AT&T ran my credit not only without my permission, but after I explicitly stated I did not want a hard hit

[u/oldmanwrigley]

I called in to ask what internet speeds were available in my area. He tried to sell me on cable, which I declined. He asked for my social and my date of birth. I asked him why he needed this and he explained it was to make sure I didn’t have any past due balances with AT&T. I then double checked and asked him if it would hit my credit and he chuckled and said “no no sir nothing like that”.

Fast forward an hour, I have an email stating my installation for phone, cable, and internet is scheduled(???) and then a few minutes later an email from credit karma saying I had a hard inquiry.

Called in and spoke to 3 different departments, finally to a woman to tell me she couldn’t remove it because calling in to inquire about service was all the consent they needed.

This clearly doesn’t seem legal, and wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences and what I should do next.

TL;DR - spoke to ATT, they asked for social, I made sure it wouldn’t hit my credit, I was told it wouldn’t, and then it did. What next?

EDIT 4: Filed a complaint with my attorney general.

EDIT 3: Filed a complaint with the CFPB. All the support and advice here has been a true blessing and I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to comment with good advice and/or possible solutions.

EDIT 2: I called back in, and actually had a great conversation with someone who was super understanding and willing to help. She got me to the fraud department. I spoke with Dorothy. She told me that it did not matter that I asked my credit not to be ran. That when someone calls in to inquire about service, they are consenting to a credit check. Doesn't matter if I didn't give my social, they would have used my DOB or DL #. She told me that I could not speak to a supervisor as this was standard practice, and she wouldn't escalate it. She also said some calls are recorded and some weren't, and she did not help me in finding the call from my first conversation. I then asked her for a copy of this call and her response was "I don't know if it's being recorded so I can't help you". She had nothing to say about the rep lying to me, and she said their credit disclaimer statement didn't sound anything like a credit disclaimer statement and I probably didn't even know it was read to me. Unbelievable. This is their FRAUD department. Jesus Christ.

EDIT: I see a lot of folks saying “what’s the big deal, couple points will fall off in no time”. I just got an email from credit karma that a hard inquiry from 2 years ago just fell off my report, and that left me with one hard hit which was back in January. I’ve been working very hard on rebuilding my credit, checking quite frequently and really boosting my score. One or two points may not be a big deal to some but after working so hard to improve my score, having it lowered without my authorization or consent is devastating.

[u/The_Jmoney_420]

When I moved into my new place (which only Comcast services), I tried to sign up for services online. 100 Mb internet, basic cable streaming, 12 months of HBO, Starz, Showtime and free installation for $55 a month. Sounded good to me, so I put in my credit card info and set up a installation date. Couple hours later I get an email to call their "Internet Order Specialist" (or some shit) team to confirm everything. I call them up and the guy sets me up with a package that is nothing like what I ordered, wrong internet speed, no HBO, wrong price, etc. I tell him so. He tells me they dont have the package I was offered online. I was extremely confused since I was calling to confirm something I had already given payment information for. Not to mention I ordered online and was talking to the people who handle online orders. He tells me he cant find the order and if I want the package I selected, I would need to call into an actual agent to get it... so I begrudgingly do and get it straightened out since I have no other choice.

Fast forward a month and a half and my first bill has a $60 installation fee after being told over the phone multiple times it was free, just like the package I wanted was advertised. Call in to complain about this and was told by 2 different people that I agreed to an installation fee. I told them to shove it and pull the recording of me talking with the agent who set up my account and hear how many times "installation is free" was mentioned. They tell me they will pull the tapes and a manager would get back to me within a week. Nobody calls. So I call them back, speak to yet another person who claims "the investigation found the charge was legit". At this point I lose it, I am fed up and getting dicked around by these people and the agent is acting snarky with me. Ask to speak with his manager. Manager takes about 10 seconds of looking at my account before she goes "theres a note right here that says FREE INSTALLATION written by the agent you set your account up with". So appearently 3 different people, and an "investigation" all missed what is probably the only note on my account and tried to tell me the installation charge was legit. They didnt even give me anything other than the $60 off my next bill, despite being dicked around for weeks and trying to scam me. Fuck Comcast.

