On 9/27 I went to Target and purchased, as a walk-in, a black AT&T 16gb iPhone 5, on my full upgrade (coming from a 4 purchased in December 2010). I really wanted a 32gb, but coming from my old 16gb 4, figured I could continue to do the "what album do I delete to free space for this one" juggle.
3 weeks pass, and I'm really aching for space. I bought the 16gb a week before the terms were changed to 14-day returns, so I was still good for the full 30 day return period. With my 30 days ending next Thursday, I realized if I were going to swap, now would be the time.
Easiest route would be to swap at Target, no hassles. Problem is they have no black AT&T 32gb iP5's in their warehouse, anywhere, so they would have to try to order from Apple and we all know how long that would take. So I went to plan B: at 10:02pm buy the 32gb via the Apple Store in-store pickup routine, as a new line added to my current plan. Bingo, last night I saw the lucky green In Stock and grabbed it at the $299 price.
This morning I went to the Target I bought the 16gb from, and processed the return as a buyer's remorse. The Target Mobile person assured me all was perfect, that AT&T assured her that my upgrade eligibility was restored, and off I went to the Apple Store to pick up my 32gb. I was temporarily phoneless, not having an old device to reattach to my line (I sold my 4 to pay for the original upgrade to the 5). This proved to be a great problem....
I get to Apple, explain that I don't really want a 2nd line, but I had to do it to get the phone. The employee quickly picked up on what I was trying to do and we figured it would be smooth as silk. With the boxed 32gb in front of us, he begins the calls to AT&T to ensure the swap would go through just as it were, that he was going to activate it with a new SIM on the original upgrade-eligible line, etc.
But I had no line.
AT&T said there was no line attached to my account because I'd returned the only device on it.
The iPad kiosk attached to one of the in-store iPhones allows you to check your eligibility right there. I checked; it said my line had been canceled.
But they were more than happy to give me the new number with the 32gb phone.
I didn't want a new number; in fact, as soon as the transactions were completed, I was going to cancel the 2nd line.
The Apple dude was terrific the whole time. He spent almost an hour on the phone with various AT&T CS reps, some of whom were up to speed, and some of whom were clueless. I really have to give credit to Will at the Buffalo - Walden Galleria store again, he was really fantastic the whole time, patient, and equally frustrated with AT&T as I was.
What was ultimately going to be an issue was that Target, while they'd processed the physical return, hadn't confirmed in triplicate that the eligibility was restored to my line. AT&T told Will @ Apple that if we were to do what he was then planning on doing - activate the 32gb on the new line, sell me a SIM for $0.00, activate that SIM/32gb phone on my original line - I would have to pay a $325 ETF. I wasn't having any of that. Otherwise we would have to wait lord knows how long for Target's backend to properly communicate the return to AT&T.
Bummed, and not wanting to pay the ETF in the slightest, I finalized the purchase on the new line. Will told me to check hourly with AT&T on the original line status, and the minute it showed as eligible, to go right back to Apple and have them process it as a returned, unopened (to fool the system) device and then re-sell it immediately to me as an upgrade on the original line. So there I was with a line nobody knew, with my shiny (but one tiny chip on the back but at this point I was beyond caring) new 32gb phone taunting me that while I could use it like crazy, nobody could find me without me pinging them.
After they watched me restore from iCloud backup, I left and sat on a bench in the mall and called Target. The Target Mobile rep remembered me from earlier this morning (how many people return iPhone 5's to Target....), said she was a bit concerned on the inside with the discussion she had with the AT&T rep this morning, but was OK with their assurances that there would not be a problem. When I told her there was a problem, she immediately took down my "new" number, said she'd call AT&T again, and ensure that they saw the return in their system and that it was eligible for upgrade again.
Half an hour later, with me still wandering the Galleria, she called. She had gotten a different AT&T rep on the line, who confirmed that it was NOT processed (and hadn't been done correctly the first time by the first AT&T CS rep), but pushed it through manually and quadruple verified that it was showing as eligible again.
I walked back to the Apple Store, and even before finding an employee, went to the iPhone iPad kiosk and checked my upgrade eligibility. Bingo! It was there.
Will (the super, tremendous Apple employee from earlier in this story) saw me back there and, after I told him all appeared to be set, immediately grabbed another employee to actually process the transactions since Will was with another customer. So I returned my opened, used 32gb as a new-in-box return, they refunded the price onto a gift card, re-sold it to me as an upgrade on the old line, and it worked. Finally.
