FYI for those of us that bought the iPhone 7 full price (tied to a carrier). I just got off chat with AT&T customer service and was told when I activate the iPhone tomorrow there WILL NOT be an activation fee. I had thought that anytime an upgrade happened that AT&T would charge that fee but I was assured that was not the case and will not be charged an activation fee for my existing line. We'll see.
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Carrier AT&T Activation Fee
- Thread starter rstark18
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Do you get a discount or anything through work/school/?? Sometimes activation fee is waived if you are in a program like that.
I would hope not. To say I would be displeased would be an understatement after paying full price for the phone...
I do but they did not say that was the reason.
I ALWAYS expect them to try and charge an activation fee. It's happened every upgrade in the past, but with those I was on 2 year contracts.
The only way you're charged a fee on a cell phone is if you do AT&T Next. If you pay full retail up front, there is NO $20 renewal fee.
I was going to pull and use my existing ATT SIM card in my new 7 Plus but now will use what is in the phone if they are not charging this fee. They are doing nothing and do not deserve any fee.
Every year I chat with them online and they waive it for me, especially if you've been a customer for along time...
Yep but I have never see Apple check with AT&T when doing my order through AT&T. You never know what a carrier might be "cooking up" for a fee. Good to hear there will not be one.
Believe it or not, carriers aren't on this blood sucking mission to just "get ya" at every turn. Their upgrade policies and fees are pretty straight forward these days.
Let's not get carried away. Although there is no AT&T fee for byod, they're still blood suckers.
If the line you're upgrading had a Next installment agreement on it prior to August 1, 2015, AT&T does not charge an activation fee. This is the case for 2 of the lines on my account, but for the third line, it is not, so it gets charged the activation fee when upgrading. It is super annoying, but they have been good about waiving it in the past - last time, I opened up a chat before doing the upgrade, and said I wanted to upgrade but didn't want to pay the activation fee. They said fine, just get back in touch after you upgrade and we'll waive it.
I think that you should just know that upgrade/activation fees are part of it. A new phone, even outright, is technically a new activation.
I guess that is just one thing i never understood. We know that these fees are there. Why try to fight it? It is what it is.
Besides, if you can afford the phone outright, what is $20?
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That only applies to one time. After those lines have upgraded on a new installment agreement once, you don't get that fee waived again.
I guess that is just one thing i never understood. We know that these fees are there. Why try to fight it? It is what it is.
Besides, if you can afford the phone outright, what is $20?
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That only applies to one time. After those lines have upgraded on a new installment agreement once, you don't get that fee waived again.
I don't think that's right. I just upgraded for a second time on one of those lines and there was nothing about an activation fee when I was upgrading. Maybe it will get charged later, but, in my experience, they will include that in your order when it is going to be charged.
Edit: I just checked my confirmation e-mail - it says upgrade fee: $0.00
That is good then! You're lucky not to have one.
In my opinion, just like in your email telling you it is waived, reps should ALWAYS be telling people it will either be there or won't be there.
I was just making a point that people shouldn't complain if they do get an activation fee. It sounds like you may have something on your account that waives them. When I was working there, NEXT, 2-Year, and BYOD all got the fee.
Maybe they are offering something that waives it if you order online? hm? I left the company in January... a lot has changed in the industry since then lol
That's exactly what I was going to do and the reason for me asking them the question. No need to swap sims.
I hear you - if it is part of the deal when you sign up with them, you know what you're getting into. I still personally find it annoying, especially in the BYOD device situation. It doesn't cost AT&T anything when you pop in your SIM card to a new phone - it's a pure money grab on their part. I also find it annoying because 2 of the lines on my account are grandfathered because they were on Next plans prior to August 1, 2015, but my third line is not grandfathered because my wife didn't want to upgrade so soon. If I had known that would mean perpetual $20 fees on that line, I would have made sure she upgraded before then. Oh well.
I have not been charged any fees for any of my 9 lines because I do not get in a position where they can. Was just a little surprising how ATT got involved with a purchased from Apple at full cost.
I have nothing against ATT they have provided me great service for my company but when WellFargo wants to charge me to look at a deposit on their mobile site and I got multiple account there will 6 figures in each . . . well I am suspicious.
I paid full price last year. Still got hit with fee, tried to have it removed and I could hear laughter as they hung up on me. Only half that is true, they didn't laugh.
Last year ATT, full price. All other times going back to whatever iPhone 2.0 was called, Apple. I've only successfully had my activation fee waived once.
all the years I and my wife got new iPhones, we were hit with the activation fee. I started a chat with them online and got it waived. they go through the whole thing of what the fee is for and yada yada yada. i tell them i want it waived and stay persistent, about 10 minutes of them going to their supervisor, it gets waived.
I just chatted with AT&T to reconfirm. They said again no activation or upgrade fee BUT there would be a prorating charge since I'm changing my "Plans or Features" Since it is the middle of my billing cycle the extra charge will be around $15. When I said I am not changing any "Plans or Features" she said switching phone generates that fee. I will also get hit with that on my wife's line because I am giving her my iP6. I am suspicious if this will actually happen but if it does I will be disputing it.
You'll also get prorated credits for the same amount. When you change phones, the system will expire old codes to make your data and messaging work, and put on new codes. The charges and credits for this zero each other out since they'll be the same dollar amount.