AT&T’s services, products being pulled from third-party retailers

By on Feb 22, 2011 at 5:59 PM
mobile February 22, 2011

It looks like AT&T is aiming to recapitalize on revenues generated from handset sales. Several third-party wireless resellers — including Wirefly — have reported that beginning this March, they will no longer offer AT&T devices or services. In a letter to customers, Wirefly CEO, Andy Zeinfeld, noted that his company is committed to providing great selection and savings along with straightforward pricing; something Mr. Zeinfeld said is no longer possible with AT&T.

“It is with regret that I must inform you that effective March, 2011, we will no longer offer AT&T products and services on Wirefly.com,” writes Mr. Zeinfeld.

Wirefly is not, however, the only one being put on AT&T probation. Online retailer LetsTalk sent out the following note to its affiliates:

Effective March 8th, 2011, LetsTalk as well as other web indirect agents [...], will no longer be able to offer AT&T Wireless as a carrier option to our customers.  The primary reasons given for this change in AT&T’s business strategy were centered around AT&T cost savings and retrenchment.

It is still unclear how other independent, third-party retailers — like Amazon Wireless — will be affected; the “business strategy” that AT&T modified causing this third-party exodus is also unknown.

Wirefly declined to further comment on the situation and AT&T did not respond to BGR‘s request for a statement.

Read [Wirefly] Read [Wireless and Mobile News]

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  • Anonymous

    Yikes. Sign of trouble on planet AT&T?

    • Cer

      Maybe not trouble, but definitely fear

    • Kitty Claws86

      Nope, its called lets stop letting third party companies screw customers out of thousands of dollars! Have you ever red any of those companies’ contracts? You may want to before opening your mouth and criticizing a simple policy change!

      • Anonymous

        Your panties must be thoroughly bunched up in your rectum, because I didn’t criticize the change at all. I said yikes, and inquired of whether the blogosphere thinks this is a sign of financial trouble. Read: Go F%$# yourself.

      • Anonymous

        Those companies aren’t forcing those idiots to sign contracts they never read and decide to break. So it’s AT&Ts job to hold the hand of some dbag that signs a ridiculous contract? Go stand in line for your government rations and FEMA trailer.

      • jiji

        Was that a crack at flood victims in New Orleans?

      • Sonya

        I think you forgot to say DROID does.

      • KCRic

        +1
        I love my trailer, though I didn’t get it from FEMA. It’s like a giant antenna so I just duct tape my phone to the wall.

      • KCRic

        Speaking of reading, have you READ the book on english grammar? Red is a color so no, I have not red anything lately aside from when I got shot on Black Ops yesterday – my screen went red. Does that count?

    • Courtney

      Not trouble just keeping the money tobe made inthe pockets of the sales ppl!

  • Anonymous

    AT&T preparing for a price war?

    • Cer

      What are you talking about? All these third-party retailers sold AT&T phones for less than you’d get them with AT&T directly. If AT&T is pulling phones from retailers in anticipation of a price war, then they’re waiving a white flag.

      • Anonymous

        I was looking at it from a margins point of view.

      • Cer

        Ah, so you mean a negotiating war, or a margins war, not a price war.

    • Anonymous

      Actually I was thinking they could lower plan rates if they spent less on commissions, but you may have it correct. I had just thrown that out there hence the question mark in my original post.

  • Be

    no AT&T is just being smart. Every time a retailer sells a phone AT&T has to pay that retailer commissions. If their is no difference in price than more people will order directly from AT&T or buy it in store. Wirefly and letstalk are ripoffs anyways. They want to charge you if you change your rate plan; etc.

    • Anonymous

      That would explain why they didnt have much of a deal on the Atrix (for upgrading customers.) This news sucks a lot, because i do love me some LetsTalk saving, but i do agree that it is a rip off they charge u for changing ur plan. It blows, lets just hope ATT keeps their prices down, and not just jack them right back up now that LetsTalk and WireFly have jumped ship.

    • 84Hokie

      So, the best way to sell handsets is to REDUCE the number of customer touchpoints, and “drive” customers to AT&T retail stores (wherever they are).

      Hmmm.

      • Fnfn1966

        Well, it sure is the best way to reduce customer dissatisfaction (and save Reputation) with ripoff companies like Wirefly and direct them into a REAL store with REAL people who are trying to make a living. Online sales has crushed the wireless industry over the years, and it’s about time AT&T showed some balls and put an end to it.

