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Carrier AT&T get your upgrade fees waived.

I called 611 and explained that I have a FAN account for my school, and found I was charged an upgrade fee though one of the discounts with my school is waived upgrade fee. The gentleman I was speaking with noticed this and removed the fee. Very happy with AT&T customer service (always had great experiences with them)!
 
Tried calling first and was denied....then came back to this thread and tried the chat method as described. All 3 upgrade fees were waived. Thanks OP.

FYI the reason given was due to our timely payments.
 
Captainobvvious, you just saved me $42.23 on my iPhone 5 upgrade. I don't understand why it's $42.23 and not $36, but I'm not complaining. Thanks for the advice!

I copied and pasted your exact text into the chat window, exchanged a few pleasantries with the operator, and it was done. BOOSH! :apple::apple::apple:
 
Seems as though ATT customer service has gotten better. Its about time they started to appreciate the value of a customer
 
This was my experience just now after I checked my bill and saw the $36 upgrade fee was added to it. The names have been changed (I am Patrick :D).

Chat InformationPlease wait for a site operator to respond.

Chat InformationYou are now chatting with 'Sponge Bob'

Sponge Bob : Thank you for being a valued AT&T member! How may I assist you today?

Sponge Bob : I will be happy to assist you today.

Patrick : Good morning. I just logged on to pay my bill and noticed that it was way more than usual. When I looked closely I saw that there was a $36 upgrade fee that I wasn't expecting and wondered if that could be waived?

Sponge Bob : Please allow me 2-3 minutes while I access your account.

Sponge Bob : Thank you for your patience. The upgrade fee is to allow us to assist customers with recommending new equipment, offering special offers and discounts, providing assistance with the upgrade process if needed, and supporting the returns process within 30 days. These specialized processes help us to ensure you are satisfied with your new equipment, and are ready to use it the day you receive it. The upgrade fee allows us to defray some of these additional service costs.

Patrick : Ok, I understand but I ordered through the Apple store and there was no mention of an upgrade fee. Also I've been with AT&T for a long time now (3rd iPhone now) and I've never paid an upgrade fee. As a loyal customer I would really appreciate a refund/credit on the $36. The services you mentioned have not been used by me in any transition between phones so I don't feel I should be subject to the fee.

Sponge Bob : I certainly do understand, please allow me 2 more minutes to review your account.

Patrick : Ok, thanks Sponge Bob!

Sponge Bob : Thank you for your patience. I waived the fee for you as a one time courtesy. Please be advised that this fee is a standard fee that is applied to every customer who upgrade.

Patrick: Thank you Sponge Bob!!! Have a nice rest of your day!

Sponge Bob : You're welcome. I'm glad I was able to assist you today. I would appreciate your feedback on a short survey at the end of this chat. This survey is only about the service I provided you. AT&T would like to know what you think of my customer service today. We appreciate your business and would like to thank you for selecting AT&T as your service provider. Remember you can always manage your account at www.att.com/mywireless . Is there anything else I may help you with today?

Chat InformationChat session has been terminated by the site operator.
 
I tried the chat option and they turned me down but told me I could call customer service (I am on a business plan). They told me to call 800-331-0500 and the rep there waived it no problem. She asked if it was just the one phone upgraded as she'd waive others as well if there were more. She quickly saw that wasn't the case here. Very much appreciate all who have posted their experience on this thread!
 
One thing to watch out for is making sure the credits were applied correctly. Today I missed a call from AT&T and called them back, the lady told me I owed $65 on my account which was past due. I told her I just paid my bill on 10-7 (this had all my credits on it) and after the payment my balance showed $0. I managed to track down the email while we were on the phone and gave her the confirmation number of the payment so they can look into it. She said it was odd because she shows no record of the payment in the system. Then she made the comment that she'll open up a ticket so that my phone doesn't get turned off while they look into it. I told her that was crazy since I have been with them over 10 years and have maybe been late on 1-2 payments in that time (was in Scotland one of the times and forgot). She informed me that my account showed I had only been with them about 3 months. Well, 3 months ago I bought a hotspot device from them and they merged my cell phone account and this one so I only had one bill each month and when they did that it wiped out all of my history which kind of sucks. When I log into my attwireless.com account it shows my next balance (both phone and hotspot device) are due on 11-9-12 so on that site I'm all caught up. Their system seems to be really screwy so just keep an eye on it. I will say in all the years I've been with them (ATT, Cingular, then back to ATT) this is the first problem I have ever had so I'm not mad or anything, but I was a little put off that they threatened to turn my phone off and that they lost all my history with them.
 
