AT&T gave me $125 credit

[plummy]

I think the trick here is that you have to be out of contract and free to switch over to a different carrier if you were to return the Captivate.

AT&T will bend over backwards trying to retain you as a customer. Including giving you credit towards your account. The amount seems to vary. I think the $125 they offered me was a rounded up amount of my last month's bill.

If you bought your Captivate as an early upgrade, they probably won't give you any credit at all.

If you bought it as an upgrade, you've got the 30 days to say no and leave AT&T, so it should work. I wish I had the balls to call them and see what they would do for me since I've had them for over 8 years.

Though the rep I got when I called about the vm not transferring over makes me not want to. 20 minutes of listening to her going through the consumer manual, then having to get a supervisor to realize oh, I just don't have standard vm set up (which is what I said when I first called)... that part deters me from ever calling them again.

 

[qwertyaas]

Did you talk to a regular customer service agent or a retention department agent? Did you push a button for canceling or terminating service with AT&T? That's how I reached my agent.

I was first told to speak to a Premier agent as I have a corp discount account. Then one mentioned to talk to retention. Then I was transfered to a manager. They are absolutely not helpful for me at all. On hold for the manager for close to 50minutes now.

I'm calling on my other phone to talk to the retention department (on my other phone).

 

[gybryant]

EPIC WIN!!!!

I just got off the phone with ATT and they are crediting me $189.99 I only paid $99 + tax for the phone at the ATT store in the first place! They're paying me to keep the thing! I suppose I should feel bad about it, but after the headaches this phone has caused me, I don't.

 

[Extract0r]

Can anyone comment on my theory of AT&T basically giving a month of free service by crediting the amount of an average monthly bill?

My average monthly bill is about $120 and I was offered $125 credit.

EPIC WIN!!!!

I just got off the phone with ATT and they are crediting me $189.99 I only paid $99 + tax for the phone at the ATT store in the first place! They're paying me to keep the thing! I suppose I should feel bad about it, but after the headaches this phone has caused me, I don't.

 

[qwertyaas]

I wonder if I should go buy the phone and then call (which kind of sucks since I can't pick it up until the weekend - I wanted to figure if I should buy it from ATT or Letstalk which is why I called them).

 

[arsen]

I think the trick here is that you have to be out of contract and free to switch over to a different carrier if you were to return the Captivate.

AT&T will bend over backwards trying to retain you as a customer. Including giving you credit towards your account. The amount seems to vary. I think the $125 they offered me was a rounded up amount of my last month's bill.

If you bought your Captivate as an early upgrade, they probably won't give you any credit at all.

actually thats wrong, i got my phone as an early upgrade. all you have to do is point out why it would benefit the company to give you credit and still keep $50 difference, instead of getting nothing at all.

 

[gybryant]

Can anyone comment on my theory of AT&T basically giving a month of free service by crediting the amount of an average monthly bill?

My average monthly bill is about $120 and I was offered $125 credit.

From what I could tell from the service rep, my refund was based on the cost of the phone with a 2 year contract renewal. I can assure you, my monthly bill is nowhere near 189 a month. To be honest, I'm not sure how I got the $99 price on the phone to begin with. It may have been a combination of my being a longish-term customer and my account being a corporate one due the institutional discount I get through my work.

I was also very, very nice to the girl on the phone. Friendly banter can work wonders.

 

[qwertyaas]

From what I could tell from the service rep, my refund was based on the cost of the phone with a 2 year contract renewal. I can assure you, my monthly bill is nowhere near 189 a month. To be honest, I'm not sure how I got the $99 price on the phone to begin with. It may have been a combination of my being a longish-term customer and my account being a corporate one due the institutional discount I get through my work.

I was also very, very nice to the girl on the phone. Friendly banter can work wonders.

Both didn't seem to work for me as I'm a long term customer with a corporate account and they have been anything but helpful...

They just state they stopped giving out credits and discounts over a year ago and then try to transfer me. Then another person told me to buy it from the other retailers (Wirefly, Letstalk...) as the warranty is covered by ATT which I don't think is true.

