Gaming AT&T Mobility

by The Thomps

So, you've decided to sign your mobile life away to AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular, formerly AT&T Wireless, etc., etc.) for the next two years, and now you're looking for a few ways to capitalize on the situation, right?

As a soon-to-be-former employee of the monolithic corporation that everyone loves to hate, I thought that it'd be high time for me to chime in with a few tidbits of information that will be a big help to anyone looking to get a bit of an edge in their dealings with a corporate giant.

Credits

It's happened to us all.

You open the bill, slap your forehead, and realize that you're never going to be able to pay for your caffeine-fueled binges of text messaging and international calling.

So, how do you fix it?

Most people immediately dial customer service without bothering to read their bill, and start screaming at the poor sucker who picks up the phone.

Bad choice, because you just kissed goodbye any chance of getting a credit for those charges.

Here are a few social engineering and policy tips to help you out:

Rule #1:  Read your bill.  Take however much time you need to go over that bill until you know it front-to-back.

Whether you're trying to get a credit for a totally legitimate issue or you're trying to weasel a credit for charges that you knowingly racked up, you want to be able to reference page numbers and flip through the bill at the same time the representative you speak to does.

Rule #2:  The rep is your friend.  Most people think that the way to get credit is to scream or belittle the representative that they're speaking to.  Almost always, this is going to screw you over big time.

Remember: That rep is just trying to get through his day without driving his headset through his cubicle wall in a fit of rage.  AT&T actually allows reps a reasonable amount of leeway in giving courtesy credits to customers, but the rep is under no obligation to do so.

And if you piss them off, that rep's supervisor is actually policy-bound to back up the rep's decision to deny a credit, with the exception of a few genuine procedural crediting policies.

Also, a clause in your contract (more on contracts later) authorizes AT&T to terminate your contract with early termination penalties if you call in with offensive behavior.  Just keep calm, be friendly, and be prepared to take the time you need; don't call in while you're on your morning commute, while you're on the toilet, or while you're trying to wolf down a giant bottle of soda and sandwich on your lunch break.

Rule #3:  Never forget the Schedule of Authorization (SOA).  For AT&T, your average rep on the floor is authorized to give up to $250 per account per day, whether for a genuine billing error or a courtesy credit.

Courtesy credits include a once per year credit for misunderstanding of an issue and these credits can be issued for multiple misunderstandings, as long as they're either a year apart or different types of misunderstandings.  What constitutes a misunderstanding is left deliberately vague, which means that if you're following guideline (Rule #2), you can call in one month for an airtime overage and tell the rep you didn't know how many minutes you had.

Call in the next month with a messaging overage and tell them you didn't know how many text messages your plan included.  Call in the next month with international roaming charges: you know the drill.  As long as it's different issues and within the SOA each time, if you haven't pissed off the rep, you're likely to get the credit.

Rule #4:  Don't bother with a Supervisor.  Supervisors or Specialists are able to give out $400 per account per day, and Operations Managers can do $750 per account per day (but good luck getting anyone higher ranked than a supervisor on the phone in this lifetime).

Anything higher than that is referred to executive staff for approval, and that takes forever to deal with.  Once you escalate a situation beyond the first-tier reps, you're only likely to get credits for genuine billing errors; it's very rare for courtesy credits to be given at higher levels.  And the topic of billing errors brings us to...

Rule #5:  Never mention your contract.  Ever.  Although you may think that the contract you signed binds AT&T into an agreement to provide service for you at an agreed-upon rate, it actually gives them permission to do whatever the hell they want to you, including lying to your face and canceling your service because you're a pain in their ass.

Threatening to cancel your service won't help either, because the person you're talking to doesn't actually care what carrier you use and if you really do cancel, you're out of their hair.  If you've already canceled and are trying to get a credit on your final bill or early termination fee, don't bother.  Once you've canceled, the company no longer cares about keeping you happy.

6.)  Play rep lotto.  If the first rep you speak with doesn't give you the credit you want (You did follow Rule #2, right?), hang up and call back.

With almost 60,000 customer service representatives taking calls, you're not likely to reach the same person twice.  If your repeated call-ins are noticed, tell the rep you're speaking with that the other reps disconnected you, or that your phone dropped the call and you weren't called back.

