Well that really depends on where you live. Here are instructions to get you in out and on your way with a working phone if you’re an AT&T customer.
What you seek is known as a DSC (Device Support Center), these centers are located throughout the United States and have but one purpose, to repair, fix, or replace AT&T phones. Here is the catch, these centers can always help customers find a resolution, but they can only replace your phone if it is still covered under warranty.
If you want to know more about your phones warranty and what that warranty covers then you might be interested in reading the article entitled knowing your phones warranty.
Basically warranty covers phones:
- Owned longer than 14 days – if you haven’t had your phone for over 14 days you most likely qualify for what is called buyer’s remorse and can take your phone back to where you bought it if you can’t seem to fix it, or don’t care for the mobile itself.
- Purchased new and owned less than a year – when you buy a new phone you get a one year warranty or 365 days. Your warranty also starts ticking as soon as your phone is ordered as does your buyer’s remorse. So if it takes 7 days to arrive at your home that’s 7 days counted on your warranty.
- Purchased refurbished and are less than 90 days old – refurbished phones only come with a 90 day warranty. Take that into consideration when you’re offered an amazing deal on a phone and it’s refurbished, especially if you’re signing a 2 year contract.
- That have no visual signs of Physical damage – any signs of physical damage such as cracks, bleeding, dings, nicks, deep scratches, missing pieces, missing screws, etc. voids the warranty whether it caused the problem(s) your having or not.
- Have No Signs of Liquid Damage – All AT&T phones have liquid damage stickers that change colors when moisture or liquid gets into the phone. If any of your LDIs (Liquid Damage Indicators) are pink or red, then they have been activated and your warranty is void. PS don’t listen to music from your phone in the shower…
- No cosmetic damage – if you glue or attach things to your phone, chances are very good that you would be out of warranty.
- No signs of Tampering – if your LDI is missing, appears to be scratched off, or replaced, or the screws are different types to name a few, these signs would void the warranty due to tampering.
You can visit a DSC even if you’re phone is out of warranty. They can still help you troubleshoot and often times fix your phone. Before you go into a DSC you should consider reading This Step-By-Step Guide Will Fix Most Android Smart Phone Issues. The article covers a lot of what the representative will go over in the DSC or what you would most likely be walked through if you called into AT&T’s WSC (Warranty Service Center).
Is there an AT&T Device Support Center near me? And if so where is the DSC located?
Simply select the State that you live in for a list of Locations, Hours of Operation, and even basic Directions.
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- Alabama, including Birmingham and Mobile
- Arizona, including Mesa and Phoenix
- Arkansas, including Little Rock and Rogers
- California:
- Northern California, including San Jose, Walnut Creek, Citrus Heights, Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Salinas, Colma, and San Francisco
- Southern California, including San Diego, LA – Torrance, LA – Thousand Oaks, LA – Rancho Cucamonga, LA – West Hollywood, Rowland Heights, and Irvine
- Colorado, including Colorado Springs, Denver, and Westminster
- Connecticut, including Hartford
- Florida
- North Florida, including Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa
- South Florida, including Kendall – Miami, Miami Lakes – Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Fort Myers
- Georgia, including Alpharetta, Atlanta, Newnan, and Snellville
- Illinois, including Arlington Heights, Champaign, Chicago, Oakbrook Terrace, Schaumburg, Skokie, and Springfield
- Indiana, including Indianapolis (East Washington)
- Kentucky, including Owensboro
- Louisiana, including Shreveport, Lafayette, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge
- Maryland/Washington DC, including Hanover (Arundel Mills), Pikesville, and Gaithersburg, MD
- Massachusetts, including Boston
- Michigan, including Livonia and Auburn Hills
- Minnesota, including Coon Rapids and Duluth
- Mississippi, including Jackson
- Missouri, including St. Louis
- Nevada, including Las Vegas
- New Jersey, including Metuchen, Mt. Laurel, Paramus, and Union
- New York, including Manhattan (32nd & 42nd St.), West 125th St., Bensonhurst, Hicksville, Islandia, Park Place, Queens, and Syracuse
- North Carolina, including Charlotte, Fayetteville, and Raleigh/Durham
- Ohio, including Cleveland and Columbus
- Oklahoma, including Tulsa and Oklahoma City
- Oregon, including Portland
- Pennsylvania
- Eastern PA and Philadelphia Metro, including Allentown, King of Prussia, Lancaster, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia
- Western PA, including Pittsburgh
- Puerto Rico, including San Juan and Arecibo
- Texas
- North Texas, including Fort Worth, MacArthur Crossing, and Dallas
- South Texas, including Houston, Houston – Webster, Austin, and San Antonio
- Utah, including Salt Lake City
- Virginia, including Chantilly, Virginia Beach, and Woodbridge
- Washington, including Seattle and Tukwila
Device Support Center Holiday Operating Hours (PDF)
This list of DSC locations was taken from AT&T’s website. For the most current and up to date list of states and cities you can go to AT&T’s website at www.att.com/dsc.
