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Don't lose your iPhone!

J

JeremyHe

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 14, 2007
3
0
I have not read anything about this yet so I thought I'd let you guys now about this ridiculousness and perhaps get some help on this issue.

I have a family plan with ATT that has 4 iphones on it. Each of us on the plan got the iphone the first day that it came out. A few weeks ago me and my wifey (that also has an iphone) went on a eurotrip. While in europe her iphone was stolen along with some other randomness. So I called ATT and told them and they did what they do when someone steals your phone.

When I got back from the trip I went to purchase her a new iphone, which I did from a ATT corp store. I then went home and activated her phone, and this is where it gets interesting.

There is NO way to activate the phone without extending your contract for another 2 years! It's on the same plan, same phone number, same name. So I talked to the ATT corp store and they said to just call ATT and they'll be able to adjust the contract start date.

Well, I just go off the phone with ATT and after speaking to the rep, then the manager, and then the supervisor I was told repeatedly that even if a iphone is stolen/lost you still have to do a 2 year contract when you go to activate.

So to summarize this, ATT will extend your contract no matter what the circumstances. Someone steals your iphone, contract extended. Your iphone breaks and you have to buy a new one, contract extended. NO EXCEPTIONS!

I do not know what other recourse I have except to let you guys know about this and maybe raise some awareness about this issue. Any ideas would be appreciated.

-Jeremy
 
That's complete and utter bull****.

Take it as high as you can go. They can't get away with that.

Tell them that you and your family plan for 4 (costing you quite a bit I imagine) will be leaving and refusing to pay any fees for doing so if they don't sort it out.
 
I took it up to the supervisor who said she would call me back later today after doing some more research on it. But she said she thinks that's that.

It seems like some news people should pick up on this. It's crazyness!:mad:
 
So by their logic any misfortune with your iPhone requiring a replacement will require your contract resetting to the beginning for a further 2 years, so you could quite easily be stuck in the same damn contract for the rest of your life if you're that unlucky. unbelievable.

Any AT&T store near by you can go and make a very public fuss at?
 
That is BS. As long as you purchase the phone without subsidy you don't have to extend your contract. This is how it is on ALL carriers. The people you talked to are wrong. Take this as high as you can, they aren't allowed to do that since you purchased the phone at full price.
 
A friend of mine had a weird problem like this with another carrier. It ended up the only thing that got them to listen was filing a complaint with the BBB. It's pretty easy to do online.

http://bbb.com

Please let us know how this turns out. Seems like a big deal.
 
Unlock your Iphone or go prepaid. At $399, I consider the iPhone almost disposable, so I figured if I lost it or broke it I would just get another. If ATT forces me to extend, I would not do it.

Matt....
 
Post your story here, no company likes to be on the Consumerist. I used them against Sprint to get Sprint to let me out of my contract early. When I told the SPrint rep that I was going to post my ordeals on the consumerist, they relented.

http://www.consumerist.com/


Matt...
 
Is this not the case with most cell phones if you lose them? Or pay full pop for a phone? I find it odd since the iphone is seperate if bought at a apple store etc. Could it not just be added to the number? Maybe having to extend the contract is a little bull considering the phone is not discounted. You should ask what they are trying to prevent with this measure. I think msot cases its the whole new phone at a new customer rate...
 
If i'm not mistaken can't you just bypass AT&T and their ridiculous contract extensions.

When you sync your iPhone it creates a backup of everything on it, on your computer. Can't you just plug in a new iPhone and tell iTunes to copy your old iPhone backup to the new one. Isn't that how the replacement/loaner iPhones work when you get them repaired through Apple?

I've never done this myself so I'm not sure, but I always assumed thats how it worked.
 
That sucks. When I lost my phone some years ago all they did was reprogram a new SIM card with the same details and send me that, along with a replacement phone (that I paid for, of course). In doing so they also deactivated the old SIM card so whoever found the phone wouldn't be able to make calls under my account anymore.

I just put the new card in the new phone, and I was back on the old account, nothing else changed.

That's like you pay for a night at a hotel but when you get to the room the bathroom is leaking. They put you up in a replacement room but you still have to pay for the old room too.
 
