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Arran

macrumors 601
Mar 7, 2008
4,848
3,781
Atlanta, USA
Exactly.
Sitting there arguing and threatening to leave wont make any difference.
Talk to another rep and hope they're willing to help you.

True, but it can be therapeutic. :)

Actually, it will make a difference if enough people do it. It costs them money to employ agents. If 10% of agents' time is spent unsuccessfully trying to fob off customers, then they'll need to hire and pay 10% more agents. They'll get that.
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
True, but it can be therapeutic. :)

Actually, it will make a difference if enough people do it. It costs them money to employ agents. If 10% of agents' time is spent unsuccessfully trying to fob off customers, then they'll need to hire and pay 10% more agents. They'll get that.

I dont know, seems like too much agreevation to me.
I'd rather not sit there and argue with a wall.
 

catandmouse

macrumors newbie
Mar 8, 2013
2
0
Update: I got it!

Ya, I agree, sometimes its not worth the aggravation, but I do like to make a point, I'm a lawyer:eek:

So, UPDATE - that manager who was supposed to call me back in an hour never did, but I got a random text message saying to call customer service at the 1-800 number. Got a very peppy, friendly guy named John who didn't even wait a beat before he said, "Of course we'll waive it! You are a premiere customer and have been since 2008, not a problem at all!"

So there you go folks!
 

Dopeyman

macrumors 6502a
Sep 5, 2005
613
48
Los Angeles!
Well I'm very glad that I stumbled onto this thread...... :D

Dialed 611, spoke to a male operator (didn't get his name) and he basically said he's not able to do it.. I gave him that long time customer (since 2008), pay on time, etc. etc. etc., and he still said no. So I asked for his manager and he quickly said that he can't do it in his department and said he'll transfer me over to customer service (isn't that what 611 is??? :confused:)... So I got Jennifer and she did the account check and said she'd be very happy to take care of me and will get those 2 fees waived (2 iPhone 5's.. My line which I purchased at launch date and my girlfriend's which I got this past January)..

Big thumbs up to the OP.... :D
 

katbutterfly

macrumors newbie
Mar 13, 2013
1
0
I tried getting my upgrade fee waived with AT&T 3 times with Live Chat and all 3 shot me down. They going on about some nonsense that the upgrade fee allows them to give me the best phones for my upgrade. I mentioned to them that my upgrade was supposed to be "FREE". What a joke! I guess I will have to call them to get it waived. And I even threatened to leave and the agent I spoke to went on about how expensive it is to cancel my contract and start up with a new wireless provider. Quoting Jim Carrey in Liar Liar, "so what I am going to do is piss and moan like an impotent jerk, and then bend over and take it up the tailpipe!"... :(
 

oldskool711

macrumors newbie
Mar 22, 2013
2
0
i just got 2 $36 fees credited to my account. phone rep would not do it. chat rep did it with very little effort.
 

DragonX

macrumors 6502
Mar 23, 2013
352
221
Unfortunately it didn't work for me :(

It's even more worse here - my first bill from AT&T after I upgraded is more than $370!!!!
It includes a "hidden" charge of $232.

Guys, it's $232 for connecting two iPhones and one iPad!! It's not a deposit or bill. It's just a bunch of hidden fees nobody tells you about.

My basic plan is $140 (a shared line with two iPhones and one iPad).
They charged me also $36+$36 for every iPhone + $42 for connecting the iPad. They also charged me a lot of some "federal fees", no matter I already was connected to their AT&T line. I'm going to return everything back, as I count it as a robbery.

When I talked to the representative she said "I do apologize but there isn't a way that we can waive the fee". AT&T is the worst place I've ever bought anything in.
 
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ajpadre

macrumors newbie
Jul 10, 2013
1
0
Online Help No Good

I went through the Instant Chat service will little help. She continued to argue with me about the fee. Even the manager didn't give a sh-t.

I used the online chat because AT&T's phone customer service was closed at the time I was attempting to resolve this. However I called them and they promptly refunded BOTH fees.

Ridiculous that some associates simply choose not to help customers out. Even after you threaten to leave or go with another company.
 

sawah

macrumors 65816
Sep 13, 2010
1,126
686
I use the online chat to do this every time I get a phone upgrade. Usually at the end of the conversation I just let them know I pay my bill on time and am a long time customer, would it be possible to get the upgrade fee waived. Usually works fine if you're nice. Just worked for me again a week ago. Normally it's in the form of a credit though and not a waiver.
 

OC513

macrumors 6502
Jul 19, 2007
324
35
NYC
just got 2 $36 fees waived. It was very easy and pretty quick. Well worth it to save the $85 after taxes and fees.
 

splitcast1982

macrumors newbie
Jul 30, 2013
1
0
Got more than a $36 credit waived

I knew I could have the fee waived b/c I've done it in the past. Besides the logic of doing AT&T's "NEXT" plan doesn't make any sense.

"Pay $450 more for a phone just to avoid a $36 junk fee and still $164 a month for my plan."

so dumb, or you could...

