AT&T - Upgrade Rip Off

[HowardSmith]

I have been a AT&T customer for a long time 12+ And was looking forward to upgrading my 4S to the 5, but wait AT&T wants an extra $250 this year!
F AT&T this is the straw that broke the camels back. Its cheaper to pay the early termination fee and go to Sprint or Verizon.

Its not necessarily about the money, its about customer loyalty.

Anybody else pissed off about this? or has everyone just paid the extra $250?

Which one's better Sprint or Verizon?

They changed my upgrade status a few weeks ago to full upgrade at the lower price. Why they did some and not others, I do not know but they have a reason for it.

DO you pay you bill on time every month?

This is called "churn" and all the carriers know they will lose some and gain some. Think LONG and hard about this first and stay away from Sprint!

 

[GoreVidal]

Oh good another one of THESE threads. I was starting to worry about the next entitled whiner was just going to use an old one.

 

[CCC4321]

Wow, not the responses I thought I would get.
Lots of good info and a lot of snippy comments.

Anyway, yes I had seen a few weeks back that my upgrade had the $250, but like in years past, it had changed when the new phone was available for pre-order.

Yes being a customer who has been with a company for a while should and usually does get more loyalty than someone who has just shown up for a year. Customers who have been around for a few years should have earned a little more and I think 12+ has earned a lot of loyalty credit.

A couple of years back I was told by AT&T the of my bill pre-taxed was 95 or more I would be eligible after 1 year, so I have kept my bill above that to ensure a cheaper upgrade, even though I do not need or use that much service.

Thanks for the feed back, Entitled.

 

[SAD*FACED*CLOWN]

I have been a AT&T customer for a long time 12+ And was looking forward to upgrading my 4S to the 5, but wait AT&T wants an extra $250 this year!
F AT&T this is the straw that broke the camels back. Its cheaper to pay the early termination fee and go to Sprint or Verizon.

Its not necessarily about the money, its about customer loyalty.

Anybody else pissed off about this? or has everyone just paid the extra $250?

Which one's better Sprint or Verizon?

WOW...so you got a new subsidized 4s last year and you want a new subsidized 5 this year....you signed a 2 year contract buddy, suck it up...this is why I skipped the 4S and rode out two years with my 4

 

[Boiler]

Wow, not the responses I thought I would get.
Lots of good info and a lot of snippy comments.

Anyway, yes I had seen a few weeks back that my upgrade had the $250, but like in years past, it had changed when the new phone was available for pre-order.

Yes being a customer who has been with a company for a while should and usually does get more loyalty than someone who has just shown up for a year. Customers who have been around for a few years should have earned a little more and I think 12+ has earned a lot of loyalty credit.

A couple of years back I was told by AT&T the of my bill pre-taxed was 95 or more I would be eligible after 1 year, so I have kept my bill above that to ensure a cheaper upgrade, even though I do not need or use that much service.

Thanks for the feed back, Entitled.

Don't let people bash you for feeling entitled.

I feel entitled. It's not a curse word. Feeling entitled <> being racist or a murderer

My family has been with AT&T for 25 years.
We have had five iphones every year since 2007 original.
We pay $30 unlimited data each, $30 text, and $80 for the minutes, and $10 per additional line. That is around 250+ per month without even counting taxes. THey make $3,0000+ a year from us. That stream of income is very valuable.

OP seems to be in similar situation paying $100+ a month and always being a an early adopter. Why not just give someone a $450 or whatever subsidy to keep their big business indefinitely.

I believe OP loyalty does earn special treatment.
Or is loyalty just one-directional?

 

[JadedRaverLA]

I know this upsets people, but ALL the big cell carriers have dropped their early upgrade eligibility over the last couple of years. You can switch to whoever you want, but neither Sprint nor Verizon are going to give you a full discount every year either.

Upgrading every twelve months, with a $450 subsidy on the phone, would mean $37.50 of your monthly cell phone bill is just going to pay back your last upgrade. You can't really expect cell companies to let that go on forever.

At any rate, AT&T will let you get an unlocked phone at full price without changing anything on your contract, or let you get a partial discount with a contract renewal. That hardly seems "unfair."

 

[steph280]

This is like those people who got a mortgage loan they can't afford, then turn around and blame the bank and the universe for it.

If you can't be responsible for your own will to sign the contract, you shouldn't be allow to sign a contract in the first place.

 

[Wicked1]

They all do that, why is it ppl do not chk but then blast te carriers.....AT&T is the same as VZ and Sprint but ATT lets you upgrade every 18 months instead of 24 like the other two

 

[CCC4321]

WOW...so you got a new subsidized 4s last year and you want a new subsidized 5 this year....you signed a 2 year contract buddy, suck it up...this is why I skipped the 4S and rode out two years with my 4

Yes and 3GS the year before and a 3G the year before that, and many other phones previous to that. Pretty much a new -almost free phone every year up until they had the gall to actually make me pay for the first iPhone.