just did the chat Agent said

" I would be more than happy to credit this fee to your account. "


"I have successfully credited your account in the amount of $39.94. This credit has been applied to your account however it may take up to 48-72 to reflect your online account balance. I have also sent you a free text to confirm message with this information. Can you confirm that you have received this message please?"


thanks!!
 
-FlyAuburn- said:
Sponge Bob : Thank you for your patience. The upgrade fee is to allow us to assist customers with recommending new equipment, offering special offers and discounts, providing assistance with the upgrade process if needed, and supporting the returns process within 30 days. These specialized processes help us to ensure you are satisfied with your new equipment, and are ready to use it the day you receive it. The upgrade fee allows us to defray some of these additional service costs.
Click to expand...

Wow, they are really trying hard to justify this fee. Considering that most iPhone users are probably going through Apple to order their phones, practically none of these "services" are actually being offered, nor are they even wanted. And even if you are buying at an AT&T store, I mean really, it's bad enough that most of the sales people at AT&T know less about the iPhone than I do. I shouldn't have to pay $36 for the privilege of allowing them to demonstrate that fact.

As for "supporting the returns process within 30 days," isn't that what the 15% restocking fee is for?

Don't get me wrong: I'm happy that they're easily crediting people who request it. And as a first-time activation fee on a new account, there's a modicum of justification because it costs a lot of money to pull a consumer's credit report. But as an "upgrade fee," it's pretty much unjustifiable.

It's just that this complete fallacy of an explanation is really kind of insulting our intelligence, on top of proving that they really shouldn't be charging this in the first place.
 
scaredpoet said:
Wow, they are really trying hard to justify this fee. Considering that most iPhone users are probably going through Apple to order their phones, practically none of these "services" are actually being offered, nor are they even wanted. And even if you are buying at an AT&T store, I mean really, it's bad enough that most of the sales people at AT&T know less about the iPhone than I do. I shouldn't have to pay $36 for the privilege of allowing them to demonstrate that fact.

As for "supporting the returns process within 30 days," isn't that what the 15% restocking fee is for?

Don't get me wrong: I'm happy that they're easily crediting people who request it. And as a first-time activation fee on a new account, there's a modicum of justification because it costs a lot of money to pull a consumer's credit report. But as an "upgrade fee," it's pretty much unjustifiable.

It's just that this complete fallacy of an explanation is really kind of insulting our intelligence, on top of proving that they really shouldn't be charging this in the first place.
Click to expand...

When I chat with CSR to waive the "1st time activation fee", I told them I convince my wife to drop her 10 plus years old tmobile account and joint the AT&T family, why should I get penalize for the fee, I should get reward for it.:D

That is from last year when I add a line for my wife and get the 4S.:D
 
Joined specifically to say thank you to Captainobvvious. Got $74.68 credited back for my and my sister's iPhone 5s. Worked on the first try, using chat: "Normally our billing system will not allow us to remove the upgrade fee but I will check what I can for you here." "Since you have been a loyal and valued customer of AT&T, my supervisor authorize to apply adjustments on your account. We will be removing the upgrade fees on your account now." I think my FAN account is supposed to have the fees waived anyway...
 
I asked and got this.

"The upgrade fee is a standard upgrade fee that is charged when customers upgrade their phones. I can explain this fee to you. The upgrade fee is to allow us to assist customers with recommending new equipment, offering special offers and discounts, providing assistance with the upgrade process if needed, and supporting the returns process within 14 days. These specialized processes help us to ensure you are satisfied with your new equipment, and are ready to use it the day you receive it. The upgrade fee allows us to defray some of these additional service costs."