Now I have to suffer through the AT&T minefields to cancel the 2nd line that I never wanted in the first place.... which should be easy as there is no device attached to it.
3 weeks pass, and I'm really aching for space. I bought the 16gb a week before the terms were changed to 14-day returns, so I was still good for the full 30 day return period. With my 30 days ending next Thursday, I realized if I were going to swap, now would be the time.
Easiest route would be to swap at Target, no hassles. Problem is they have no black AT&T 32gb iP5's in their warehouse, anywhere, so they would have to try to order from Apple and we all know how long that would take. So I went to plan B: at 10:02pm buy the 32gb via the Apple Store in-store pickup routine, as a new line added to my current plan. Bingo, last night I saw the lucky green In Stock and grabbed it at the $299 price.
This morning I went to the Target I bought the 16gb from, and processed the return as a buyer's remorse. The Target Mobile person assured me all was perfect, that AT&T assured her that my upgrade eligibility was restored, and off I went to the Apple Store to pick up my 32gb. I was temporarily phoneless, not having an old device to reattach to my line (I sold my 4 to pay for the original upgrade to the 5). This proved to be a great problem....
I get to Apple, explain that I don't really want a 2nd line, but I had to do it to get the phone. The employee quickly picked up on what I was trying to do and we figured it would be smooth as silk. With the boxed 32gb in front of us, he begins the calls to AT&T to ensure the swap would go through just as it were, that he was going to activate it with a new SIM on the original upgrade-eligible line, etc.
But I had no line.
AT&T said there was no line attached to my account because I'd returned the only device on it.
The iPad kiosk attached to one of the in-store iPhones allows you to check your eligibility right there. I checked; it said my line had been canceled.
But they were more than happy to give me the new number with the 32gb phone.
I didn't want a new number; in fact, as soon as the transactions were completed, I was going to cancel the 2nd line.
The Apple dude was terrific the whole time. He spent almost an hour on the phone with various AT&T CS reps, some of whom were up to speed, and some of whom were clueless. I really have to give credit to Will at the Buffalo - Walden Galleria store again, he was really fantastic the whole time, patient, and equally frustrated with AT&T as I was.
What was ultimately going to be an issue was that Target, while they'd processed the physical return, hadn't confirmed in triplicate that the eligibility was restored to my line. AT&T told Will @ Apple that if we were to do what he was then planning on doing - activate the 32gb on the new line, sell me a SIM for $0.00, activate that SIM/32gb phone on my original line - I would have to pay a $325 ETF. I wasn't having any of that. Otherwise we would have to wait lord knows how long for Target's backend to properly communicate the return to AT&T.
Bummed, and not wanting to pay the ETF in the slightest, I finalized the purchase on the new line. Will told me to check hourly with AT&T on the original line status, and the minute it showed as eligible, to go right back to Apple and have them process it as a returned, unopened (to fool the system) device and then re-sell it immediately to me as an upgrade on the original line. So there I was with a line nobody knew, with my shiny (but one tiny chip on the back but at this point I was beyond caring) new 32gb phone taunting me that while I could use it like crazy, nobody could find me without me pinging them.
After they watched me restore from iCloud backup, I left and sat on a bench in the mall and called Target. The Target Mobile rep remembered me from earlier this morning (how many people return iPhone 5's to Target....), said she was a bit concerned on the inside with the discussion she had with the AT&T rep this morning, but was OK with their assurances that there would not be a problem. When I told her there was a problem, she immediately took down my "new" number, said she'd call AT&T again, and ensure that they saw the return in their system and that it was eligible for upgrade again.
Half an hour later, with me still wandering the Galleria, she called. She had gotten a different AT&T rep on the line, who confirmed that it was NOT processed (and hadn't been done correctly the first time by the first AT&T CS rep), but pushed it through manually and quadruple verified that it was showing as eligible again.
I walked back to the Apple Store, and even before finding an employee, went to the iPhone iPad kiosk and checked my upgrade eligibility. Bingo! It was there.
Will (the super, tremendous Apple employee from earlier in this story) saw me back there and, after I told him all appeared to be set, immediately grabbed another employee to actually process the transactions since Will was with another customer. So I returned my opened, used 32gb as a new-in-box return, they refunded the price onto a gift card, re-sold it to me as an upgrade on the old line, and it worked. Finally.
Now I have to suffer through the AT&T minefields to cancel the 2nd line that I never wanted in the first place.... which should be easy as there is no device attached to it.
