Legacy $29.99 plan, switched to GoPhone under fraudulent pretenses. No Help

[mandarin77]

It has been a long time since I posted last. AT&T service is pretty good (compared to others) but I have had a few issues as they lock up their services and force data plans and tethering plans that are not required for your devices to function well.

That being said, here is my situation:

I had a WAY OLD $29.99 plan with 250 Anytime, 1K Night and Weekend, and PayPerUse everything else (messaging and data). Minute overages cost me an astounding $0.45 per minute. Ouch. I text infrequently, but the wife uses my Night and Weekend minutes.

SO:

I checked out GoPhone plans in Early June online. I do my research thoroughly and do not make changes on a whim.

The "Pick Your Plan" $25 / month showed 250 minutes, 5K Night and Weekend, Unlimited Messaging, and PPU data. Overages were only $0.10. Awesome. I get more, and pay less (well, with my discount, I pay about the same).

I checked multiple times in Early June 2012 and these were the stated arrangements, so I went to the store on the 12th, made multiple statements to the reasons I was going to the $25 PYP specifically mentioning the 5K N&W and switched my device to a GoPhone.

AND THEN

On July 2nd, after 250 minutes of usage, mostly on the weekend, I started getting charged the $0.10 overage. I called 611 and a support lady stated the $25 PYP with 5K nght and weekend minutes is OVER A YEAR GONE!!!

Now there are ZERO Night and Weekend minutes. (so I mistakenly gave up my N&W which I use, and get Texting which I don't use)

WELL HOW THE **** DID THE INTERNET SHOW THAT PLAN LESS THAN ONE MONTH AGO?

Of course, the internet shows different information now.

I went back to the store and explained my situation. There is NO WAY I would have changed my service if I was losing my Night and Weekend Minutes. NO WAY.

The store could not help me at all. They wanted to give me %30 off accessories, free activation.

I CAN GET ALL THAT ALREADY through my employee discount. So they are offering me NOTHING for AT&T's screw up.

They will not even buy back my GoPhone account balance. They want to preload 1000 rollover minutes onto my account (which I would NEVER USE). So basically take my money, and give me nothing.

I want them to reactivate my previous service under my old terms, but they say they cannot do that either, since it is so old.

I WANT MY OLD PLAN BACK, and a return of unused GoPhone balance. IT HAS BEEN LESS THAN A MONTH.

1. AT&T gave me incorrect information on the internet on June 10, 11, 12 of 2012.

2. The store personnel heard me state the GoPhone plan with 5K N&W minutes I thought I was getting without correcting me.

3. They are refusing to refund my unused GoPhone Minutes

4. They want to NOW charge me $10 MORE per month - the current minimum $39.99 plan for 450 min. I barely used the 250 I had before.

FIX THIS.

IF I HAD GOTTEN CORRECT INFORMATION, I WOULD STILL BE ON MY $29.99 PLAN.

Fix it.

Option 2: Put me on the $25 PYP with 5K N&W. The plan I THOUGHT I was getting.

[mandarin77]

Okay, here is a double update:

7-4-2012 - just after posting this topic in the forums, I called AT&T. I spoke with Russell D____. He calmly heard my story. told me I had to be on a Pre-Pay Plan for at least 30 days, so I had to wait until July 12 / 13 for the option to get a Post-Pay Plan. He would look into the two options I mentioned (re-instate old account OR give me the plan I thought I was getting) and see what else was an available option. He did specify that there was NO WAY to get my old plan back. However, there were things / ways that might be possible to get me approximately what I had AFTER I switched back to Post-Pay. He would call me back at 5pm on Friday the 13th to let me know what he had discovered.

He did not call back at the specified time (1 hour ago).

7-13-2012 - 5:30pm - I called AT&T in search of Russell D____, knowing it would be unlikely that I would be able to get him. Instead I got Shadrina N_____. She sounded 'unconcerned,' but did look into some things a bit farther than I thought she would. She checked with Pre-Pay, and said there was 'no such plan' with 5K Night and Weekend minutes. Then she tried to get me on the $39.99 plan with 450 minutes (which is 200 minutes I won't use, and $10+ more dollars I shouldn't be paying). After explaining it to her like that, she looked into 'other options.' She then said that I can 'port' my plan back to my original plan if I do it within 59 days. Russell said, and the AT&T company store said this was impossible. But now she says I can do it. So, now I am being sent BACK to the store to attempt to 'port' my plan back to the original plan that I had...

I see many more pointless circles (AT&T store to AT&T phone support), wasted time and gas, and frustration in my near future. So, someone needs to get the facts straight on what CAN and CANNOT be done.

[ilikewireless ACE - Czar]

I hope they can restore your old plan since the new one is not what you thought you were getting.

Good luck.

[mandarin77]

Update 7/28/2012:

Went back to the AT&T store as instructed by the Support gal that said 'port back under 59 days.'

After more then 52 minutes waiting in line, I dealt with Ryan. He was patient and reasonably helpful.

My old plan is not available, so Shadrina WAS INCORRECT about being able to port back to it.

The options I was given - Move back to post-pay, then:

1. Senior Plan $29.99 w/ 200 min, 500 N&W, pay per use everything else... OR

2. The $39.99 plan with one month paid for my troubles (one month paid was NOT offered if I chose the cheaper plan).

So, neither is really acceptable. Senior Plan is less than I had for the same money, the $39.99 plan has more than I need for more than I want to spend.

AND I spent 1 hour and 45 minutes at the store this time, over an hour the last time, three times on hold waiting plus talking to three different support techs, one of which did not call me back as promised... AND I lost $17+ of pre-paid money.

AT&T - Thanks for being very difficult to work with, frustrating, time and money consuming, and I also appreciate your support staff being un-informed on many levels, telling me 6 different conflicting things, and being generally unreliable. Additionally, thanks for having incorrect information on your pre-pay website which CAUSED ALL THIS in the first place.

Get it together. This has been a seriously crappy experience.

mandarin