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ATT upgrade eligibility moved up
- Thread starter jblock
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Called three times. The first two times, I had no luck (my upgrade eligible date is November 19th).
The third time, I asked to be transferred to retention. The rep would not change my upgrade date nor give me $250. She did offer to apply a $45 credit to my bill.
I accepted the offer, then hung up and switched to Verizon.
If AT&T is willing to lose a 5-year customer over $250, then I'm willing to leave. My ETF is only $90, so this was an easy decision.
I've been allowed to upgrade at the low price for iPhone since the first one. Making me wait a month to do the same this time is bad business.
The third time, I asked to be transferred to retention. The rep would not change my upgrade date nor give me $250. She did offer to apply a $45 credit to my bill.
I accepted the offer, then hung up and switched to Verizon.
If AT&T is willing to lose a 5-year customer over $250, then I'm willing to leave. My ETF is only $90, so this was an easy decision.
I've been allowed to upgrade at the low price for iPhone since the first one. Making me wait a month to do the same this time is bad business.
We have two lines, one says that we can upgrade now with just the $18 upgrade fee, one says only upgrade for $250 plus $18 upgrade fee. WTF? Why one and not the other? We got the phones at the same time yet one can upgrade now and one not until January. Weird because even in January that won't be a full two years, our contract start date was 5/29/10. We were able to go from 3gs to 4 when the 4 came out because it had been less than 30 days without paying full price and without changing our contract date.
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Just Pre-ordered the 4S from an AT&T store. I went in talked to the store manager and originally got a $50 credit on my account but because I waited so long for a rep to become available i got $75 instead. So in the end i will only be paying the cost of the device + the value of my etf ($175) + 18
I'm having a similar issue. I'm on a family plan and mine is eligible to upgrade, but the other line is not eligible until April.
Basically, AT&T says that the primary line pays ~$60+ for voice, and the other line pays only $10, so only the primary line is eligible for the early upgrade. The customer service rep told me that, "AT&T does customers a favor by breaking down the bill like that" so we can upgrade earlier. Interpret that as you wish.
Congrats on getting the date pushed up! I have no idea how they managed that. I wish other people at AT&T were as willing to do that.
gotta hit up an ATT store... I literally had no luck through numerous phone conversations, and of course Apple will not be able to do this for you either.
I probably would have ended up paying the $250 extra (even though I know it's not worth it for 6 weeks), and I'm so glad I waited and gave in-store a shot.
Here are a few things everyone should know...
Att will not move your upgrade date up except for extremely rare circumstances. Wanting the latest iPhone isn't rare, FYI. People who think they are moving dates up at will just don't know about their policy changes. A couple months ago they made a policy change that will allow you to upgrade anytime in the month you were eligible. So if you were ready to upgrade on October 31st, you can now do it as of October 1st.
Secondly, raging about not being able to upgrade to every iPhone is dumb. What are we, 8 yr olds in a toy store? And to cancel and switch providers because you can't get your way is even dumber. But here's the kicker, att doesn't care. When they subsidize the cost of an iPhone for a customer every year there is hardly any profit at all, if any. Your share lines for 9.99 a month don't yield profit for att until around the 16th month of their contract. And now with the unlimited mobile to mobile to any network, many customers are lowering their primary line's revenue by going down in minutes since their vast majority of calls are to other cell phones. In return, profit margins are dropping for att. It's simply business.
In a related note, they don't care about the iPhone anymore. They have made it very clear to their sales reps that they should be focusing more on selling the android 4g devices as the profit margin is greater. Basically, att is losing their ass on iPhones.
Another policy change they made was back in January/February. Before they used to base upgrade eligibility on your revenue and making payments on time. I have actually seen people out of contract not eligible for phones because they pay their bill 2 months late every month. Att doesn't even care if they lose these customers as the cost of sending delinquent notices and monitoring accounts outweighs their revenue. Anyways, many customers could upgrade every 12 months because of their revenue. Well, due to a decrease in profits, they changed the policy as I mentioned. Anyone who had an "early" upgrade date prior to this policy change kept it. For example, I got my iPhone 4 in December 2010 and since day 1 my primary line was eligible for upgrade in December 2011 whereas my secondary line was august 2012. Anyone upgrading or getting new lines after the policy change receives an upgrade at 18-20 months, regardless of revenue.
The reality is simple. A vast majority of customers will wait til their upgrade date and get a new phone then. You will notice a lot of androids because this is their big push. Since the policy change att has been getting some of the nicer android devices including the Atrix back in February which at the time was the fastest smartphone in the world. There will be some customers who think they are sticking it to att and will cancel and head to Verizon. Guess what, their policies are pretty damn close to being the same as att and even a few policies they have that are worse. Att knows they have the better iPhone since they have simultaneous voice and data and also hspa+ which means their iPhone is significantly faster than Verizon's that is running on their untouched 3G network. When you fall off LTE on att you will have hspa+ so the speed drop isn't as drastic. Go to Verizon and switch from LTE to their 3G, it's literally like going from cable Internet down to dialup. So to a large sum of the unloyal customers who have to have the latest device, this is huge. In att.'s eyes, they feel waiting the extra few months is worth it to keep with the superior data network and if it's not then go enjoy Verizon. People think the grass is always greener on the otherwise until they get there.
