Why does AT&T hate my 90 year old mother?

My mother is 90 years old, and her brother is 89. They have lived in the same retirement community for over 20 years, and they have had AT&T landline phone service for all that time.
A few weeks ago, my uncle got a phone call from an AT&T representative. He was told that they were such outstanding customers that they could reduce their monthly phone bill from $46 to $34 if they signed up for a special deal. My uncle agreed, thinking that AT&T was simply rewarding a good customer.

I went to visit them a few days later and my mom and uncle told me that an AT&T serviceman was there for 3 hours. I looked and saw that an internet connection had been installed (router and battery pack). The phone had been hooked up to the internet, and the reception is horrible, especially to my mom who has hearing deficiencies. Instead of lowering their bill to $34, it will go up to just under $100 a month for services they NEVER NEEDED OR WANTED.
Neither my uncle nor my mom have ever even turned a computer on in their lives, and they never would have agreed to any of this. The person who contacted my uncle on the phone and the serviceman who came for the installation should have realized this after speaking to either one of them for a few minutes.
I called AT&T and spoke to Keisha. She apologized over and over again, and I thought that she was being sincere. She promised me that someone would come out the following Tuesday and put things back to how they were before. She sent me a call tag so that I could mail back the unwanted equipment.
On Tuesday, a gentleman showed up and stayed about an hour. He worked mostly outside. My uncle asked him if he was going to take the boxes out, and the man said that he couldn't, because the phones won't work without them. I went there later that day to pick up the boxes so they could be returned, and I saw that nothing had been rectified. I called AT&T again, and I was told that the entire process had to be started again, and my mom and uncle would have to wait until February 28th for AT&T to port the number back to normal. Then I would have to call again and contest the bill.
My 90-year-old mother is not able to use her telephone, because the sound quality is so poor. My 89-year-old uncle is distressed that AT&T took advantage of him. I have spent 2 days on the phone with AT&T and had to make 2 special trips down to retrieve the boxes. If their service is ever restored to normal, I will have to go down again to retrieve the boxes and go out of my way to mail them back to AT&T.
This entire episode has been so stressful and upsetting. I worry about my mom not being able to contact anyone in an emergency, because the phone reception is absolutely horrible. I spend my few days off from work either sitting on the phone with AT&T or driving down to retrieve equipment that was unnecessary to begin with and that still cannot be returned.
I think it is absolutely disgusting that AT&T would bamboozle an elderly customer in this fashion to jack up their profits a few extra bucks. I have to wonder if it is incompetence or a deliberate and callous disregard for their customers that resulted in more inconvenience for elderly people and that did not even result in correcting the problem.
For any of you out there with elderly parents or friends, warn them to beware of anyone calling from AT&T with special offers.