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indianboynyc

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 22, 2010
112
0
so i called at&t today and was talking to them about downgrading my plan which is 1400 minutes, free nights n weekends, free mobile to mobile(on any cell phone carrier, upto 10 free #'s on my A-list plan) so i wanted to know if i would be able to keep my 8,000 rollover minutes and this is what she says to me:

"im not trying to be funny but what happens is when you call, we look at your account to see if you have been credited before. a lot of people have been calling to get their activation fee's credited and some of them are being credited. now im looking at your account and you have a courtesy refund of $5 in august and $40 something in july and now personally i wouldnt waste my time to credit you rollover minutes if you decrease your plan or activation fee's because your too needy and call about everything. now someone else may look at your account differently and say okay i can credit your activation fee's as a courtesy but im not them nor am i going to do it"


so what i am doing tomorrow is calling at&t again and saying i want to speak to a manager and that i feel disappointed on how she told me that i am too needy and call about stuff on my plan and that im not worth her time to be treated with respect and maybe offered to get credit on my plan then i am going to threaten to cancel my plans and not even use my 4 upgrades and return my phones when they come in and ask them, so you are telling me being a valued customer and having an at&t even before iphones came out and not switching over to verizon just like 30% of your customers is not being loyal? and i bet manager will over ride the activation fee's, boom boom pow!


cliff notes: call and ask if they can credit the activation fee as a courtesy and there is a good chance they will, if not ask for a manager! boom boom pow!







UPDATE: CALLED BACK, ASKED FOR MANAGER, TOLD THEM HOW RUDE THE PREVIOUS PERSON WAS AND THAT IF THEY THINK IM NOT LOYAL THAT I CAN CHANGE TO VERIZON/SPRINT RIGHT NOW, SHE SAID NO IM SORRY FOR THAT AND I WILL GIVE YOU A CREDIT FOR ALL 3 LINES, SINCE OUR SYSTEMS ARE BEING UPDATED RIGHT NOW I WILL CALL YOU BACK BETWEEN 8AM-1PM AND LET YOU KNOW THAT ITS COMPLETED. I WILL ALSO SEND YOU A TEXT TO LET YOU KNOW. SHE ALSO SAID NO MATTER WHAT IT WILL BE DONE SO DONT WORRY IF I DONT GET A CHANCE TO PICK UP...

CLIFF NOTES: 3 PHONES ACTIVATION FEE WAVED AND I LOVE AT&T AGAIN :D
 
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Surrylic

macrumors regular
Jun 26, 2010
231
116
Congrats on getting those fees waived! I'm baffled that the customer service rep actually said that to you tho..
 

boltjames

macrumors 601
May 2, 2010
4,876
2,851
Congratulations on being proud of cheating AT&T and its customers. It's people like you who make it more expensive for the rest of us.

BJ
 

HowardSmith

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2012
863
0
You method is in no way a guarantee to get your fees waived.

But nice story, well, at least till I fell asleep reading it. :(
 

iproductsuser

macrumors 6502a
Apr 13, 2012
538
0
IMO, the activation fee is such robbery to valued customers. It's pure profit for them and they aren't losing money over this. ^^It's not going to cost other customers more money by some people getting activation fees waived :confused:
 

boltjames

macrumors 601
May 2, 2010
4,876
2,851
IMO, the activation fee is such robbery to valued customers. It's pure profit for them and they aren't losing money over this. ^^It's not going to cost other customers more money by some people getting activation fees waived

It's not "pure profit" to AT&T. Millions of new iPhones to be activated, millions to be disabled, millions calling asking for account assistance, millions calling for tech assistance. Compared to a typical month, must be 50,000 additional agents and support staff in stores and at their contact centers. These people need to get paid, costs a lot of money.

Boy, flowers are "pure profit" for a florist. I mean, anyone can put seed in dirt and grow them, right? So go into a flower shop today and argue that point, see how far it gets you, see if it makes you proud of yourself.

BJ
 

Primus84

macrumors 6502
Jul 21, 2005
383
24
UK
It's not "pure profit" to AT&T. Millions of new iPhones to be activated, millions to be disabled, millions calling asking for account assistance, millions calling for tech assistance. Compared to a typical month, must be 50,000 additional agents and support staff in stores and at their contact centers. These people need to get paid, costs a lot of money.

Boy, flowers are "pure profit" for a florist. I mean, anyone can put seed in dirt and grow them, right? So go into a flower shop today and argue that point, see how far it gets you, see if it makes you proud of yourself.

