Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

AT&T denied unlock request

S

swoods93631

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2010
143
0
Hello,

Anyone else experiencing this? I requested today as I do with every iphone upgrade in my household to have my now old iphone unlocked so I can sell it when my 6 arrives. I put the request through website and immediately got a denied email with reason:

A recent upgrade has been completed on your account. Please resubmit your request after 14-days from date of upgrade.

When I called one supervisor said I only have the 14 buyers remorse period with a new line and phone purchase. But another said no I have to wait the 14 days and that is their new policy!!! What??? So they deny unlocking my now out of contract owned by me iphone 5 because I upgraded??

I have never in the past been denied an unlock request for an out of contract phone!!!

Anyone else?
 
swoods93631 said:
A recent upgrade has been completed on your account. Please resubmit your request after 14-days from date of upgrade.

When I called one supervisor said I only have the 14 buyers remorse period with a new line and phone purchase. But another said no I have to wait the 14 days and that is their new policy!!! What??? So they deny unlocking my now out of contract owned by me iphone 5 because I upgraded??

I have never in the past been denied an unlock request for an out of contract phone!!!
Click to expand...
Your iPhone 5 isn't out of contract yet. It was only released September 21, 2012 so at the earliest, your contract expires September 21, 2014. Now if they allowed you an upgrade, say, on August 1, 2014, you can request unlock of your iPhone 5 14 days after so August 15, 2014.
 
They usually will unlock after 20 months. They did for me (iphone 5 bought on launch day) a few months ago.
 
rui no onna said:
Your iPhone 5 isn't out of contract yet. It was only released September 21, 2012 so at the earliest, your contract expires September 21, 2014. Now if they allowed you an upgrade, say, on August 1, 2014, you can request unlock of your iPhone 5 14 days after so August 15, 2014.
Click to expand...

Actually att confirmed I am officially out of contract as of last Friday the 12th... Soo ya
 
About a year ago I had 3 of my iPhones unlocked, including an AT&T iPhone 5 which was still under contract. I think I used swiftunlocks.com, which was highly recommended at the time. Just for fun I popped over to that site now and it looks like their prices have gone up (about $30 for an unlock that takes a bit longer to do) and there are some caveats about the phone needing to be outside of the contract, which wasn't the case for me last year. Did iOS7 make the phones harder to unlock, or did something else occur which makes the unlock process harder now?
 
I requested an unlock on my phone before i ordered the new one. (I'm only a year into my AT&T contract). It was denied. I then ordered the new one and obviously I haven't even gotten it yet so I'm still using the old one. I put in another request and they unlocked it within an hour. So....maybe try again?
 
hipnetic said:
About a year ago I had 3 of my iPhones unlocked, including an AT&T iPhone 5 which was still under contract. I think I used swiftunlocks.com, which was highly recommended at the time. Just for fun I popped over to that site now and it looks like their prices have gone up (about $30 for an unlock that takes a bit longer to do) and there are some caveats about the phone needing to be outside of the contract, which wasn't the case for me last year. Did iOS7 make the phones harder to unlock, or did something else occur which makes the unlock process harder now?
Click to expand...

My 5s was under contract and swift was able to unlock it.
 
Yeah, they really should unlock it when your old contract ends, PERIOD.


I just did mine today, actually. Old contract expired today. Although I have an iPhone 6 pre-ordered, I was able to get an unlock request in. Here's what they sent me:

---------------------

Thank you for contacting AT&T Customer Care about unlocking your AT&T Mobile device.
We have reviewed your request and confirmed that the device may be unlocked. You should complete the unlock process before porting out your number for use with another carrier.
Please allow 24 hours upon receipt of this notification to complete the unlock process.
1. Open iTunes on your Mac or PC and verify that you have Internet connectivity.
2. Ensure the original SIM card that came with this device is inserted in your iPhone.
3. Connect your iPhone using the dock connector to USB cable that came with your iPhone.
4. Backup and restore your iPhone using iTunes. For information on backup and restore, please visit http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1414.
5. After restoring, your iPhone will be unlocked.
Additional information on unlocking can be found at http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3198
For questions regarding AT&T Mobile device, please visit the Phone/Device Learning Center.
Thank you for your business. For other questions about our AT&T wireless service or other Mobile devices, please visit att.com
 
Calm down. This is normal. Unless you're completely beyond the end of contract on the iPhone 5, you have to wait out the 14 day return period before they'll honor the unlock request. This policy is in place to prevent people from requesting the unlock then returning the new device within the 14 day return period.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Calm down. This is normal. Unless you're completely beyond the end of contract on the iPhone 5, you have to wait out the 14 day return period before they'll honor the unlock request. This policy is in place to prevent people from requesting the unlock then returning the new device within the 14 day return period.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but they unlocked mine and I haven't received the new phone yet and I still had a year left on my contract.
 
