Reward card scam

I am on the phone with the AT&T rewards center now.  I've been transferred four times now and no one can find my information.  This combining of DirecTV with AT&T has been a fiasco.  Nothing but headaches and broken promises.  I have already invested over an hour on the phone trying to find out where my promised rewards cards are.  If they are not found and mailed to me immediately I will cancel everything and the cancelation fee won't bother me at all because they won't get another penny from me.  I will put in a letter of dispute to my credit report.  If my credit is ruined as a result of this....oh well.  I won't pay it.  I can't imagine how many people are in this same situation, but this isn't going to help them with customer retention.  I would guess many people are jumping ship.  If the person to whom I am on hold with now resolves this issue, I will post the results.  I'm not holding my breath.

 As a way to resolve my problem of being LIED to about receiving (2) $100 reward cards that never came, the representative I spoke with was able to apply a $200 credit to my account.  It works out in the end, but I really needed the money.  I live on a fixed income and was reluctant to use AT&T when they took over DirecTV and the least expensive package I had was no longer available.  In order to get me to agree to their lowest package (over twice the amount I had been paying DirecTV) they offered incentives that I finally agreed to.  The rewards cards were to be used to buy groceries.  According to the representative it was a mistake (one they never bothered to inform me of).  I do not believe it was a mistake at all.  It has been a scam I see they have used over and over again.  Now there are no telling how many disatified customers in the same position as me.  Nothing hurts more than being lied to in order to get someone to commit to a contract that can only be broken by paying over $800.  They have no scruples about flat out lying to achieve their only goal.  Get you under contract.  I am happy that a credit will be applied, but until I see it there I don't believe that either.  Once my contract is up I will be searching for a better alternative.  I really don't see how, from a legal standpoint, that they can do this to people.  If anyone knows what agencies this can be reported to I will be very greatful.  I feel they agencies who are there to protect us from this sort of thing should be made aware.  Even with the credit, if it's even real, I still feel sick to my stomach to find out that I was suckered into using their service.  As pathetic as it sounds, I am feeling very depressed right now.  How can they keep getting away with this.  My contract can't end soon enough.  I can't think of a single positive thing to say about them or their business practices.  I wish they'd never bought out DirecTV.  I never had a problem with them.  This buy out has caused nothing but aggravation.  I am disgusted that with myself that I fell for it.  I hope all these posts detailing the same thing happening to countless other people will serve as a warning to others.  I don't want this to continue happening to other people.  It is also frustrating that it takes over an hour to get a "hopeful" resolution that isn't what was promised.  I am feeling so angry right now and what I am wishing for them is very bad.  Big business always prevails, yet we are the one's who keep them in business.  They gain contracts by lying and then say they didn't lie and give a bogus reason that explains the mistake the person who originally made the promise made.  I spoke to a representative and then to her supervisor.  Are their employees that dumb?  I don't think so.  I think the whole thing is a big scam and now they've got us all under contract with nothing to do but wait until it is finally over.  I'd like to know where all the "recorded" calls went that would prove what I was told and who told me.  Who are those recorded calls helping.  Not us.  I will begin making my own recordings.  A person's name and information could very easily be made up.  In the end, we are powerless against this big company.  I, personallly, plan on going back to the good ole days without TV and without the internet.  I made it okay before.  I'll learn to live that way again.  Think of all the money I'll save.  New technology isn't progress, it's another way to rip thousands, maybe millions of people off.  I'll go back to writing letters, reading books, and listening to music I purchase on CD's which will be mine forever, not mine only as long as I keep paying for the service providing the music.  The money I've spent "borrowing" music would have payed for an entire library of CD's.  I feel I've been so very naive and I am disappointed with myself for buying into all the things we're told we need.  In fact, I can use the internet at my local library for free.  The end of my ranting.  I feel better.  I'm sorry for all the other people who have been through this exact same thing.  It makes me wonder just how many there are and what would happen if we could all stand together as one.  I'll keep reminding myself of the credit I have been told I will receive.  That's a wait and see.  If it is true, I'll hold onto that and remind myself every time I feel bad that, at least I got the credit.