So here is a happy ending to at least my story.

I got a call back from the supervisor and she told me she would reset back her contract to the original date before the new phone. I asked her if this meant a change in policy but she basically ignored my question.

So, for those of you unfortunate one's that do lose your iphone, there is hope if you yell loud enough!

I'm still pissed that they would try to pull some BS like that.

-Jeremy
 
I don't understand. How is this any different then getting a replacement phone when yours breaks or you restore a phone?
 
OK maybe someone can clarify this

I was under the impression that if you got a new phone (for whatever reason) when you activated the phone it would reset the contract clock to the date the new phone is activated, i.e., it replaced the original contract.

From what I'm reading this is no so, that you will have to EXTEND the contract another two years, for a total of 4 year. Am I reading this right?
 
nippyjun said:
I don't understand. How is this any different then getting a replacement phone when yours breaks or you restore a phone?
Click to expand...


Did they cancel the account? Or cancel the phone number? Maybe that's why its't different then just swapping phones....
 
Kirkland said:
If i'm not mistaken can't you just bypass AT&T and their ridiculous contract extensions.

When you sync your iPhone it creates a backup of everything on it, on your computer. Can't you just plug in a new iPhone and tell iTunes to copy your old iPhone backup to the new one. Isn't that how the replacement/loaner iPhones work when you get them repaired through Apple?

I've never done this myself so I'm not sure, but I always assumed thats how it worked.
Click to expand...

I would guess NO, as the iPhone was stolen WITH the activated SIM card in it.
You buy a new iPhone and the SIM is not activated yet, he has to do that through iTunes (through AT&T). I find it hard to believe that you need a new 2-year agreement though.
 
No, you were right the first time.
It replaces the previous contract and starts the 2 years the day you activate it.


Chupa Chupa said:
OK maybe someone can clarify this

I was under the impression that if you got a new phone (for whatever reason) when you activated the phone it would reset the contract clock to the date the new phone is activated, i.e., it replaced the original contract.

From what I'm reading this is no so, that you will have to EXTEND the contract another two years, for a total of 4 year. Am I reading this right?
Click to expand...
 
The only thing weird about that is the no-subsidy deal. If you lose/break a phone on, say, Tmobile and your off contract but get your new phone at discount via the customer upgrade program, they make you sign a new two-year contract. If you bought an unlocked Tmobile-compatible model somewhere else, you could just buy a new SIM card from Tmobile and go forth without contract. But since one of Apple's concessions to AT&T, in exchange for some AT&T concessions to Apple, was a two-year contract with each iPhone, that's the deal.

If it's consolation the contract goes with the phone, not your family plan. You'd only be responsible for maintaining the most basic contract iPhone plan on that one iPhone for the extended contract time. Not your whole family plan, if you chose to cancel it.

JeremyHe said:
I have not read anything about this yet so I thought I'd let you guys now about this ridiculousness and perhaps get some help on this issue.

I have a family plan with ATT that has 4 iphones on it. Each of us on the plan got the iphone the first day that it came out. A few weeks ago me and my wifey (that also has an iphone) went on a eurotrip. While in europe her iphone was stolen along with some other randomness. So I called ATT and told them and they did what they do when someone steals your phone.

When I got back from the trip I went to purchase her a new iphone, which I did from a ATT corp store. I then went home and activated her phone, and this is where it gets interesting.

There is NO way to activate the phone without extending your contract for another 2 years! It's on the same plan, same phone number, same name. So I talked to the ATT corp store and they said to just call ATT and they'll be able to adjust the contract start date.

Well, I just go off the phone with ATT and after speaking to the rep, then the manager, and then the supervisor I was told repeatedly that even if a iphone is stolen/lost you still have to do a 2 year contract when you go to activate.

So to summarize this, ATT will extend your contract no matter what the circumstances. Someone steals your iphone, contract extended. Your iphone breaks and you have to buy a new one, contract extended. NO EXCEPTIONS!

I do not know what other recourse I have except to let you guys know about this and maybe raise some awareness about this issue. Any ideas would be appreciated.

-Jeremy
Click to expand...
 
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