If you choose to work with this AT&T reseller, be VERY cautious, and at all costs avoid working with the salesman named Ivan. Not only is he incompetent, but he is a liar and a cheat. In all my years, I have never been lied to repeatedly and worse yet -- so obviously.
The story: I went to this store with my 84 year old mother to assist her with the establishment of a new account. She was previously with Comcast and really enjoyed their service and equipment but she moved to a location that only offered AT&T U-verse or DirectTV. She opted for AT&T U-verse since the facility doesn't permit dishes to be placed on the roofline and she did not have room on her porch for a tripod dish. As an aside off-topic, the AT&T U-verse doesn't hold up against Comcast which is 'significantly' superior, but it is what it is when Comcast isn't an option.
Back on-point: We were told very specifically, and have corroborating documentation as evidence that her monthly recurring bill would be $135 plus taxes and surcharges (the corroborating documentation was presented to us by Ivan and confirmed by the assistant manager named KaVell). When my mother received her bill, it very clearly states that the monthly recurring bill would be $274 plus taxes and surcharges.
I went to the store and spoke with Ivan (apparently neither KaVell, assistant store manager, or Steven Hernandez, store manager were available). Ivan said that the difference between $274 and $139 was a series of one-time charges, but could not tell me what was included in those one-time charges for $135!
So I tried from a different angle by asking what normal one-time charges are typically included when establishing a new account with AT&T U-verse outside of a one-time $35 installation charge. Ivan would NOT answer this question and circled back to his point that he could not see the one-time charges in our account and stated "what do you want me to do... just pay the bill like I do because most normal customers know there will be one-time fees"!
When I asked him to look at her account, he said that their computers have been down for days and he could not access the account (yet there were other salespeople signing up new accounts with other customers -- rather funny -- they can 'sell' but they can't 'service'). Ivan further stated that even if he could access her account, he could not apply any credits to the account and that no credits were due anyway because these were all one-time fees, yet once again, could not tell me what those fees are.
In contrast, the invoice from AT&T is very straight forward: The one-time fee of $35, the monthly recurring charges, and the taxes and surcharges were all very clearly presented -- yet this did not match what we were 'sold' by Ivan.
When I asked to speak with a manager, he said he didn't really know when a manager would be available... "maybe Tuesday?".
I told Ivan when I called AT&T directly, they told me that there were no on-time fees applied to the invoice other than the $35 installation charge and the 'recurring bill' would be $274 plus taxes and surcharges. Ivan told me: "The person you spoke with at AT&T in the billing department did not have proper training and they gave you inaccurate information. I can't account for their training".
Ivan could not and would not assist me with this billing issue because he said over and over again to "just pay the bill like normal people do" because it included all the one-time fees.
It became crystal clear that not one person working at the store on this Sunday cared.
According to AT&T, it also turns out that the corroborating documentation we have from this store for what our recurring bill should be is NOT official AT&T documentation!!
The normal course of business at this store is 'do whatever it takes to sign them up and then deny any responsibility' should any customer have a concern.
BEWARE... YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. read more
