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AT&T Postpaid Fiasco

Cathode

Cathode

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 5, 2008
164
5
Flagstaff, AZ
AT&T is offering a postpaid offer, which I'm sure all of you are aware of. I'm trying to add this to my existing AT&T plan and no one seems to have any idea what I am talking about.

I've called customer care three times, also explaining that it's plasted over the offical AT&T website. Even being escalated to teir 2 support has not helped. According to three individuals I've spoke with the postpaid plan is ONLY available for business customers. This is outragious because it clearly says otherwise on the AT&T website.

Why won't these people take my money?

Has anyone successfully called and had this plan added to their exsisting account? If so, what number did you call?
 
Do you not add/manage the postpaid plan directly from the device, like you do with prepaid?
 
Whoa...just called to get this activated and after waiting for 15+ minutes for them to "research" how this is done they come back stating they need to do a credit check and there will be a $36 activation fee. Are you nuts AT&T??? :eek:

Not that I care about a credit check, but I'm a damn high revenue customer for 7+ years, just ridiculous. The activation fee is the dumbest part...wow.
 
ckeck said:
Whoa...just called to get this activated and after waiting for 15+ minutes for them to "research" how this is done they come back stating they need to do a credit check and there will be a $36 activation fee. Are you nuts AT&T??? :eek:

Not that I care about a credit check, but I'm a damn high revenue customer for 7+ years, just ridiculous. The activation fee is the dumbest part...wow.
Click to expand...

Are you serious?
Did you pay it/allow the credit check? Sounds like nothing short of extortion to me.

I would have said: no thanks, I'll go grab a Verizon one.

I can't begin to understand this company's morals, tactics, and utter lack of knowledge on it's own policy's.
 
tigres said:
Are you serious?
Did you pay it/allow the credit check? Sounds like nothing short of extortion to me.

I would have said: no thanks, I'll go grab a Verizon one.

I can't begin to understand this company's morals, tactics, and utter lack of knowledge on it's own policy's.
Click to expand...
They told me there was an activation fee, and that there was a $325 early-termination fee, neither of which apply to the iPad. I agree with you about their utter lack of knowledge on their own policies.

I don't have a problem with the credit check, though.

Unlike prepaid iPad service (where you're essentially waving your cash up front, giving them a credit card number before you can use their service), post-paid is them letting you "run a tab" on your promise that you'll pay your bill at the end of the month. And while it's just a $25/month tab for most, I'm sure that there are going to be some folks that stream TV all day at work and will see a $100/month bill.

A credit check allows them to determine if you're worthy of running a tab with them or not. And while it does seem stupid to run a credit check on a long-standing, high-revenue customer, I'm sure they'd get slapped with some discrimination lawsuit if their practice was only to run credit checks on people that they thought might be sketchy in terms of being able to pay their bills.

I'd be highly surprised if Verizon allows postpaid iPad service with no credit check.
 
I can definitely relate to this post. I called customer service and they told me that there is no such thing as a post paid plan for the iPad and I have to pre pay via the iPad every month. I explained over and over and even gave them the url "http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/ipad.jsp". I had to sit and have some tool on the phone explain to me that he has worked there 5 years and he knows what he is talking about yeah right so I speak to a "supervisor" that was just as clueless so I hang up on them. I went to the actual AT&T store as apparently these are the only two ways to sign up for post paid and get the free month and had a similar experience. At first they tried to tell me pre paid only but then I showed them the website. After some internal discussion they decide to review their corporate communications and finally agree with me that yes I can get post paid and yes I can get a free month, great so I pull out my iPad and prepare to give him the IMEI number for the sim pre installed. He started to pull out his stack of sim cards and stated that he needed to put a new sim in my ipad 2. I told him no you just need to attach the IMEI to the account you are creating for data. He said oh well I can try that but it may say it's in use (how could it be in use if it’s never been activated?), he entered the info and after a reboot I was up in running. Their excuse was that they had never had to do a post paid account and didn’t know it existed. I found this process entirely unacceptable and made sure to note this in a survey they sent. If I wasn’t a tech savvy customer I would have been taken down a road of lies by their “knowledgeable” staff.
 
aristobrat said:
They told me there was an activation fee, and that there was a $325 early-termination fee, neither of which apply to the iPad. I agree with you about their utter lack of knowledge on their own policies.

I don't have a problem with the credit check, though.

