Illustration by Aren Elliott

By Christopher Elliott
Guest Columnist

When AT&T cancels Jacob Flores’ phone by mistake, he loses his trade-in credits. Now, he can’t get them back. What should he do?

Christopher Elliott

AT&T canceled my phone by mistake, and I’ve lost my trade-in credits.

AT&T fixed the problem and ended up crediting me for the full amount of the phone that had to be paid off to fix their problem.

But I ended up paying off the balance of another phone. After all of this, the representative who helped me assured me that I would not lose my monthly trade-in credit as long as I didn’t cancel or upgrade the phone, which I have not. I just didn’t want my monthly bill to go up.

But two statement cycles later, it did just that. I stopped receiving my monthly trade-in credit of $22 even though a representative confirmed that I still had 32 credit cycles remaining.

I reached out again via chat and attempted to speak with the same representative. I was told he was not available. I spoke to several people and the last person I spoke with offered to credit me one time rather than as a monthly credit. I called AT&T and spoke with someone who promised a manager would reach out to me within a couple of days. I never heard back from anyone. Can you help me get my credits back? — Jacob Flores, Harker Heights, Texas

AT&T offered you a credit when you traded in your phone. But when AT&T canceled your phone, it eliminated all of the credits, which effectively raised your phone bill. AT&T should have seen that and restored your credits, as it promised.

I’ve dealt with similar problems with wireless carriers, and unfortunately, their systems are designed to zero out any bonuses or incentives. They also make it difficult for an employee to add the credits back. Usually, it takes the specialized knowledge or a supervisor’s access level to do that. In other words, someone couldn’t just flip a switch to fix this.

I have a question before continuing with the resolution of your issue. Many readers are probably wondering how AT&T canceled your phone by mistake. It looks like you called to cancel one of your lines, but a representative misunderstood you and canceled the wrong one. That can happen, and there’s very little you could have done to prevent it, except maybe ask the representative to repeat the phone number of the line that would be canceled.

I see that your first two attempts to resolve this problem were by chat. Good call! You had a terrific paper trail that proves AT&T tried to help you. But then a representative suggested that you call the company. Unfortunately, when you do that, there’s no evidence of the conversation (unless you record the call, which may or may not be legal). Always get everything in writing. You can reach out to one of the AT&T customer service managers by email. I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of the AT&T executives on my consumer advocacy site.

There’s another lesson here: If you get credits or have some other incentive or bonus for your phone, you don’t want to make any changes. AT&T and other phone companies have systems that will reset your bill without any discount. These systems are designed to ensure the carrier is always charging full price for their services — in other words, they’re helping the company make more money.

I contacted AT&T on your behalf. A representative reached out to you and acknowledged that AT&T had previously given you incorrect information. AT&T credited you for the missing months.

“The representative was thorough and very knowledgeable and took a great length of time to make sure she addressed any issues I had,” you reported.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at [email protected] or get help by contacting him.