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Cliff notes: It seems ATT has screwed up and activated one of our phones without tying it to an particular account (free??)


Long story...

Sally and I are minimal cell phone users. She does about 10 min or less per month (her's is turned off unless she is on call - about 2X per month). I talk about 30 to 130 minutes per month.

Previously we had a pretty minimal plan from Verizon that cost about $70 per month.

I figured, hey, why not ditch that plan and get AT&T Go Phones and pay $0.25/min. Seemed like a great idea. A "bad" month for me will be 200 min and 200 min* $0.25/min = $50. A significant savings over Verizon.

So, I order some Go Phones online. I supply all the Verizon acct. info so they can port the numbers. Phones come in the mail yesterday, but can't be activated because the numbers aren't in the system....

Call cust. serv. they can't figure it out and transfer me to "number porting service." They transfer me back to cust serv....

After a few rounds (and a break for dinner and wine) I *finally* get someone who is competent enough to help. I've got nearly 2 hours invested at this point. We get my phone activated and working (properly). We get Sally's phone activated.

After a few hoops I manage to add some $$ to my account via the internet. No problem, I can make calls now.

HOWEVER...
For Sally's phone the ATT website keeps telling me it's not a valid number. DAMN, now I might have to call back. Here's the catch. I can dial out from her phone. I can call her phone. It works. I have an active SIM card on the ATT network. It just happens that right now the ATT computers don't know it.

What should Scott do...

They do have Sally's name and SSN attached to my phone. Probably her phone too, they do not have any credit card numbers though.

After all the hassle, I'm really tempted to use the phone until I get a bill or they shut it off. When either of those things happens, I will call and tear customer service a new orifice, I'll demand they refund any charges/reactivate the account, and give me freebies for my trouble.

Scott

I would use the phones until AT&T does something.
It's not like you started out trying to scam them. It's their inept system/people that have you in this situation. With your 2 hours invested trying to use their service you are owed a free month.

Sleep guilt free tonight.

Good Luck!

AT&T... "The most dropped calls"

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"Ruttin' is racing"

Chris Suich
Apex, NC
AutoX 2012 Nissan Leaf (Quietly changing the world)
AutoX 2003 Mini Cooper S (on sabbatical)
RallyX 1993 Nissan Sentra - "Le Tigre"
FunX 1970 Camaro LT1 ('95)

I would resolve it right away, they will eventually notice it, and if you aren't under some sort of billing agreement, they will likely charge you the highest possible rate they can when they do. It won't be free forever, and the more time you rack up with out a proper bililng arrangement, the more your risk is @ $5.00/minute or whatever they choose to try and charge you. They'll send you the bill at some point, at which your options are 1. pay it, or 2. take them to court over it.

Better to just deal with it now so that option 1 is cheaper.

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2012 MX-5 Sport SUV

Got a call from ATT telling me I need to go to a brick and mortar store to get things worked out. I called them back and explained that I don't have the time to do that. - I ordered the phones online to avoid having to do that. Obviously, if I had gone to the store I wouldn't have wasted 2+ hours on the phone already.

I told them that the phone was working fine, and was working for free. When they fix their mess I will start paying. Interestingly, the customer service person agreed. We are getting a free cell plan until they fix it...

No, I won't be going to the store and wasting more time. All this so Sally can have a phone that she never turns on

What you don't want though is for Sally to get stranded, only to turn on her phone and find out they've "fixed it" until you pay

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Stacy King
Midlife Crisis Participant