Complaint Review: AT&T Wireless

November 23, 2009

To Whom It May Concern: 

I do not even know where to begin with this letter; at a minimum AT&T is an extremely deceptive company and at worst it is breaking the law in regards to advertising. If I do not get satisfaction through writing this letter I will be filing a formal compliant with my states Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission, and talking to the local news about AT&Ts deceptive advertising practices.

On Sunday, November 22^nd, 2009, I logged into my wireless account online and decided to shop for a new phone, specifically the BlackBerry Bold 9700. I went through the Upgrade link and noted where your records indicated I was not eligible for an upgrade until 12/18/2009, but decided to just go ahead and pay the full price. After clicking on the phone I wanted (Bold 9700) the website listed the No Contract Price as $299.99. Feeling a little uneasy about ordering online due to recent credit card fraud I have suffered, I decided to call the premier phone number (866-499-8008) and place my order over the phone. After waiting on hold for a while I was able to talk to a representative who denied the price as listed on the website. He informed me it had to be a mistake. He then had me give him my password for my account so that he could log in and see where the website says the price is $299.99. After logging in and seeing the price he agreed with me, but stated he was unable to sell me the phone for that price. He then transferred me to customer service in hopes that they would be able to rectify the problem and get my order fulfilled.

After again waiting on hold, customer service said the same thing; that they were unable to honor the price of $299.99 that is clearly stated on the website. Despite explaining to the customer service representative that the price is clearly listed on the website and has been listed as such for over a week now and also pointing out that employees in my very company have called the premier phone number and had purchased the phone for the price as listed on the website, she still stated she was unable to honor the price as listed. At this point I was and still am, extremely upset, and asked to be transferred to someone who could cancel my account. I was yet again put on hold for a while and transferred.

I finally spoke to someone who claimed they were going to help resolve my situation and retain me as a customer. Long story short, she informed me that all she would be able to do was offer the phone to me for $174.99 (with no rebate) on a two year contract, which is $125 (after rebate) more than your corporate store in Manhattan is offering the very same phone for on a two year contract. After further explaining to her the pricing listed on the website and the fact that stores in the Northeast are currently offering WALK-IN CUSTOMERS a NO CONTRACT PRICE OF $299.99 she just reiterated what she said previously. I told the lady that is not acceptable and she told me to write this letter to you.

In summary, my primary complaint is that you as a company are listing a price on your website that you clearly have no intention of honoring at any level and you therefore are illegally advertising. All I was asking you to do was honor the price AS STATED on your website. At this point I am requesting you to honor the price as listed on your website ($299.99 without a contract) and compensate me for the over 6 hours I have been on the phone trying to simply order a new phone to use with the services I am already paying extremely high prices for.

Furthermore, since I am taking time out of my day to write you this letter I would like to address a concern I have regarding AT&Ts pricing practices that I feel is reprehensible. AT&T is a national telecommunications company whose services pricing is the same for me whether I am living in Florida or am traveling in New York. What I mean is, the cost of the plan that I choose when I sign up in Florida does not change if I happen to take a two-week trip to New York a month later. I think we can both agree on that. However, if I go and try to purchase a phone (in this case a BlackBerry Bold 9700) in Florida the price is $299.99 (on a two year contract without a rebate), but if I happen to be in New York on a trip the cost of the phone is only $149.99 (on a two year contract without a rebate). The prices I am telling you were obtained from two different AT&T corporately owned retail stores: one in Boynton Beach, FL and one in Scarsdale, New York. They were obtained within five minutes of each other by calling the stores. Why is the SAME PHONE, WITH THE SAME TERMS, double the price in one location from the SAME NATIONAL company? My services pricing does not change based on my location. Why does the equipment price? In my opinion, that is completely inexcusable! AT&T is a national company and the pricing should be the same across all company owned channels (i.e. company owned retail stores, company owned websites, company owned telesales lines, etc). To me it looks like AT&T is either: a) a shady company trying to rip off people who do not know what the currently lowest available price is, or b) is a completely disorganized national telecommunications conglomerate whose different regions, departments, etc have absolutely zero communication. Either way, both situations reflect poorly on AT&T as a company and should be discussed at a corporate level AND fixed if you expect the public to retain faith in you as a company and continue to purchase your services in the future.

One extremely upset subscriber,