I guess it would have been best if I waited until I renewed and then called to cancel due to the other prices.

 

[JDM9499]

AT&T does NOT have to give you any credit, if your calling in asking them to do a 'price match'.

I got the same answers most did as well - "Just return the phone and go to Walmart or Wirelfy.com and purchase it at a lower price." But called back and got a different customer rep, that obviously had a different manager, and went ahead and gave me credit.

To me, it's just a BONUS, something not necessary, nor a deal breaker! I was bored that night, and thought heck, I might as well give it a shot...

If you don't have success, NO WORRIES. Just go back to enjoying your phone, and twiddling your thumbs until Froyo comes out...

 

[shaxs]

Where are you getting the Wirefly free? Im out of contract now and they offered me $99 for the phone but I would rather get it free.

 

[JDM9499]

I forgot to mention...

One of the reps that I got a hold of, whom eventually caved into giving me a credit, said (as an FYI) that the only way they would give customers credit is if there was a flyer advertising a phone for a certain cost, and you later purchase it in the store for more, and didn't get the discounted cost. Or, if there was previously a sale and you missed it. And lastly, if it is advertised on the AT&T wireless site for less (which it is now) then they could give you credit for the difference. All this of course, within your 30 days! They do not credit back to your account for price matching to wirefly.com....errrrr, rather....they do not have to, though they have been to SOME people.

 

[gybryant]

Both didn't seem to work for me as I'm a long term customer with a corporate account and they have been anything but helpful...

They just state they stopped giving out credits and discounts over a year ago and then try to transfer me. Then another person told me to buy it from the other retailers (Wirefly, Letstalk...) as the warranty is covered by ATT which I don't think is true.

I guess it would have been best if I waited until I renewed and then called to cancel due to the other prices.

Man, I don't know what to tell you. I guess I just got lucky with the rep I drew. I should mention that this was not a retention rep and I did use the words "price match." I talked about how the phone wasn't quite living up to expectations (GPS and WiFi for me) and that I was worried about the phone going free and me wasting money on it.

It was kinda funny that while we were waiting for my account to update, we talked about the Verizon DroidX she's going to get.

 

[gybryant]

Oh, and I don't know if they were trying anything skeezy, but when I first called 611, the automated wench warned me that they were experiencing extremely high call volume and wait times. After I navigated the menus (~30 seconds pressing 0 all the way), it took about a minute to get a rep on the phone.

 

[Killemall]

Epic fail. 3 calls later the best I could pull was $25 credit. And the Captivate is still $199 on ATT.com

I have a Premium account as well.

 

[qwertyaas]

I just got off with a supervisor letting him know the circles, hang ups and hold times they put me through and my desire to keep with AT&T and not some third party retailer.

He gave me a $75 discount and waived the activation fee for when I upgrade. Actually, he already added the $75 credit to my account before I even renewed as I said I would be doing so in the near future and I have to call in after renewing to get the activation fee waived.

This is in-line with the prices I could get since I am just renewing a secondary line on a family plan which leads to the lowest discounts available ($125-150 on other retailers atm).

 

[jazzman09]

haha anyone who got a 120 dollar or more credit should just go return the phone, get there money back and still have that credit on there account, double your money that way.

 

[Thare187]

I went to the kiosk where I bought the phone. The store manager was there. I explained that I do not want to return the phone. But if they don''t price match Walmart I will return it. I also explained to him that if I did return the phone, it would not be fair to pay the $35 restocking fee since the phone is technically defective (GPS). He tried to tell me he never heard there was a problem as he has the phone. I pulled out my phone and googled Galaxy S GPS problems. Nuff said there. Also told him that Samsung is working on a fix, so it's a Samsung issue, after he tried to tell me it was a problem on Google's end. Explained that the phone was made by Samsung and sold by AT&T, therefore it's a AT&T problem. He told me he couldn't do a price match since they are required to sell at a certain price point (they are an authorized seller of AT&T). He called an AT&T rep to see if I could get a credit on my bill for the difference. I'm waiting to hear from the manager as he has not heard back from the rep. I'll update when I know. A side note: He did check my receipt a second time before I left. I'm assuming to check the purchase date so he could drag me along until the 30 days are up. I have 7 more days so he's SOL on that one. If it is not resolved, I will do a charge back on my debit card for the full purchase price, leaving them without a phone and my money. This of course is a last resort which of course I will use in my negotiations with them.

