To whom it may concern:My family and I have been AT&T wireless customers for literally a decade. We currently havefive wireless lines all provided by AT&T. We pay an inordinate amount of money every month inorder to receive this service. When I have an issue, I expect to be taken care of.That said, I would like to express my extreme displeasure with the quality of service provided bythe staff at the AT&T wireless store located in the Nittany Mall at 2900 E. College Ave, StateCollege, PA 16801. I left the store—on

three

separate occasions—feeling disrespected,mistreated, and insulted.I purchased a Samsung Flight on January 1, 2010 from an AT&T store in the Philadelphia areawhile on holiday break from school. About two weeks later, the phone began acting up: tellingme it was charging when it was off the charger, unexpectedly turning off and not turning backon, etc.I was well within my 30 day exchange period and promptly took the phone to an AT&T kiosk inthe Penn State University bookstore to exchange the phone. The associate examined thephone, including a battery pull, and told me an exchange would be no problem. Upon lookingfor a replacement, the associate realized that the kiosk was out of stock. The associate directedme to the AT&T store in the Nittany Mall, about five miles away. Five miles to a college studentwithout a car might as well be 10,000 miles.I managed to find a ride to the mall. I presented the first associate, Jay, with the phone, andtold him that I was directed there by another AT&T location for an exchange. The associate toldme he did not feel comfortable exchanging the phone because the moisture indicator sticker showed water damage.

Let me be clear: the very edge of the sticker showed a

pink

tint.95% of the sticker was completely white.

Further, the moisture indicator sticker on thebattery (located in almost the same position as its counterpart on the phone) showed

sign of moisture damage. I was told only a manager could override a return. Was there a manger in?Of course not. A manager would not be in until the next day.It was my understanding—which was

confirmed

by the customer care associate I spoke withon the phone—that even the smallest amount of water damage caused the

entire

sticker to turna vibrant, obvious,

bright red.

This simply was not the case with my sticker. My brother, alsopresent with me, brought this to Jay’s attention, and he told us we were wrong, contradictory towhat the customer care associate told me.Allow me to further elaborate: had the water damage been legitimate, I would have assumed fullresponsibility.We left the store for the first time, frustrated. A call was placed to customer care, and we weretold that an associate in the store could—and should—call customer care, describe the sticker,and a return could be approved over the phone if the manager on the phone deemed it

appropriate. A note was even placed in our file to this effect. I returned to the store, and toldthis to another associate, Aaron. Aaron systematically denied this, and refused to call—evenwhen

explicitly

asked to make the phone call.Aaron presented us with the same option as Jay did, that is, leave that day, come back the nextday when a manager is present and have them look at it. Further, Aaron told me that he did notforesee the manager having any issues with making an exchange for my phone, given thecondition on my sticker. “It will be no problem.” I trusted Aaron, and left the store, against theadvice of my mother and brother.Allow me to reiterate the difficulty of a car-less college student traveling 5 highway miles. Imanaged to return the next day—for the third time in two days—believing what Aaron had toldme, expecting to leave with a new, functional, Samsung Flight. When I met with the Assistantmanager, Lavonne Falbo, I was informed that my phone could not be exchanged because of water damage. This simply befuddled me, as the fist AT&T location I visited made no mentionwhatsoever of water damage and was willing to exchange it on the spot, the only problem beingthat they were out of stock.I told this to Lavonne, and she simply did not care. She also did not care that her employeerefused to call customer care as they were instructed. Further, she did not care that her employee told me there would be no problem exchanging the phone. In effect, I was

lied to

bythe associate.I implored her for a number of one of her superiors, as to receive a second opinion, and shetime and time again,

refused

. Again, even when explicitly asked. She tried to tell me another reason she couldn’t exchange it was because I paid a reduced price for the phone with anupgrade. I don’t like being fed bologna, and that is precisely what that excuse was. It had nobearing on the conversation and issue at hand. She was reaching to find reasonable causesthat would prevent her from exchanging the phone—none of which were indeed reasonable.To every comment, question, and point I made I received the same auto-response fromLavonne, “But it’s water damaged, there’s nothing I can do.” Again and again. She offered meno options and no provided no help, not what I expect from someone bearing a managerial title.Her final overture was that I return to the store yet again the next day to speak with her manager. As if I had all the time in the world to try and overcome the inadequacy and ineptitudeof the staff at that AT&T store.I was

disgusted

. I left the store for the final time absolutely

livid.

No one at the store waswilling to take responsibility for a simple product defect. “Not my problem,” was the sentiment Iwas met with again and again. It was truly the clearest illustration of corporate

indifference

I’veever seen. The associates

could not have cared less

about me and my situation. Wow.I would be remiss if I did not mention that the problem was summarily resolved to mysatisfaction through your customer care line and resolution center. They were very helpful andsympathetic to me. For that I am very grateful and appreciative.