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AT&T credited me $250
- Thread starter PharmDoc
- Start date
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I just tried calling and chatting online - no $250 credit, no activation fee or upgrade fees waived, nothing. I was polite and courteous, and have been an ATT customer in good standing since 2008. Would have been nice, but I guess some people are just luckier than others.
I just tried. All I could get was the $36 activation fee waived. AT&T user since original iPhone. I also spoke with a manager, but "there's nothing they could do." Oh well.
I called Saturday and spoke with Tammy. She was extremely nice but informed me that I wasn't eligible for a full upgrade until February 2013, with the possibility of an early upgrade in December.
I asked how much it would be for me to terminate my contract and I was told $185. I said, "Hm, so it would actually be cheaper to jump ship and go to another carrier then, huh?" She agreed that it would and they'd hate to see me go. I was then transferred to Jonathan in Customer Retention to get more info on canceling service. Jonathan had me hold for a couple of minutes before asking me which iPhone I'd like, taking my credit card from me, and billing the $199 +tax.
My advice: be as polite as possible. I didn't threaten to leave, I casually hinted about it and they allowed the waiving of the fee. Call a few times if you must, but be persistent that it's important to you as a customer.
The only downside being that they could only process the order through AT&T, meaning they could not waive the fee and have me try my luck at one of the stores. I was told 3-4 weeks but I'm hopeful it'll be sooner.
I asked how much it would be for me to terminate my contract and I was told $185. I said, "Hm, so it would actually be cheaper to jump ship and go to another carrier then, huh?" She agreed that it would and they'd hate to see me go. I was then transferred to Jonathan in Customer Retention to get more info on canceling service. Jonathan had me hold for a couple of minutes before asking me which iPhone I'd like, taking my credit card from me, and billing the $199 +tax.
My advice: be as polite as possible. I didn't threaten to leave, I casually hinted about it and they allowed the waiving of the fee. Call a few times if you must, but be persistent that it's important to you as a customer.
The only downside being that they could only process the order through AT&T, meaning they could not waive the fee and have me try my luck at one of the stores. I was told 3-4 weeks but I'm hopeful it'll be sooner.
This will be the forth time in four days of politely asking if my upgrade date can be moved (I was told it's not actually possible for a rep to do that, there are no options in their system unless the date falls within the next 30 days... wish they could just cut the BS) and that Apple will not let them change anything to accounts and they will get in trouble with Apple (Most likely also BS, I figure Apple is happy to ship as many as possible).
It's frustrating that some people get one thing and some get another. I honestly hope that the support reps that are "lazy" or "bending the rules" are getting in trouble for this because as a whole it's making for poor service from AT&T. If I pay the same amount as someone else I should be able to get the same offers that they can get. I walk away feeling less valued by AT&T then others all because AT&T has employees that can't follow the rules.
Edit: Btw, if it's true that they're collecting the accounts that are asking about this... well then, AT&T is going to have a list of everyone that's a MacRumors member!
It's frustrating that some people get one thing and some get another. I honestly hope that the support reps that are "lazy" or "bending the rules" are getting in trouble for this because as a whole it's making for poor service from AT&T. If I pay the same amount as someone else I should be able to get the same offers that they can get. I walk away feeling less valued by AT&T then others all because AT&T has employees that can't follow the rules.
Edit: Btw, if it's true that they're collecting the accounts that are asking about this... well then, AT&T is going to have a list of everyone that's a MacRumors member!
You need to get the right rep on the phone. I've called in a few times recently and they have been great. I just spent about 20 minites with a rep today making some changes to my account and credited me for several charges incurred for text overages and the like. I was quite impressed.
I have purchased every new iPhone since the original and have always been with AT&T. I didn't even think to check my eligibility before pre-sale and logged in like millions of others at 12am PST. I was on of the lucky ones that made it into the system before 12:15am only to find out that I was being hit with the additional $250 fee. The next day I called AT&T and was told they would be waiving my fee and I could purchase the phone at the subsidized price from my local AT&T store since I missed pre sale. The CSR told me to go to the store before the even and double check that they could see the "note" he attached to my account. When I went to my local store, they told me his note was to waive the $36 fee NOT the $250 we had discussed :face palm:
So after several return calls to AT&T and escalating as far up the chain as possible, I was finally given the answer I was waiting for. I never got mad, I never cursed, I was very gracious with every employee from the bottom up and they respected me. Sure, I had to threaten terminating my contract, but I wasn't doing so flippantly. Like I told the management member "I've done stupider things with more money"
Give it a try, you just have to keep moving up the ladder of customer service people!
So after several return calls to AT&T and escalating as far up the chain as possible, I was finally given the answer I was waiting for. I never got mad, I never cursed, I was very gracious with every employee from the bottom up and they respected me. Sure, I had to threaten terminating my contract, but I wasn't doing so flippantly. Like I told the management member "I've done stupider things with more money"
Give it a try, you just have to keep moving up the ladder of customer service people!