If none of these locations are close to you, don’t worry you’re not alone, there is not a single DSC located in the state of New Mexico where I live, at least not yet.
You might be wondering, “So can I just go into a regular AT&T store for an exchange?” Nope, store locations whether they be regular retail stores or corporate stores cannot replace phones under warranty. In fact as far as fixing phones, unless you get lucky and get a self taught knowledgeable rep, store locations are not your best option. Store representatives are trained to sell phones not fix them. In fact if you walk into a store and say you’re having problems with your mobile phone all they usually tell you is “here, call this number and they’ll send you a different phone” or “there’s a warranty location off of such and such road that can help you”.
What you need to do, if there are no DSC’s in your area, is to contact the Warranty department through the phone. Make sure you call them on a phone that is NOT the mobile phone you’re having problems with; they are going to ask you for information from the phone itself, so also have your mobile phone with you so you can provide that information.
They will ask you for the phones IMEI number. This number is basically the Social Security Number of the phone and lets them track pretty much everything about it. They can even see when you first put your SIM card into your phone down to the second. It’s one of the methods that allows AT&T verify how long you have had the phone and make sure it’s not out of warranty by date. Note: don’t ever try to scam AT&T they know things that you don’t.
The direct telephone number to the Warranty Department is 1-800-801-1101 or you can dial 611 from your phone and ask to be transferred to the Warranty Department.
Don’t bother contacting the manufacturer directly, they are usually outsourced overseas and I have yet to find them very helpful. Besides, when you try and use your warranty through the manufacturer you have to send your phone in for repair, sometimes even paying for the shipping yourself! Then you’re out of a phone the whole time it takes them to fix it and send it back.
If you are going to need to contact the Warranty Department by phone then you can make the process pretty quick by being prepared. Don’t expect to call, say your phone is having problems confirm your address and be sent a replacement overnight. AT&T didn’t become the largest mobile telephone provider in the USA or one of the largest and successful companies in the world by sending people replacement equipment without trying to fix it first. The warranty department is there to fix phones, and the ones that they cannot fix, and if are covered under warranty, are replaced. That’s the best thing anyways because if you can fix it you won’t have to travel anywhere or wait for a replacement, getting your phone to work correctly should be your main goal.
Here are some tips to make the transaction smooth and fast.
1. Try and Fix it yourself first – the most important thing that you can do is to try and fix your phone yourself, if the troubleshooting works you won’t have to call anyone or go anywhere and you will be good to go. Click this link if you are having problems with your Android smart phone and did not access the article earlier, these steps often fix common software issues on phones and when asked by a warranty representative you can tell him what steps you have already done to try and fix your phone.
2. Have your IMEI number ready – they need this number to even process an exchange, and you can get this number a few ways.
- The best way is to open up your dial pad, as though you were dialing a number into the phone to call someone. Then, instead of a telephone number type in this code *#06# . Once you type in *#06# it will pop up with your IMEI number. It will be a 15 digit number, sometimes ending with two extra digits like a 0 then some other number. The representative is going to need the first 15 digits before any spaces or slashes. He might even just ask for the last 5 numbers depending on the rep that you speak with. It would be best to write that number down and have it ready.