i have the same issue.  called to ask why my card never showed up.  was told it was shipped out but now the card has been expired and can't re-issue a replacement.  was told to talk to customer service.  customer service can't re-issue a card and a card that has been expired.  was offer a credit but was less then the amount of the reward card.  customer service can't issue a replacement and can't give me a credit for the amount i would have gotten on the reward card.  sounds like a huge scam.  offer a reward to sign up, the card never shows up, it expires, and can't offer anything comparable.

was told i should have tracked the shipment better and told it isn't there fault i didn't call sooner.  didn't call sooner?  am i suppose to check every day for something that is suppose to come in the mail as promised.  the only reason i remembered was because a friend said they didn't get their rewards card either.  that prompted me to check and make the call to att.

Just change service providers and stop wasting your time.

I have to admit, I have been scammed with this also. Promised a 200$ rewards card, and then after service was connected and up for a while no card still. I called and they didn't show anything about a rewards card. ATT I have been a customer with for 12 years, now I will be cancelling my Direct, Uverse, and all 5 of my wireless accounts. DO NOT GET ripped off by this scam!!!

My issue is that I have received promotional reward cards from other companies, (i.e comcast), and the expiration date is usually 1 year or so (at least 6 months).  Spend the funds ASAP, the same day!!!!  I mean I received the card one week and did not think to check the expiration date because I figured I had sometime and the card was expired when I tried to use, about a week or so later... I am told there is nothing they can do about it.   Yeah right!!!

I called At&T to only add Direct TV but was convinced to add U-Verse digital phone and bit on the offer of a tablet for 1 cent with a one year contract of service, because i was promised $300 of rewards. i asked did i hear that correctly, $300 of rewards? And was then told by the at&t representative "yes mam, $300 and i cannot lie to you...this call is being recorded"! i naively believed her, who wouldn't...the call was being recorded and how could i lose. well i did receive $100 worth of rewards, but after calling at&t regarding the other $200 of rewards i was given the number to Direct TV to collect my rewards and no luck online and definitely no luck talking with the rep on the phone which i could barely understand. i was told over and over again, i don't see that you have any rewards to redeem. Direct TV has the WORST custome service and so difficult to actually talk with a human, unless of course you are wanting to begin service...then of course your call is put through immediately. i am a long time customer of at&t and disgusted that they are allowing this to happen. i did everthing right and followed up with at&t, direct tv and at&t u-verse with numerous calls and always got the same reply..."i don't see any rewards listed for you", "i'm sorry, but there is nothing i can do for you". i have 4 cell phone lines, 5 data plans, u-verse digital phone plan, u-verse interanet and direct tv, ALL provided by At&t and yet they haven't made things right by providing the $200 of rewards owed to me.  feeling cheated and disillusioned by at&t and how they can just keep doing this to honest hard working people. 

We had a very similar experience when we were forced to switch to u-verse. We were told we'd receive an e-mail after 30 days, telling us how to claim reward.  We never got it and when we finally got through to Rewards Center, we were told it had been mailed via the post office and, "we're sorry but it's now too late to redeem the reward"! Of course, we never got that mail - although it's funny that we got all the huge monthly bills in the mail after switching to u-verse. AT&T strikes again.

All the info you need about reward cards:

https://forums.att.com/t5/U-verse-Account-Questions/AT-amp-T-Rewards/m-p/4256570#M31535

Good luck 😉

Chris
__________________________________________________________

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
Need Help? PM ATT Uverse Care (all service problems)
ATT Customer Care(billing and all other problems)
Your Results May Vary, In My Humble Opinion
I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

After hours on hold circulating through the auto call routing system, speaking with numerous call center assistants, I was told that the reward card I was promised (and the only reason we went with AT&T), had now expired unclaimed. My question to you AT&T is how do I even know my gift card is availble and that it will soon expire if I don't receive notification.

This is a total scam, I want what was promised to me and I'd like it resolved please. I feel sorry for your staff having to deal with irrate customers, like me, they are only doing their job and your system is putting them in a no win situation.

I'd settle for a credit on my account for the value of the card promised. What I won't settle for is "sorry, I can't help you, your card is expired."

Please rectify.

I understand the frustration of being promissed something, and not being able to receive it. Believe me, I have experienced it, more than once. I am sorry that you perceive this reward as a scam. I can assure you it is not.