Free Phones

Ahh... the (((blank))).

The newest, shiniest model of phone on the market.  The one you just need to have.  How do you get it for free or at least with a major discount?

You won't always get the phone you want for free, but you can almost always knock a hefty chunk off the price that the other suckers pay if you're careful about how you do it.

First, keep in mind that you generally get discounted pricing on upgraded phones once every two years, usually six months before your contract comes due to end.  This varies depending on whether you pay your bill on time and whether you have outstanding balances.

If you owe AT&T money, kiss the upgrade goodbye.  But if you pay your bill on time and it's time for an upgrade, here's what you do:

Day #1:  Call in to customer service.  Ask what phones are available right now.

You'll probably get referred to our website or to a store, but make sure that you ask what phones are available, and make the rep list off at least half a dozen different models.  Don't ask for details on any specific phone, and then volunteer to go to a store to check them out.

After every call, reps are required to note what they talked to you about, but as long as you didn't ask them about a specific phone, they're likely to just write that they talked to you on the subject of phone upgrades, and won't mention that they didn't discuss pricing with you.

At this stage, it's also important to make sure that customer service carries the phone you want.  There are some models that only retail stores or the web site will carry.  However, if the phone you want is available from customer service, proceed.

Day #2:  Visit the store, and ask if you're eligible for an upgrade to the phone you want.

The rep will run it through the computer (Telegence and CARE, the billing systems used by AT&T, leave notes imprinted on your account any time eligibility for an upgrade is checked), and after verifying that you're eligible, he'll give you the price.  Decline it and walk out of the store.

Day #3:  Call customer service back.

Ask them about upgrading your equipment and the pricing on the phone you want.  As soon as they tell you the price of the phone, act surprised.

Say that the rep you spoke with on Day #1 told you it was $100 cheaper (or however much you want to save, but keep in mind the SOA and that reps are much less eager to give out discounts on equipment than courtesy credits).  Also say that you were told you could bundle the phone with some accessories and get the accessories for free: a case, a Bluetooth headset, and a car charger make a nice bundle.

Also tell them that you were in a store on Day #2 but declined the upgrade there because the rep on Day #1 gave you a much better price.

This is why you had the store agent run your name through the computer, but didn't complete the upgrade.

Here is where it gets tricky: representatives can enter any price they want on a phone order, as long as the phone is available through customer service, but they generally need supervisor approval.

If you claim that the rep from Day #1 told you that the phone was a certain price but that rep didn't note in your account the price he actually told you, the supervisor will tell the rep to assume that you're telling the truth and give approval for the reduced price.  You'll usually have to pay up front for your accessories, but can get a credit to your account for their total cost, as long as you're not exceeding the SOA.

Or you can tell the rep to forget the accessories as long as you get the phone at the price you were promised.  You'll still probably have to pay shipping and handling and the $18 upgrade fee, but if you've been patient and gotten on the rep's good side, they'll probably waive these for you.

Free Airtime

Sometimes, it's better to get some extra airtime and avoid getting a high bill than it is to call in after the fact and ask for a monetary credit.

In addition to the monetary SOA for representatives, AT&T has established a non-monetary SOA that allows the rep you're talking to the leeway to give you up to 1000 free rollover minutes, no questions asked.

The easiest way to get these is to call in and say that your phone has been dropping calls constantly for the last week, but seems fine today.  They'll walk you through some pointless troubleshooting, then offer you some free minutes to make up for the inconvenience of the dropped calls.  If they don't proactively offer these minutes, tell the representative that you don't think that it's right that you pay airtime for calls that you weren't able to complete.

This is enough to force most reps to offer the minutes.  They'll give you a low-ball offer (something like 200 minutes is standard, though there are no official guidelines), and you can bargain from there.

If they offer 750 minutes or more, accept and get the hell off the line.  Unlike monetary credits, airtime credits can be given as often as a rep desires, though only once per account per day.

However, if you're asking for airtime credits more than once every three or four months, don't be surprised if you get turned down.

These are just a few of the easy ways to game AT&T Mobility for a few extras here and there.

Just follow the guidelines above, and before you know it, you'll have all sorts of extra perks for your service.

Enjoy!