Wow I must be out of my mind to expect the same services that AT&T has been providing me for many years! How dare I?

Entitled

 

[maverikv]

Yes and 3GS the year before and a 3G the year before that, and many other phones previous to that. Pretty much a new -almost free phone every year up until they had the gall to actually make me pay for the first iPhone.

Wow I must be out of my mind to expect the same services that AT&T has been providing me for many years! How dare I?

Entitled

People on this website are massive corporate apologists. AT&T provides you with an early upgrade every year. This year they don't. The ETF is cheaper than their upgrade fee. But you're entitled if you'd rather pay it and leave than pay the higher upgrade fee and stay. Wha?

 

[bubbleboyjones]

Anybody else pissed off about this? or has everyone just paid the extra $250?

Nope, It was your choice to upgrade to the 4S. Should have waited for the 5 if you didn't want to pay $250 per the contract.

I've been waiting since 2009 to upgrade my Iphone, not going to get sympathy from me.

 

[swindmill]

Agreed. Personally, I think at&t never should have started letting people get a subsidized price after only a year. It breeds a sense of entitlement that isn't unique to the OP.

It's understandable that people feel entitled to upgrade to each new iPhone, because that's how it's always been and they suddenly stopped allowing it without giving anyone any real notice. It's not fair to say that people have agreed to a 2 year time period when it's never really been two years.

-----

I can tell by your signature that understanding things in context isn't your strength.

 

[F123D]

I love these threads. People were warned left and right last year on these forums when upgrading to the 4S that they won't get an early upgrade this year. All I heard was, don't worry, they'll bump up the date close to apples release which most knew wasn't true any longer and they still upgraded. Now these threads are popping up everywhere.

One of the reasons why I skipped the 4S and waited until this year to upgrade. (Yes, I was eligible last year).

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Wow I must be out of my mind to expect the same services that AT&T has been providing me for many years! How dare I?

Services?!?!?!

You don't PAY extra to get the option to upgrade early.It was a COURTESY extended to you. They shouldn't have did it in the first place because now people will kick and scream every year.

It's understandable that people feel entitled to upgrade to each new iPhone, because that's how it's always been and they suddenly stopped allowing it without giving anyone any real notice. It's not fair to say that people have agreed to a 2 year time period when it's never really been two years.

Huh? That's like saying

Look, i've stolen hundreds of movies, music and games from the internet over the years but comcast has never stopped me. Now they are sending me DMCA notices without warning which is ridiculous considering i've done it for so long.

 

[Valis33]

It is a rip-off, & not necessarily because AT&T has trained expectations over the years. Apple is obviously charging too much for this phone, which they are entitled to do, & I hope that magic never wears off for them.

This is a bad business decision for AT&T; why do this right when the iPhone is available to so many other carriers? I pay $1700 a year to AT&T for a really meager amount of service, I'm sure they can find the flexibility.

The really tacky part is the "customer service" representatives all trying to sell you U-Verse. Maybe they could subsidize the iPhone properly to my expectations if they didn't waste a stamp sending me a U-Verse advertisement every week in the mail.

 

[aristobrat]

@OP - AT&T is offering you $200 off retail for upgrading early, right? I may be wrong, but I do not believe their competitors will do that.

Verizon doesn't offer early upgrades, at least not to me or anyone else I've talked to.

I got the 4s last year, shortly after the launch. If I want the 5 before July 2013, it's full price. Like $549 full price. Plus a $36 upgrade fee.

I upgrade yearly, so I'm paying the ETF and moving back to AT&T.

 

[CCC4321]

Yes and 3GS the year before and a 3G the year before that, and many other phones previous to that. Pretty much a new -almost free phone every year up until they had the gall to actually make me pay for the first iPhone.

Wow I must be out of my mind to expect the same services that AT&T has been providing me for many years! How dare I?

Entitled

Oh and this may really irritate you, but for the 3G and 4 I sold them to Gazelle, so they were almost free.

How dare I expect the SAME services I have been provided for years!

I should be taken out back behind the Macrumors building an Whipped.

Why won't they pay my mortgage and my car payment again?

Yours truly, Entitled

 

[aristobrat]

How dare I expect the SAME services I have been provided for years!

Realistically, things change.

Compare the number of customers with smartphones 5 years ago to the numbers today.

At some point, it should be plain to see that giving customers $400 discounts yearly isn't sustainable as the numbers switching from inexpensive dumb phones to very expensive smart phones increases.

At least AT&T gives people early upgrade $200 discounts. Verizon doesn't.

