AT&T's "Next Up" feels more like "Next Scam" after this customer's experience

We've all probably been in a situation where carrier representatives in a retail store are desperately trying to shove services, additions, and what-have-you down our throats. I can understand the other side too - companies have targets, and employees have to follow them. Simple.

However, it's a practice bordering on shady (if not crossing that border) to offer something that's not mandatory, have the customer politely decline it, but then you still ring it up. And then, the customer has to waste hours of their day to get rid of the thing they didn't even want, to begin with.

Yep, it sounds frankly annoying, and that's one AT&T customer has experienced when they walked into a local AT&T store to get a new phone. User prof_designer has taken to Reddit to express their frustration with what should have been an exciting new phone upgrade.

The user clearly states in their post that they said they didn't want AT&T's Next Up. However, they later noticed it had been added anyway. Of course, they did what any of us would do: ask customer service to remove the unwanted thing.

In case you don't know, Next Up is a paid addition to your plan for eligible smartphones which allows you to upgrade your phone early without having to pay its full price before doing so.

It should've been simple, don't you think? Well, apparently not. The user then reports they were told the Next Up service couldn't be removed yet because the phone they bought hadn't arrived. Then, the phone arrived, but the customer was reportedly told to wait for 2 weeks.

But the tale doesn't end here, as after waiting for 2 weeks and again contacting customer service, the user was first bombarded with Next Up praises and finally, the service was removed. But this is a paid service, right? So the obvious thing to want to know is if it's going to be charged.

You guessed it - it was.



Apparently, other AT&T customers have also struggled with similar issues:




But not only the customers are struggling with such practices. One former AT&T employee said this:





Joining them with the same advice (do everything online) are a bunch of other Redditors as well. Unfortunately, it seems the best course of action is to order your phone online and avoid physical locations. But... that isn't always possible for all people. I know for one people like my mom won't really be interested in trying to upgrade their phones online.

Many people facing such issues with carriers file FCC complaints to hold these big corporations accountable. For now, it seems like the best option. Also, stay vigilant, check what you're billed for, and if you can (and want to) avoid physical store locations, I guess.