How to sue AT&T? Step-by-Step instructions

AT&T never sends you the reward card as promised?  This article provides everything you need to know about how to get your money back from AT&T.

 AT&T, like any other cable/mobile phone service companies, promotes their service by promising you a reward card when you make the purchase, and then ask you to redeem after a certain time.  For example,  AT&T offered to give me a $300 reward card when I signed up their Fiber internet service in April 2022.  However, no reward card or any instructions regarding redeeming reward card was ever send to me.   Here are what you need to do:

1.  Keep records when you place the order.

      When you purchase your phones or internet service online, do print out your order confirmation page showing that the promotion is applied to your order.   If you chat with an agent, and that agent helps place the order for you,  SAVE and PRINT a copy of the chat transcript. You want to have the agent confirm  your order qualifies for the promotion, and let the agent write it down in chat how much promotion is applied to your purchase.  

2.  After months of waiting, no reward ever comes, what to do now?

     Call customer service to get a basic understanding of what's going on.  Don't waste too much time on this.  I personally wasted hours of time on the phone with AT&T customer service.  Firstly, an agent lied to me that my $300 reward card would be added to my account in September, she could see that.  When the credit failed to show up, I called back in November, an AT&T agent from the AT&T reward center told me that the sales agent never put a request for reward card for my order.  As a a result of that, there was nothing they can do.  They transferred to me the general AT&T customer service team telling me to seek possible compensation from them.   Of course, the general customer service team would not be able to help because only the "Reward Center" could handle issues with the reward card.   Absurdly, these two departments transferred me back and forth for 4 times.  I talked with over 10 agents on the phone.  No resolution. 

3.  Write a legal demand letter.

      Before you can sue AT&T in a court, you will have to send them a legal demand letter which is required by courts.  You need to send the letter to AT&T's registered agent located in your state.   In California, AT&T's registered agent is:

C T Corporation, 

 330 N Brand Blvd Suite 700, Glendale, CA 91203 

    In addition, you may also mail a copy of your demand letter to AT&T's Office for Dispute Resolution.

Mail these letter via Certified Mail so that you have legal proof to show these letters are mailed and delivered. 

Below, I will give you a sample of the legal demand letter to send:

VIA USPS Certified Mail

Registered Agent of AT&T INC.
Amanda Garcia
C T Corporation System
330 N Brand Blvd, Glendale, CA

Office for Dispute Resolution, AT&T
1025 Lenox Park Blvd.
Atlanta, GA 30319

To: AT&T Inc.

Re: Demand for payment

To whom it may concern:

Please be advised that AT&T owes me $____ due to breach of contract by failing to honor a $_____ reward card for my purchase of AT&T internet service, and due to fraudulent misrepresentations by its agents.  In addition, I request AT&T Inc. to issue a check of $____ as a general compensation for the terrible, irresponsible customer service experience I’ve gone through, and for any costs I incurred to resolve this matter. My AT&T account: _______

Here are the relevant facts:

Provide the facts related to your case.

This issue I’ve encountered is not a single incident.  A search on the internet will show that there are many other users like me who had the same problem.  AT&T failed to properly supervise its agents in conducting sales activities in a fraudulent, misleading way.  

This will be your only chance to settle this matter before I file suit against in Small Claims Court. Please contact me on or before _______ (10 or 14 days from date of your letter) for purposes of settling this matter. If I do not hear from you on or before ________, I will file a lawsuit against you without further notice. It is in your best interest to settle this matter before a lawsuit is filed. If a judgment is obtained you will be ordered to pay the debt plus 10 % interest and court fees. 

Based on the foregoing, I expect payment in the amount of $_____ made payable to me, ______, no later than ________. (I can be reached at the phone number or address above.) If you decide to ignore this demand for payment, I will further pursue all legal remedies available without further notice. This letter serves as evidence that I have attempted to resolve this matter informally.

Very sincerely yours

4.   Waiting for calls from AT&T to resolve the issue with you.

At this stage, a person from AT&T's Office of the President, Executive Care and Advocacy will contact you.  Watch out calls from unknown 8xx numbers.

I would advise you talk to the agent and demand them to write to you regarding a potential resolution of the matter.  This way, you have written records, in case you need to file a civil suit against AT&T. 

5.  In case you still don't resolve your dispute.  Go file a civil action in court.

Go to your local superior court website, and go to small claims department to fill out the civil action forms.  

Most courts will require you to physically come to the courthouse during specific hours and days to hand-deliver the forms to the court’s clerk. 

All courts will require you to pay a filing fee before they allow you to sue AT&T in small claims.  If you win the case, the court will ask AT&T to pay for this cost. 

Ask the court to serve a copy of your complaint to AT&T.  You have to find out the AT&T's registered agent in you state, and provide their address to the court.

The Court will assign you a trial date and be sure to show up.

6.  Trial

On the trial date, show up.  Remember that small claims court do not allow legal representative.  So be ready to challenge any appearance from the ATT legal department.  Those legal officers are in fact lawyers.   Be sure to object to any zoom/phone appearance requested by AT&T.   If they fail to appear remotely,  you have a much better chance to win (you should win anyway in this type of civil actions because AT&T regularly fails to honor reward cards and they are at fault).

During trial, make sure to request the reimbursement of all the cost you've incurred.  Like postage for mailing legal letters, court filing fees, gasoline travelling to court, etc.  

The judge will issue an order right away or mail you a written judgment latter.   AT&T will send you a check after they receive the judgment. 

That's what I can think of right now.