Sounds like the math they used on me. To credit me for the two activation fees, the CSR said she gave me a $70 credit. I didn't question it since my net bill for activation is only $2.
No problem with the $250 credit for me since I waited two years to upgrade. The 4s was just not enough of an upgrade over the iPhone 4.
Success!
I live in NJ and got the $250 credit to my att account today. I called and the rep was very rude she clearly didnt understand that i was asking for an att statement credit and not just a bump up in my upgrade date which was 6/2013.
Anyway i asked to talk to her manager I told him that she was rude and explained my situation and asked for a $250 statement credit since my "friend" had got one. He repeated prob 8-10 times that he is in no way supposed to do this but he did since i was with att for 4+ years and always pay my bill on time. He even called a local store for me to see if they had stock but they didnt. Gonna try the apple reserve tonight
I live in NJ and got the $250 credit to my att account today. I called and the rep was very rude she clearly didnt understand that i was asking for an att statement credit and not just a bump up in my upgrade date which was 6/2013.
Anyway i asked to talk to her manager I told him that she was rude and explained my situation and asked for a $250 statement credit since my "friend" had got one. He repeated prob 8-10 times that he is in no way supposed to do this but he did since i was with att for 4+ years and always pay my bill on time. He even called a local store for me to see if they had stock but they didnt. Gonna try the apple reserve tonight
I was transferred to a manager, not just a supervisor after over an hour on the phone. He said he wish he could help me but unfortunately he couldn't at the time. He said keep calling back and maybe eventually they will have the ability to just push my date up.
My sister called ATT and asked if the upgrade date (without the $250) could be pushed forward since her upgrade date is the first week of October and mine is at the end of October. They said they'll do it and now we can buy the iPhone 5 for $199 however, when I enter Apple's or ATT's upgrade checker it shows the old date so I can't do the Personal Pickup tonight.
We received an email from ATT acknowledging the change but a date is not mentioned. The agent also mentioned it is a note on their system so we can buy at a brick and mortar Apple store.
Anybody know if this is the way upgrade dates are pushed forward?
We received an email from ATT acknowledging the change but a date is not mentioned. The agent also mentioned it is a note on their system so we can buy at a brick and mortar Apple store.
Anybody know if this is the way upgrade dates are pushed forward?
I was gonna call then I remembered I didn't get charged 250 to upgrade. They did refund my upgrade fee though.
It's standard policy to make them immediately effective if the normal upgrade is within the next 30 days and a customer asks. I'm not sure how the upgrade in their system looks... You can always check the upgrade eligibility on your AT&T account site, it might take a full day to update the databases or something...
Just got credited 250! Thanks for all of the help in the this thread. I tried a few times last week and had no luck. Copy and pasted some responses in this thread into the chat and it worked without even bringing up the ETF!
?
where are you guys seeing $250?
im only seeing $200
its 200 discount across all models.
i currently have an iphone 4s i bought it when it came out last year.
i also just checked the price on apples website and it made me enter in my billing info for aT&t and the price it gave me was:
would i be able to call at&t and ask for a $50 difference if i buy from apple?
and how are people getting their activation fee waived do you simply ask "i want my fee waived" ?
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do you get credited only if you purchased the iphone at full price?
Do they keep track of multiple calls/chats? I'm wondering if calling a couple more times to try different reps is worth it, but if there are notes or something to the effect of "Hey, this guy keeps trying to get $250 out of us" then it may be an exercise in futility.
im still really confused.
for the people who are getting 250 credits
how much in total with the credit factored in did you pay for your new iphone 5?
for the people who are getting 250 credits
how much in total with the credit factored in did you pay for your new iphone 5?
I paid $649.99 for my 64GB. The 2-year price is $399.99. The difference is the $250 early upgrade fee.
anyone want their new iPhone thats locked to ATT factory unlocked for 20 bucks? I know a guy, and am happy as hell to have an unlocked iphone at a new customer price, i added a line on my att account cuz i really wanted the 5, anyway im debating starting a thread, im not trying to charge anything for the information, i just want to spread the word because he's doing it so reasonably priced and so many people and sites charge between 40-150 for factory unlocking the iphone, so i told him i'd refer anyone i came across since he was so good about it, ill just give you his twitter handle or i guess his email directly, but i'd suggest twitter since he seems to be on there alot and you can kinda talk to him and feel him out before you commit to it first, anyway just PM me or email me from my profile page, im a little hesitant to just post his twitter handle on here and have the comment pulled by mods or worse get someone pissed at me.
So....do you have to upgrade and then ask for the credit? Or can you ask for the credit and then buy the phone.
I have a 4S and was not planning on getting the 5 as I dont think it is worth the early upgrade price. But at full upgrade pricing...I would certainly buy it.
I have a 4S and was not planning on getting the 5 as I dont think it is worth the early upgrade price. But at full upgrade pricing...I would certainly buy it.