They really seem to have no policy when it comes to unlocking. There's the written policy and then there's the which ever way the wind is blowing policy. I got my 4s unlocked after just 1 year. My friend told me they did it for him, so I figured I'd ask. At first they said no, then I asked why they did it for my friend and gave them his number. After a 5 minute wait on hold, they agreed to unlock it. I think at the time they were in a heated battle with T-Mobile and they were doing anything to accommodate customers.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
That's definitely not the norm. How did this fluke happen?
Click to expand...

I really don't know. I haven't even tried the unlock yet. I never did an unlock before and I'm a little nervous that somehow it will restore my iphone and I'll lose stuff. (which I know is stupid since its all backed-up to my imac). I was waiting until I set up the new phone first.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Calm down. This is normal. Unless you're completely beyond the end of contract on the iPhone 5, you have to wait out the 14 day return period before they'll honor the unlock request. This policy is in place to prevent people from requesting the unlock then returning the new device within the 14 day return period.
Click to expand...

This doesn't sound normal to me. If he's out of contract that means he owns the phone. If he owns the phone AT&T should unlock it. It has nothing to do, or should have nothing to do, with him returning a new device.

I pre-ordered Friday, requested an unlock of my 5 on Friday and received one. I say call back and try again until you find a voice of reason. If you're really out of contract, you should be able to unlock that phone even if you continue to use that phone on AT&T and didn't buy a new device, which essentially is what AT&T is speculating what might happen if you return the new phone. It's ridiculous.
 
Same thing happened to me. I requested an unlock on Thursday night, Friday morning they said denied. Resent the unlock request Friday night and Saturday they said approved. This was for the 5. So OP just try again, it's not gonna hurt, since it's online based you won't be wasting time dealing with a agent.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Calm down. This is normal. Unless you're completely beyond the end of contract on the iPhone 5, you have to wait out the 14 day return period before they'll honor the unlock request. This policy is in place to prevent people from requesting the unlock then returning the new device within the 14 day return period.
Click to expand...

The 14 day return period waiting only applies to early upgrades. If your contract is done then they should unlock

From website "Upgrading to a new device under AT&T standard or early upgrade policies. Note: when you Early Upgrade you must complete the 14 day Buyer’s Remorse Period on your new device before requesting your previous device be unlocked." - https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/client/en_US/

I also need to have mine unlocked but my contract ended today (I tried last week but they said I had to wait until contract end date). I will try tomorrow and see if I get denied since I just ordered a 6.
 
I thought since last year it is OFFICIAL that AT&T will unlock your iphone after 1 year of your new contract.
 
GrimmsGirl said:
This doesn't sound normal to me. If he's out of contract that means he owns the phone. If he owns the phone AT&T should unlock it. It has nothing to do, or should have nothing to do, with him returning a new device.
Click to expand...

Except he's not out of contract. See post #4. iPhone 5 was released Sept 21st so even if they pushed the OP's upgrade date to the beginning of the month, he's technically still under contract until that or whatever date the iPhone 5 was obtained.

----------
Brandon083 said:
The 14 day return period waiting only applies to early upgrades. If your contract is done then they should unlock
Click to expand...

at&t's pushing your upgrade eligibility to the beginning of the month doesn't mean your contract is done.
 
So I'll say again... Att confirmed I am out of contract on my iphone 5, and thank you to some of the other commenters. I put in a case request to the department that does the unlocks. I will also do it online again tomorrow.
 
swoods93631 said:
Actually att confirmed I am officially out of contract as of last Friday the 12th... Soo ya
Click to expand...
And was that contract end date before or after you pre-ordered? Anyway, just try the online request again. Sometimes it acts wonky.

This is why I'm just doing MSVP+Next/buy outright. Not only do I save a couple hundred bucks a year (after factoring device costs), I'm also not at AT&T's mercy when it comes to upgrades and unlocks. :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back