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Carrier anyone pay final payment to upgrade, then decide to pay off phone and keep it?

caligurl

caligurl

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 8, 2009
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if so, was it easy to make the final pay off?

I was told prior to making the 12th installment payment to AT$T that if I changed my mind and wanted to keep the phone, I could just call in and pay the last payments.

well we have someone that wants to buy hubby's phone, so I called to pay off the phone and they said they couldn't do it!!!!!

they said I could cancel the order for the X and reverse the upgrade.

Worst part is that it wasn't just ONE rep that told me I could pay it off easily if I changed my mind!
 
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Just wait until your X arrives, but you absolutely can do it. Why not just do it online? You can also just keep making payments if you want, the X is a new and separate loan.

Edit: I was assumed this was IUP, but now realize it may not be as you wrote carrier, so disregard if a carrier loan or upgrade program.
 
caligurl said:
carrier.... AT$T
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I did this last year when I got my 7+. They send an email saying “if you don’t pay you will be charged the remaining $$$” and it’ll add it to your account balance and you have to pay it. Or contact them and pay off before they put it on your balance.
 
That's the problem.... I don't want to wait a month or 25 days or ever how long it is before they put it on my bill. I have someone that wants to buy it FRIDAY!

I don't understand why they can't put it on my account today! Then it can hit my account tomorrow and I can pay it!

(and WHY did at least 3 different customer non-service reps tell me it was an easy phone call????????????????????)
 
Have you tried to just tell them you want to pay it? If they told you that you can pay ahead of time then what’s the problem?
 
That's the problem. I have called.... and chatted... with about 6 different reps today and told each one that I was told multiple times by different reps that I would be able to call in to make the payment.... and none of the ones i talk to today are able to take my payment to pay off the phone.

it was the ones prior to making the final 12th payment (with the intent of sending in the phone) that said it was easy to just call in and pay it off and keep it... WRONG! UGH!
 
Have you tried going to a Corp store? I’m sure they’ll take cash on the spot. I don’t understand why they’d give you a run around when all you want to do is pay it.
 
caligurl said:
That's the problem. I have called.... and chatted... with about 6 different reps today and told each one that I was told multiple times by different reps that I would be able to call in to make the payment.... and none of the ones i talk to today are able to take my payment to pay off the phone.

it was the ones prior to making the final 12th payment (with the intent of sending in the phone) that said it was easy to just call in and pay it off and keep it... WRONG! UGH!
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There's no reason why you just can't sell the phone and then you pay off the bill when you get it. I had the same problem last year I want to pay the phone off immediately and they told me it since I had the new next contract on my new phone I had to wait till I got billed. So I sold my phone and when the bill came around I just paid it off. You could have paid the full balance on the phone before you upgraded to the new phone because the amount you have to pay off to satisfy that contract was listed on your account. At least it was listed on mine before I did the upgrade to buy the iPhone X. But I got lazy and didn't pay it off before I upgraded last week so now I'll just wait for them to bill me sell my phone this weekend and pay it off when I get bills
 
What about unlocking it? Can't unlock it til it's paid off. I tried unlocking it yesterday and it told me I couldn't because it wasn't paid off.....

I didn't pay off the whole balance because if I didn't have a buyer, I was going to turn it in.
 
I'm actually considering this option, since the remaining balance isn't much (my wife and I chose AT&T Next instead of AT&T Next Every Year).
 
Word of advice, I just went through hell with AT&T refusing to accept my year old phone, once the phone is “upgraded” it’s only use is either as a just in case phone, or wait the nearly two months before they finally bill you and unlock it.
 
Joe h said:
Word of advice, I just went through hell with AT&T refusing to accept my year old phone, once the phone is “upgraded” it’s only use is either as a just in case phone, or wait the nearly two months before they finally bill you and unlock it.
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And that's what really pisses me off. I ASKED and I ASKED AGAIN about changing my mind and the stupid, idiot, moron reps told me it was no problem to call in and pay it off.....

At least I'll know if this situation ever comes up again.
 
caligurl said:
And that's what really pisses me off. I ASKED and I ASKED AGAIN about changing my mind and the stupid, idiot, moron reps told me it was no problem to call in and pay it off.....

At least I'll know if this situation ever comes up again.
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Well someone offered to by my phone that im supposed to send back. So I’ll see this weekend
 
So here's a new twist: Both of our phones got reminder notices that remind us to send in our OLD phones (7 and 7+)

HOWEVER: they both show that if we don't turn them in, we will be charged the full price of our NEW phones ($999 for him and $1149 for me)

On the phone with AT$T now and they are saying if we don't send in our OLD phones, that we will be charged the FULL PRICE of the NEW phones!

WTF!?
 
I am having the same exact issue. I've called in twice asking if I can pay off the balance and keep my old phone. The first time they said I could go into a store and they would put the old phone on a temporary account, then give my new phone a new account, or some such nonsense. The second time they said I couldn't pay it off at all. Then today I got the same text message saying if I don't return the old phone I will be charged $1149...WTH I only owed around $440 on it!

