When you walk into an AT&T store with the intention of buying a new phone, and you walk out thinking you need to switch carriers, then you know something is seriously fucked up with your policies….

Once upon a time, my mom, sister, and I were all on a family plan with AT&T. During this time, my sister was the primary account holder.

Two years ago, my sister left the plan, because she wanted to set up a new plan with her husband on Verizon. She called up AT&T customer service, took her number off the family plan, and transferred ownership of the account to me. Or so we thought.

Yesterday, I went into the AT&T store, intending to get a new phone. That’s when I realized the account was still in her name, and because of that, I couldn’t get a new phone. I was told that she needed to call customer service and transfer the account to me, and then I had to go back to the AT&T store and accept ownership of the account within 14 days.

I called her up, and after discussing how she had already done this two goddamned years ago, we decided it would be easiest to just call again, instead of pitching a fit. So she called and requested the transfer, and I was told to go to an AT&T store with my driver’s license and social security number in the next 14 days to accept the transfer. Great, at least the instructions were consistent.

Today, I went into the AT&T store (again), intending to get a new phone (again). That’s when I found out that the account was still in her name. And this time, I was given the following instructions:

In order for her to transfer the account to me, we both had to go into the store together. She couldn’t just call it in.

For the record, my sister lives in Northern California, and I live in Southern California.

Furthermore, in order to get my mom’s number attached to my account, too, I needed the sim card number off her phone.

My mom is in Taiwan right now, and with her being not all that tech-savvy, I’m hesitant to ask her to open up her phone, so that she can give me that number.

And that’s where we are at this point. To be perfectly blunt, I don’t understand why they can’t just transfer the fucking account ownership over to me. My sister’s phone number isn’t even on the account, anymore. It’s all my contact information on there. It just has her name at the top. Seriously, that’s all we need to change (well, that and the social security number attached to the account). And why the hell does my mom need to be involved in this, too?!?

Now, I have to admit that Darrell, the rep who helped me (or tried to, anyway) at the AT&T store on Garnet Avenue, genuinely looked like he was doing everything he could to fix this for me. He just didn’t have the power to do anything that could actually help. Shit, he couldn’t even give me a discount on the phone or plan that I was hoping to get. You know, something for the hassle my sister and I have been through at this point? Nothing.

So now, here are my options:

• Jump through a metric fuckton more hoops to take ownership of the account, so that I can get a new phone.
• Cancel my service and find a new carrier.

You tell me, which option sounds like the easier one?

Update, 3/29/15, 6:26 PM: Just spent over an hour on live chat with customer service. The issue still isn’t resolved. AT&T is losing points fast.