that I was an AT&T employee for 13 years and then a contractor for another 2 more years.
Forget the trade-in credits, is it even legal for AT&T to keep my phones without paying me anything towards that?
Thanks
-TB
formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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113.3K Messages
9 months ago
Why would you not be porting over the same phone numbers you used with T-Mobile?
Any phone numbers you got from AT&T would have been temporary, you should have ported over your T-Mobile phone numbers in order to cancel your T-Mobile service. Your original numbers would have been used to replace the temporary phone numbers as soon as this process was complete.
I mean this entire deal hinged on you switching providers right? If you take brand new AT&T numbers that's no longer a switch.
AT&T doesn't have your old phones. Trade in phones go to a third party called hyla Mobile in Tennessee. And whether or not you got the trade in credits, you signed those phones over.
Good luck with your dispute. AT&T's offer is in writing on their website. If the written offer wasn't followed, I don't think you're going to have much success taking it through small claims or arbitration, which you are limited to, also in writing.
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ATTHelp
Community Support
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225.4K Messages
9 months ago
Let's turn this around for you, technet, and meet in a Direct Message (DM) to discuss those trade-in credits for those devices that you traded in.
Please check your Direct Message Inbox for a message being sent to you. Look for the chat icon next to the bell icon in the upper right corner of the Forums page.
As @formerlyknownas shared, if the In-Home Agent entered the phone numbers of your previous carrier, then that would be considered a port-in which is what is required to be eligible for the offer. Check out the details under How to redeem smartphone offer and Eligible Trade-in Smartphones when you visit AT&T Trade-in Program.
Not to worry. We want to look into this for you. Make sure to keep an eye out for that message in the DM. We want to see what we can do to get you a resolution to your experience.
Lar, AT&T Community Specialist
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technet
New Member
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2 Messages
9 months ago
Thanks for the responses.
Just to clarify: No, the deal didn't involve switching providers whatsoever. I am not sure where in my post you got that inference from.
1) I just had one T-Mobile pre-paid pay-as-you-go plan which was extended monthly, as needed. I never intended to port that number anywhere. As soon as the new AT&T lines were activated, I discontinued that T-Mobile number.
2) I wasn't told that the new AT&T numbers were going to be temporary. This was never communicated by the In-Home Agent. Nor did he state that trade-in credits were offered only if you port existing numbers from other carriers.
Again, I just had one T-Mobile number. Obviously, it cannot be ported to two AT&T numbers. The In-Home agent entered the same T-Mobile number for both the trade-in requests. This was provided not for porting purposes, but as a contact number for us.
The only thing I signed up for with AT&T that fateful day was Internet (Uverse). It was only because of the elaborate SALES pitch given by the In-Home Agent who walked into my home unsolicited that I decided to purchase these AT&T lines.
I hope this clarifies it.
Thanks
-TB
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