That made.no sense
Anyways, ATT does not set the cost of the out of warranty, that is agreed upon the manufactuers.
I deny credits for OOW every day, at least four times.
BigRUSS Posts: 2118
Phone Model: two cans ( del monte) and some string,
Service Provider: RussCo
Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:08 pm
how does it not make since?
if you want a free phone you get the most basic janky phone free if you need 10 a year youget them free
if you want a camera phone and want to text message and get on the enternets then you can take your happy ass to nokia or motorola and buy a phone from them
if it malfunctions you take your happy ass bac to where you bought it and deal with them
if you want to insure it YOU call asurion they send you a bill and you pay them
rac5419 Posts: 2
Sat Oct 20, 2007 12:19 pm
AT&T took over Cingular and customers "inherited" their warranty policy. They put indicator stickers under the battery behind the back cover of their AT&T phones but the sticker may not be (and probably never was) under the battery of a Cingular phone.
If you have a problem with a Cingular phone they transfer you to warranty customer service who will ask what color is the sticker. 'What sticker' is the correct response for Cingular phones that never had one. After making you search the 1 square inch surface for a minute to verify there is no sticker they finally admit not all phones had them.
They then approve the warranty return with the caveat that their return department may reject the warranty if they find abuse. They state you verbally agree to pay for the replacement phone if they find abuse and send the new one out in a box with prepaid address label to return the old one in. After 2 weeks you get a bill from AT&T for the cost of the phone because the return department rejected the warranty since the sticker that never existed is missing.
Apparently this sticker changes colors when wet. If the LED display malfunctions they assume you dunked the phone in liquid and the sticker changed colors. If there is no sticker they assume you removed the sticker to hide a color change and reject your warranty.
You must then call customer service again for a one time warranty credit and because you are such a "valuable" customer its almost automatic. This one-time credit now gets them out of honoring the remaining warranty on your replacement phone.
So if you have AT&T look under your battery and if there is no sticker call them and tell them the contract is void if they don't send you a replacement sticker to avoid their warranty scam. Then get a contract with a supplier that doesn't play games. Anyone know one?
Naelyan Posts: 68
Phone Model: Samsung M620 Upstage
Service Provider: SaskTel
Sat Oct 20, 2007 12:30 pm
The stickers are put on by the manufacturer, not AT&T. The warranty is supplied by the manufacturer, not AT&T. AT&T warranty policies and the warranty department has not changed one bit since Cingular turned into AT&T; that was a change in name only.
I'm not sure what you're going on about, but if you really don't like dealing with AT&T for warranty, you don't have to. Go directly to your manufacturer. All we do once we get the phones is send them to the manufacturer anyway, the only reason our warranty department exists is to make the exchange between manufacturer and customer easier, and to provide you a phone in the meantime while yours gets checked out; if you fix or replace your phone directly through the manufacturer, you sure don't get a phone back from them before they determine what the problem is with yours.
rac5419 Posts: 2
Sat Oct 20, 2007 2:40 pm
Naelyan,
I do appreciate your reply. You are right Cingular and AT&T already were the same company when I got my contract this year. It was just a name change.
However that doesn't change the fact that my warranty which was in my contract with Cingular/AT&T is no longer in effect for one of my family plan phones. Personally I don't care if the phone was manufactured by Motorola or Samsung. I don't send Motorola a monthly check.
If AT&T is being scammed by the manufacturers who won't rebate back to AT&T the cost of the defective replacement phone, that is not my problem. Don't ask me to pay for AT&Ts poorly worded terms with their suppliers.
If my phone goes bad under the contract terms, AT&T must replace it whether or not they can get their money back from Motorola. And if the replacement phone goes bad with my contract still in effect, they better replace it again.
AT&T needs to learn who the customer is and it is not Samsung or Motorola. Telling customers to send their under contract warranty phones to a manufacturer is bad customer service. Will AT&T stop the charges for the phone while it's at the manufacturer? Doubt it! Are you suggesting I should pay for the defective phone repair and cellular fees and taxes while its under warranty inspection and repair? Hello US Cellular, Sprint, Verizon or T-Mobile!
Here' a question I'd like you to answer. Are all my family plan phones no longer covered by warranty since I accepted the one time courtesy warranty? Or just the one replaced that went bad with a missing sticker? I also checked the other phones and none have the sticker. Could you send me 3?
Thanks.
Suzuran Posts: 15
Phone Model: cheap LG
Service Provider: verizon- but worked for cingular
Sat Oct 20, 2007 3:41 pm
You are correct that not all phones have a liquid damage indicator sticker behind the battery, however all phones do have those stickers on the insides of the device. If there is no sticker behind the battery then they check for residue suggesting the sticker has been peeled up. If there is no residue then they go by whats found on the stickers inside the device.
Also, when you do a warranty replacement, whether you are charged and pay it, charged and get a credit, or never charged at all, your warranty agreement is such that you are covered on that phone either until the end of your one year from the day the original phone was purchased, or for 90 days after the date of the last exchange. Keeping in mind that if its noticed that you are calling in just before the 90 day period is up to do an unneeded exchange just to extend your warranty, you will be sent in to a store to prove you are actually having a problem.
