What's Up With AT&T?

Two years ago I picked up the AT&T 2 year (unlimited voice/2 gb data) plan from AT&T for I believe 2,900 pesos prepaid.

I went back yesterday to renew...

- Its now over 4,100 pesos for the same plan
- They treated me like a new customer e.g., new SIM card, full activation
- AT&T staff in the store claim they couldn't give me my existing cell phone number I've had for 6 years. I'd have to phone the "customer service" department to see if it was still available.

Now I know its been ten years since I retired form the IT division at Telus Wireless in Canada but this whole AT&T routine seems bizarre.

Anyone experience the same renewal process?

SunFan

Sounds like the same ATT I've known and hated most of my life. Why do you have ATT? TelMex is no bargain but compared to ATT . . .

As I have said before, in Colorado AT&T made U S Worst look good. I doubted they were any better here, and sounds like I was right.

Wow we were in Guadalajara yesterday and the AT&T people were everywhere handing out fliers.

We also renewed our first AT&T 2-year contract when it completed.Went to store in Centro Laguna and had no difficulty getting another 2- years and retained number.

Interesting that's where I went.

Did you have to phone customer service to restore your number?

Did you get a new SIM card?

SunFan

We did not have to call customer service. We did however switch phones and acquired a new SIM at that time...same number though.

Last year, when I switched from Telmex, I paid for a year and was able to keep my number that Telmex had given me.

Flamingo wrote:As I have said before, in Colorado AT&T made U S Worst look good. I doubted they were any better here, and sounds like I was right.

It gets even better.

I activated their two year plan this afternoon. I tested the phone when I got home and found whatever they had done at the store the Mexican country code 52number was being inserted into my stored phone numbers and I could not complete the calls.

I then tried *611 to retrieve my old number as Elana in the AT&T store had earlier promised. Because  my phone was unlocked from Verizon the 611 call went to Verizon's call center instead. Verizon was kind enough to transfer me to the AT&T where after several dropped calls I finally spoke to an agent only to be told I can't recover the old number I've had for six years.

I then asked for my money back and Omar the manager informed me they couldn't do that I would have to travel to Guadalajara if I wanted a refund. I had to ask for the number in Guadalajara to call.

Even by Mexican standards this is unbelievably poor and in fact dishonest service.

Be warned

SunFan

The 2 year plan cost two years ago was $3988, $2900 would have been a real bargain.  So the new two year plan went up US$10.40, no big deal, 43 cents US a month.  When I went to renew at the Laguna Mall store a few months ago I was told that because of their new "sistema," I would have to accept a new but temporary number for two weeks or so until they could "port over" my old AT&T number into their new sistema.  Now this is their number and my same SIM card.  I realized then and there that arguing or complaining would get me nowhere and accepted the inconvenience of having to email my most frequent callers about the temporary number.  About 10 days later I got an email telling me my old number was back.  In the scheme of things Mexican, this wasn't all that bad.  Their phone service for me is great and Telcel can't touch their pricing.  You'd think they'd try a little.

I went by the ATT store in the strip mall Chapala mountain side as you go into town and their big letters outside were gone and looked like the placed had been vacated. Did they close or move??

In November I paid for 1 year and got a whole month of service. Never a resolution. Call me slow, I got a new number because I had to get a new number ad started a plan that was 289 a month but had to pay 2 months in advance, which ended 2 weeks early…….no resolution once again. Spent over 8 Hours dealing with them, so when I went in to pay for my next month (this week) it was now 319 pesos instead of 289 and they could not tell me why. After 1.5 hours with CD/MX about this, they wanted me to send a picture of my factor, could not because now I could not send pictures, only texts. So once again much frustration and no resolution and yes I speak Spanish. Lesson learned, I will never use ATT again, when my month is up (which by the way is the 20th of March only 3 weeks) I will change my phone number once again and go to telcell once again. I would personally stay clear. What I finally determined fro ATT yesterday, the office here maybe did not send the same "paid" amount on their paperwork to the main office…..consumer beware. In this office they claim they can do nothing for any of your problems……...

sm1mex wrote:I went by the ATT store in the strip mall Chapala mountain side as you go into town and their big letters outside were gone and looked like the placed had been vacated.  Did they close or move??

It was previously posted that the manager of both stores, Alejandro, suddenly disappeared about 6 months ago, not too long after that new store was opened across from Farmacia Guadalajara. The doors had been chained shut until just recently when apparently they were able to take back the store and move on to offer it to a new tenant. It was alleged by several people (one was a family of three) who had paid for two year plans through this man with cash that he was just paying the monthly amount for a couple of months then absconded with the rest of the money. He was very nice and helpful spoke excellent English, and just shortly before his disappearance had shown me a picture of his new born son. People didn't want to believe it but that is what happened according to other AT&T employees. I found it hard to fathom as well but we don't know his side of the story and likely never will. Since then there has been no AT&T store service available in Chapala, only Ajijic.

I can attest to the Alejandro story. I was there when a close friend signed up for a tree year prepaid plan two years ago. At least Alejandra gave him a couple of years coverage for his money.

A call to AT&T and the ability to produce his original receipt got my friend his third years coverage.

SunFan

Just curious....... Given the problems and scandals surrounding AT&T since they arrived why does anyone still want to use them? Are they that much better or less expensive than TelCel?

When they first bought out IUSACEL they offered some unbeatable plans. When my Telcel plan expired in 2015 I bought a 2 year plan with them. The phone worked well in the US but when we went Canada last summer it would not work although AT&T said it should. We were also victims of Alejandro and finally had to hire a lawyer to sort it out.
When the plans expired we moved back to Telcel who has much better plans and pricing than AT&T. I pay 239 pesos per month for Telcel's unlimited. Telcel also ported our numbers back to them.

I've not found better pricing at TelCel. My plan renewed in November for $4200 per two years = $175/month, only $8.33 pesos more than the previous two years. Alejandro couldn't scam me as I used a bank card and my original plan was soon after he opened the Chapala store, not during his personal financial crisis last year. If you need Canada and it won't work there, then I would leave them too, for sure if they can't fix that. Sometimes when something doesn't work it's an outdated platform or some setting that got changed. I only need US coverage and it works fine there. Now that TelCel matches the plan, which they didn't do 3 years ago, I'd return to them in a heartbeat if something promised at AT&T quit working on my plan.

phxfunguy wrote:I've not found better pricing at TelCel.  My plan renewed in November for $4200 per two years = $175/month, only $8.33 pesos more than the previous two years.  Alejandro couldn't scam me as I used a bank card and my original plan was soon after he opened the Chapala store, not during his personal financial crisis last year.  If you need Canada and it won't work there, then I would leave them too, for sure if they can't fix that.  Sometimes when something doesn't work it's an outdated platform or some setting that got changed.  I only need US coverage and it works fine there.  Now that TelCel matches the plan, which they didn't do 3 years ago, I'd return to them in a heartbeat if something promised at AT&T quit working on my plan.

If you factor in the lost interest (7.1% or better) on the one time payment your monthly cost is closer to 200 pesos which is the amount Telcel charge for the no limits plan below mine. The only basic difference between the 2 plans is the amount of i/net allowed. 1000 versus 1500. If your major use is email and calls then that is all you need. The other advantage is that if you do not require a phone from them (you already have one) you are not bound to the 2 years, so if your needs change you can cancel at any time or upgrade or downgrade also. The Telcel contracts I looked at were all plus an amount for a phone. Who needs pay as you go with rates like that?