I was thinking about paying it off, unlocking and then selling it. But if it's going to be this much hassle I will probably just send it back.
 
caligurl said:
if so, was it easy to make the final pay off?

I was told prior to making the 12th installment payment to AT$T that if I changed my mind and wanted to keep the phone, I could just call in and pay the last payments.

well we have someone that wants to buy hubby's phone, so I called to pay off the phone and they said they couldn't do it!!!!!

they said I could cancel the order for the X and reverse the upgrade.

Worst part is that it wasn't just ONE rep that told me I could pay it off easily if I changed my mind!
Click to expand...
If it's this much trouble, just turn it in as intended. Tell the buyer it's no longer for sale.

Your only other option is to cancel your X preorder. Go to your account online and wait for it to update back to showing your pay off amount. Sell it first and pay it off. You can then go online to request the payed off phone to be unlocked if you want. They will send you an email saying it's unlocked.

Your line will be upgrade ready and you can either go to Apple app or online, check to see if you can reserve for pickup. You may be able to get your X faster this way. Usually updated stock at 6:00am. Or if no Apple Store around your area, just re-order and wait to be shipped.
 
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kind of hard to cancel our iPhone x preorders when we've already had them for almost a week.

as far as my phone goes..... why would i want to pay 2 payments beyond the 12 that is required for upgrade? that's $80 that i most definitely can make up with selling it.

as far as selling hubby's phone. kinda hard to tell the buyer that it's no longer for sale since he works with my husband. at the desk right next to his.

a better thing is for AT$T NOT to tell me false information from several different employees and then NOT say that the incorrect price will be due.

i called them yesterday and they said it is a mistake (DUH!) in their system.
 
Maybe stop calling, get off the phone and computer and go to an AT&T store and pay off the phone. I’m sure they’ll take your money lol.
 
caligurl said:
kind of hard to cancel our iPhone x preorders when we've already had them for almost a week.

as far as my phone goes..... why would i want to pay 2 payments beyond the 12 that is required for upgrade? that's $80 that i most definitely can make up with selling it.

as far as selling hubby's phone. kinda hard to tell the buyer that it's no longer for sale since he works with my husband. at the desk right next to his.

a better thing is for AT$T NOT to tell me false information from several different employees and then NOT say that the incorrect price will be due.

i called them yesterday and they said it is a mistake (DUH!) in their system.
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caligurl said:
What about unlocking it? Can't unlock it til it's paid off. I tried unlocking it yesterday and it told me I couldn't because it wasn't paid off.....

I didn't pay off the whole balance because if I didn't have a buyer, I was going to turn it in.
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Paying extra payments is a moot point if you want to PIF anyway. I'm sure the buyer will understand that you were not able to undo the trade in that you started. How did ATT tell you false information before you pre ordered since you said yourself that you didn't have a buyer prior. I think your mad that you can't undo what you intended to do without canceling your preorder. You canceled the prior contract when you pre ordered the X, and per the Next agreement, you have to turn in the phone if you are upgrading early, that's the problem. Your only recourse is to cancel your pre order, pay it off and then re order when the line is free and clear OR sell the phone anyway and PIF when you are billed for not turning it in and then you can unlock it for them.

None of this is ATT's fault if you ask me. It is you who changed your mind and now want to make a profit off of it, which is fine, but you have to cancel everything you did prior and go about it the correct way. Even if you walk into an ATT store and say I want to payoff my line and keep the phone, they will still say you have to cancel your preorder first before they can apply it to the remaining balance.
 
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They gave false information because i was told that i could EASILY CALL IN AND PAY OFF THE BALANCE IF I CHANGED MY MIND.

Had they been HONEST and told me that it was this huge clusterF then i would have done things differently.

And we're not talking one or two employees told me this easy peasy process could happen.... i asked multiple times before taking the action i chose.


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HelloMikee said:
Maybe stop calling, get off the phone and computer and go to an AT&T store and pay off the phone. I’m sure they’ll take your money lol.
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not everyone lives near a store. closest corporate store is over an hour away.
 
I work for AT&T. Let me fill you in.

First, you have to wait. There is no paying off the phone once you upgrade to the new one. There is simply no way to access the old installment in the system- at least, not on my level or customer services level. Maybe, just maybe the back end team can do it. But once you start an upgrade, the old installment goes into limbo essentially because AT&T has been signaled you’re returning your old phone to them.

You must wait the 30 days or so before it hits the account before you can pay for it. Before I worked for AT&T, I went through this same exact process a year ago when trying to pay off my 6S. Customer service can not do it. And again, neither can the store. All we can see is your current installment.

Now all that said, it doesn’t really matter unless selling it unlocked is one of your main selling points. I sold my 7 Plus last week (not paid off) and came out ahead $150. Since I had already upgraded to the X myself, I cant pay off that installment. I have to wait my 30 days as well.

The reason the information you’re getting is all over the place is because you USED to be able to pay it off after upgrading. I actually did do this with the iPhone 6, so I can assume this was business as usual a few years ago. The only possible way is if you go to a corporate store and ask the rep to call the back end team to try to pay off the installment- although its a shot in the dark...its your only shot.

I hope this helps!
 
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