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This is being entitled. You signed a 2 year contract with them. They held up their end of the deal by providing you cellular service and you should honor your part by waiting out the 2 years to end in order to upgrade. I don't get why this is so hard for some people. If they bent the rules for "loyal" customers like you, they'd have to do it for everyone.

This. If att started doing this for all it's loyal customers Wed have to do it for everyone and trust me its not helping the local store reps any to do it early for you so unless corporate gets involved I wouldn't expect much.
 
My partial upgrade doesn't end until the 21st either. Guess I'm gonna just bite the bullet and sign up for Next. It definitely doesn't sound like its worth trying to call and have it changed. Life goes on!
 
This is being entitled. You signed a 2 year contract with them. They held up their end of the deal by providing you cellular service and you should honor your part by waiting out the 2 years to end in order to upgrade. I don't get why this is so hard for some people. If they bent the rules for "loyal" customers like you, they'd have to do it for everyone.
From experience, AT&T actually does bend the rules. However, it has to do more with how much money you give them rather than how long you've been a customer. If you're on the 50GB Mobile Share Plan, and incur a lot of international long distance and international roaming charges, I wouldn't be surprised if you get spammed with upgrade offers in the mail every 6 months.
 
From experience, AT&T actually does bend the rules. However, it has to do more with how much money you give them rather than how long you've been a customer. If you're on the 50GB Mobile Share Plan, and incur a lot of international long distance and international roaming charges, I wouldn't be surprised if you get spammed with upgrade offers in the mail every 6 months.

It sounds like they're tightening the clamps nowadays which I appreciate since I actually wait my 2 years to upgrade instead of whining about waiting 2 measly weeks. It's 2 weeks! The guy will live! It's a damn phone.
 
I pre ordered my iPhone 5 from att two years ago.

But the website says iam still under the old contract until the 14th.

So I guess I cant pre order the phone tonight.
 
I pre ordered my iPhone 5 from att two years ago.

But the website says iam still under the old contract until the 14th.

So I guess I cant pre order the phone tonight.

You might be able to since you won't get it until 19th. Check the upgrade site.
 
To those people throwing out the word 'entitled', I don't feel I'm entitled to anything. I'm just wanting to get a phone when it's first released and am trying to give AT&T my money for another two years. If you have a loyal customer for over a decade and they are telling you they want to stay with you for another 2 years, what are 2 weeks in the grand scheme of things? Any other service industry other than the cell phone industry (apparently) knows the no-brainer answer to this question.

What part of "that's not how it works" do you not understand?

You asked. They said no. Suck it up and wait a few days/weeks, or bite the bullet and pay the higher price. Problem solved. It's a phone, it's not lifesaving surgery.

Customer loyalty has nothing to do with it.
 
Just call and ask for the cancellation department. Then tell them that you can get a release day iphone 6 and have your termination paid but mobile and they will bend over for you. That's what I do I verizon

----------

It's a life saving phone. My contract doesn't end for 4 more months and if the cancellation department doesn't bend over for me they will lose a 12 year customer. They have done it before after verbal abuse and they will do it again. (Verizon)
 
It's a life saving phone. My contract doesn't end for 4 more months and if the cancellation department doesn't bend over for me they will lose a 12 year customer. They have done it before after verbal abuse and they will do it again. (Verizon)

...And this is all we need to know about what kind of person you are.
 
....To those people throwing out the word 'entitled', I don't feel I'm entitled to anything. I'm just wanting to get a phone when it's first released and am trying to give AT&T my money for another two years. If you have a loyal customer for over a decade and they are telling you they want to stay with you for another 2 years, what are 2 weeks in the grand scheme of things? Any other service industry other than the cell phone industry (apparently) knows the no-brainer answer to this question.

Maybe they should just give you a phone - you know, customer loyalty and all.


Okay, lets try to be logical. So, waive it at 2 weeks? How about 3 weeks? Why not 4 weeks? How about a month? Nah, lets make it 5 weeks. If we do 5 weeks, then why not 6 weeks?

By the way, mine is up later on the 5s. Does not matter, because I can just go with next anyways. Same price as my Iphone 4. See these screen shots.
 
That's a half assed excuse as are some other arguments about loyal customers not being worth anything. Do you work in any sort of industry where customer loyalty matters? I can tell you from experience, EVERY company I've worked for has targets for customer loyalty and action plans to achieve higher loyalty with their customers and keep them from going to competitors. Are you loyal to any company? Have you ever run into a situation where loyalty plays a key in a future purchase? This could be an airline, a car manufacturer, anything. Me having been an American frequent flyer member for over 10 years and having flown nearly 1,000,000 miles with them they will make concessions if I need it on that rare occasion. Even if that was asking for something once every two years, that's hardly out of line. If anything, they typically offer me upgrades or benefits without me even asking because of my loyalty. Same goes for hotels or getting into a new car lease.

