My Wireless AT&T Flamingo

If I could give this place zero stars I would. My phone was stolen while visiting Vegas recently and we came here so I could use my upgrade. AT&T is still doing their last 2 year upgrade until 2016, so I was lucky. I was told that I didn’t have an upgrade whatsoever, and that I would have to pay full price for the phone. I didn’t understand that an AT&T retailer is different from the corporate one. A retailer is able to use AT&T’s name and products, however, you don’t get any benefit from it. So, the woman I dealt with, her name was Elizabeth told me that I couldn’t pay for the phone up front, that I had to pay for the taxes and fees right now, and the next bill I could pay for it all. The only honest thing she said was that I had 14 days to return the phone (she left out that if you return a phone you will not get the 35 $ restocking fee, and they will not allow you to return any additions like screen protector or the case, etc.). I went to my local AT&T corporate office here in California in which they did in fact tell me that they were able to do the 2 year upgrade so the phone would cost me 399.99. I called the store in Vegas and Elizabeth told me I had to drive back to Vegas to bring back the phone, and no, they would not allow me to ship it. I was appalled, you have to be kidding! I am not driving 7 hours just to drop off a phone when you were dishonest from the get-​go! I had an associate with me while we called her, I found out the company that owns the retail store and found out that there is one in LA. Following day I went all the way up to LA to drop off the phone and was told that I would be losing about 70 $…it’s now day 3 and there is no credit showing on my card whatsoever. Getting a hold of any of these employees is nearly impossible. So right now I am out about $ 115, no answers, and they have royally screwed up my billing statement. This has been a very long and drawn out situation that should’ve been resolved asap. In addition, at the AT&T corporate office, when you purchase a phone or add a service/​line, it will not show up on the actual AT&T’s billing because it’s not really AT&T, just an associate. This is problematic because they didn’t show that a phone was even purchased! DO NOT go to a retailer, GO TO AN ACTUAL AT&T Corporate office! Otherwise you will be in a similar situation as I am, one step away from filing a consumer complaint. I have all the first and last names, and even phone numbers as well. There is a reason why this place is broken into so many times and is not open until 8pm like it shows online. They close around 5 – 530 because of the number of break-​ins. Elizabeth assured me that they haven’t had one in a long time… almost 2 months (you must be joking).