Did I get over on AT&T or did they get over on me?
April 13, 2009 4:37 AM RSS feed for this thread Subscribe
I just had a very interesting transaction with AT&T Wireless about switching up my phones, but somehow I feel like I am going to lose in the end.....

Brief back story: I was a blackberry guy for the longest and I loved it. Eventually the commercials got to me and I succumbed to the lure of the iphone and got one in December. No real complaints, but my heart remained with blackberry, so I began to research how I could go back with minimal expense as I was only 4 months into my iphone contract.

The objective of my call: What's the cheapest way I could get a Blackberry Bold and switch over my service. I was prepared to spend $$ (if the price wasnt too obscene) to buy a new or refurbished BBB, and then sell my iphone on ebay or craigslist, and hopefully get close to the same amount I spent.

I spoke with an older sounding woman who immediately laughed when I told her my situation. She explained that she had been getting a lot of calls from people who want to switch from the iphone to the Bold. She then asked me if I would be interested in getting the Bold for only $60-70 bux. Of course I was interested. The website said that a new Bold with activation was $549, and a refurbished was $399.

She kept playing up on how she was going to show me how to do it, and if I agreed, she would need to get her supervisors approval.

In a nutshell.
She would open a new line of service on my existing plan (my wife and I both have our phones on a family plan). I would get a new phone number on the Bold.
When it arrived, I was to take the iphone and Bold to my local AT&T store, and have them take the SIM card from the iphone and put it into the Bold, therefore making the Bold my primary phone, and the iphone would have the new phone number.

From there, she told me to wait about a week, call AT&T, explain what i did.. (I wanted a Bold and was going to give the iphone to a friend)...Tell AT&T that my friend had to leave the coutnry indefinitely (perhaps getting called back to active duty in the army), and ask if we could put the iphone and service on 'vacation hold'. She told me it would not cost me anything, my contract would be running but there would not be an monthly bill. She then said that I should call back every 4-6 months, to explain that 'my friend' was still on active duty', and to keep the phone on hold, and to do this until the two year contract ran out....then cancel that line.

I was suspicious, but trusting since I was speaking to a real AT&T rep, and not some random website promising great deals. I asked here this could backfire on me, and she assured me that it wouldn't.

She then went on to say, that if I bought a discounted carrying case for the phone ($23), she would get me a new Bold for nothing.

I went from being prepared to pay $500 for this phone to getting it for nothing. She went to talk to her supervisor, and moments later the deal was done.

So, the phone is on its way, and I know what I was instructed to do.

I am still suspicious and concerned...Yet, I am trusting as it came from AT&T. Are all these sales calls monitored and recorded? I know the date, time, and first name of the person i spoke to. She wasn't allowed to give me a personal extension should I need to ask her a question or had concerns, but I am sure my Order# would direct them back to her.

Was this sales rep trying to pull something over on her own company? Is this 'vacation hold' scenario legit? Morally, I see the faults in doing this....At the same time though, wouldn't an AT&T sales rep be aware that their calls may be monitored, and that if this does prove to be a scam, she would be fired and possible prosecuted? I'm not sure which way I am leaning in proceeding now that I think about it a little more.....How does AT&T win in this deal? The big guy always wins right??