- Another way to access your IMEI number is in your settings. Follow these steps: Home key > Menu key > Settings > About Phone > system/status.
- A third way and sometimes only way, depending on the issue you’re experiencing, is by reading it off the label on the back of the phone. You’ll have to pull the battery out of the phone in order to get to it. It’s usually above the first barcode. Most of the time it says IMEI: then the number. Sometimes it just has the number though. If you don’t see the term IMEI then you can look for a 15 digit number that starts with 35 or a 01. That will be your phones IMEI number.
3. Check for liquid damage – the rep will know exactly where your LDI(s) (liquid damage indicator) is located. You definitely want to check this and DON’T lie about the color, if an exchange gets done and AT&T gets your phone back with liquid damage you get charged a pretty steep “Out Of Warranty Processing Fee”. They warn you about it in the terms and conditions that are read on every exchange, which is also a verbal contract.
4. Check the leads on the battery and phone – make sure the battery prongs that plug into each other on the battery and on the phone are still nice and gold colored, and nice and shiny. Make sure that there is no rust, corrosion, and that there is nothings bent or broken.
5. If you do those 4 steps then you’re ready to call in – when you call in, call from a line other than the mobile phone in question. Also have that phone with you just in case they need anything else off the phone. Call the 1-800-801-1101 and start the claim process. Oh yeah you will need to verify your AT&T account information, so have that ready too.
Listed below are some DSC and warranty tips that I thought I would mention to make your life easier:
- Take your phone with you to the DSC – they can’t fix or replace your mobile phone if you don’t have it with you.
- Take your charger too – chances are you are not going to need it, but take your charger too just in case.
- Take a photo id – they are going to have to get some type of verification on who you are before they can do an exchange. I recommend just the standard drivers license.
- Be ready to Verify your ATT account information – if needed, the rep is going to have to file the warranty claim under an account and phone number. Make sure you can verify the account owner’s name, the telephone number in question, and either the pass code on the account or the last 4 digits of the account owner’s social security number.
- Don’t forget to check its stock – if your phone is still under warranty then they should have it in stock. If your concerned that they might not carry your specific phone then go to att.com/dsc and it will have listed all the makes and models that DSC’s carry.
- Its first come first serve – DSC’s are usually pretty well stocked, but if the person in front of you got the last phone in your make model and color, make sure that you ask the representative to order you a phone and have it shipped to you in the mail. If they ship it don’t forget to very politely ask if they can priority ship the mobile phone and wave that priority shipping fee. If not then standard shipping is free of charge just not as fast.
- DSCs don’t do billing or sales – DSC’s only repair and replace phones, they don’t sell phones, do upgrades, answer billing questions, etc.
- No appointments necessary – you don’t need to call in, or make an appointment, just show up and get in and out with a working unit.
- Refurbished note – all replacements done by insurance or warranty are reconditioned phones. Thoroughly tested and in like new condition but still refurbished phones. The warranty does NOT carry new phones whatsoever so don’t ask them for one. Besides sometimes refurbished units can work better than new phones simply because they have been tested.
- Test, test, test before you leave DSC – make sure to test the phone before actually leaving the location to make sure that your problems and issues with your phone are solved. If your having dropped calls on a replacement as well as your original then it might be a bad SIM or network problem. Just something to be aware of.
- A replacement phones warranty – a replacement done through a warranty claim is going to come with a 90 day warranty OR follow the warranty of your original phone. Whatever amount of time is the longer of the two. For example, if you have had your phone for almost an entire year and have 21 days left on your warranty then your replacement phone is going to now have 90 days left on its warranty, because 90 days is longer than 21 days. If you have had your phone for 6 months then your replacements going to have 6 months on its warranty because 6 months is more than 3 months or 90 days.
I hope that this article was informative and that you got the answer that you were looking for. If you have any questions or constructive suggestions then don’t hesitate to leave a comment at the bottom of the page. Don’t forget to poke around the site for some other good information you might like, have a great day, and enjoy your phone.
