at&t breaching contract, impossible to contact them

[babno]

I got a phone purely for a trip overseas to Belgium. Therefor I made sure to get international services. However when I got to Belgium I was denied any service what so ever. The following is a picture of the relevent part of my contract that the rep filled out.

http://i.imgur.com/PIf4G.jpg

I tried to send an email/live chat, but I get an error saying I have multiple wireless accounts linked to my account even though I only have 1 (and don't even have another product on it). I took my 20 minute break at work to call them. 40 minutes later of them putting me on hold, transfering me to 6 different people, and basically jerking me around, they refused to do anything and required I buy 50 text messages for $10 to get service. She also blatently lied to me, saying that getting texts was free and already set up, but it's kind of hard to get texts when I have no service (it wasn't service area, as soon as I bought the 50 texts I got service)

I'm still within my first 30 days, and given this display of complete disrespect towards me as a customer, I'd like to end my contract. However given how hard they are making it for me to contact them I feel they are stringing me along to try and wait out the 30 days so I have to pay the absurd cancelation fee. What are my options here and what would you suggest I do.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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babno wrote:

I got a phone purely for a trip overseas to Belgium. Therefor I made sure to get international services. However when I got to Belgium I was denied any service what so ever. The following is a picture of the relevent part of my contract that the rep filled out.

http://i.imgur.com/PIf4G.jpg

I tried to send an email/live chat, but I get an error saying I have multiple wireless accounts linked to my account even though I only have 1 (and don't even have another product on it). I took my 20 minute break at work to call them. 40 minutes later of them putting me on hold, transfering me to 6 different people, and basically jerking me around, they refused to do anything and required I buy 50 text messages for $10 to get service. She also blatently lied to me, saying that getting texts was free and already set up, but it's kind of hard to get texts when I have no service (it wasn't service area, as soon as I bought the 50 texts I got service)

I'm still within my first 30 days, and given this display of complete disrespect towards me as a customer, I'd like to end my contract. However given how hard they are making it for me to contact them I feel they are stringing me along to try and wait out the 30 days so I have to pay the absurd cancelation fee. What are my options here and what would you suggest I do.

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if you are within 30 days, walk into the att sotre and return the device.

Send a PM to Jamileh here to see if she can assist - she is a ATT employee that is here officially for issues like this

[babno]

at&t doesn't have much pressence here, you mention it to someone and they have no idea what it is. I'll pm Jamileh.

[BadBadLeroyBrown ACE - Warrior]

It sounds like your account wasn't properly provisioned for international service, and the rep with whom you spoke identified that and used that knowledge as leverage to get you to buy the international texting plan. Incoming text messages don't cost extra and are counted towards your allocation if you have a (now retired) limited or unlimited texting plan on your account. It's sending texts when you're out of the country that costs an additional fee. 

[babno]

and yet the phone had no service, which means I could not 1.receive text messages 2. call anyone even for cost 3. text anyone even for cost. and when I called to discuss it, it took 40 minutes and my boss getting angry at me and docking an hours pay for them to say "nah, not gonna help you, but hey I'll sell you 50 texts for a stupid price"

All this is irrelevent though, as I originally stated in my first post I am blocked from sending them email or doing live chat, and given the pace of my last call it would take my entire work day to actually resolve this over the phone. I am looking for advice on how to cancle this contract.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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babno wrote:

and yet the phone had no service, which means I could not 1.receive text messages 2. call anyone even for cost 3. text anyone even for cost. and when I called to discuss it, it took 40 minutes and my boss getting angry at me and docking an hours pay for them to say "nah, not gonna help you, but hey I'll sell you 50 texts for a stupid price"

All this is irrelevent though, as I originally stated in my first post I am blocked from sending them email or doing live chat, and given the pace of my last call it would take my entire work day to actually resolve this over the phone. I am looking for advice on how to cancle this contract.

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might be a dumb question - did you have international roaming turned on in the settings on the phone?

Bottom line - if you bought the phone at a retail outlet go back to the retail outlet that you purchased the phone from, if you bought the phone online call the support number for that. Those are your options

[babno]

no such thing as a dumb question. I worked IT for a time and the vast vast majority of problems were fixed with "turn the computer off and then back on". Yes international roaming was turned on.

However I am somewhat annoyed at having to repeat myself for people who don't read. I bought it at a store purely for going overseas, which means I can't exactly walk down there.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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babno wrote:

no such thing as a dumb question. I worked IT for a time and the vast vast majority of problems were fixed with "turn the computer off and then back on". Yes international roaming was turned on.

However I am somewhat annoyed at having to repeat myself for people who don't read. I bought it at a store purely for going overseas, which means I can't exactly walk down there.

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Did not know that you where still overseas - did not see that metioned, just that you got it for going overseas, unfortunately unless someone else has any ideas those are methods that I know of to return a phone.

[BINMAM]

This is completely on  par for the AT$T course.

Year after year they are voted worst carrier by all of the reputable ratings companies.

They just want your money.

If I were you I would get out while you can.  They breached their contract, they can't ding you for EFTs.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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BINMAM wrote:

This is completely on  par for the AT$T course.

Year after year they are voted worst carrier by all of the reputable ratings companies.

They just want your money.

If I were you I would get out while you can.  They breached their contract, they can't ding you for EFTs.