BJ

These costs should be more than covered by the 2 year plan you've signed up for. They are just an additional way for the carrier to make money.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,666
5,879
IMO, the activation fee is such robbery to valued customers. It's pure profit for them and they aren't losing money over this. ^^It's not going to cost other customers more money by some people getting activation fees waived :confused:

but it is SUCH an inconvenience for them to have to nothing....clearly the activation/upgrade fee is necessary =/
 

boltjames

macrumors 601
May 2, 2010
4,876
2,851
but it is SUCH an inconvenience for them to have to nothing....clearly the activation/upgrade fee is necessary =/

You know, if you continue to lie you can get much more from AT&T. Just tell them that your iPhone 4 failed as you were calling the animal hospital and your beloved Fluffy died and if you don't get a settlement for $10,000 you're going to sue them for $1M.

Aim higher.

BJ
 

Kalschjj

macrumors newbie
Feb 5, 2012
6
0
By me already having 3 separate discounts on my plan, its a waste of my time to call and have them keep looking at my account. Saving $36 now might end up costing almost $50 a month...
 

saberz

macrumors regular
Apr 20, 2012
121
2
I just ask nicely and they in turn help. I asked before I upgraded to the sgs3 and they did it without issue. Going to ask them again when the iPhone 5 gets delivered and hopefully it gets credited again(another line)
 

drakestan

macrumors regular
Sep 6, 2012
141
0
so i called at&t today and was talking to them about downgrading my plan which is 1400 minutes, free nights n weekends, free mobile to mobile(on any cell phone carrier, upto 10 free #'s on my A-list plan) so i wanted to know if i would be able to keep my 8,000 rollover minutes and this is what she says to me:

"im not trying to be funny but what happens is when you call, we look at your account to see if you have been credited before. a lot of people have been calling to get their activation fee's credited and some of them are being credited. now im looking at your account and you have a courtesy refund of $5 in august and $40 something in july and now personally i wouldnt waste my time to credit you rollover minutes if you decrease your plan or activation fee's because your too needy and call about everything. now someone else may look at your account differently and say okay i can credit your activation fee's as a courtesy but im not them nor am i going to do it"


so what i am doing tomorrow is calling at&t again and saying i want to speak to a manager and that i feel disappointed on how she told me that i am too needy and call about stuff on my plan and that im not worth her time to be treated with respect and maybe offered to get credit on my plan then i am going to threaten to cancel my plans and not even use my 4 upgrades and return my phones when they come in and ask them, so you are telling me being a valued customer and having an at&t even before iphones came out and not switching over to verizon just like 30% of your customers is not being loyal? and i bet manager will over ride the activation fee's, boom boom pow!


cliff notes: call and ask if they can credit the activation fee as a courtesy and there is a good chance they will, if not ask for a manager! boom boom pow!







UPDATE: CALLED BACK, ASKED FOR MANAGER, TOLD THEM HOW RUDE THE PREVIOUS PERSON WAS AND THAT IF THEY THINK IM NOT LOYAL THAT I CAN CHANGE TO VERIZON/SPRINT RIGHT NOW, SHE SAID NO IM SORRY FOR THAT AND I WILL GIVE YOU A CREDIT FOR ALL 3 LINES, SINCE OUR SYSTEMS ARE BEING UPDATED RIGHT NOW I WILL CALL YOU BACK BETWEEN 8AM-1PM AND LET YOU KNOW THAT ITS COMPLETED. I WILL ALSO SEND YOU A TEXT TO LET YOU KNOW. SHE ALSO SAID NO MATTER WHAT IT WILL BE DONE SO DONT WORRY IF I DONT GET A CHANCE TO PICK UP...

CLIFF NOTES: 3 PHONES ACTIVATION FEE WAVED AND I LOVE AT&T AGAIN :D

Congratulations on perfecting the art of begging, I feel sorry for you.
 

indianboynyc

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 22, 2010
112
0
screw that, I upgraded 3 lines that's 108 saved, I'll take it! I spent 216.66, 211 something and 325 something on 3 phones plus AppleCare+ on each line + I pay AT&T 235 a month for 4 phones. If I get to save $100 I'm taking it. if you have such a problem with it, then give me your info and I'll get it waived and give me your $36. I'm happy I saved $100, free AppleCare+ for my line
 

alent1234

macrumors 603
Jun 19, 2009
5,688
170
It's not "pure profit" to AT&T. Millions of new iPhones to be activated, millions to be disabled, millions calling asking for account assistance, millions calling for tech assistance. Compared to a typical month, must be 50,000 additional agents and support staff in stores and at their contact centers. These people need to get paid, costs a lot of money.

