I've bought plenty of things on installment payments. And just maybe I don't have an inflated sense of entitlement.
They kept their word to make you eligible to buy. They offer the device for sale starting Friday. They will happily sell you a phone provided you find one in stock or reserve one when you can. We already know when reservations will go live again.
Those are your choices and what you are actually promised.
But in the real world they can't sell you something they don't have any more of.
Just be patient and if you want it you'll get it eventually.
AGAIN, NO! That is not what happened.
They have a process whereby when they announce the product for pre-order everyone can go to the Apple Store and attempt to purchase. If the item you want is out of stock, Apple allocates you a unit from a future shipment and gives you an estimated date that you can expect to receive the item you wish to purchase.
BUT NOT IF YOU WERE IN THE IUP. If you were in the IUP, instead of being given the option of selecting a purchase date in the future they told you to come back on September 17th and get in line with everyone else who had not pre-ordered. And given the fact that by now, ship dates for people who are pre-ordering are slipping well into October and November depending on model, your chances of getting a phone decline with every person who is able to pre-order.
And this would not even be the most egregious screwing. Because the part where they totally spit on you is when you have to pay on your current phone until you can obtain a new phone. Twelve months is really the sweet spot of the program and Apple made a big deal about telling people they could upgrade every 12 months and people evaluated the financial worthiness of Apple's offer based on the assumption that they could upgrade every 12 months.
However, because they were put at the back of the line, IUP people will end up making 13, 14 or more payments for their current iPhone and will have to pay a penalty payment in 2017 if they want to upgrade in September.
It's the extra payments that give the lawsuit any credibility because it is causing a financial penalty when they prevent IUP people from ordering by intentionally restricting the stock they are allowed to purchase from.
It would be like your bank imposing a late fee if you don't pay your mortgage by 5pm on Friday so you rush to the bank at 4:30pm and a security guard steps out and says that the bank is too full and he can't let you in. Meanwhile he's letting other customers in and you shout, "Hey, I have to get my mortgage payment in or they're going to charge me a $50 late fee!" And at 5pm, they close the doors and tell you to come back tomorrow.
Nobody's asking for special treatment. All they want is to be allowed to avoid paying extra payments on their contract or at least knowing how many extra payments they'll be required to make. Apple intentionally keeping inventory from those people and making them go through a purchase process that prevents them from avoiding extra payments is, IMHO, a fraudulent business practice.
[doublepost=1473727928][/doublepost]
Good thing that on Apples website for the IUP (
http://www.apple.com/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program) they say
"I’m already enrolled in the iPhone Upgrade Program. How do I upgrade my current iPhone?
You can upgrade at an Apple Store anytime after six months, as long as you’ve made the equivalent of at least 12 payments. You can also
check your upgrade eligibility now."
So you can upgrade at a store...but let's ignore this and start suing over not being able to buy the phone outside of a store. They have to have your old phone in hand and evaluated before giving you a new one. That is what everyone signed up for.
Nope. The contact says they must receive your old phone within 14 days.