"Pay $36 junk fee in order to agree to pay $4000 for cell service over the next 2 years."

also very illogical. I did speak with a Manager who understood the logic in my two points and not only gave me a credit on my bill for the upgrade fee but he gave me a $67.15 credit! I didn't ask why I just said THANK YOU!

I only plan to upgrade one phone line even though I have two. I told him that and he still gave me the larger credit. So AT&T will charge me the fee when I upgrade but he's already applied the credit to my bill. I checked my account 2 mins after our conversation and there it was, a credit for $67.15.

I did also call AT&T today to negotiate this point and was unsuccessful. So try the chat first and ask to speak with a manager. Make the two points I've stated above and see what happens. Their reasoning for the fee is illogical so it's not difficult to argue a logical point as being the more superior of the two. All in all, the chat took me less than 10 mins. Best of luck.
 

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bniu

macrumors 65816
Mar 21, 2010
1,120
303
The carriers just love to find ways to entice new customers and are terrible at retaining customers. I can understand a $36 to start service, but once customers are in the system, why drive them away over nuisance fees?

This is the same problem with many businesses, great at attracting new business, terrible at keeping old business. The few businesses that I've seen focus on serving their existing customers are all extremely profitable and have a stable customer base and aren't falling prone to the business cycles.
 

Adonnan

macrumors newbie
Sep 9, 2012
20
0
I had zero luck with chat service, but a call to the retentions department on the phone credited our account.
 

Trauma1

macrumors 6502a
Jun 15, 2009
585
2
Is there still success with this? Chat just seems to be sales-only and will not speak on account matters.

Are people getting their fees waived, or are their accounts just getting credited? I spoke with a representative who said she wasn't able to do anything, but said I could potentially call back after the activation fees have been applied.

10+ years AT&T customer, who has always had activation fees waived.
 
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randy98mtu

macrumors 65816
Mar 4, 2009
1,455
140
Glad to see this worked as recently as July. I thought they squashed it completely. I will be making an argument with them as well as the phone I am going to upgrade has been out of contract for quite some time. My bill never went down, so they collected a lot of extra to subsidize a phone that did not get upgraded.
 

adam044

macrumors 65816
Jan 24, 2012
1,095
10
Boston
Used the chat service last month to get the upgrade fee waived for my mothers iPhone 5. $36 credit showed up on the bill. Easy as pie.
 

Nautilus007

macrumors 68030
Jul 13, 2007
2,642
1,320
U.S
They rarely ever waive fees it's just usually a credit. Maybe. Some premier or businesses get their fees waives
 

Trauma1

macrumors 6502a
Jun 15, 2009
585
2
What are you talking about? It's the same thing. The $36 was added to the bill then it was removed.

A fee-waiver and getting credit are two different things. While they may seem the same, the final end result is different. Like you said, if it was added to the bill then by definition the fee wasn't waived.

The problem with just getting credit is that you are still charged the $36, and thus your taxes and fees also increase. And they increase at a seemingly arbitrary rate even after a $36-charge-then-$36-credit.

If your bill is the same every single month and you look at the taxes and fees line by line (there's about a dozen of them), some will increase by a couple of cents. Some will be double. And in one instance, a fee that was always $0.38 for me went above $2.00. The total difference was about $11, which is 10% of my total bill. Even though I technically got credit for a $36 charge, I'd still had to pay a 10% higher bill. This would not happen with a fee waiver.

I've always gotten the fees waived in the past, but I knew there was a policy change and wanted to check if people were having success. If they were waiving the fee I could try to do this before purchasing the next iPhone, so there are no surprises on the following bill. But I see they are sticking to the policy change so I won't waste my time calling/chatting with AT&T trying to get a fee waived beforehand. I will wait until after the next phone comes out and discuss a credit.
 
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adam044

macrumors 65816
Jan 24, 2012
1,095
10
Boston
A fee-waiver and getting credit are two different things. While they may seem the same, the final end result is different. Like you said, if it was added to the bill then by definition the fee wasn't waived.

The problem with just getting credit is that you are still charged the $36, and thus your taxes and fees also increase. And they increase at a seemingly arbitrary rate even after a $36-charge-then-$36-credit.

If your bill is the same every single month and you look at the taxes and fees line by line (there's about a dozen of them), some will increase by a couple of cents. Some will be double. And in one instance, a fee that was always $0.38 for me went above $2.00. The total difference was about $11, which is 10% of my total bill. Even though I technically got credit for a $36 charge, I'd still had to pay a 10% higher bill. This would not happen with a fee waiver.

I've always gotten the fees waived in the past, but I knew there was a policy change and wanted to check if people were having success. If they were waiving the fee I could try to do this before purchasing the next iPhone, so there are no surprises on the following bill. But I see they are sticking to the policy change so I won't waste my time calling/chatting with AT&T trying to get a fee waived beforehand. I will wait until after the next phone comes out and discuss a credit.

Ok I follow you and I just checked. So the bill was 189.96 with the $36 added. When it was credited the bill next month was 117.23 add $36 to that and it's 153.23. The bill is normally 152.16 so I paid 1.07 more. Sure beats $36
 
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