Boy, flowers are "pure profit" for a florist. I mean, anyone can put seed in dirt and grow them, right? So go into a flower shop today and argue that point, see how far it gets you, see if it makes you proud of yourself.

BJ

They have these things called computers which do all this automatically
 

brendu

Cancelled
Apr 23, 2009
2,472
2,703
Do you have to pay the ATT activation fee if you go to the apple store to activate?
 

JohnGregorio

macrumors member
May 21, 2009
34
0
Kathrina: What I can do from my end Mr. Gregorio is to give a one time courtesy adjustment of $250.00 on your account, since I will not be able to refund the $250.00 that was included on the charges when you process your early upgrade.

Awesome :apple:
 

rockyroad55

macrumors 601
Jul 14, 2010
4,152
59
Phila, PA
It's not a waiver, it's a credit. I've talked to some reps that actually say we cannot waive the fee.

Instead of what the OP suggests, I usually ask nicely for a credit and explain that I'm paying for all these services and minutes anyway so what's a measly $36 going to do? Never had a single rep say no to that.
 

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,627
342
It's not "pure profit" to AT&T. Millions of new iPhones to be activated, millions to be disabled,

... the vast majority of which will never actually be handled by AT&T employees. If you bought your phone from Apple or AT&T online, you get your package from FedEx, plug your new iPhone into iTunes, and follow the prompts. Not a single nanosecond of AT&T manual labor is involved in the process.

Buying from best Buy, WalMart, Radioshack or other big box store? AT&T employees don't handle those either.

If you buy your iPhone from AT&T in-store, the process can be exactly the same, but it's entirely by AT&T's choice that they have their employees open up the package, handle the iPhone, insert a sim and activate it... all of which I'd personally rather they not do anyway, because I've seen first hand how careless AT&T employees can be in handling equipment that I am buying.

By the way, it takes, at most, 5-10 minutes to do the actual activation. Assuming the high end of that, a $36 "upgrade fee" amounts to an equivalent wage of $216 per hour. I highly doubt even the manager at an AT&T retail store, or a manager at an AT&T support call center, get paid half that much for their services.

millions calling asking for account assistance, millions calling for tech assistance.

...which is par for the course, and the cost of doing business. When you walk into a grocery store and ask a stock employee a question, are you charged a service fee? Does Best Buy charge people an "Activation fee" every time they sell you a new printer or router?

By the way, AT&T doesn't handle tech support for the iPhone. Apple does. Which is why the fee makes even less sense.

Compared to a typical month, must be 50,000 additional agents and support staff in stores and at their contact centers. These people need to get paid, costs a lot of money.

Poor, poor AT&T. After reaping the benefits for several years of choosing to be the exclusive iPhone carrier, they need indoctrinated customers to stick up for them. Evidently, making a profit of $6.8 billion in the last quarter (up from $6.2 billion previous) is corporate poverty, all because Apple is on their backs!


Never mind that the activation fee is the same whether it's on launch day, or six months out, or if you're buying a smartphone or a flip phone.

If the iPhone were truly the loss leader that AT&T and its sympathizers claim, then it would make little economic sense to offer them for sale in the first place. Or at the very least, activation fees would be higher for iPhone users than others. But instead, the costs are uniform regardless of what phone you get, which makes it pretty obvious that the fee is a pure money grab, plain and simple.

But as years of AT&T selling the iPhone shows, it makes plenty of economic sense to sell them. While start up costs are high (as they are with any subsidized phone, really), the contracts, required data plans with usage caps, locking on-contract iPhones so they can't even use foreign sims when internationally traveling, and early termination fees means lots and lots of profit over time.

Boy, flowers are "pure profit" for a florist. I mean, anyone can put seed in dirt and grow them, right? So go into a flower shop today and argue that point, see how far it gets you, see if it makes you proud of yourself.

When AT&T starts growing iPhones from the ground, pruning them, designing their looks and then having their own employees drive the delivery vans to personally hand deliver them to recipients, then that argument will be valid. But seeing as an iPhone isn't a perishable item, and AT&T's sole role is in providing a data and voice pipe for your device (which by the way, you already pay a monthly fee for), your argument is just a straw man.
 
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