For loyal customers make a policy just like a return policy. What are those, 30 days? 14 days? Do the same for upgrades. At the end of the day, the company stands to profit MORE from keeping that customer (locked into another 2 year contract) than they do losing them over 2 weeks.

People keep commenting on how they don't get why I don't understand loyalty doesn't matter, but how do you not understand the value of a loyal customer?

Maybe they should just give you a phone - you know, customer loyalty and all.


Okay, lets try to be logical. So, waive it at 2 weeks? How about 3 weeks? Why not 4 weeks? How about a month? Nah, lets make it 5 weeks. If we do 5 weeks, then why not 6 weeks?

By the way, mine is up later on the 5s. Does not matter, because I can just go with next anyways. Same price as my Iphone 4. See these screen shots.
 
My billing date is the 23rd and my current 2 year contract ends on the 18th. I spoke with someone at AT&T yesterday and was told that I can upgrade on October 1st. I was surprised when he told me that. I'm happy with that. It will give me time to do a little hands on with both versions in the store. Most likely getting the non-plus version.
 
You know I get the fact that he's contractually obligated for two more weeks, but you'd think for the sake of customer satisfaction they'd just do it. It's kind of silly that they are never willing to budge no matter the time frame.
 
Looks like I got a resolution after reaching out to the president of AT&T. They are willing to let me purchase a new iPhone prior to my contract end date of October 5th at the subsidized price. Of course, they don't have any in stock and my shipping estimate is anywhere October 29 through November 11.

So.... really it doesn't appear as though they did anything for me. I'll be buying a phone in-store on October 5th as they're still readily available (at least today they are).
 
My contract with ATT was up on 9/14. Starting about mid August the "Check my Upgrade Eligibility" on the ATT site said I could upgrade. Had 3 options.

1. New 2 year contract
2. Pay full price
3. NEXT

So it appeared I was able to upgrade "early".
 
I'll add my experience to this thread. I contacted a rep through AT&T's online chat a few weeks ago. Wanted to discuss plans because I was considering going with Next. I pointed out that I'd be keeping my unlimited data plan. In that conversation, I asked to confirm the date that I could upgrade. My 2 year contract ends on Oct 18th. He looked it up and confirmed that then said that I could upgrade as of Oct 1st.

Me: Seeing that I have you online, I believe I'm eligible for an iPhone upgrade on October 17th? Just want to confirm that date and if that is correct, that is the earliest that I can order a new phone? I know some are taking a few weeks to be delivered.
AT&T: Let's take a peak at when your contract ends. Do you see the profile link up there next to wireless? click that please
AT&T: Then click the user information tab
Me: Yes
AT&T: Then you will see your 2 devices next to a picture like an ID
AT&T: under that shows the contract end date for that device.
Me: 10/17/14
AT&T: I wouldn't be able to make you eligible tonight, but you will be eligible on October 1st
AT&T: Awesome so you can do it as early as October 1st
Me: Really? I didn't know that!
AT&T: Absolutely
AT&T: What else can we look into tonight?

I was surprised and happy to hear that I could upgrade on October 1st instead of waiting until the middle of the month. My phone has issues so would like to do it as soon as possible. I chatted with someone else at AT&T today. Wanted to see what time that upgrade would be good (midnight EST or later). The person I talked to said that I have to wait until the 17th. Went back and forth with it but they said it would be that date and nothing could be done even after another AT&T rep told me the 1st. Then we discussed Next. I listed to what she had to say then pointed out to the rep that it could cost me an additional $450.00 by doing that (unlimited data plan).

Well, before we closed out the conversation I asked if she was sure that AT&T wasn't going to stand behind what the other rep told me. After some lengthy research that involved a manager, I received this reply -

AT&T: Thank you so much for waiting. I was able to confirm this with my manager that we do allow early upgrades with a two year contract for any phones for as long as it falls on the same month that you'll be eligible for an upgrade. :) That means that you can upgrade 10/01/2014!

So in the end, AT&T came through. I've been with them for many years and this has been the only speed bump that I've encountered. Not bad.

I guess the only problem now is finding a store with stock. I show some Apple stores that have what I want but I have to goto an AT&T store because it's an early upgrade through them.
 
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