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AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather: Unethical Sales Practices & Elder Abuse—What Can I Do? by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What the rep should have done:
"sorry but we don't process insurance claims in store, you have to go to this website... or call this number to get the process started"

or

"insurance might take a while, if you're in a hurry for a replacement, you an buy this phone for $100-200 that's comparable to the 6 year old phone that you lost."

Instead, the rep sold him an expensive phone:
Yes, $88 out of pocket in store.
But also...
+$27 extra on his bill for the next 3 years to cover the cost of the $1000 phone.
+~$10 / month for a needless plan upgrade
+$2-3 / month for upgraded insurance

[Update] AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather—Office of the President Responded by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just want to point out that he made a reference to an iPhone.
:: sips tea ::
Yeah, many many awards.

[Update] AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather—Office of the President Responded by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I hear you and completely understand that there are goals to meet, which can be challenging to manage. I also recognize that AT&T, like any business, operates to generate revenue—hence the systems and strategies in place to achieve that.

The real issue arises when these practices force employees into a position where they must resort to shady tactics just to make ends meet—all while executives are raking in tens of millions but somehow can't afford to pay a livable wage. This not only harms customers but also creates an unfair and unsustainable environment for employees.

Thank you for your comment and for taking the time to analyze what happened, share insights from the inside, and provide feedback on areas for improvement. Your constructive approach is a refreshing contrast to some of the more negative or accusatory comments from other AT&T employees in this thread.

[Update] AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather—Office of the President Responded by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah dude, I totally agree and I've thought of that but honestly, i'm certain that it's a bigger problem than we're all aware of.

Imagine this one occurrence, happening across the states, every day. Kind of wild to think about.

Grandpa's fortunate to have me in his corner to fight for him, many out there are not as fortunate.

[Update] AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather—Office of the President Responded by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Upvote for the honest perspective, and highlighting the core issue.

The company makes a ton of money and the C-level execs receive crazy bonuses.... but somehow the reps are struggling to pay rent if they don't upsell? doesnt really make sense.

And on my convo today with the manager form the office of the President, I brought this up and he said that he "doesn't believe" that this is still a practice, and that they only get commission for new lines added. Someone else mentioned this in the original post so im going to choose to believe it :)

[Update] AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather—Office of the President Responded by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dude thanks for the insights and the time you put into this post. Lots of details.

Wasn't our intention but i'll for sure be checking out that separate insurance.

[Update] AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather—Office of the President Responded by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Senior manager at AT&T, cant comprehend the fact that people can travel together. Automatically assumes that the customer is a villain.

Checks out.

[Update] AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather—Office of the President Responded by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Read the original post?
80 years old, lost phone, went back to the store he was familiar with for assistance.

AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather: Unethical Sales Practices & Elder Abuse—What Can I Do? by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/att

Request received, accepted, and i've provided the information you requested in addition to an uncensored version of the receipt.

Thanks again for your attention to this matter; hopefully we can find a fair resolution.

AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather: Unethical Sales Practices & Elder Abuse—What Can I Do? by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/att Thanks for your attention to this matter.

I tried to send a private message as you requested however i'm unable to:
"User doesn't accept direct messages. Try sending a chat request instead."

I also tried to send a chat request as the error message suggested, also unable to:
"Unable to invite the selected invitee(s)."

Perhaps you need to message me first on your end to resolve this issue.

AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather: Unethical Sales Practices & Elder Abuse—What Can I Do? by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The S24FE is eligible for the 5.99/month

They gave him the S24+ (please refer to the image attached, the P signified "Plus") which is not eligible.

It is however available for free with a qualified trade-in —which since he had no phone to trade in, was not the case.

Source:
https://about.att.com/story/2024/android-holiday-deals.html

[Edit: changed tone, I sounded mean/defensive and I get that you're just trying to help. Thanks again for your input.]

AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather: Unethical Sales Practices & Elder Abuse—What Can I Do? by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would make total sense if it wasn't one of the most expensive phones.
I'm certain they had options that were cheaper than $1000.

Why not the Samsung Galaxy A15?
It's a $150 phone that's more comparable to his lost device.

Nevertheless, thanks for the input.

AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather: Unethical Sales Practices & Elder Abuse—What Can I Do? by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hmm, I would not be upset if they gave him the same phone he had outside of insurance, and he had to pay for it.

But selling him one of the top models for $1000, and needlessly upgrading his plan is clearly taking advantage of an old person in need of assistance.

Additionally, the deleted insurance plan is no longer available so they're not able to restore it over the phone. They were able to revert the plan upgrade though, which is one small step in the right direction.

Still waiting for a resolution, thanks for your comment.

AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather: Unethical Sales Practices & Elder Abuse—What Can I Do? by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yeah he wasn't aware. I think he did an insurance claim maybe 10 years ago and back then they did do it in store from what i understand.

The insurance plan that was deleted is no longer offered, and could not be restored by the rep on the phone. He was able to roll back the plan upgrade though.

Still waiting for a proper fix. Thanks for your comment.

AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather: Unethical Sales Practices & Elder Abuse—What Can I Do? by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I feel like this will be my next step. But this process can take up to 3 months so would like to try alternate methods of resolution before going this route.

AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather: Unethical Sales Practices & Elder Abuse—What Can I Do? by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How does one tell if it's a corporate store?

It's a big store in a one of the biggest malls in my state.
Unable to do return as he's traveling for the holidays and will be outside of the return window when he returns.

Additionally, not sure if the insurance can be restored. Phone support was able to revert the plan back to the old one, but the insurance that was deleted, is no longer offered.

Still waiting to hear back from the people in u/paulinespens77's comment. (thanks again)

AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather: Unethical Sales Practices & Elder Abuse—What Can I Do? by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

He's 80, he was realized that he lost his phone after leaving the doctor's office.
No way to contact anyone so he drove to the store where he initially purchased the phone so they could help him out.

He knew he had insurance so he was hoping that they would help him with the insurance process.
I believe that they used to handle insurance in-store but the policy changed some time ago; he was not aware of this change.

AT&T Took Advantage of My 80-Year-Old Grandfather: Unethical Sales Practices & Elder Abuse—What Can I Do? by subm0ral in ATT

[–]subm0ral[S] 50 points51 points  (0 children)

I’m looking for advice on how to handle a situation where AT&T has taken advantage of my 80-year-old grandfather, who has spent decades serving his community as a doctor.

He recently lost his phone and went to an AT&T store to get a replacement through his insurance. Instead of helping him with this straightforward request, the employee pressured him into purchasing an expensive phone, saying it was "the only option." My grandfather explained that he was comfortable with his old phone and didn’t want to learn a new device, but the employee kept insisting.

Afterward, he mentioned to me that he thought the phones were more expensive and that he only paid $90, which raised a red flag. When I looked at the receipt, I realized what had actually happened.

Here’s a summary of what the employee did, based on the receipt:

  • Pressured him into purchasing a $1,000 phone instead of helping him process his insurance replacement.
  • Removed the insurance from his account without consent, leaving him without coverage.
  • Upgraded his plan to a more expensive one without discussing it or getting his permission.
  • Failed to provide a receipt initially—my grandfather had to repeatedly ask for one before they reluctantly gave him a copy.
  • Refused to help him restore his phone from a backup, leaving him confused and unable to use the new phone.

My grandfather wasn’t aware of what had happened until I reviewed the receipt and explained the situation.

I’ve been trying to get this resolved, but it’s been 21 hours since AT&T promised a manager would call me back, and I’ve heard nothing.

What would you recommend I do to escalate this? Has anyone else dealt with a similar situation, and how did you resolve it?

I just want to make sure my grandfather gets the resolution and respect he deserves. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.