  • JoeDroidBionic

    AT&T did not respond to BGR‘s request for a statement********************

    that’s a shame! so much for being grateful, for a ‘defender’ , marketer. not nice to stab your friends.

  • http://twitter.com/SenorDickhaus Señor Dickhäus

    “AT&T did not respond to BGR‘s request for a statement.”

    lol gee I wonder why…

  • Anonymous

    Att putting nails in its own coffin , lets just sit back and watch. I hope the next iphone 5 isnt launched on ATT or even available for ATT

    • Kitty Claws86

      Apple will never turn its back on AT&T, network capabilities will ensure the continuance of an iPhone on AT&Ts network. . .

    • Allen Walker

      Yeah, jesus, what an idiot..

  • Anonymous

    I’m guessing they want to pay retailers less in commissions and the retailers aren’t going for it

  • Totalimmortal

    My commission payout just went up with AT&T, so I don’t think it’s that. I’m also a “direct” at&t retailer.

  • Mr Tecjunke

    Since they have lost iphone exclusivity they must now grab all direct revenue they can…this shows just how deep they were buried up apple’s ass. There were no other relevant phones on att;let’s be real…all pieces of junk loaded w/ bloatware so now they’re trying to find a way to keep their consumer base coming thru their doors or on their website…they kept the iphone pure but now they’re jumping on the android bandwagon late yet missing the point by cripling the openess of this OS…4 real phone freaks att offerings are an absolute joke!! Keeping my nexus one until the next unlocked pure android w/ att bands comes out…catch some other suckers;but you can have the 3rd finger in the meantime!!

    • Kitty Claws86

      You seem to be confused. . . Did you miss the fact that Verizons coveted iPhone launch was a disaster?. . . Did you also forget that AT&T has always been ranked highest for consumers with smart phones? As far as relevant phones, you seem to have lost your mind! AT&T always carries the latest and greatest devices available. . . (Being a GSM company has its advantages. . . sorry about your luck CDMA…) Oh, and P.S. AT&T isn’t a fan of letting 3rd party retailers take advantage of good willed customers… Next time you have 2 or 3 hours to waste, try reading some of those companies secondary contracts!!!

      • Mr Tecjunke

        Like I said att did lose exclusitivity & their phones are locked out of reaching their full potential,I’ve att for 10 yrs so I’m satisfied w/ the service…just not the phones;except the iphone but I’ve been there done that…if u read my post I buy unlocked phones so you preaching to the wrong choir;had a completely unlocked iphone too…thanks for your defending argument counsler,lol

      • Uzumaki

        Working for a 3rd party I can say this, not all of us have secondary contracts. We can be pretty lenient when it comes to little things like discounting or waving certain fees corporate will hammer you with (re stocking fees and such). I work for a Verizon Indirect retailer here in Chicago over 60% of the boxes we sell are smart phones, the I phone launch was a joke. Mainly because the Iphone is a joke. (sorry I’ve had an android since I worked for tmobile and I would never consider down grading to an phone/Veriizon launches LTE phones( GSM phones starting at the end of this month)

      • Superuser999

        No, what have YOU been smoking?

        Aside from the Captivate and now the Atrix, AT&T’s Android offerings have been the joke of the industry.

        Not to mention that all AT&T devices are so deep in bloatware they have to be rooted and flashed to be any good at all.

        And AT&T was ranked highest because it was largely idiotic delusional iPhone users taking part in the surveys. Those morons can’t distinguish between hardware/software/service if you took 3hrs to explain the differences to them. p

    • Latinjersey

      Iphone, BB Bold, Torch, Windows Phone 7, Moto Atrix just to name a few exclusive ATT smartphones. To say ATT has a poor device line up is the most ignorant thing I have ever heard. They are the smartphone leader period.