 

[Valis33]

Oh and this may really irritate you, but for the 3G and 4 I sold them to Gazelle, so they were almost free.

How dare I expect the SAME services I have been provided for years!

I should be taken out back behind the Macrumors building an Whipped.

Why won't they pay my mortgage and my car payment again?

Yours truly, Entitled

AT&T made $21.6 billion last year while doing early upgrades, imagine the possibilities this year!!

 

[aristobrat]

AT&T made $21.6 billion last year while doing early upgrades, imagine the possibilities this year!!

How much of that was from their wireless division?

 

[Eddyisgreat]

It is a rip-off, & not necessarily because AT&T has trained expectations over the years. Apple is obviously charging too much for this phone, which they are entitled to do, & I hope that magic never wears off for them.

This is a bad business decision for AT&T; why do this right when the iPhone is available to so many other carriers? I pay $1700 a year to AT&T for a really meager amount of service, I'm sure they can find the flexibility.

??? ATT is having NO issue selling phones. Why give them away for nothing when people ARE willing to pay +$250 or even FULL PRICE in droves. The phone is sold out online. iP4 and iP3G users have spoken.

U entitled loyalty folks seem to think that if you don't get your precious hardware at max discount ($400) instead of slightly lower discount ($250) then AT*T will go out of business because you'll go to Verizon. No you won't. Verizon will screw you over even harder.

 

[erzeszut]

This is like those people who got a mortgage loan they can't afford, then turn around and blame the bank and the universe for it.

If you can't be responsible for your own will to sign the contract, you shouldn't be allow to sign a contract in the first place.

Not quite. The difference is that AT&T is breaking the policies for some people, not others. So a true analogy would be if Bank of America called some of their mortgage-holders and said, "Oh, you can skip October's payment. It's cool with us." (Or, more accurately, if mortgage-holders were able to call and negotiate a skipped month, while others were told no way.)

I understand that the early upgrades in the past were a courtesy provided by AT&T, and officially are no longer provided. I think that's a stupid business decision that will end up costing them subscribers, but I understand that it's their decision to make. We all did agree to a 2-year contract.

What I reject is the inconsistency of the policy. Why did some iPhone 4S users on AT&T have eligibility for a fully-subsidized iPhone 5 as of today? Why did others (like me) have the +$250 upgrade fee, while others had to pay full retail?

Why are some people (like me, eventually) able to call and convince AT&T to give us a service credit ($150, in my case) while some other people got the full $250, and some people get nothing??

That's what is frustrating to people -- the inconsistency, and inequality of how AT&T treats its customers. If no one had posted here on macrumors, and on other forums, about bill credits and changing eligibility dates, I wouldn't have tried either. But it frustrates me beyond belief when a company has different rules for some customers than others. Have a policy, explain it, and STICK TO IT.

 

[Valis33]

How much of that was from their wireless division?

$13.8 billion

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/secfilings.asp?ticker=T


Hope their lack of "upgrade subsidy" makes up in revenue for their loss of customers.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Hope their lack of "upgrade subsidy" makes up in revenue for their loss of customers.

The 5 or 6 customers that ultimately left AT&T for VERZ and Sprint are actually SAVING AT&T money because next year they wont tie up customer service reps when they can't have their IP5 for free.

 

[Valis33]

Not quite. The difference is that AT&T is breaking the policies for some people, not others. So a true analogy would be if Bank of America called some of their mortgage-holders and said, "Oh, you can skip October's payment. It's cool with us." (Or, more accurately, if mortgage-holders were able to call and negotiate a skipped month, while others were told no way.)

I understand that the early upgrades in the past were a courtesy provided by AT&T, and officially are no longer provided. I think that's a stupid business decision that will end up costing them subscribers, but I understand that it's their decision to make. We all did agree to a 2-year contract.

What I reject is the inconsistency of the policy. Why did some iPhone 4S users on AT&T have eligibility for a fully-subsidized iPhone 5 as of today? Why did others (like me) have the +$250 upgrade fee, while others had to pay full retail?

Why are some people (like me, eventually) able to call and convince AT&T to give us a service credit ($150, in my case) while some other people got the full $250, and some people get nothing??

That's what is frustrating to people -- the inconsistency, and inequality of how AT&T treats its customers. If no one had posted here on macrumors, and on other forums, about bill credits and changing eligibility dates, I wouldn't have tried either. But it frustrates me beyond belief when a company has different rules for some customers than others. Have a policy, explain it, and STICK TO IT.

Well put, that is the best way to manage emotions & expectations.

----------

The 5 or 6 customers that ultimately left AT&T for VERZ and Sprint are actually SAVING AT&T money because next year they wont tie up customer service reps when they can't have their IP5 for free.

Sorry I guess you haven't called, they don't have customer service reps, they have cable/phone bundle peddlers.