My wife and I are on the Next 12 plan. We get a new iPhone every year. The procedure to return the old ones to AT&T is to print shipping labels provided by email, box them up separately, attach the labels, drop them off at USPS, and get a receipt.
The last two years AT&T has managed to "lose" one of the phones. I somehow got this cleared up last year, but this year has been a nightmare and so far is still unresolved.
It starts with text messages from AT&T saying "We have not received your trade-in. If we do not receive it we will add the cost of the new phone to your bill" or something along those lines. Then, a $1000 charge shows on my bill (apparently they bill you the cost of the new phone, not the remaining value of the old one).
So I contacted AT&T via chat. I provided tracking numbers, and indicated that I have a USPS receipt. We go round and round with a dozen questions, most of which demonstrate a failure to grasp the issue on their part, then after they exhaust all their options, they have to transfer me to Customer Care to resolve it. I wait on hold for another 30 minutes. Customer Care asks me all the same questions all over again, then files a case for me and says "don't worry, it will be resolved". Two week later, the charge is still on my bill. I contact them again. Once again, I have to answer a bunch of questions with long waits in between. Then they say "we see the case you filed, but it was denied". After another half-hour on the phone, they conclude the prior person I spoke to filed the case wrong. So they have filed a new one. I'm still waiting to see if this works.
The USPS tracking numbers indicate both phones were transferred to the "returns agent" on the same day. Digging around online, I found out the returns agent that AT&T uses is Newgistics. They have their own tracking page. I put the USPS tracking numbers in, and both phones return the same result: that the package was delivered to AT&T in Texas. AT&T says they received one but not the other.
A quick Google search found that dozens of AT&T customers are reporting similar issues on the AT&T customer service forums. Reports date back to 2015. Some people have given up and paid the charge after multiple attempts and many hours spent on the phone. Many of these posters say that they have the receipt, tracking numbers, everything, but AT&T simply doesn't care about any of that.
Anyone else having this problem?
I would switch networks in a heartbeat, but we get a discount because of where my wife works, and we have two elderly family members on our account. It's just too much hassle to switch.
But I'm pretty certain I'm going to stop using Next and just do the financing through Apple in the future. I can't deal with this anymore. It's taking way too much of my time.