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as mentioned ad nauseum - they most be doing something right - 103 million cellular users and the lowest churn rate in the industry. Need to understand that the burden of proof is on the end user to prove what you claim in ANY industry, it normally requires highly paided professionals and a long period of time - that is if the agreement even allows it and does ot set restrictions. They are not number two for nothing

What exactly is a "reputable rating company" lets hope you don't include consumer reports (they have a pretty bad track record if you feel like investigating it) and the BBB who also has a track record that is 5 steps below anything good - do the research it you don;t believe it, really simple to find

[BadBadLeroyBrown ACE - Warrior]

If I'm not mistaken, the reason you got no service is because your account had not been properly set up for international roaming. I believe that AT&T turns off this capability by default to cut down on the number of inadvertent "oops" bills that international travelers ring up. The international texting plan should have NO impact on your ability to use your phone internationally. 

There's no easy way to cancel the contract from outside the country. AT&T is NOT going to pay international return shipping on the phone. You'll have to get the phone to a trusted contact in the States, and have them return the phone. 

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babno wrote:

and yet the phone had no service, which means I could not 1.receive text messages 2. call anyone even for cost 3. text anyone even for cost. and when I called to discuss it, it took 40 minutes and my boss getting angry at me and docking an hours pay for them to say "nah, not gonna help you, but hey I'll sell you 50 texts for a stupid price"

All this is irrelevent though, as I originally stated in my first post I am blocked from sending them email or doing live chat, and given the pace of my last call it would take my entire work day to actually resolve this over the phone. I am looking for advice on how to cancle this contract.

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[babno]

The entire purpose I got the phone was for heading overseas. I made sure the best buy employee knew that and I was assured I was all set up and would be fine with the international travelers plan and other various things. And ontop of that the rep refused to give me service until I bought the 50 texts.

I'm in contact with best buy who have been infinately more supportive and helpful and they suggested the same thing (trusted friend in america to return it) though they warning I might need to be present to complete the exchange. I'm waiting on a clarification on that.

[babno]

Just fyi public, I was sent a pm asking for a time I could be contacted so we could get this resolved. I replied 11am-1pm central, figuring a 2 hour window would be ample. The person responded saying the issue was escalated and assured my I would be contacted. Well it's 1:30 central now and having not heard from them I'm going to bed because I wake up at 5, I'm sick, and it's 20:30 (8:30pm) here.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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babno wrote:

The entire purpose I got the phone was for heading overseas. I made sure the best buy employee knew that and I was assured I was all set up and would be fine with the international travelers plan and other various things. And ontop of that the rep refused to give me service until I bought the 50 texts.

I'm in contact with best buy who have been infinately more supportive and helpful and they suggested the same thing (trusted friend in america to return it) though they warning I might need to be present to complete the exchange. I'm waiting on a clarification on that.

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if you got it from best buy you need to take it back to best buy. the dvice needs to be handled by the retailer that sold it to you.

[formercanuck]

If it makes you feel better... cancel while you can.

While I don't have anything against any carrier (except VZW for doing something similar), I would personally feel better to not send money to a company that effectively screwed up on my business.

[BadBadLeroyBrown ACE - Warrior]

The international travelers plan is only part of the equation; there's also a flag on the account that needs to be set to allow for use outside the United States. You can roam internationally without the international traveler plan and play the full roaming cost where you're traveling. It may also be possible for an employee to overlook setting the international roaming flag even while provisioning an international package onto the account. This is why I don't deal with third parties like Best Buy; their employees, while ostensibly trained by AT&T, may sell phones on every carrier and may not know the individual systems as well as the carriers' own employees.

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babno wrote:

The entire purpose I got the phone was for heading overseas. I made sure the best buy employee knew that and I was assured I was all set up and would be fine with the international travelers plan and other various things. And ontop of that the rep refused to give me service until I bought the 50 texts.

I'm in contact with best buy who have been infinately more supportive and helpful and they suggested the same thing (trusted friend in america to return it) though they warning I might need to be present to complete the exchange. I'm waiting on a clarification on that.

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[drumn_bass]

International Roaming is not available for first 6 months from account activation. Exceptions are possible I guess based on credit and other factors, but on default it's turned off. This is the first paragraph of the Terms and Conditions: "Certain eligibility restrictions apply which may be based on service tenure, payment history and/or credit. Rates are subject to change. For countries, rates, and additional details, see att.com/global." Best Buy employee is not AT&T's employee, I noticed right away the paperwork is not ours. AT&T provides them with all correct details and if they're training their employees right or not is not up to AT&T unfortunately. If I was assisting you at my corporate store you better believe you would know all restrictions and policies that apply to your situation, but in this case you'll have to either work it out with BB or "try" to get international features added to your account from AT&T but they're not obligated to do so and will follow the policy.

[babno]

I worked entirely within my base of knowledge, and too my knowledge I was buying an international plan. I was billed accordingly. I have no issue with the phone or case itself, so therefor it is not best buy I have to solve the issue with. I have issue with the service plan, and therefor I must fix this situation with at&t. Now lets recap what happened when I tried to contact at&t.

tuesday: attempt online help, my account is not allowed to receive help online

wednesday: On the work phone for 40 minutes, forced to buy expensive texts to activate phone.

thursday: Make post on forums as last resort (I asked phone person to set up online account so I could contact online, she refused), send private pm to at&t official, no response

friday: at&t actually contacts me, I offer a 2 hour window and 3 options to contact me (4 if you could pm here on forum), they agree, asuring me I will be contacted, and even elevated my issue status. I was available on all of those methods for the 2 hours +a half an hour later. Nothing. now nearly 12 hours after those 2 expired I have checked and noone tried to contact me while I was away.

At this point I hardly even care if it was there fault or not, but it was them I needed to contact to fix it, and when I tried they have 100% dragged me through the dirt, treating me like expletive deleted.