AT&T Upgrade Eligibility: Chat with an Apple Specialist

[ashton18]

I checked my upgrade eligibility on the Apple website just to know the exact date that I'll be able to upgrade to the new iPhone. (I'm currently on AT&T and I won't be able to get the subsidized price until 2015, but I know that AT&T offers an 'Early Upgrade' with a $200 discount)

I wanted to get confirmation by a human being, not a computer, so I decided to chat with an Apple Specialist, maybe he'd be able to confirm this to me.


Here is the chat transcript:

----------------------------------------------
Now Chatting with David

Apple Specialist: Hi! Welcome to Apple. My name is David. How can I help you?

Me: Hello, how are you today?

Apple Specialist: Not bad.

Apple Specialist: Thanks for asking./

Apple Specialist: Yourself?

Me: Great

Me: Thanks for asking

Me: I'm contacting you because I just checked my upgrade eligibility on the Apple website, but I want to confirm this information by a real person

Me: I want to know when I'll be able to upgrade to the iPhone 6 at the discounted price

Me: Last year, I received a $200 discount with ATT for upgrading early to the iPhone 5S

Apple Specialist: Okay.

Me: So instead of paying $750 for a 32GB iPhone 5S I paid $550

Me: I wish to know if i'll be able to do that this year

Me: Instead of paying $950 for an iPhone 6 Plus in 128GB, just pay $750 with the AT&T discount

Apple Specialist: No one can really say when anyone can upgrade to the iPhone 6 right now because that information hasn't been released.

Me: After browsing the Apple web site, I found that if I go to the iPhone 6 page, and select the phone that I want, there is an option right under 'Choose a carrier' that says 'Check your upgrade eligibility'

Me: So now you know, in case someone else asks you the same question

Apple Specialist: People have been asking about the iPhone since yesterday.

Apple Specialist: All of our answers are the same.

Me: I'm asking you today.

Apple Specialist: We want customers to understand that we mean no disrespect.

Apple Specialist: We're not giving them a hard time at all.

Apple Specialist: They basically know as much as we do at this point.

Apple Specialist: Apple is playing this launch extremely close to the vest for good reason.

Me: Clearly the information is available. Otherwise I, as a customer (not an Apple employee with access to all sorts of information) can get to this data.

Apple Specialist: All that Apple has released is a pre-orderiong date and a retail store date.

Apple Specialist: September 12 and September 19, respectively.

Me: Please do yourself a favor and visit the iPhone 6 page on the Apple website. Select an iPhone 6, choose a finish and a carrier, and see for yourself that you CAN check the upgrade eligibility date.

Apple Specialist: Thank you for choosing the Apple Store. If you have any additional questions, please chat us again.

**Specialist ended chat**
----------------------------------------------


I understand that I already had the information that I needed, I wasn't trying to be all sassy, but what's wrong with trying to confirm it by a real person?

The specialist didn't even know that you could check the upgrade eligibility date on the Apple website. Isn't that something they teach him? It seems pretty basic.

Even if he didn't know that you could check the eligibility date on the website, he should've just said so, instead of telling me that that information doesn't exist.

To top it all, the survey option at the end of the chat sucks big time. There's no way to leave any comments. Why can't I leave any feedback?

Anyways, if anyone needs help checking the upgrade eligibility date, or the monthly installment plans, head to apple.com, go to the iPhone 6 page, select an iPhone 6 model, size, finish, carrier and then hit the 'Check Upgrade Eligibility' button right below. It'll ask you for the phone number, billing zip code and last 4 digits of the SSN associated with the account.

--

>FYI, I tried calling AT&T before chatting with the Apple Specialist and they did not even know the iPhone 6 had been announced. So good luck with AT&T.

 

[iphone1105]

You need to find other things to do with your time. She's just a phone specialist, not some magical all knowing being. Cut some slack. But yeah, pointless and if it's nice out by you go outside and enjoy the sun!

 

[ashton18]

You need to find other things to do with your time. She's just a phone specialist, not some magical all knowing being. Cut some slack. But yeah, pointless and if it's nice out by you go outside and enjoy the sun!

Then again that's their job right? Don't be a mechanic if you don't know how to fix a car.

 

[iphone1105]

Then again that's their job right? Don't be a mechanic if you don't know how to fix a car.

dude, she's a phone specialist, she helps with general things, she explained the situation. Give it a rest man, life is full of great things, this is minor bro, small potatoes, move on....

 

[ashton18]

You need to find other things to do with your time. She's just a phone specialist, not some magical all knowing being. Cut some slack. But yeah, pointless and if it's nice out by you go outside and enjoy the sun!

dude, she's a phone specialist, she helps with general things, she explained the situation. Give it a rest man, life is full of great things, this is minor bro, small potatoes, move on....

