As I stated earlier, I never did the online trade request, because I heard that people were not able to do the trade at a store if they had already submitted the request online. If I had gone that route, there was a good possibility I would have had to mail in the trade in device, and I didn’t want to do that. Too many risks of the package getting “lost” or being told that my device was “damaged” somehow. It was in out of the box condition when I traded it in at the AT&T store. The associate commented that it looked like I just unboxed it.
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Carrier AT&T Trade In... $800 bucks?
- Thread starter ripsaw650
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I got my approval text today. it must be automated 2 weeks from when you send it in. it was exactly 2 weeks ago when I dropped it off at a local att store. anxiety is at ease.
So it's been since Dec. 3 and 4 since I got the email that said that my trade in's had been processed. That being said, it's now been about 18? business days since and still no confirmation text. Should I be worried?
Regarding the trade in, I saw that you could mail it in or bring it to a store? Does anyone have experience with the in store trade in process? Success v nightmare stories? Wondering if the store is the right way to go as I've had issues with retail before. Also wanted to know if I should only do this at a corporate store.
I've traded two phones in store. Seamless and no problem whatsoever. They know the process now that the program has been in effect for several months. I bought both new 12's at the Apple Store, took my trade in 11's to the AT&T store, traded in with zero hassle. Bill credits active within two billing periods.
Did one in November the second one in May
I traded in 2 phones in at my local AT&T store with no issues.
If you have any damage at all you don’t want to mail it in. You’ll be totally at their mercy with no recourse.
Take it to a corporate store where you’ll get a valuation and a receipt that you can hold them to.
Thank you so much! I went into a store today and they correctly assessed it at the value to receive the $700 credit. Only question I have is if the warehouse can override that value assessment done by the retail store. Hopefully not!
Couldn't agree with you more.
Folks need to understand that these trade in promos are designed to give AT&T almost 100% leverage to renege on the promo and you having 0% leverage to walk away if things go sour on you. These trade in promotions are designed to basically steal your current device (and reselling them on the secondary market for a tidy profit) and make you pay full sticker price for the new devices and if you don't pay up, getting your credit trashed. These are steal and extortion schemes.
Remember this, you are giving your currently working device to AT&T simply based simply on their promise that they will evaluate it honestly. Do you trust this handshake agreement with AT&T where they cannot lose and you have everything to lose?
Your trade in can be rejected or under valued based on the whims of AT&T / HYLA MOBILE. Here are the list of reasons:
-- AT&T will claim that your trade in devices never reached them.
-- AT&T will claim that your trade in was under valued because your screen is broke, you device's charging port is broke, the device still has activation lock on it, the device's storage does not match what you entered when you initiated the trade, their systems shows that it is reported as lost or stolen or have a not fully unpaid flag on it, etc etc etc
-- AT&T will not send you labels to send them your trade in devices or will delay it where you now are in serious danger of them not getting your trade ins within the 30 days stipulated window.
-- AT&T will send you a mailer for you to send the traded in devices which is flimsy and almost designed to damage the devices during transit. Do the math. Who benefits from devices damaged during transit?
It should not matter if the device you traded in has more or less storage than you indicated as long as the base model matches. If you forgot to take off the activation lock, give the customer a change to do so remotely. If the traded in device has damage, allow the customer to send in another device or allow for a new customer paid evaluation. If folks send the trade ins to wrong address, is it so difficult to automatically flag these IMEIs and reroute them to correct destination? AT&T could give customers 14 days AFTER EVALUATION of their trade ins to walk away if they are not going to get full bill credits. The current 14 day walk away period after new device activation is laughably rigged because AT&T ensures that no evaluation is done on time within that initial 14 day period. There are many ways AT&T can ensure that good faith compliance with their program results in customers getting their bill credits. But AT&T chooses to do nothing.
AT&T says that your traded in devices are send to recycling. But, if AT&T will not honor the promo by under valuing the trade ins (which completely negates the promo that you were depending on), they should put these devices in a separate queue, notify the customer of this deficiency, give the customer some options to correct these deficiencies or allow the customers to walk away from the contract and return your traded in devices.
