Can I walk away from the Apple Store with a sealed iPhone?

[maxpayne.co.uk]

Basically, I don't want to spend the £10 on the O2 topup. Can I walk away with a sealed 3GS without Apple having to activate it on the spot?

I can only get Orange where I am (yes, purplera1n and ultrasn0w is in order), so spending £10 on O2 is a waste to me since i'll be swapping sims immediately.

 

[calvy]

At the apple store in the US I was able to. However my old 3g got deactivated immediatly and wasn't usable on the cellular network.

 

[SpaceKitty]

On June 19, the Apple store I bought mine at only scanned the bar code and didn't open the boxes for anyone.

Not sure if that was only because it was launch day.

 

[docal97]

On June 19, the Apple store I bought mine at only scanned the bar code and didn't open the boxes for anyone.

Not sure if that was only because it was launch day.

my buddy was at multiple stores in the Philadelphia area in the several days around launch and none of them would let hin get the phone unless it ws opened and activAted in the store. They told him that he had to buy it online to get it sealed.

So I guess it's hit and miss on this issue.

 

[calvy]

my buddy was at multiple stores in the Philadelphia area in the several days around launch and none of them would let hin get the phone unless it ws opened and activAted in the store. They told him that he had to buy it online to get it sealed.

So I guess it's hit and miss on this issue.

Probably just a matter of uninformed apple sales folks. I asked my salesperson if it was ok if I opened it when I got home and he said it was up to me. So I told him my account info and he got it all set up without ever opening my box. When i go home, I plugged it in and synched it up with my backup info from my 3g

 

[Lakerfan210]

my buddy was at multiple stores in the Philadelphia area in the several days around launch and none of them would let hin get the phone unless it ws opened and activAted in the store. They told him that he had to buy it online to get it sealed.

So I guess it's hit and miss on this issue.

damn, Those sales people just wanted to get their dirty hands on the iPhones too.

 

[MadMacxxx]

Probably just a matter of uninformed apple sales folks. I asked my salesperson if it was ok if I opened it when I got home and he said it was up to me. So I told him my account info and he got it all set up without ever opening my box. When i go home, I plugged it in and synched it up with my backup info from my 3g

That's how it should be it, because what difference does it make who activates it or opens it as long as each one sold was sold to someone with a valid AT&T account plus a 2 year agreement. So it shouldn't matter to AT&T or Apple, or even Wal-Mart and best buy. Point is, the phone is being sold to an AT&T account with 2 years of service. AND if you can buy online at Apple.com and have it delivered sealed....then obviously there is nothing wrong with letting the customer activate at home with iTunes. So I would explain that to them if they try to tell you that it has to be activated in store. Ask to see the manager if the sales associate can't understand this, and if the manager doesn't allow it either...then they're idiots; find a different store.

 

[Phil A.]

Basically, I don't want to spend the £10 on the O2 topup. Can I walk away with a sealed 3GS without Apple having to activate it on the spot?

I can only get Orange where I am (yes, purplera1n and ultrasn0w is in order), so spending £10 on O2 is a waste to me since i'll be swapping sims immediately.

If you buy on PAYG, O2 don't open the phone. If you don't want the £10.00 top-up, just tell them you don't want it as it's to replace an existing phone and they'll just give you the phone (the sim pack is separate)

 

[Maverick713]

Probably just a matter of uninformed apple sales folks. I asked my salesperson if it was ok if I opened it when I got home and he said it was up to me. So I told him my account info and he got it all set up without ever opening my box. When i go home, I plugged it in and synched it up with my backup info from my 3g

Yeah but it was still activated, and the OP does not want to do that I think he just wants to purchase it and leave end of story. no account info given

 

[docal97]

That's how it should be it, because what difference does it make who activates it or opens it as long as each one sold was sold to someone with a valid AT&T account plus a 2 year agreement. So it shouldn't matter to AT&T or Apple, or even Wal-Mart and best buy. Point is, the phone is being sold to an AT&T account with 2 years of service. AND if you can buy online at Apple.com and have it delivered sealed....then obviously there is nothing wrong with letting the customer activate at home with iTunes. So I would explain that to them if they try to tell you that it has to be activated in store. Ask to see the manager if the sales associate can't understand this, and if the manager doesn't allow it either...then they're idiots; find a different store.

Agreed. There have been various posts of Apple employees being a bit careless with the new phones and not taking care when putting them on the counter and ripping the protective coating off the screen b4 you take the phone from the store.

Some people want to put a screen protector and case on the phone right out of the box b4 using it, and don't want it manipulated b4 having the chance to do that.

 

[maxpayne.co.uk]

Went into the store today. I told the guy that I already had an O2 sim at home with credit on that I wanted to use (slight fib there, but I can only get Orange in my area so an O2 sim would be useless).

Walked away with a sealed iPhone and didn't have to pay the minimum £10 activation topup! Going through the Purplera1n and ultrasn0w process now

Cheers all!

 

[iMacDragon]

Other option is online from apple store, you don't even get the option of topping up there.

 

[mavis]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS (White, 32GB): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7C97d Safari/528.16)

At the apple store in the US I was able to. However my old 3g got deactivated immediatly and wasn't usable on the cellular network.

Why would the old phone be deactivated??

 

[calvy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS (White, 32GB): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7C97d Safari/528.16)



Why would the old phone be deactivated??

Because while in store, the sales guy used the little Windows Mobile device things they have to check my account and see if I was eligible for an upgrade, then he asked if I wanted a text package, and I guess in this process the new phone was set up on my account and the new SIM card was activated. I'm sure if I had taken off the shrink wrap of the 3GS and put it in my 3G temporarily, i would have been fine. But I didn't want to unwrap it until I got home.

I actually misunderstood the guy. I thought I'd be able to use my 3G until I hooked up the 3GS to iTunes, but that's not the way it went. Maybe he misunderstood my purpose and sent me down the wrong path. Either way, I was happy. My main goal was to keep his greasy paws off of my new toy.