AT&T promotions
I want to start by saying that I’ve had the pleasure of working with ATT for the last 5 years. While they’ve had “decent” service, I still drop calls in the middle of downtown Seattle, downtown Bellevue, etc, just unacceptable.
We ordered a new Motorola Backflip, the first Android O/S phone that ATT has released. It released April 7th, and we ordered that afternoon online. The ads are everywhere, front page of ATT’s site, TV ads… $99 after mail in rebate with a new 2 year contract. So we ordered, and here’s the kicker. On the invoice we saw “not eligible for mail in rebate”. ??? The orders get placed through the Premier site, so I had to contact Premier to find out why. The answer was that we upgraded the phone only, not the phone and a voice plan. What? Ok, we already have the unlimited voice @ $69/mo, what more do we need here? Come to find out, it is invalid, because it just requires a $39 voice plan, but Premier would not budge on it!
Be careful how you order!!! Going into a store may be the best way to do it, or ordering by phone with a representative. Another thing that gets to me is how they bill for the phone. You can’t simply have it added to your bill if you are a residential (or whatever the term is) customer. I am also the telecom manager at work, and I can have handset purchases billed to my account all day long. I’ve been a “residential” customer longer than my company has had ATT service. My company only hosts 5 phones! What’s the difference here?
Ok, so I call in to order another Backflip, I guess I’m a glutton for punishment. Ordering for my workplace, so billing to the account is no problem. I called in, and was told that they would wave the activation fee and give me an additional $50 off. I had to get manager approval, so after that I call back in. The guy on the phone is trying to get $149 out of me right off the bat, even though I informed him of the huge TV ads, and front of their website. I was told “it might not be available in your area”. What? Its a national freakin ad! He looked into it a bit further and I only paid $49. So there you have it, call in or go in. And don’t let them try to weasel their way out of their promotion!
Edit: The Backflip is not only crippled, its seriously hardware impaired. I took them both back, moved to Verizon and got Moto Droids for $100 each!