Said the guy taking the time to read this entire thread and replying.. Twice.

 

[iphone1105]

Said the guy taking the time to read this entire thread and replying.. Twice.

Exactly, I appear to be the only one who cares to reply based off all the reads, I am just the only one speaking out saying how silly it is.

Youre copy/pasting a chat with a specialist about a phone upgrade, think about that. Like I said, go enjoy the rest of your day, not some silly chat about a phone upgrade.

 

[itjw]

Said the guy taking the time to read this entire thread and replying.. Twice.

He's right though. There are better things to do, replying to an asinine thread included. All you accomplished in that chat was to prove to some poor hourly associate at AT&T that you could be a condescending *******.

I'm usually all for that, but it doesn't seem to have been your intent (based on you pasting it into an internet forum, looking for people to burn on AT&T).

Bravo?

 

[Lyons00]

I checked my upgrade eligibility on the Apple website just to know the exact date that I'll be able to upgrade to the new iPhone. (I'm currently on AT&T and I won't be able to get the subsidized price until 2015, but I know that AT&T offers an 'Early Upgrade' with a $200 discount)

I wanted to get confirmation by a human being, not a computer, so I decided to chat with an Apple Specialist, maybe he'd be able to confirm this to me.


Here is the chat transcript:

----------------------------------------------
Now Chatting with David

Apple Specialist: Hi! Welcome to Apple. My name is David. How can I help you?

Me: Hello, how are you today?

Apple Specialist: Not bad.

Apple Specialist: Thanks for asking./

Apple Specialist: Yourself?

Me: Great

Me: Thanks for asking

Me: I'm contacting you because I just checked my upgrade eligibility on the Apple website, but I want to confirm this information by a real person

Me: I want to know when I'll be able to upgrade to the iPhone 6 at the discounted price

Me: Last year, I received a $200 discount with ATT for upgrading early to the iPhone 5S

Apple Specialist: Okay.

Me: So instead of paying $750 for a 32GB iPhone 5S I paid $550

Me: I wish to know if i'll be able to do that this year

Me: Instead of paying $950 for an iPhone 6 Plus in 128GB, just pay $750 with the AT&T discount

Apple Specialist: No one can really say when anyone can upgrade to the iPhone 6 right now because that information hasn't been released.

Me: After browsing the Apple web site, I found that if I go to the iPhone 6 page, and select the phone that I want, there is an option right under 'Choose a carrier' that says 'Check your upgrade eligibility'

Me: So now you know, in case someone else asks you the same question

Apple Specialist: People have been asking about the iPhone since yesterday.

Apple Specialist: All of our answers are the same.

Me: I'm asking you today.

Apple Specialist: We want customers to understand that we mean no disrespect.

Apple Specialist: We're not giving them a hard time at all.

Apple Specialist: They basically know as much as we do at this point.

Apple Specialist: Apple is playing this launch extremely close to the vest for good reason.

Me: Clearly the information is available. Otherwise I, as a customer (not an Apple employee with access to all sorts of information) can get to this data.

Apple Specialist: All that Apple has released is a pre-orderiong date and a retail store date.

Apple Specialist: September 12 and September 19, respectively.

Me: Please do yourself a favor and visit the iPhone 6 page on the Apple website. Select an iPhone 6, choose a finish and a carrier, and see for yourself that you CAN check the upgrade eligibility date.

Apple Specialist: Thank you for choosing the Apple Store. If you have any additional questions, please chat us again.

**Specialist ended chat**
----------------------------------------------


I understand that I already had the information that I needed, I wasn't trying to be all sassy, but what's wrong with trying to confirm it by a real person?

The specialist didn't even know that you could check the upgrade eligibility date on the Apple website. Isn't that something they teach him? It seems pretty basic.

Even if he didn't know that you could check the eligibility date on the website, he should've just said so, instead of telling me that that information doesn't exist.

To top it all, the survey option at the end of the chat sucks big time. There's no way to leave any comments. Why can't I leave any feedback?

Anyways, if anyone needs help checking the upgrade eligibility date, or the monthly installment plans, head to apple.com, go to the iPhone 6 page, select an iPhone 6 model, size, finish, carrier and then hit the 'Check Upgrade Eligibility' button right below. It'll ask you for the phone number, billing zip code and last 4 digits of the SSN associated with the account.

--

>FYI, I tried calling AT&T before chatting with the Apple Specialist and they did not even know the iPhone 6 had been announced. So good luck with AT&T.

I chatted this morning with the Apple rep and she went on the Apple site like we did and confirmed to me that I would get the 200.00 offend the price would be 549.00. Called back to confirm only because there are so many different interpretations. Again it was confirmed preorder the 12th and get it for 549.00. I'm not due until next Sept 2015. Hope this helps!