Unlike prepaid iPad service (where you're essentially waving your cash up front, giving them a credit card number before you can use their service), post-paid is them letting you "run a tab" on your promise that you'll pay your bill at the end of the month. And while it's just a $25/month tab for most, I'm sure that there are going to be some folks that stream TV all day at work and will see a $100/month bill.

A credit check allows them to determine if you're worthy of running a tab with them or not.

I'd be highly surprised if Verizon allows postpaid iPad service with no credit check.
Click to expand...

On the post paid. Don't they Pro-rate that as the do on our iPhone's? I.E. charge up front in advance, or are we talking a true use it then bill it?
If the latter, I'm ok with the credit check, but suffice to say- They have your credit in the system for the last X years.
Still would tick me off; but I am in the credit business, so I know the games these company's like to play.
 
I have my own nightmare story but here's how I solved it:
I ended up putting the first month on my CC. AFter this I received an email with a 'phone number' for my iPad 2. When my initial 30 days are up, I plan to go to the AT&T store and have them add this 'phone number' to our account. I was not told about an activation fee or contract, but then I didn't ask. Pretty sure neither will apply.
 
The ATT Website at http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/ipad.jsp has a link to go to their "answer center" which has an faq.

The answer center: http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/ipad.jsp

Has links to different FAQ questions one of which http://www.wireless.att.com/answer-...locale=&_dyncharset=UTF-8&solutionId=KB117140
Specifically says "no activation fee".
Postpaid service with DataConnect Personal and DataConnect Enterprise has:
•No term commitment
•No activation fee or other fees
•No Early Termination Fee (ETF)*
Click to expand...

The FAQ on how to get the plan indicates to call them or go to a retail store
http://www.wireless.att.com/answer-...locale=&_dyncharset=UTF-8&solutionId=KB117144
Question:
How do I get postpaid data service for iPad or tablet devices?
How do I get AT&T DataConnect for my iPad or tablet device?
Answer:
You can get an AT&T DataConnect Personal Plan or DataConnect Enterprise Plan by calling Customer Service at 1-800-331-0500 or visiting an AT&T retail store. Customers who purchase an iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G from the AT&T Web site will be able to add a postpaid wireless data plan to their order by calling 888-333-6651.
Click to expand...
 
LFSimon said:
The ATT Website at http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/ipad.jsp has a link to go to their "answer center" which has an faq.

The answer center: http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/ipad.jsp

Has links to different FAQ questions one of which http://www.wireless.att.com/answer-...locale=&_dyncharset=UTF-8&solutionId=KB117140
Specifically says "no activation fee".


The FAQ on how to get the plan indicates to call them or go to a retail store
http://www.wireless.att.com/answer-...locale=&_dyncharset=UTF-8&solutionId=KB117144
Click to expand...


Great, so this confirms AT&T doesn't know their own policy's still. Feel bad for the trouble you people have on this.
 
Only in this forum universe would a bad customer service call be elevated to a "fiasco". Good thing the OP didn't have to deal with an earthquake or tsunami.
 
Thanks for some of the additional info everyone. I figured something was wrong with the activation fee comment.

In regards to a credit check, I can understand on a new account but when you have been a customer for years and have ~$200/month in service, I don't think a credit check is necessary for a $14.99 charge which should really be considered a feature. I can add a more expensive feature w/o a credit check on another line. What is the difference? Some people just don't use their heads sometimes.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Hey it wouldn't be an iOS launch day w/o an ATT fiasco. It's tradition!
543.jpg
Click to expand...

thats the freakin truth
 
poloponies said:
Only in this forum universe would a bad customer service call be elevated to a "fiasco". Good thing the OP didn't have to deal with an earthquake or tsunami.
Click to expand...

We're all grieving and in shock with the situation in Japan, but here at home life goes on.

Besides I think you are confusing the concept of a "fiasco" (a event which becomes a failure) with that of a "catastrophe" (an event which results in great loss and misfortune).
 
This is the best thread ever. It's funny because I can't get the prepaid plan. When I ordered from AT&T they made you select a dataplan, but it wasn't specified as a post or pre paid plan. That was fine, I wanted the ipad so I went with it.

So my ipad delivered with the 3g service activated already and I got a bill this morning for my data plan. I wasn't intending to do a data plan every month, which is why the prepaid was perfect. Four calls and about an hour talking to 8 people and they still couldn't get it straight. I finally just ended up cancelling all service and then in a few months when I want to buy a month of data I'll just go to the AT&T store or something. It was ridiculous. I've had really good experiences with AT&T customer service in the past, but today it was a nightmare.

