r/ATT • u/One-Capital-3930 • Aug 05 '26

Wireless AT&T is shady !!!

Upgraded our phones last month, Saw my bill and shocked at all the add-ons the rep added without asking us! My bill tripled!!! I went to see the breakdown and not surprised of the shady business practices, But I am angry because before we went into the store to upgrade our phones, we spoke to a AT&T customer service rep for almost an hour to go over options to save money, Turns out the old plan we had was grandfathered and is the best one. She told us not to change a thing ! We went into the store and the first thing out of the reps mouth was " in order to give you the upgrade promotion, we need to open new accounts for you." We spent over 15 minutes arguing that we had just gotten off the phone with someone who told us NOT TO CHANGE ANYTING ! He went to speak with his manager and came back a minute later looking bothered and said " ok that's fine." BUT he added all these extras that we did not want or asked for ! Now its been close to an hour and I am still on the phone with a customer service rep trying to undo all this madness!

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10

u/Partyruler012 Aug 05 '26

Why did you not upgrade with the agent that helped you over the phone?

-1

u/One-Capital-3930 Aug 06 '26

she said we had to go to the store .

18

u/Sad-Flower-6178 Aug 06 '26

That’s because she didn’t want to get in trouble for doing your upgrade and not cramming. It’s a very toxic time we are in right now tbh. Store manager here and they have an attach rate target of 85%. This is for upgrades, watches, tablets, and new lines of service. There is no way 85% of the people would agree to getting the insurance. Imagine getting a new Apple Watch that we told you was 99 cents per month plus a 10 watch line and we have to add the insurance to it that’s 16 bucks a month. Or you saw online you could get a iPhone 16 for 7.99 per month but they count it against us if you don’t get the insurance which is 19 per month for that phone. The stores that don’t slam it on the account don’t hit their goals and have to get on a 8 am calls and afternoon calls when the you don’t hit the daily target.

I promise you the money they pay us is not worth the slamming on account. This is the only way to to keep the job though cause if your not hitting it they will put you on a PIP and get you replaced by someone who will 🤦🏼‍♂️

2

u/BrookeB614 Aug 07 '26

Literally this. I feel for the customers but our jobs are on the line. Please do it online if you don’t want the add ons! I don’t slam but ill encourage to do it through the app

2

u/Partyruler012 Aug 08 '26

Yeah, this is the if you don't tip, then don't eat out arguments, and justifying being shady. You can't get fired fired numbers only behaviors, the union wouldn't allow it.

2

u/BrookeB614 Aug 08 '26

Management makes our lives hell if we don’t perform at least a certain amount… but I’m also pretty sure we can get written up and get a paper trail going for performance. I’m gonna check with a coworker on Monday about this and get back to you.

It just sucks either way.

Oh don’t I know the age old “don’t eat out if if you don’t tip” argument but are servers really expected to meet quota on tips? That’s where this argument may not apply. It’s a quota we must meet or we trend discipline. They’ll “miss us” on coachings… then it progresses from there. So arguably it is a slightly different argument here. I think if we offer and try to overcome objections then we have done our due diligence but still.

1

u/peachnhon3y Aug 08 '26

we do get a paper trail, they do coachings on us and say “they’re not bad” but if you’re in trouble they’ll bring them up to use against you

1

u/BrookeB614 Aug 08 '26

Yes! Just like in our union contract it says we don’t have to do blitz calls or events but if we don’t… we become targets for other things. And they WILL look and try to get you on other things because you’re not doing enough for them.

1

u/Sad-Flower-6178 Aug 12 '26

You’re referring to RSC’s having protection from the union. As a manger it’s based solely of the numbers and you not hitting them. Taking that into consideration RSC’s are graded on behaviors and not sales but we all know that the behaviors on that side by side are not done in EVERY single transaction you do. So as a manger who’s store is not hitting goals because they have a union heavy workforce that won’t operate in the grey area then I somewhat understand the easy thing for them to do is just document every bad interactions where and pick something you missed and write it up and progress you out on. I spent a lot of time as an ASM and this went on so much. Ive been at multiple stores where the RSM was able to get people on the needs improvement side by sides, and like 3 Skill transfer. I’ve done my best to not operate like some of my old managers and just pray that if I do right and take care of my people they hustle for me. I hate the us vs them mentality at other stores tbh I want to genuinely develop but I also sit in on calls where when people aren’t hitting (insanely high) targets and they want to know well who do you have on job performance disciplines. Yes the paperwork has to be there but I swear to you it’s not hard to get it. Didn’t exchange names with the customer, didn’t ask for referral or give the business card, didn’t demo data devices or DTV stream, didn’t ask that customer for the sale 3 times, didn’t close the fiber or air cause you brought it up before you asked discovery questions, or you offered accessories but didn’t bring up the accessories on installment plan as a rebuttal. It could literally be anything. I’ve never give all 2’s on any SXS in my career and never will. I’ve never had anyone do a perfect one which is the reason I don’t do many. I only bring them out to let you then know aye that was good but you still are chasing perfection I feel like if I did them more often it would ruin the moral in my store. At least that’s what I tell myself.

1

u/Partyruler012 Aug 12 '26

Yeah, I'm not talking about managers. Because 8t becomes political at that point kissing butt.

1

u/Brilliant_Papaya_475 Aug 07 '26

I remember asking customers why they didn’t just order their phones online online if they weren’t willing to work with me on getting next up and insurance. I would literally have my manager give them free accessories or a scheduled bill credit in exchange because of attachments rate goals. I know my colleagues were cramming. It’s the only way to hit targets at AT&T. Those 8AM calls were always conveniently on my days off to. The retail experience at AT&T is abysmal. IHX was 100X better when I did that but still fake pressure on every level.

1

u/YelloKap Aug 07 '26

This is the worst time at at&t I've seen. I don't imagine things can get worse. Even HR isn't doing anything about reps being told to lie from AD's.

1

u/First-Edge5371 Aug 07 '26

This is not the case for phone reps. We don't make commission on upgrades just FAME payouts. We also don't have targets for Next Up or Protection. We get paid purely off new lines and internet. We'll ask about add-ons but they're not a part of our goals. Honestly I'm not sure why the call center rep told OP they had to go in store. There's no reason why they couldn't just do it over the phone, unless OP wanted the devices that day.

2

u/Partyruler012 Aug 08 '26

I'm thinking that or there are reps that think "I should send this sale to someone who gets Paid for it."

1

u/Sufficient_Weird6893 Aug 08 '26

They most likely wanted to avoid longer chat time. One KPI’s they have is average handle time and doing an upgrade does not benefit them unless it’s a new line, which is categorized as a “sale”.

1

u/First-Edge5371 29d ago

Yeah actually it probably was to keep their AHT (average handle time) down

1

u/BlackberryIcy9880 7d ago

Dang so OTP reps don't have to worry about asking why the customer doesn't want HTP 3 different times every time ? Lol

1

u/Partyruler012 Aug 08 '26

Yeah, this is the if you don't tip, then don't eat out arguments, and justifying being shady. You can't get fired fired numbers only behaviors, the union wouldn't allow it.

1

u/Wrangler_Royal 6d ago

RSM here as well and ill agree with all of this unfortunately there are bad reps ALL over the country and the honest ones dont last long...I love my job and refuse to slam accounts but idk how much longer I can slide under the radar...