 

[jazzman09]

I went to the kiosk where I bought the phone. The store manager was there. I explained that I do not want to return the phone. But if they don''t price match Walmart I will return it. I also explained to him that if I did return the phone, it would not be fair to pay the $35 restocking fee since the phone is technically defective (GPS). He tried to tell me he never heard there was a problem as he has the phone. I pulled out my phone and googled Galaxy S GPS problems. Nuff said there. Also told him that Samsung is working on a fix, so it's a Samsung issue, after he tried to tell me it was a problem on Google's end. Explained that the phone was made by Samsung and sold by AT&T, therefore it's a AT&T problem. He told me he couldn't do a price match since they are required to sell at a certain price point (they are an authorized seller of AT&T). He called an AT&T rep to see if I could get a credit on my bill for the difference. I'm waiting to hear from the manager as he has not heard back from the rep. I'll update when I know. A side note: He did check my receipt a second time before I left. I'm assuming to check the purchase date so he could drag me along until the 30 days are up. I have 7 more days so he's SOL on that one. If it is not resolved, I will do a charge back on my debit card for the full purchase price, leaving them without a phone and my money. This of course is a last resort which of course I will use in my negotiations with them.

you can always just return it then re purchase one once samsung updates it.

 

[sanduneboi]

Very much a NO GO for me. The girl I talked was all well you can just return it to the store you bought it from, and buy it from who ever you want. Not going to really return, I've got this one all tweaked, but it defiantly was worth a shot.

 

[rrrrramos]

$75 credit here. Said I couldn't track the distance when I go running, and that it told me my house was actually in the middle of the highway. Also told them I was upset that it was available for so much cheaper through other retailers, that I wouldn't be upset if it was a $50 phone, but since it was a $200 phone these things should work and be made sure to work before it's released. Not as much as everyone else but still enough for me to work with.

 

[qwertyaas]

$75 credit here. Said I couldn't track the distance when I go running, and that it told me my house was actually in the middle of the highway. Also told them I was upset that it was available for so much cheaper through other retailers, that I wouldn't be upset if it was a $50 phone, but since it was a $200 phone these things should work and be made sure to work before it's released. Not as much as everyone else but still enough for me to work with.

$75 is what I got as well and waived activation. I didn't even get the phone yet as I told him I would be in the coming week yet he already put the credit on my account.

But I think this is more of a luck thing - most representatives will just say no as they stopped price matching a while ago and advise you to buy it from the alternate retailers.

 

[Terrigno]

lol thats nice doing all of that to get a credit. But Im not gonna go leaps and bounds to fight with a rep to give me a credit. My money was well spent. Its just money. Comes and goes.

 

[Thare187]

lol thats nice doing all of that to get a credit. But Im not gonna go leaps and bounds to fight with a rep to give me a credit. My money was well spent. Its just money. Comes and goes.

Just money? I'm assuming you have no family and live with you folks? $100 is a ton to me. That's 1 month of heat/electric or 1 month of AT&T service. Can you send me $100? I'll say nice things about you on the internet

 

[nktech]

What did you guys say exactly? and did you have an outstanding balance when you called?

I talked to two who told me to go to Walmart and one guy that kept saying my phone doesn't have GPS and that I am confusing the GPS for internet... which was news to me.. I mean does this guy not know anything?! Either way, he said he can't give any credit because I have no balance and I don't think thats true.

 

[txmoakster]

Im going to try this tomorrow morning, I bought it from Radioshack for $179 less than a week ago so I have time to fight it haha. First At&t then Radioshack if that doesnt work. Will update with what happens

I have a question for the guys that got money back from AT&T. Did they credit your account immediately? My reasoning is morally wrong but I was curious, say I managed to get money back from att and then went to radioshack and used their price matching to get even more money back.

I won't do this but I was curious as if it would work.