If you still want to do this deal, keep all emails/receipts. Read the fine print and make sure you tick all the check boxes. Never do trade ins via mail, ONLY at a corporate AT&T store. If one does not take them, go to another or another. If no corporate store takes them, return the new phones and walk away. Let AT&T find another sucker. That receipt you get from AT&T listing the condition of your trade in devices and the trade in value to be assigned is your ONLY PROOF to fight them. And be ready to file FCC complaint and/or hitting them with a dispute notice and in person arbitration. Don't bother calling customer service or HIYA. If your third bill does not show credits, simply file FCC complaint and move on to arbitration from there. Arbitration costs AT&T real money. Even if you lose in arbitration, you will have some measure of closure that you made AT&T spend some of the money that they stole and extorted from you.
Don't believe for a second that this switcheroo of your trade in value is solely HYLA's doing. They are encouraged and abetted by AT&T to engage in this unethical practice because ultimately it is AT&T that benefits from this. This is a zero sum game. Every dollar you loose on bill credits goes into AT&T's pocket. Using HYLA also gives them an out if a future PR disaster unfolds over these practices. Point and blame HIYA, terminate the relationship with HLYA and promise to behave in the future. Cute, isn’t?
Don't do these trade in deals if you can help it. They are booby traps designed for you to fail and having no recourse. You can comply with all the fine print, but the most important part which is the evaluation of your trade ins is highly subjective and solely dependent on what AT&T says. Yes, these are lucrative deals for multi line accounts if AT&T honors them ethically. But that is a big if. You could turn the tables on AT&T by trading in crappy devices at their stores and getting receipts. From other folks' experiences, we are surmise that evaluation standards are more lax at stores than for mailed in devices. If they deny you, use those receipts and bludgeon them into submission. But these deals are not ultimately suitable for most folks who detest drama in their lives or unwilling to take AT&T to task and fight to the bitter end.
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so glad my burner iPhone 8 from eBay I got for like $200 was successfully traded in corporate store as soon as I got my 12 pro and locked in credits, I was nervous as heck but it's been nice only paying $6.67 a month on this thing
I'm kicking myself right now. I learned last night that Walmart has a $900 credit offer ($200 from Walmart, $700 from AT&T). I just took up the AT&T offer and provided the corporate AT&T store with my trade in. They already shipped the trade in into AT&T, and the AT&T reps don't know how to help me. I suppose I could buy a cheap iPhone 8, return my phone, and repurchase through Walmart and do another trade in, but that's a lot of work.
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Did the AT&T store say if they will return your traded in device if you cancel the agreement?
Also, Sams Club is offering $250 extra on top of $700 from AT&T and waived activation fees. But, the $250 is in bill credit over 25 months. Walmart is still probably a better deal as I think they give you the $200 off as a straight discount at POS. But I have read that Walmart has jacked up the price of the phones by $50 on some models. You might want to verify that.
The rep on the phone said that they would but that it would take a few weeks. Frankly, I don’t trust them at all. I did notice that Walmart raised the price of their 12 Pro by $50, so it's really $150 off, not $200 off. Still, I'm kicking myself for not having seen it sooner. I would have paid the same for the 12 Pro with the Walmart+AT&T deal as I'm paying for the 12 128gb with the AT&T deal. Ugh...
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Never had an issue trading in a device to an AT&T corporate store. They mark the value down at the store and condition and once that happens it can't be changed. Only when you ship it in, the value can changed with those trade ins. But all my devices are always flawless when I did the trade, so that is why I never have an issue probably.
Same situation for me. My devices have been in perfect shape and I never had a problem with an in store valuation and trade in. However, I can see where mailing in a device for trade could open yourself up for some problems, i.e….damaged or lost during shipping.
I went to Walmart today to take advantage of their $200 off deal (+ the AT&T $700 trade in). Traveled to four different Walmart’s to finally find one that worked with contract phones vs prepaid. What a disorganized mess of a company. When I arrived at the fourth store after wasting hours, the only employee in the electronics section said that the phone person quit last week, and I begged him to help me. We literally did the purchase together on his computer. That whole experience plus the fact that Walmart is adding $50 to the purchase price (so it’s really only a $150 deal) were big turn offs, but I guess it’s worth it. It allowed me to get the Pro from originally having the non Pro model. But, man, sometimes you’d rather not have to deal with any of the bs and just pay full price with Apple.
The cell phone sales at the Walmart stores are a Vendor. I looked into it and just was close to same experience and sketchy. Hardly no phones and couldn’t get phones, reps covering 3 or 4 stores by themselves. Ordering online is directly from Walmart using carrier but extra discount is monthly x 24.
ymmv
ymmv