At one point some dude in India transferred me to Apple and didn't tell me or Apple that the call came through AT&T, so when the lady started saying I needed to talk to AT&T, I stopped and said "isn't that who I'm talking to?"
 
Well, I'm one of those who want or at least wanted to be on a post-paid plan. Alas for me, 48 minutes on the phone with AT&T CS were unsuccessful. The reason I decided to go post-paid is that I wanted to take advantage of the ONE FREE MONTH promo. In the end, I just gave up. Didn't wish to deal with all the BS and unnecessary hurdle.
 
LFSimon said:
We're all grieving and in shock with the situation in Japan, but here at home life goes on.

Besides I think you are confusing the concept of a "fiasco" (a event which becomes a failure) with that of a "catastrophe" (an event which results in great loss and misfortune).
Click to expand...

No confusion, it's just the elevation of what most people would consider to be a non-event to a dramatic tale on a forum. I've had great AT&T customer service experiences and others that were less great. None of them made me want to rush out and notify the world that some AT&T employees are clueless.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

The problem with AT&T offering a postpaid plan for the iPad is that there really has been a lack of communication between the new policies of the company, and relaying that information to the CSRs...

I haven't been to work since Monday, but since that date, there hasn't been any announcement or anything told to me other than the iPad 2 has been released.

Regular CSRs (Business Care if you have a FAN attached to your account) does not add lines of service to a current customer's account, they can only make changes to an existing line of service.

If a customer calls in about the iPad (there's hardly any information about the iPad in the informational system CSRs use to find the policies and expectations we must read while on a call) and the information we do have is hard to find... But we get them over to Business Data Support (800-331-0500 choose option for wireless Internet) for assistance. The department that we get customers over to if they would like to add service to their account would be National Business Ordering (800-444-4410 I believe and you must choose option 2 then 5)...

I'd call those two departments first before speaking to regular business care...
 
Middiebear said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 If a customer calls in about the iPad (there's hardly any information about the iPad in the informational system CSRs use to find the policies and expectations we must read while on a call) and the information we do have is hard to find... But we get them over to Business Data Support (800-331-0500 choose option for wireless Internet) for assistance. The department that we get customers over to if they would like to add service to their account would be National Business Ordering (800-444-4410 I believe and you must choose option 2 then 5)...

I'd call those two departments first before speaking to regular business care...
Click to expand...


lol wut? Folks just goto the store and skip the call center reps..
 
Middiebear said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

The problem with AT&T offering a postpaid plan for the iPad is that there really has been a lack of communication between the new policies of the company, and relaying that information to the CSRs...

I haven't been to work since Monday, but since that date, there hasn't been any announcement or anything told to me other than the iPad 2 has been released.

Regular CSRs (Business Care if you have a FAN attached to your account) does not add lines of service to a current customer's account, they can only make changes to an existing line of service.

If a customer calls in about the iPad (there's hardly any information about the iPad in the informational system CSRs use to find the policies and expectations we must read while on a call) and the information we do have is hard to find... But we get them over to Business Data Support (800-331-0500 choose option for wireless Internet) for assistance. The department that we get customers over to if they would like to add service to their account would be National Business Ordering (800-444-4410 I believe and you must choose option 2 then 5)...

I'd call those two departments first before speaking to regular business care...
Click to expand...

I think you just validated this thread; that is if you work for AT&T.
 
I spoke to the level 2 manager yesterday and he had no idea what I was talking about because you are suppose to get a month free when you sign up for post paid. He said he only had an option to add postpaid to a corporate account like best buy. I gave up and signed up for prepaid because it's a hassle to go in and sign up and then you have to go in to cancel.
 
poloponies said:
No confusion, it's just the elevation of what most people would consider to be a non-event to a dramatic tale on a forum. I've had great AT&T customer service experiences and others that were less great. None of them made me want to rush out and notify the world that some AT&T employees are clueless.
Click to expand...

I do definitely get where you are coming from. But I guess part of the entertainment factor of reading these forums is the extreme over-reactions to things that aren't all that important in the scheme of things - at least during the time periods immediately before and after a launch date.

Is your screen name taken from the semi-famous Honeymooner's scene?
 
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