Returned equipment help

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@I86time  Gather all of your receipts etc and file a complaint with the BBB. That gets forwarded directly to AT&T Upper Management and someone from the Office of the President will contact you. That way you can speak directly with AT&T bypassing the normal CS Agents and hopefully they will be able to straighten it out.

@ATTHelp , as stated in my original post, I already talked with CS reps (and a sup) by both calling and and chatting. Tier 1 help (or whatever their internal designation), is unable to assist, which is why I was questioning whether there was "a specific department or person who I can contact".

@I86time  File the BBB complaint if you can't get anywhere with CS. The Senior Managers in the Office of the President have more resources and authority than the first and second line CS Agents. That's as high up in AT&T that a customer can take a complaint.

@OttoPylot , you can bet that if what I think will happen, actually does, and I have to spend one more minute of my time dealing with, I'm contacting the CA AG. I doubt anything will come of it because AT&T will just claim it's one of those unfortunate things that happens and they'll offer some half-hearted apology after their thorough "investigation" and refund my $150 non-return fee and think all is well. But perhaps because this was their doing and that I tried to solve the issue long before it got that far, whatever negative attention they receive will cause something to change and the next poor sap who this happens to won't have to spend hours on the phone or in a chat window.

I still don't see why no one can tell me what equipment they think I should have, nor that they are unable to tell me who I can contact to simply get this taken care of.

@I86time  I agree with you that AT&T certainly needs to step up and clean house when it comes to returned equipment etc. They are woefully inadequate in that regards. The CA AG will do nothing other than pass it along to AT&T where it undoubtably will get "lost". Besides, your only legal recourse is Binding Arbitration and possibly Small Claims if this even falls under those categories. The BBB complaint is your best bet because you can at least discuss the issue directly with someone at AT&T who can truly help. You don't want to have some poorly managed automated system decide you still owe AT&T and kick the bill to a Collection Agency down the road.

@OttoPylot Thanks for the direction, just filled out my BBB complaint. Hope that will get somewhere before the return deadline. 

If I didn't need my legacy SBC email, I would say screw it, and have my bank reverse any non-return fee. But I hear they shut them down if there is an outstanding balance.

There's no guarantee but you can at least plead your case with someone who has the resources and authority available to them to address issues like this. Hopefully it will work out.

To close this out (hopefully), I was quickly contacted by someone @ AT&T shortly after I submitted my BBB complaint. They were not able to do anything in regards to changing the S/N of the equipment I had on my account to the one I returned, as to assure me/confirm in system that all UVerse equipment I had was returned (this is worrisome on some level, how can they not keep/update accurate records of what equipment a customer actually has and hope to enforce that?). However, they did assign someone to follow up to view my account so that if I was charged a non-return fee, it would be cleared. Two weeks after the final return date, I have not been charged. Ultimately I have no idea if the system corrected itself or if they simply cleared an erroneous charge.

All reps @ AT&T I was in contact with were very polite and helpful.

One thing I was told is that with regards to returned equipment, it goes to some separate department or third party that's apparently a black box and the department I was in contact with has no control over. Also, after the final return date I was told I would not be contacted again for any "non-returned" equipment, the case would simply be turned over to them and they'll do whatever they do. So, I guess at some point, I could still be contacted and told I owe a non-return fee by either them or a collections agency, though I hope not. It would have been nice to have been told HOW this was resolved, rather than it just going silent.