I've been writing about mobile devices for nearly 17 years here at PhoneArena, and if I can get you to remember one thing, it is this. If a rep or salesperson approaches you with a deal that sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true. And I happen to have a good example of this right here. A consumer was at Costco the other day and was approached by an AT&T rep, which is not unusual since that Costco happens to have an AT&T "store" inside the location.
The rep showed the shopper a deal that would not only give him new phones (and who wouldn't want to grace their family with new phones?) but would also result in savings of $30 per month for the wireless service. New phones and a $360 annual savings were enough to entice the shopper to take the rep up on the offer. Something about the transaction must have bothered the guy overnight because the next morning, he wanted to verify everything the rep told him about the new phones and the money he would supposedly save.
So when our hero called AT&T, he found out, after they looked at his current plan, that the deal the rep based in Costco had sold the customer would force him to pay $40 a month more, not $30 a month less as he was told. The customer quickly canceled everything. The new phones hadn't yet arrived, so this other AT&T rep on the phone told the customer that if he sent the phones back to AT&T as soon as they arrived, he would get his money back.
Do you check out a deal offered by a rep before you sign on the dotted line?
I will now!
100%
No. I always feel like things will work out
0%
It depends on what I'm feeling at the moment.
0%
AT&T refunded the guy $596, which was the amount he was charged in the Costco store. There was another $105 that he was charged, which AT&T refused to refund. If that was a restocking charge, or any other charge, really, why should the customer pay? Yes, the AT&T customer canceled the order, but that was because he was lied to by the rep. Had the rep not lied, the customer wouldn't have been in this situation in the first place.
The AT&T customer opened a dispute with his bank, but lost. Even Perry Mason wouldn't win those cases. He called Costco, but the company said that they only rent out part of their store to AT&T. So the customer summed up everything that happened to him in a short sentence. "I spent almost two hours that Sunday giving them all my information for a new plan that turned out to be a lie, and now I'm out $105 for who knows what."
Before he stopped typing and started walking away from his keyboard, this consumer shared some good advice for others to follow. He said, "Please be careful out there. Always double-check any offers and call the company directly before you sign anything or commit to a new plan. Don't fall for a deal that seems too good to be true." As he proved, if something does sounds too good to be true, especially when it comes out of the mouth of a rep, it probably isn't true.
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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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