So let me get this straight...you say AT&T made $3K per year off of you but you got 5 new iphones per year so subtract $2,250 for subsidy and then you sold the old phones (don't know how much you got but let's say $500 total) and you're complaining because they aren't showing loyalty? Unbelievable!
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AT&T - Upgrade Rip Off
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So let me get this straight...you say AT&T made $3K per year off of you but you got 5 new iphones per year so subtract $2,250 for subsidy and then you sold the old phones (don't know how much you got but let's say $500 total) and you're complaining because they aren't showing loyalty? Unbelievable!
Op I just checked my account and I am not eligable for a full Discount upgrade until next year. Gues what, if I want the iPhone 5 ill pay the extra 250 or buy it outright. Honestly though is a bigger screen and LTE really that important that you can't wait till next year? You did well without it till now. If you want the 5 buy it and stop being petulant.
i paid...only because my 4s was stolen....i would have not gotten the 5 if i would have had my 4s so I just upgraded ...it does suck its the most expensive phone I have ever had to pay so far....oh well...thats why i work anyway...but it does suck ...oh well
I agree that at&t should have been more forthcoming in their decision to start strictly enforcing the terms of the contract. However, it is perfectly "fair" to hold people accountable to what they have agreed to.
Perhaps, however, if we are to be considered "bound" by the terms of our contracts, then why not AT&T to the terms of their contract when they agreed to provide "unlimited" (not throttled) data? I guess "fair" is not equally "fair."
You're trying to upgrade early. You haven't obliged your contract yet.
AT&T actually gave you a courtesy $250 upgrade fee instead of having you pay the full non-substitized price. AT&T paid for most of the price of your phone so that you would stick to a two year contract.
I don't see what the problem is.
You can't blame ATT for this my friend. This is a business and honestly you signed up for it. If you are willing to pay the etf which once again you signed up for then just pay the early upgrade fee. All that I'm going to a different carrier sounds like a bunch hot smoke. You will be in the same scenario next year with Verizon or Sprint.
Wow, entitled much? You signed a contract for two years, deal with it.
Thanks to some of the great responses on this thread and some not so great responses from thows who want to pretend they would not be irritated if they were in the same situation and want label me and others as Entitled.
I have come to realize that even more so I do feel entitled, and feel entitled to the same service I've had for 12 years. I'm grandfathered it to my unlimited plan, why not the same policies that I have be use to do 12 years allowed me to upgrade early. Why change that with no notice, I didn't get a call or letter.
I believe that it is AT&T that has made me feel this way. This is do to their past treatment and policies that have enabled me to upgrade iPhone after iPhone and many other pho es before them every year.
And to all of you who want to call me Entitled, you're full of S if you say you wouldn't like the treatment AT&T has show me in the past and be irritated if it was changed.
I'm not asking anyone to pay for my house or car, I'm just asking for the same treatment I have had from AT&T in the past for a long time. They changed I haven't, I keep paying my 120 a month.
You aren't doing AT&T any favors by paying them $120/month and then asking them for $450 of free stuff yearly (which is what it costs them to offer you an iPhone at $199 cost).
Perhaps that upgrade model made more sense "a long time ago" when it didn't cost them $450 to offer you a full upgrade, but with over 50% of their customers on smartphones now, that model doesn't seem to scale.
No major wireless carrier that I know offers customers a yearly $450 discount off of a phone anymore. And AFAIK, AT&T is the only carrier that gives you a $200 discount if you do want to upgrade early.
Especially someone on a $120/month plan. That $450/yearly discount works out to them giving you $37/month. That's 31% of your monthly bill! What other company/industry do you know that gives you a 31% discount off of their service for simply being a customer?
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I don't know, it looks like paying the EFT and switching costs just as much over-time as staying with AT&T and paying full-price for an iPhone every other year (which qualifies you for the $199 upgrade rate every other year).
Doing the AT&T yearly "$250 early upgrade" looks to cost the most money!!!
If you look at these three scenarios...
AT&T model 1: (paying the early upgrade fee every year)
Year 1: $199
Year 2: $199 + $250 early upgrade fee
Year 3: $199 + $250 early upgrade fee
Year 4: $199 + $250 early upgrade fee
Year 5: $199 + $250 early upgrade fee
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$2245
AT&T model 2: (alternate paying full price every other year)
Year 1: $199
Year 2: $549 (don't do an early upgrade, pay full price)
Year 3: $199 (since you didn't do an early upgrade the year before, you qualify for this price)
Year 4: $549 (full price again)
Year 5: $199 (you qualify for this price again)
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$1695
Switching to Verizon
Year 1: $199 (AT&T)
Year 2: $199 (switch to Verizon as a new customer) + $225 ETF fee to AT&T
Year 3: $549 (they don't offer an early upgrade price)
Year 4: $199
Year 5: $549
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$1695
I got a call from at&t tonight around 7 pm and placed my pre-order, granted 14-21 shipping days, but they waived the 250$ early upgrade price for me and I got 2 new iPhones one for me (which wasn't out of contract yet) and my wife, who was eligible. Don't ask how I got it, they called me and said nothing about it and just went ahead and did it without me having to pay my 250$ upgrade fee.
Not to be an a$$, but you sound like a whiny little high schooler whose parents won't buy them the latest and greatest. Have you stopped to think that maybe by AT&T letting you upgrade every year at subsidized price, they were doing you a favor? I mean seriously, you signed a 2yr agreement, deal with it. They are also discounting it by 250 bucks for you. I doubt sprint or Verizon would do that. They stopped doing the yearly upgrades last year with the 4S. This was widely reported on here and based on your registration date, you probably were aware of this. They showed you loyalty all those years by letting you upgrade each and every year. Now they don't, you bitch?! Wow.
That's what I do every year. It works out great. New phone for very little out of pocket for me and the wife.
AT&T model 3: (taking out a dummy line and doing device swap every other year)
Year 1: $199 (for 1st line)
Year 2: $199 (for 2nd line) + $120 ($10/mo for 2nd line)
Year 3: $199 (for 1st line) + $120
Year 4: $199 (for 2nd line) + $120
Year 5: $199 (for 1st line) + $120
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$1430
This is the cheapest scenario.
I predict AT&T will eliminate the $250 early iPhone upgrade next year.
Of course not. A lot of people on here treat a contract as a one way street. They'll throw a fit if they think AT&T is changing one small thing on it...but expect them to 'give them a break' when it fits their needs.
The OP is typical of a lot of people in society. Everybody wants to be the exception. Never mind that are literally millions of people in the OP's position...they should make an exception for HIM because he wants the shiny new toy.
How come everyone is complaining about at&t, but no one is complaining about sprint or verizon not giving a full subsidy?
Yes, AT&T set up these expectation. I am entitled to what I have had.
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Apparently AT&T agrees to some extent, as I just talked to a rep and was given some credits and had the upgrade waved.
I wouldn't mind so much if AT&T treated everyone the same. But since they treat everyone differently and since you managed to get treated well, would you care to tell us what you said to persuade the rep so that the rest of us can get in on the credits?