Oldest DD (14) wants a new cell phone for Christmas. She was due for an upgrade in November. So, we bought the phone and it's wrapped and under the tree. We've really given her a hard time so that she is not sure whether or not she's actually getting the phone.

So, a few minutes ago, she comes down and says, "Mom, AT&T keeps sending me texts asking if I want insurance on the recent phone purchase."

WHAT???? We denied the insurance when we bought the phone. Why are they sending marketing emails at Christmas time! I'm sure we're not the only family with a new phone under the tree!! I just called and reamed them out! She said she stopped what she could, but I needed to register with the "Do Not Call" registry for anything else!

I thought it was illegal to send marketing messages to cell phones???!!!

She also told me the text messages don't cost anything. I said, "well, they cost my 14 year old daughter her suprise under the Christmas Tree!"

I am so mad. I've always hated AT&T. We have dumped our AT&T long distance, our AT&T internet and HAD dumped our AT&T cell phones. We were very happy with Cingular One and the AT&T had to go and buy them. This is the 2nd time this week I've been upset with them.

We got our bill yesterday and there's a $14.99 charge on her phone for some download subscription. She said she's never downloaded anything and I believe her. She's a good kid and she's never done it before. She's been told she is not allowed to unless she pays for it. And, she's too cheap to pay for it! I called yesterday and before I even had to get mad, they said they'd take it off. Makes me wonder if they're just adding misc. items to everyone's bill to see if they get caught. Everyone who doesn't read their bill & just pays it just makes for profit for them.

I am so frustrated with them.

Lisa

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My BFF gets 3 or 4 of those subscription charges a month, and they don't download anything.....I have called for many times, to get them removed, and I usually get them additional credit since it has been a continuous problem.

They have been making me mad. We are having texting issues. Texts appearing a couple days after the fact.....Gets really annoying!

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Nicole

I've had to call to get subscription stuff taken off but we really like them overall. It's the only carrier we get consistent service with and the 25% discount we get off the whole bill (DH's company qualifies for corporate discount), we can't beat it. I simply had the texting turned off all of our phones (mine, DH's, and my inlaws). My FIL would text without even knowing it (phone is in his pants pocket). Now I don't get the marketing things anymore.

I would be mad as well with the situation. #1: if they know the phone belongs to a minor, any sort of marketing should never be sent to it since they can't legally say yeah or no to any of it anyway til they are 18. What I would probably do is take the phone gift out from under the tree and then give it to her at New Years or something. Now she thinks it's there..under the tree waiting. When it's not there at gift time, she'll wonder what's up. Then she'll be surprised when she gets it a week later

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Thats one thing I like about Tracfone - it may cost more per minute but thats ok if you don't use it a ton - but you will never get some silly subscription you didn't order on your monthly bill because there is none.

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Just an FYI....you can request parental control on her phone, just so if it does happen again, they can't say she did it. Even though my kids are now older, it used to happen to us occasionally too. Once I added the parental control (it keeps them from downloading without a specific code entered by you) we didn't have any more accidental subscriptions.

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If you bought her the phone, they'd have your information for the phone and not relize it was in the hands of a minor. My husband's phone is on my account, they'd call that phone and think they was calling me.

but it's actually good she told you, couple years ago someone bought a phone and it was connected to my account somehow, they called me about the purchase someone else did. took forever to get them to understand i didnt buy any phone, that i was useing the same one I'd gotten free years before. they took care of it and I put a password on my account so no one can mess with the account but me.

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Aw hon I feel truly saddened to read that the phone carrier spilled the beans so to speak about your dd's chistmas gift.I too would be upset .So sorry. Peace and stay safe in this holiday season. Catherine

That is ridiculous! I cannot believe they spoiled the surprise. I would call someone about that maybe they don't even realize it. There should be something at the time of purchase where you can opt out. If they have it they should've told you if they don't they need to get it.

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Thanks for the heads up, going to call them today!

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Nicole