P.S. Att has a program called flipswap now. You can mail your phone in for an att gift card to use towards accessories or even your phone bill. My iPhone 16gb is worth 235 dollars which would pretty much cover the 250 premium if I wanted to upgrade early at the 449 pricing. Not a bad deal for being able to get the latest device after only having my phone for 10 months.
Att will not move your upgrade date up except for extremely rare circumstances. Wanting the latest iPhone isn't rare, FYI. People who think they are moving dates up at will just don't know about their policy changes. A couple months ago they made a policy change that will allow you to upgrade anytime in the month you were eligible. So if you were ready to upgrade on October 31st, you can now do it as of October 1st.
Secondly, raging about not being able to upgrade to every iPhone is dumb. What are we, 8 yr olds in a toy store? And to cancel and switch providers because you can't get your way is even dumber. But here's the kicker, att doesn't care. When they subsidize the cost of an iPhone for a customer every year there is hardly any profit at all, if any. Your share lines for 9.99 a month don't yield profit for att until around the 16th month of their contract. And now with the unlimited mobile to mobile to any network, many customers are lowering their primary line's revenue by going down in minutes since their vast majority of calls are to other cell phones. In return, profit margins are dropping for att. It's simply business.
In a related note, they don't care about the iPhone anymore. They have made it very clear to their sales reps that they should be focusing more on selling the android 4g devices as the profit margin is greater. Basically, att is losing their ass on iPhones.
Another policy change they made was back in January/February. Before they used to base upgrade eligibility on your revenue and making payments on time. I have actually seen people out of contract not eligible for phones because they pay their bill 2 months late every month. Att doesn't even care if they lose these customers as the cost of sending delinquent notices and monitoring accounts outweighs their revenue. Anyways, many customers could upgrade every 12 months because of their revenue. Well, due to a decrease in profits, they changed the policy as I mentioned. Anyone who had an "early" upgrade date prior to this policy change kept it. For example, I got my iPhone 4 in December 2010 and since day 1 my primary line was eligible for upgrade in December 2011 whereas my secondary line was august 2012. Anyone upgrading or getting new lines after the policy change receives an upgrade at 18-20 months, regardless of revenue.
The reality is simple. A vast majority of customers will wait til their upgrade date and get a new phone then. You will notice a lot of androids because this is their big push. Since the policy change att has been getting some of the nicer android devices including the Atrix back in February which at the time was the fastest smartphone in the world. There will be some customers who think they are sticking it to att and will cancel and head to Verizon. Guess what, their policies are pretty damn close to being the same as att and even a few policies they have that are worse. Att knows they have the better iPhone since they have simultaneous voice and data and also hspa+ which means their iPhone is significantly faster than Verizon's that is running on their untouched 3G network. When you fall off LTE on att you will have hspa+ so the speed drop isn't as drastic. Go to Verizon and switch from LTE to their 3G, it's literally like going from cable Internet down to dialup. So to a large sum of the unloyal customers who have to have the latest device, this is huge. In att.'s eyes, they feel waiting the extra few months is worth it to keep with the superior data network and if it's not then go enjoy Verizon. People think the grass is always greener on the otherwise until they get there.
P.S. Att has a program called flipswap now. You can mail your phone in for an att gift card to use towards accessories or even your phone bill. My iPhone 16gb is worth 235 dollars which would pretty much cover the 250 premium if I wanted to upgrade early at the 449 pricing. Not a bad deal for being able to get the latest device after only having my phone for 10 months.
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First of all, you are comparing an average (not even optimal) speed of 1Mbps to being the same as 56Kbps? You realize how ludicrous that is? That's a bunch of FUD thrown around by AT&T fanboys.
Secondly, when I fall off of AT&T's 3G now, I end up on Edge. Why don't you mention this? I do not see AT&T making any upgrades to the areas that are Edge only. Not in the areas I travel. So until AT&T proves otherwise, you need to include in that example of yours how much more painful it is to go from LTE to Edge...or HSPA to edge. It is far worse, and the Edge coverage is so vast.
So to be fair, you need to tell the entire story without the gross exaggeration.
But thank you for the helpful information on AT&T's upgrade policies.
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Paying late doesn't effect your upgrade status. You just have to be caught before they let you buy something.
Paying late doesn't effect your upgrade status. You just have to be caught before they let you buy something.