This is the video that helped me understand the process: https://rewardcenter.att.com/moreinfo.aspx 

Here's an example:

Order Date: March 21, 2016
Installation Date: April 1, 2016
Call back to confirm reward: April 21, 2016
Logged into Rewards Center: April 22, 2016
Completed minimum of 30 days with service: April 30
Reward card by mail: May 20

The reward card could take up to 7 weeks to arrive counting from the installation date, not from the order date.

Please, take a few minutes to consider the following scenarios:

- The reward notification will arrive via mail within 4 weeks of the installation of the service.
   - Did the installation was successful, and free of any changes that may have put the reward in jeopardy? If the order was to undergo any type of change (installation date, upgrade/downgrade service, no Landlord Agreement Form, no one over 18 y/o to welcome the installer, bad weather, etc), did you confirmed in the T&C that this change wouldn't affect the reward eligibility? Does anyone else beside you have access to the mailbox, which may have caused you not receiving the notification? Did you contacted AT&T with enough time within the 4 weeks to check on the reward status? Even if you did not received the notification by mail, and did not contacted AT&T, did you logged into the Rewards Center website with your account information to gain access to the reward status?

- Once you receive the notification by mail, did you claimed the reward on the Rewards Center website before its expiration date? Did you signed in to receive status alerts via email & text? Did you printed the receipt (into paper and/or PDF file)?

If AT&T made a mistake, AT&T will resolve it immediately, but you must show proof that you did everything according to the T&C.

I'm afraid I am being scammed here as well. Promised $100 rewards card for new services. Asked specifically If I needed to do anything but wait for it to arrive in the mail. They said no and it would arrive in 4-6 weeks. Finally after 8 weeks of not seeing anything in the mail I start looking around on the internet and see the word SCAM pop up over and over. I never received a letter or instructions on how to get or redeem a card. Finally was referred to the rewards center only to find out that my rewards are expired. Funny thing is that they expired at the 6 week mark of my new service. That means someone told me to wait and do nothing knowing that they were telling me to wait until the expiration time was up. That's unacceptable. Based on this experience and reading other peoples compaints I would shop elsewhere in the future.

@kodyk17   Guess you never saw the terms of the deal online, you'd see this just like this:

Reward Card: Redemption Required

Meaning you have to redeem something somewhere, not do nothing.  Those phone fools don't know anything about nothing.

After I signed up for Uverse on June 29, 2008, started lurking at Utalk (now this forum) and uverseusers.com to find out about everything Uverse.  And I did, knew about getting the 'letter', turned out folded in 3rds looking like junk mail.  Got all 4 of the rewards over the years.

Contact ATT Customer Care on the link in my signature below, by Need Help?

Send them a Private Message, on this link, and they should be able to give the help needed to solve your reward scam problems. Many times these are answered by FB/Twitter Soc Media Managers, available late nites, weekends.

Include your name, account #, email address and a good phone # (land or cell) and time to contact you on.

Check the blue PM envelope, upper right on every page, for their reply, possibly by email instead. They can do more than any phone rep and stick w/it till it's done. Good luck 😉

Chris
__________________________________________________________

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
Need Help? PM ATT Uverse Care (all service problems)
ATT Customer Care(billing and all other problems)
Your Results May Vary, In My Humble Opinion
I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

I would like to my experience as voice of complaint and great dissatisfaction with the ATT Rewards program.  we have been long-term customers of ATT, purchasing wireless service, security services, internet/phone/cable packages for many years. The time came for us to renew our services for the cable/internet/phone services. We recently agreed to change from U-verse to the new DirectTV, and we were offered the $100 reward as an incentive for being loyal customers. 

I received a letter with the code to enter into the website. I completed this on 8/16/2016 and received a confirmation code. Was told to wait about 4 weeks to receive my card. Well, I just checked last week on the website to check on the status of my card, and it tells me that I am disqualified. Since I just started new services in May, I have not cancelled any services because I am in a new contract. I have waited almost all summer for my reward, and I finally received my letter in August. I have been an ATT customer for several years. i am very disappointed with the way ATT handles the rewards program. I tried the call 800 number above, but it is disconnected. This is very poor service for your customers.