AT&T has realized that customers are finding it way too easy to haggle over the phone and made it impossible to negotiate with the company unless you are willing to subject yourself to in-person haggling at the physical store. Today I decided that time had come to stop dreading confrontation with AT&T workers, went to the local store, planted myself on one of their massively uncomfortable stools, and made it clear I wasn’t planning to leave until I got a free new phone and a reduced bill.
When the store worker realized that her “My system must be down, I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you right now” wasn’t making me go away, she decided to try to get me out of the store through a tried and true guilt-tripping method.
“So. . . do you have children?” she asked.
“Yes, I have a 3-month-old baby at home,” I said.
“She must really miss her Momma,” the AT&T employee exclaimed triumphantly, sure that this was going to guilt me right into running back home.
But I was ready for her and parried with, “You know, it’s so nice to be out of the house for a few hours.”
When she heard the word “hours,” the employee’s face fell, and she gave me everything I wanted.
Clarissa's Blog 
Is it one of those free obamaphones that right wingers have been mewling about for years? Haha.
If not you need to tell us your strategy. Any decent smartphone costs upwards of 600-700 dollars. They can’t be happy with giving it away free for no strings attached.
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This sounds suspiciously like Former Warsaw Pact behavior (which I’ve found very useful). Keep pestering and make it clear that the easiest/only way to get rid of you is to just say yes.
It’s not pretty, but it does work.
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There is no other way of dealing with AT&T. The company has the worst customer service in the universe.
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