But then I asked about my FAN, and they said it only waived activation fees.

Then she said thank you for my business since 2008 and would waive the fees as a one time courtesy.

Gave her an excellent survey as well.

Saved $72 in about 5 minutes. Nice. That's a nice dinner out. Thanks for the suggestion. It was funny even that lady who sold us our phones at the apple store said they may waive the fee if we asked nicely.
 
nottooshabby said:
I asked and got this.

"The upgrade fee is a standard upgrade fee that is charged when customers upgrade their phones. I can explain this fee to you. The upgrade fee is to allow us to assist customers with recommending new equipment, offering special offers and discounts, providing assistance with the upgrade process if needed, and supporting the returns process within 14 days. These specialized processes help us to ensure you are satisfied with your new equipment, and are ready to use it the day you receive it. The upgrade fee allows us to defray some of these additional service costs."

But then I asked about my FAN, and they said it only waived activation fees.

Then she said thank you for my business since 2008 and would waive the fees as a one time courtesy.

Gave her an excellent survey as well.

Saved $72 in about 5 minutes. Nice. That's a nice dinner out. Thanks for the suggestion. It was funny even that lady who sold us our phones at the apple store said they may waive the fee if we asked nicely.
Click to expand...

X2....same I have a FAN that didn't count for upgrade fees, yet after some chatting I got $72 credited after 5 min. No survey needed.Thanks for the thread!
 
I got the same explanation of the fee, considered bringing up my FAN or that I ordered through Apple, or 2 lines with perfect history, but the rep just offered to waive it "as one time courtesy". Works for me, saved $84.
 
Last edited:
I had $180 in upgrade fees when I migrated all iDevices to my new AT&T Mobile Share plan. I just called, said "I have heard other people getting their upgrade fees waived. Can I please have mine waived?" Rep said sure and my online bill dropped $180 by the next morning.

Easy and took about 1 minute to complete.
 
Called them and got two fees waved as a "one time courtesy"
Glad I read this thread! $72 saved
 
Got my first bill showing the upgrade fee. Got $40.03 adjusted back. No questions asked.

This is what I asked:

Good afternoon. I recently signed a 2 year contract extension and upgraded to a new iPhone (may appear on line xxx-xxx-xxxx). I was hoping I could have my upgrade fee waived or credited to my account.
 
Just used the chat to get my upgrade fee waived. It was much faster after being on hold for several minutes on the phone before giving up.

My upgrade experience was actually messed up by an AT&T corporate store. They improperly made me take off my 2GB data plan, but I called customer service later that day and it was put back on. When I explained this to the support chat representative, they credited the upgrade fee no questions asked.

2 years ago I successfully got my original activation fee waived when I complained that my service was activated a few days before actually receiving my iPhone 4.

If you can find anything to complain about in the upgrade process that didn't go the way it should have, do it! Then you still have the one-time courtesy fee waived freebie to use at a later point.
 
Chat came through like a boss. Just saved about $80. This is literally the most valuable forum post I've read--maybe ever.

THANKS OP! :)

Albert: Hello William thank you for chatting in with AT&T billing support. I can absolutely help you with your upgrade fee today.
William: That's great! What do I need to do?
Albert: I will review the account for you to see if we can have this fee waived.
Albert: I can go ahead and waive that fee for you as a one time courtesy on the account. Please allow me just a moment to do so.
Albert: I can only waive 1 of them, however.
Albert: I will meet you halfway.
William: Why?
Albert: These are standard fees that we usually do not waive. I am making an exception and overriding the fee waiver for you.
William: I've just signed two phones up for another two years of guaranteed service. Whatever reason you have for waiving the first fee (probably because I'm a long time customer, in good standing) should extend to the second as well.
William: Furthermore, logging in this morning to pay my bill was the first I've even heard about these charges. Seems like during upgrade would have been a pretty good time to let me know I was spending an extra $75.
Albert: I will waive the other fee.
Click to expand...
 
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