Recently I had the misfortune of breaking my phone. My sweet Samsung Galaxy SIII had slipped out of my hands from about four feet of height and fell on some concrete. This happened to me many times but alas this last time was one too many and my poor sweet device lost its ability to transmit information to it's screen. My contract had expired with AT&T so I knew I could get a new phone for about $200 to $300 so long as I renewed the contract.
I went in to an AT&T store with the hopes that I'd be walking out with a brand new Samsung product so long as I signed a new contract. As soon as I started talking about purchasing a new phone to one of their sales rep, he immediately started pushing the at&t next plan. The at&t next plan is basically not signing a contract but instead paying for your phone $20+ on your monthly bill. Kind of like leasing to buy.
When I asked about the "classic" 2 year contract agreement and discount, the sales rep informed me that those were no good because it would add a $25 fee to my bill monthly and advised me instead to stick to the at&t next plan. Huh? What? Add $25 to my plan?
My conversation:
Me: Why would you add $25 to my plan if I am signing a two year agreement?
Sales rep: Because you are not in contract right now so your $25 discount is being applied to your bill and when you sign a new contract you will lose the discount and will be charged towards your phone so it's better to get the at&t next plan.
Me: I am getting a discount? Which part of my account is getting a $25 discount???
Sales rep: Well, your data, uhhh, your phone bill, you are getting a $25 discount because you are not in contract.
Me: *Walks out of store*
Does this make any sense? You sign a contract and they charge you more???? No, it makes no sense.
I spoke to a customer service rep over the internet just to make sure that this was true and indeed, it is true. If you don't understand what I am talking about, to put it in layman's terms, they made up a bogus $25 fee to charge you monthly if you sign a "classic" two year agreement (although you already paid $200-$300 for the new phone) just so they can push (and so it seems more affordable) for their alternate new "at&t next" agreement in which you are basically leasing to own the phone at $20+ a month for whatever amount of months you agree to.
Needles to say, I just had my old Samsung GSIII repaired by some random store I googled up. Hopefully, one day I won't have to use at&t's service, but for right now, due to my job I depend on good coverage and that part has always been good.
Regardless of that last, "only", good part ; with all my heart, fuck at&t http://mashable.com/2014/10/08/att-ftc-cramming-settlement/