My comparisons were between att and Verizon's "4g" and 3G networks. Edge wont be upgraded any further than it already has. I don't hit any areas where I dont get at least 3G so my experiences with edge are limited although I do have a buddy who says he gets 500k download via edge but I obviously can't validate this. I highly doubt though there would be a situation of going from LTE to edge as LTE is being put in the heavier populated areas and those areas already have 3G or hspa+.First of all, you are comparing an average (not even optimal) speed of 1Mbps to being the same as 56Kbps? You realize how ludicrous that is? That's a bunch of FUD thrown around by AT&T fanboys.
Secondly, when I fall off of AT&T's 3G now, I end up on Edge. Why don't you mention this? I do not see AT&T making any upgrades to the areas that are Edge only. Not in the areas I travel. So until AT&T proves otherwise, you need to include in that example of yours how much more painful it is to go from LTE to Edge...or HSPA to edge. It is far worse, and the Edge coverage is so vast.
So to be fair, you need to tell the entire story without the gross exaggeration.
But thank you for the helpful information on AT&T's upgrade policies.
Yah looks like an ATT employee got in here lol. In the end it's just unwise business to lose loyal customers over a month. Or 2 weeks if the Nov 1 issue is true. I can't imagine losing future profit from however many customers was worth standing firm on no upgrades till Nov 1. Someone didn't think this through which is insane for such an anticipated event.
Its all about how much money you spend with them and what types of plans you have. I got a 4 on release date and should not have been eligable for a 4S at upgrade price, but i was given the price.
I have never had an issue getting an upgrade price on day 1, i.e. getting the new iPhone every year at launch.
I have never had an issue getting an upgrade price on day 1, i.e. getting the new iPhone every year at launch.
Ex-employee of att and Verizon who still has friends in the business. I'm also someone who would like his upgrade date moved up to the 14th but I'm not gonna call into att and complain about something that isn't affecting my capability to use their service. My phone works fine, my bill is accurate, and I willingly knew I was signing a 2 yr contract just like many others.
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No ones disputing their contract. Like the above poster said we have an issue with the fact AT&T won't allow an exception for a couple weeks to months time. That "revenue" that they will make from us in 1 month is not something that they should be willing to lose someone over. It's pretty much like us as the customers are saying please give me a $10-$20 adj and I will sign a new 2 year contract. Just cuz you worked there doesn't mean you can't see this logic. Why has AT&T helped people every time but this time to upgrade early? If a company can't make an exception of a month to get an upgrade for a customer then obviously they don't value the customer.
Store managers do have the ability to override an upgrade date only if it's fairly close like about a month away. My relative's date was moved up from 11/7/11, but she preordered today at AT&T so she won't get hers until the 21st.
How loyal are people willing to cancel over a month anyways? If they allow people with November upgrades to do it early then why not someone with a December date such as myself? It's actually unwise business to make different rules for different people because you will always be upsetting someone. So they rectified that with universal policies across the board. 5 years from now it will be the norm. People are only upset now because this is the year of the policy changes and people don't like change. Att and Verizon haven't made it this far just by making policy changes that everyone agrees with.
Both companies have early upgrade policies in place. If you want a new iphone every year you will pay more than the person who waits his 2 years. People make it sound like att and Verizon are refusing to sell them an iPhone. Pay the early upgrade and be one of the first to get it or wait until your eligible for standard upgrade like most people do.
I see the logic, trust me, I didn't like the changes either. As to why they aren't helping this year, read my previous posts. Policy changes are across the board the same for everyone. This makes for less communication issues between employees and customers along with many other problems with system changes and updates being eliminated. For every customer I sold an iPhone 4 to last year because they had high revenue and qualified after 12 months, there was another customer complaining because their "friend" was allowed to upgrade early and they couldn't. In return that customer feels unappreciated just because they aren't on the 2100 minute plan. Pretty dumb right? So in the eyes of att, this year and even some of next year they will hear people complaining about the changes, then it will be over. The alternative to this was to not change anything and lose customers every year who didn't feel appreciated because they couldn't upgrade every 12 months like others could. This is a decision that in the long term will yield less customers leaving than the ones they will lose because of the changes. Again, Verizon is the same way so it's not like att is the only company with this set in place. You should be able to see the logic on their end and realize these decisions are being made by people with years and years of business experience who actually know how to run a company.
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Best idea is to share a family plan who doesn't mind getting last years iPhone every year. That way you can upgrade every year and give them your old one.
Best idea is to share a family plan who doesn't mind getting last years iPhone every year. That way you can upgrade every year and give them your old one.
actually it does. the day before preorder my upgrade status changed from 11/30 to 2/29. called cs and they couldn't help gave me some bs about it being pushed back because of the iphone. went to a at&t store and the guy laughed at that. he asked if i had any late payments because a 3 month change sounded the alert to him and he said if you have any late payments it pushes your eligibility date back to what it should be officially with your two year contract. i have a 0 balance, but turns out i paid my 2nd to last bill ONE DAY LATE lol... he put a note on my account and said to come back november 1st and i will be good to go (they can override with in the same month hence 11/30 to 11/1). figure i can hold off for 2 weeks.. though i hope they have the iphone in stock then :-\