I dont know about other call centers but ours is currently refusing credits if a cust was charged for phy or liq damage. We are no longer even looking at LTV to determine whether we should or should not offer it. We just say no. The only credits that are approved in our department now are ones that are our fault. Like the 8125 charging port fell out and some silly agent didnt put it through correctly. Or, if a phone was sent back outside of the 14 days. As long as we see we have it and theres no damage, we can credit that. Other than that, our supervisors are currently refusing all other credits, even if the customer escalates to the supervisor.
Naelyan Posts: 68
Phone Model: Samsung M620 Upstage
Service Provider: SaskTel
Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:33 pm
Basically, everything Suzuran said is spot-on.
Honestly, the contract you signed with Cingular/AT&T is for your service. We are a service provider, we will provide you service. We are not an equipment provider; you said you don't care that your phone is a Samsung phone or a Motorola phone, but your personal opinions and feelings do not negate the fact that we do not provide you with that phone. Our warranty service is merely a hassle-free (*haha*) way to provide you with a phone from the manufacturer as quickly as we can, so that you don't have to go for 3 weeks with not just a broken phone, but with NO phone.
Quote:
If my phone goes bad under the contract terms, AT&T must replace it whether or not they can get their money back from Motorola.
AT&T doesn't have to replace anything. Your service contract says nothing about warranty, other than that it is covered by the manufacturer's warranty. Again, AT&T doesn't replace the phones, doesn't provide the phones; we provide access to them (to purchase), we provide a relatively simple way to exchange them if there is a problem covered by the manufacturer's warranty; we even offer an insurance program (again, the people who would actually replace the phone through this program is NOT us) that will cover if a phone is lost/stolen or has physical/water damage.
I really liked your "Are you suggesting I should pay for the defective phone repair and cellular fees and taxes while its under warranty inspection and repair? Hello US Cellular, Sprint, Verizon or T-Mobile!" comment. you should maybe take a closer look at some of those other providers. I can't name any specifics, but I know that a lot of other providers don't offer a warranty program at all; if you have a problem with your phone, you send it back to the manufacturer yourself, do without a phone unless you can provide one yourself, and hope that the manufacturer is able to repair/replace it and not charge you.
Honestly, I work for AT&T (though not for much longer), I think the company is a terrible company. Though after reading these forums, it seems a lot of the wireless companies in the US are pretty brutal. Honestly, a lot of the policies suck. They just are straight up terrible. But they are what you agreed to in the Terms and Conditions, and they're honestly no worse (or not by much) than with any other carrier.
katered87 Posts: 1
Sat Dec 27, 2008 10:57 pm
If anyone here has done an exchange with at&t, you have to verbally agree to the terms and conditions. It is recorded so even if you wanted it disputed. What at&t would do, is pull that phone recoding and listen to see if you really did Verbally agree to the Terms and Conditions.
There is a lot more to Physical Damage than a cracked screen and scratches.
- broken prongs to:
-charging port
-battery prongs
- liquid damage
-LDI sticker that has any other color than white
- display
-cracked
-bleeding
- antenna broken in half or missing
- charging ports snap cover broken or missing
- charging port being loose
- 3rd party applications (photos, ring tones, games, any viruses- thus the master reset that many customers decline)
What happens when you send your phone back to at&t, it really goes to the manufacturer. When they receive the phone, they check it for any physical damage, any liquid damage, and then they check the phone to see what the issue is, then they look into the software to make sure that a 3rd party application is not the reason why the phone is malfunctioning. Then what the manufacture does is fix the issues with the phone and rebuilds it. The now refurbished phone that was received by you the customer, goes through the same process as a Brand New Phone does. If this refurbished phone does not pass, then they do not send it out.
This is why when you call into at&t that they ask you many questions like
- Have you ever dropped, damaged, or exposed your phone to any extreme temperatures?
- Have you downloaded any 3rd party applications such as ring tones that are not from at&t, photos, games, instant messengers, and other emails or applications?
- Have you have tried other batteries or chargers with the phone?
Usually when the manufacturer finds that there is physical damage to the phone, they send it back to show exactly where it is damaged and exactly why they sent it back because they cannot used a physically damaged or liquid damaged phone. When you receive the phone back, you would see an arrow pointing to where the damage is and an explanation on why you received it back.
A lot of times when The Customer are being read the Terms and Conditions, They do not listen to them and they still verbally agree. Even when they here the amount for the processing fee which can be up to $500 which the customer can be charged, They still do not listen.
Those who do ask questions about it, usually gets an explaination further for the Terms and Conditions.
When at&t does explain the exchange process, it is the manufactures Terms and Conditions, It is also the Manufactures who determine if it is considered Out of Warranty, not at&t.
kentravis Posts: 1
Sat Jan 17, 2009 9:35 pm
My story is very simular, and I am writting a demand letter to ATT to recapture the $110 they put on my bill. That failing I will probable go to small cliams cort. It is going to take me more effort than what it is worth, but I hate being stolen from by a large American company.
My wife had the phone for 11 months and we sent it in for waranty replacement. They had me do the blue dot thing and the problem was with the phone and not from damage. The ATT representive said that if the phone had more than fair ware and tear they would charge me, but I belived the phone didn't have more than fair ware and tear. The phone was sent back with the notice that I would be charged and those little red arrows. I am positive any human judge will quikly decide in my favor.
In preparation I thought I would google att warranty, and up popped this post. If this isn't just me, then perhaps we should file a class action.
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