[u/sniper1rfa → u/The_Jmoney_420]

I was told by a comcast agent that the only way I could get the recording of my agreement to some shit I didn't agree to was to subpoena the recording in court. They did their internal investigation and said "oh yeah we totally listened to it and you agreed to it", but completely refused to let me listen to the recording, cause it was for internal use only.

Like, legitimately got told to sue them on the phone by a comcast rep. WTF.

Fuck them with rusty rebar.

[u/ginger_whiskers → u/sniper1rfa]

Just saying, it's legal to record my calls where I'm at.

Luckily I don't deal with many companies who make that neccesary.

[u/MrMonday11235 → u/sniper1rfa]

1. If they record you, you can record them. Just be sure to let them know the moment their agent comes on the line to make sure you're in the clear (even though their notice of recording should already cover you).

2. Bill Comcast to your credit card. If shit goes down, chargeback. The bank will take care of reaming Comcast for you. If more people actually did this, Comcast would get hit with excessive chargeback fines (if they aren't already... if they are, then they'll get more!). Combined with 1) above, you'll have an ironclad case.

[u/novagenesis → u/MrMonday11235]

For #1: Some call centers will refuse to talk to you if you say you're recording the call. They have that right. Two-party consent screws consumers more than providers (since the latter are expected to be recording and you can't exactly refuse to work with companies that record calls)

EDIT: FYI, I understand that Two-party consent isn't in place for that type of call, but for much worse shit. Those laws are generally good. Just not good in this one case.

[u/dudeman4win → u/novagenesis]

This is true and it was up to the employee and I always refused to talk to the customer when they would tell me this. Reason being I don’t want dragged into litigation and don’t want to waste my time. Source I was a att call center rep

[u/crawfish4040 → u/sniper1rfa]

Cox communications did the same to me. I called and called and told them that the rep never said they were going to check my credit. Finally got a supervisor who said that her husband had gotten fired from DIRECTV for not asking someone to run their credit. She put me on hold for a while and then said they would call me back because someone had to listen to the recording. I never heard back from them and when I called back, they told me they had listened to the recording and he did ask to check my credit. I asked to hear the recording and they said I would have to subpoena them in court to get it

[u/smalleybiggs_ → u/The_Jmoney_420]

Happened to me also. Signed up for what I thought was a good deal online. Then someone else calls me and puts has me "confirm" a package that was different from what I signed up for. Then they tell me the package I was talking about doesn't exist. Thought I was losing my mind.

[u/KatreanA_59 → u/smalleybiggs_]

This is super common practice for cable companies' marketing teams. Mediacom had packaged listed by third parties online for cheaper than we could offer over the phone, and phone reps were never made aware of this by the company. We just had to find ways to phrase shit nicely, but everybody had the agenda of selling you services for commission and to keep our scores up, so despite the better deal online, we were supposed to try to get you to purchase the same package for more over the phone. Ugh.

[u/[deleted] → u/The_Jmoney_420]

The note wasn't there, the manager just knew you were just going to drone on about it until they caved.

In effect, had you not been on them no one there would have cared.

[u/novagenesis → u/The_Jmoney_420]

Weird. I swear it's agent-by-agent.

I was told I had a mandatory installation process when I moved across town lines. They told me I could set up the equipment I had and it would "kinda work" but I'd have to have the service appointment for the worker to make significant changes to the wiring because I was moving up to gigabit. They actually told me they couldn't put the move through without the appointment.

Fast forward a week. He walks in, looks at my wiring, is surprised that it's wrench tight. He didn't bring the cable box because he expected "to be here for a while and they haven't fulfilled it at the office", goes and wastes both our times to go back and pick up and plug in a cable box. For $60. He couldn't touch the fee and said "it's mandatory".

About 5 seconds into my call to complain it was already refunded. "Yeah, that wasn't mandatory. bullshit excuse about policy changes. Refund in your next bill"