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Apple sold me a full retail phone for contract price

kmj2318

kmj2318

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 22, 2007
1,669
712
Naples, FL
I happened to be at the Apple Store today to look at the new iPads and asked if there's any stock for Verizon phones, there was one that a person on my account could use so I decided to get it.

I get home and open it, and it never activates. I get notified to activate it by calling a number. I do and the person thought I want to activate a new phone, and I thought I was troubleshooting a phone already on my contract. It turns out the phone I bought is not associated with my account and it has no phone number. The Verizon rep looked up my IMEI, and yup, it's not on contract.

The rep is telling me make sure to go back to the store and get it figured out, and is making notes on my account for the next rep I talk to (the activating people were out for the day so I'll have to call them tomorrow to activate).

I'm not really sure what I should do. I think I'll go to the Apple Store again tomorrow and see what they say.
 
kmj2318 said:
I happened to be at the Apple Store today to look at the new iPads and asked if there's any stock for Verizon phones, there was one that a person on my account could use so I decided to get it.

I get home and open it, and it never activates. I get notified to activate it by calling a number. I do and the person thought I want to activate a new phone, and I thought I was troubleshooting a phone already on my contract. It turns out the phone I bought is not associated with my account and it has no phone number. The Verizon rep looked up my IMEI, and yup, it's not on contract.

The rep is telling me make sure to go back to the store and get it figured out, and is making notes on my account for the next rep I talk to (the activating people were out for the day so I'll have to call them tomorrow to activate).

I'm not really sure what I should do. I think I'll go to the Apple Store again tomorrow and see what they say.
Click to expand...

Why not just insert an already activated SIM card? Then you'd have a free phone, no?
 
Normally with contracts, don't they charge you on your next bill? Or do you pay the contract price at the Apple
Store?
 
kmj2318 said:
Can you just swap SIMs easily like that on Verizon. I was under a different impression.
Click to expand...

Yes, at least with the newer LTE devices. I inserted my Verizon SIM into a "T-Mobile" iPhone 6 and it worked just fine. I can even get VoLTE by changing a few settings (and I did see the "1x" flash briefly, meaning that the CDMA radio works, too). Unfortunately, I can't officially register it on VZW's network since the MEID isn't whitelisted. It shows up as an "unknown" device, similar to what my "Verizon" iPhone 5s looked like to AT&T last year (though they had no issues registering my "T-Mobile" iPhone 6 and even offering me insurance). You may have the same issue.

I'm new to Verizon and so am not familiar with their practices. I do know all Verizon LTE devices are unlocked (I purchased a device-only iPhone 5s last year to use on AT&T). So what is the significance of getting the phone at the contract price? Is it that you didn't officially use up an upgrade, or were able to keep an unlimited data plan? If it's the latter, I wouldn't worry about it too much. There has been an unlimited data plan "loophole" open for over a month now that Verizon surely must know about since it's been reported in the tech press. If it's the former, you can always choose to wait an extra year before upgrading again (until it's your rightful "turn" to upgrade).
 
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