      • Mr Tecjunke

        BB Bold…who still does blackberry except for corporate;not…BB Torch,same point plus a flimsy slider;not…Any of the wack windows 7 w/ no solid apps or support(name some seriously) & no custom ringers,cut & paste,limited live tiles,etc;not…Moto Atrix…loaded down w/ bloatware,throwback motoblur,no true 4G speeds,lapdock & mediadock overhyped because they charging for a feature that’s only an extension of the phone not a true add-on;not…shall I continue…like I said the iphone was revolutionary but att dived too deep into apples ass to give other phones a chance to be great…I challenge anyone who knows the celly biz to name a phone on att’s network that could touch the iphone when they were the only carrier…Give me a break,att made 38% more over every phone on their network when they sold an iphone,now there’s a homework assignment for u!!!!!

      • Allen Walker

        Jesus, you have no idea. Its not with arguing with an 11 year old.. The bold and torch are completely different and the slider is incredibly solid. The Atrix isn’t “loaded down” at all and is the fastest phone I’ve seen. Windows 7 phones are amazing and very fast. Just cause they don’t have angry birds doesn’t mean it’s time to dismiss them, child. Do some homework yourself and actually pick up more than one device.

      • mauigixxer

        iphone not exclusive now and bold never was

      • be

        the torch was/still is a failure for AT&T. Not a big seller. Windows 7 Phones haven’t become popular yet. Other than the iphone AT&T has nothing. Verizon/sprint/tmobile all have better Android lineups. And you can talk shit as much you want about Android, it still grew quicker than any other OS out there.

  • mike

    How much does at&t pays retailers? i heard something around 500 for adding a line, thats why they have the ability to have the prices so low in wirefly and stuff and what does at&t get in return? Whole bunch of inventory thats standing still. Also at&t cor store policy now is to match their own online prices for anyphone, so a lot of phones online on at&t website, might not be free, but at reasonable prices at least, which could be matched in the store, so whats the point of paying other people to sell your product.

  • Anonymous

    That’s too bad. There were some good deals on wirefly.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7QG3VQBWLNLVPTDJICDYHEDY5U SteveN

    AT@T IS SO STUPID. WHY? WHY AT@T. IF I WERE CEO THIS WOULD NOT BE HAPPENING. WHO PUT A GUN UP TO THE CEO? SO STUPID. THEY WILL BE LOSING MONEY DOWN THE ROAD. AT@T WILL BE DEFUNKED IN 4 YEARS. TRUST ME

    • Concerned Citizen

      Uh.. I dont trust people who write in all CAPs. sorry.

    • Vdubguy05

      AT&T isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Also, you will NEVER be CEO of any company, let alone AT&T.

    • VZGUEST

      do you know that verizon and sprint are only american telecom companies? there are other countries in this world too you know? and those countries never heard of verizon or sprint, you know? so at&t isnt going anywhere.

      maybe at@t, but we dont know what that is, except you ;)

      • http://twitter.com/rdubmu Robert

        Did you know that Verizon is owned 45% by the vodafone, Vodafone is an English Company…

  • Melinda59

    Great. Wirefly sucks

  • Anonymous

    Yes, being pulled from 3rd party retailers and replaced with Cingular!!!
    (or, CinguCrap)

  • APG

    I don’t blame em, do you know how much fraud goes on @ those 3rd party retailers. Do you know how many customers are screwed over with unwanted rate plan changes, txt & data changes. How many phones are “lost” or stolen.

    I’ll tell you its mess over there

  • SarahSmith

    It’s actually cheaper for AT&T to pay a one time commission per device to WireFly or Let’s Talk than it is to pay employee salaries, benefits and pension plans on their own.

    This decision by AT&T has nothing to do with losing money or revenue to the etailers. AT&T charges back these etailers any commission gained when a customer defects early or modify’s their mobile number. That’s why these etailers turn around and charge the customer.

    Also despite a few grumblings by AT&T retail employees this decision also has nothing to do with a few pissed off customers mad about extra fees they incurred by changing features or terminating their lines early.

    AT&T is trying to bully these guys into going exclusive with them ‘or else,” and the etailers aren’t buying into it. So now AT&T is throwing a tantrum and pulling out.

    • Nyczprince546

      I don’t know where you get your commission but your absolutely wrong. Im a indirect retailer. It costs AT&T a lot more to pay me my commission than to pay A) a online sales manager. B) a customer service rep C) a employee in the corporate store.

      We indirects also get charged backed for modifications. We do not get charged back if they just change their plan. That is a bullshit lie that the etailers want you to think so they can charge you.

  • Allen Walker

    Christ its about time..

  • Hhfgh

    at&t is fail

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