My mom and I signed up with AT&T 4 years ago, and I don't even know where to begin. We were forced to switch to AT&T when Centennial Wireless went out of business. It was our first contract-oriented phone business. We signed up with them not realizing what kind of mickey mouse organization we were getting ourselves into. The customer service isn't terrible, but it takes you 20 minutes to actually talk to someone because there is no direct freaking option to talk to someone. Why haven't they done something about that yet? Anyways, as long as the warranty is still good on your phone, you won't have to pay an arm and a leg for a new phone, or extend your contract even longer to get a phone for relatively "cheap". I dropped my phone in the toilet once, and they sent me a new phone within the next day or few days after, thankfully because my warranty was still good. They were really nice too. That's not enough to change my mind about them though. If your warranty expires, or you want to use their go-phones, prepare for the run-around, because it's all you will get. They just want your money.
After my first phone crapped out on me, I bought an iPhone for $20 bucks, off the website with no warning whatsoever that it would extend our contract. And no insurance, because it would have been $99 dollars a month. HA. It didn't say on the website, when I got it, no warning. So I called to have it turned on, and they told me not only would it extend our contract, but they would tack on a minimum of $15 dollars for a data plan. I was prepared for that though. Safe to say with those Apple phones, it doesn't take long for them to crap out too, I took it in 3 times, and they had to replace the Sim Card on it twice before the phone itself called it quits, so I had to get yet, another phone. And guess what to get another phone like that, I would have to extend our contract to get another iPhone.
F*** That.
I found out they run a go-phone program. It's pay as you go. I was all over that. Only thing is, I had to pay another $149.99 plus tax for their best go-phone which has a keyboard, because I am an avid texter. I love the phone, and have had no issues with it. After I switched to Boost Mobile after a particularly bad month because I had the go-phone put on the contract with my mom, so I downgraded my side of the plan as much as I could, and started paying the $50 dollars a month with Shrinkage through Boost and purchased a Samsung Galaxy S2. I then came to the horrible realization that I have NO service at my house. I went to AT&T to get my phone switched over because I was led to believe that AT&T would accept my phone. Well, I was wrong. They refused to take my phone, and told me about their new trade in program. You can trade in your smartphone, and get $100 dollars MINIMUM towards the purchase of a new phone. They didn't have any "trade in gift cards." they apparently put the credit on the cards, because they can't have you taking their money and going elsewhere. Well fine. So I put $25 dollars on my phone, which equals out to 250 Minutes, and unlimited text on my phone, and left. I ran out of minutes later in the month, and went to walmart and bought another $25 dollar card to put more minutes on my phone. After fighting with my phone for over an hour trying to put the code on my phone to get the minutes, I called their customer service center. MISTAKE. It was Sunday. after sitting on a phone for 20 minutes listening to the freaking computer, I finally got it to transfer me to their 24/7 customer service center. The phone rang twice, and another computer picked up. They were CLOSED. WHAT. THE. FLIP.
I went in earlier today, and waited not too long with my Galaxy, my iPhone, and the smartphone Go-phone, ready to trade them in, get a phone, and leave.
I was then told that I would need to be in a contract with them to participate in the program. I told the nice lady, that I will never get sucked into a contract with them due to the fact that I've been screwed over by them in the past, and that I'd rather go back to Boost where I have no service, and at least they are straight up with me, than deal with them again, She didn't seem bothered by that. So I thanked her and left.
I'm going back to Boost. At least my payments will shrink. read more