Nathan’s been having trouble this week buying a prepaid GoPhone from AT&T Mobility’s website. He finally found out the reason: they couldn’t verify his credit history. This is confusing because it’s a prepaid GoPhone and because his credit history is superb. “Cheryl refused to transfer me. I asked her if she was in any way motivated to find out what was wrong with their system and help me, and, to her credit, she answered honestly with a simple ‘no.’”
A couple of days ago I submitted a tip regarding my sudden inability to order a new GoPhone through the AT&T online store; my orders went through successfully, but were then later cancelled under mysterious circumstances no one I spoke with at AT&T could explain.
After several more calls and nearly an hour on hold I finally got to speak with supervisor Cheryl Johnson in the web store order processing department. Ms. Johnson then informed me that my orders were being cancelled because they had been unable to verify my credit history. This raises two interesting questions for which she had no answers:
1) What is suddenly wrong with my credit history in AT&T’s eyes? I’ve ordered from them without any problems in the past, and my score is in the upper 700s.
2) Why is AT&T performing a credit history check on a GoPhone purchase in the first place? Everything is prepaid and there is absolutely no chance that anyone attempting to establish a new prepaid account could possibly defraud them in any way. That’s kinda what “prepaid” means.
Ms. Johnson blatantly refused to answer either of these questions and simply read some pre-prepared rejection script that was obviously coming up on her computer screen as rudely as she could in an attempt to interrupt me in mid-speech. Once she finally ran out of things to parrot I asked why it was that a supervisor in the AT&T order processing department did not know how the AT&T order processing process worked well enough to explain to me why my orders were being cancelled, and she said that this was something the credit department handled. I asked for their number, and of course, they don’t take inbound calls and Cheryl refused to transfer me. I asked her if she was in any way motivated to find out what was wrong with their system and help me, and, to her credit, she answered honestly with a simple “no.”
So, beware: if you buy an AT&T GoPhone online they will make some ham- handed attempt at accessing your credit history.
Why does AT&T need to check credit scores for something that doesn’t include extending a line of credit? How is it that a secretly-derived score can prevent a customer from concluding a transaction, but nobody on AT&T’s side is willing to help solve the customer’s problem?
Maybe that CSR has your GoPhone, Nathan, and she really likes it.
(Photo: Getty)
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@cmdrsass: You’re absolutely right.
Original Poster: It’s not about the credit. Are you on a watch list? Do you have a difficult time getting through airports? That would be a big clue. If your name is on a wiretap list, they will decline to give you service on a GoPhone because it will cost them proportionately more money to monitor you.
Save yourself a bunch of stress & wasted time. Go to Target, buy a Virgin mobile phone and a prepaid card. No hassles. You don’t even have to deal with a human other than the check out person at Target.
@Everyone who stated the obvious:
Maybe he doesn’t want to drive that far? Maybe he doesn’t have time to run to the store and Maybe he expects that if you can order a pre-paid phone online it won’t be a complete hassle?
You couldn’t seriously tell me this was a “good” customer experience for this person.
Because ordering online shouldn’t be a hassle just because the product is available elsewhere.. otherwise Newegg, Tigerdirect, Amazon, and eBay wouldn’t appear on this site at all.
This isn’t a case of a consumer being treated poorly – this is a case of a company deciding it doesn’t want to do business with someone, for whatever reason.
Waitaminit, someone is disappointed that AT&T has started protecting people from itself?
//Obligatory “Anybody but AT&T” sig.
@tme2nsb: Are you (being your employer) aware that I can get a prepaid sim off the street in Lebanon, already activated on any mobile network without any ID required? Lebanon has had terrorism for far longer than the US.
@tme2nsb: That is likely call center or sales center procedural voodoo, made up by a shift lead or supervisor to provide an answer that most people won’t further question.
I and many others have purchased these phones, paying cash for hardware and airtime cards, never once having been required to divulge Social Security Numbers or mailing addresses. I’ve frequently provided AT&T with bogus addresses during activation because there’s no need for them to have that information. So far, Homeland Security has yet to come after me.
@JustAGuy2: Absolutely. Nine out of ten times, it’ll end up being a valid customer. One out of ten, it’ll be some nutjob who wants to (1) meet up with some cop he thinks is a pre-teen, (2) try to blow up the Sears tower, (3) (the most common) sell drugs to your kids. In this case, AT&T probably poorly chose to abandon this customer. Since they don’t have any way to tell whether he’s in the 9/10 or 1/10.
@mikecolione: Except THEY ARE. The original post says:
“Ms. Johnson then informed me that my orders were being cancelled because they had been unable to verify my credit history.”
Funny, that picture doesn’t strike me as a “Cheryl.”
QFT on the Virgin Mobile phone.
Virgin Mobile has better rates, better customer service and, most importantly, better phones. Their newest top model has a full keyboard, camera AND Bluetooth. They use Verizon’s network, so coverage is not an issue either.
I have to question the fact that she ran a credit check for a prepaid service. This is a violation of several laws and this CSR needs to be fired. And yes, I do agree that he should go to the local ripoff store and get his phone.
@Buran: The reason this is limited is because of Ebayers. At&T sells these phones at a loss. Hopeing to make there money back on prepaid cards. If they did not limit these phones then someone will buy 100 pantech phones for 10 bucks and then sell them on ebay for 40 each. I work for AT&T and thats the reason there is a check. And yes part of the check if because the govt wants to keep a check on its people
I didn’t realize this actually got posted until today, but since reading comprehension is not everyone’s forté:
1. I have not purchased more than 3 phones in any calendar year.
2. I cannot purchase the phone that I wanted at the price advertised online at ANY brick-and-mortar store because it was an online-only deal; buying it locally would have cost me over $150 more and the phone simply isn’t worth that.
3. I have no evidence to support the fact that they actually attempted to perform a credit history check, only Cheryl’s statements to that effect. Either way, she was clearly lying about something just to get rid of me and I doubt she was a supervisor of anyone.
4. I have ordered two phones in the past with the exact same credit card and the exact same billing address (and yes, it matches the shipping address).
5. I have not flown anywhere since 1999 so I have no idea how or why I would be on anybody’s “watch list.” Jihad jihad jihad.
Terrorists use Tracphones, they don’t call wireless companies and try to set up accounts.