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at&t changing terms of contract, is past contract still binding?

R

rijowysock

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 10, 2008
51
0
At&t decided in june to discontinue the "18 month" early upgrade and switch to a "24 month" firm upgrade plan... they did this for all contracts ending after march 1st 2014.

my 2 year contract date is march 24th 2014... therefore i got bumped from 18 month to the 24 month policy.

if i signed a contract in march 2012... wouldn't that contract include the details saying 24 month contract, with early upgrade after 18 months and partially subsidized purchase available after 6 months.???





this upsets me because I had to pay full price $650 for my 5, (could have paid 450, but they said it extended the contract a year)

my upgrade eligibility online was ALWAYS october 24th 2013, but now is magically march 24th 2014!



curious how they can just change these things, and we have "contracts" with them prior to the changes.
 
rijowysock said:
curious how they can just change these things, and we have "contracts" with them prior to the changes.
Click to expand...

There's a line in the contract that allows them to, but you are allowed to leave AT&T if you don't agree with no early termination fee.
 
From what I understood the changes to 24-month upgrade cycles only affect new contracts signed after the announcement, amd that previous contracts were untouched.

If yours was altered, Id simply call customer service to get it reversed.
 
It would be a good idea to read AT&T's contract, no matter what it's age. It sounds like you may be uninformed about your legal obligations.
 
It depends if your contract guaranteed an upgrade timing or not. I'm guessing it was something like a 2 year contract that said something like "AT&T at its discretion may offer early upgrades" or something like that that never guaranteed the practice. If it wasn't guaranteed and they changed something then they didn't breach the contract and it's still in force.
 
They can change things on the contract (it says so right on your contract) and if you don't like it then you can break the contract off, but if you stay then you have to follow whatever new guidelines.
 
mackmgg said:
There's a line in the contract that allows them to, but you are allowed to leave AT&T if you don't agree with no early termination fee.
Click to expand...

whats w/ the leave ATT if dont agree with fee?

is there a loophole to leave without the termination fee?


my contract was signed march 2012.... my upgrade date has always been oct 2013...


i guess i'll call them tomorrow... hopefully someone can help.. would this be better suited at a At&t store?
 
rijowysock said:
whats w/ the leave ATT if dont agree with fee?

is there a loophole to leave without the termination fee?


my contract was signed march 2012.... my upgrade date has always been oct 2013...


i guess i'll call them tomorrow... hopefully someone can help.. would this be better suited at a At&t store?
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There is no loophole, is your right since a change in contract is a reason for you to walk out of a contract w/out paying the ETFs, but of course if it's due to a change in something in the contract then you have to do it before an X amount of time or you are basically amending it by not rebutting and accepting it in that time frame. Check slickdeals.com those people over there know how to get out of contract w/out ETFs even for an extra penny. AFAIK Once you leave you can't come back until like 6 months though.
 
Carlanga said:
There is no loophole, is your right since a change in contract is a reason for you to walk out of a contract w/out paying the ETFs, but of course if it's due to a change in something in the contract then you have to do it before an X amount of time or you are basically amending it by not rebutting and accepting it in that time frame. Check slickdeals.com those people over there know how to get out of contract w/out ETFs even for an extra penny. AFAIK Once you leave you can't come back until like 6 months though.
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understood, i didn't even know they did the change in june... i've checked "upgrade eligibility" several times over the year and not till today did it have a changed date.

i'll call tomorrow, such BS.
 
rijowysock said:
understood, i didn't even know they did the change in june... i've checked "upgrade eligibility" several times over the year and not till today did it have a changed date.

i'll call tomorrow, such BS.
Click to expand...

If June I think you might be late to the complain party, either way GL on whatever you plan to do and research before you call.

Also, I don't think the 18 months early upgrade is part of the contract, it was more a service to loyal customers, AFAIK contract says 24 months.
 
Before you call be sure you know the specific language of the section that changed. I.e. exactly where your contract stated you get full subsidy upgrades at 18 months. Do please post, I'm curious too as I don't recall seeing such a clause, but its been a while so I may be misremembering.
 
Yes, it breaks the contract and because of that, I got AT&T to change my upgrade date back from the 24 months to 18 months. I believe it is section 1.3 of the contract that requires AT&T to notify the customer about any change 30 days in advance. There was no notification period, AT&T agreed and changed my date. It has been a few months now, so I don't know if this will work anymore because the window has passed, but it still may, worth a shot.
 
Sadly, a year or two ago, the major carriers were able to force through a Supreme Court decision preventing class action lawsuits. So now they essentially have free reign to do what they want and if you have a complaint, you have to sue them on your own dime with your lawyer going against their entire legal team. Oligopoly at its finest!
 
Mlrollin91 said:
Yes, it breaks the contract and because of that, I got AT&T to change my upgrade date back from the 24 months to 18 months. I believe it is section 1.3 of the contract that requires AT&T to notify the customer about any change 30 days in advance. There was no notification period, AT&T agreed and changed my date. It has been a few months now, so I don't know if this will work anymore because the window has passed, but it still may, worth a shot.
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i never got any notice.. therefore just found out when trying to upgrade :-/

tomorrow we'll see whats what.
 
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