Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Got word about returning an ATT next phone...

S

Souskei

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 18, 2013
76
27
Just got off the phone with AT&T and Apple..

If you're NEW to AT&T NEXT and preordered an iPhone (whichever size) on Apples website, you'll have 14 days to return the phone to any Apple or ATT store. If you preordered through ATT - it has to go back to a corporate ATT store.

You won't be charged your first installment even if the phone is activated (so long you bring it back within 14 days.

You're upgrade and Next eligibility will return once the phone is back at apple or AT&T.
(Pretty much like nothing happened - i.e before you pre ordered)

So I thought I would throw this out there for any one who might have second thoughts on their new phone (6 or 6 plus). Who preordered and signed up for a new next plan.

I don't know how it works with existing next plans who are doing trade ins.

Cya!
 
Souskei said:
Just got off the phone with AT&T and Apple..

If you're NEW to AT&T NEXT and preordered an iPhone (whichever size) on Apples website, you'll have 14 days to return the phone to any Apple or ATT store. If you preordered through ATT - it has to go back to a corporate ATT store.

You won't be charged your first installment even if the phone is activated (so long you bring it back within 14 days.

You're upgrade and Next eligibility will return once the phone is back at apple or AT&T.
(Pretty much like nothing happened - i.e before you pre ordered)

So I thought I would throw this out there for any one who might have second thoughts on their new phone (6 or 6 plus). Who preordered and signed up for a new next plan.

I don't know how it works with existing next plans who are doing trade ins.

Cya!
Click to expand...

Cool story. I signed up for the next plan for the 5S at an AT&T store. I found next to cost more and decided to switch to a contract. When I called AT&T, the rep said I could cancel next and switch to a contract at the store without returning the phone. When I went to switch at the store, they said I had to return it and wait for another one to be in stock to switch to a contract. I asked to waive the restocking fee and they did because they wanted a good evaluation. I took the SIM and put it in a Verizon 5S. The next day someone signed up on a porn site with my email address.
 
Got word about returning an ATT next phone...

What if you would like to switch to a 2-year agreement instead of AT&T Next at an Apple store? Can you just take the phone into the store, make a return and repurchase it under contract?
 
Souskei said:
Just got off the phone with AT&T and Apple..

If you're NEW to AT&T NEXT and preordered an iPhone (whichever size) on Apples website, you'll have 14 days to return the phone to any Apple or ATT store
Click to expand...

Really?? If I pre-ordered a Next iPhone from Apple.com, I can return it to an ATT store?! That sounds...weird...can anyone verify this?
 
Here's a tangential question:

I preordered an iPhone 6 Plus using my wife's line, which was eligible for Next. So I did the Next 12, but I want to use the phone on my line. Do I have to activate the phone FIRST on her line and then switch it over, or can I just put my sim card in there and activate it right away? I realize I'll have to keep making payments and her line will be the one I have to trade the phone in to after the 12 months. I just didn't know if I had to activate it on her line first or not?
 
Went into at&t today and told them i wasnt able to sign up for the NEXT on apple when i ordered my 6+. They told me since i signed up for a 2yr renewal i had to return it to apple then repurchase under the NEXT but that it could take 7-10 days to show up in at&t account.

So a bit of conflicting info

I asked if i could return it to at&t and just do everything there since the genius bar is all booked up at apple. They said no
 
I spoke to ATT over live chat and was told to give them a call before I activate my iPhone 6 + and they would be able to switch me over to a NEXT plan.

I made it clear to them that I placed my order through APPLE and selected a 2-yr contract and wanted to switch to NEXT.

A supervisor was apparently involved and confirmed that I would be able to make the switch without a return process...Guess ill see what happens on Friday
 
Thanks for that information, TheRaj! Please post back and let us know how it goes. I am looking to do the same thing and it would be good to know how it went and if you were successful.
 
TheRaj said:
I spoke to ATT over live chat and was told to give them a call before I activate my iPhone 6 + and they would be able to switch me over to a NEXT plan.

I made it clear to them that I placed my order through APPLE and selected a 2-yr contract and wanted to switch to NEXT.

A supervisor was apparently involved and confirmed that I would be able to make the switch without a return process...Guess ill see what happens on Friday
Click to expand...

But you would have been charged by apple already for the phone at the subsidy price. How does that work then?
 
Just had chat with ATT rep. I preordered through apple but asked how to go about changing my current contract to NEXT without canceling the preorder. I was told to bring in the phone to ATT within the first 14 days (BRE = buyers remorse exchange). The rep said that even though the phone was bought from apple it would need to be processed by ATT in store. Re the sunk subsidized price of each phone when moving to NEXT, I asked the rep if the paid cost of the phone would be applied to phone payment installments on the NEXT plan... reducing the total number of phone payments. She said, "Yes."

So conflicting messages on how.. but good thing is that it will be possible.
 
Last edited:
joelb727 said:
Just had chat with ATT rep. I preordered through apple but asked how to go about changing my current contract to NEXT without canceling the preorder. I was told to bring in the phone to ATT within the first 14 days (BRE = buyers remorse exchange). The rep said that even though the phone was bought from apple it would need to be processed by ATT in store. Re the sunk subsidized price of each phone when moving to NEXT, I asked the rep if the paid cost of the phone would be applied to phone payment installments on the NEXT plan... reducing the total number of phone payments. She said, "Yes."

So conflicting messages on how.. but good thing is that it will be possible.
Click to expand...

Any luck? Still waiting on delivery, but curious if you where to make the switch
 
I went to two different AT&T stores and tried moving from the AT&T 2 year contract to NEXT and I was not successful. The first AT&T store said, "You'll need to return your phone to Apple and buy one here." I laughed and said forget it. I went to a 2nd AT&T store down the road who were more helpful, but still couldn't swap it. They said that would "need to move the Apple sold phone into their inventory" to be able to put it on Next and that they couldn't do it there, but to call into 611 and they thought the customer service could bridge on Apple and make the switch on the phone and then it could be activated on a Next plan. So, now I'm home and getting ready to call 611.

I think the key is who you purchased the phone from which in my case was Apple online. If you purchased from AT&T, you can probably get it done in the store. It seems to be all about where the phone came from.
 
Out of the three AT&T reps I spoke with yesterday about returning an AT&T Next phone, all said that even if I had ordered the phone online through AT&T and returned it to an AT&T store pre-activation, it would take 24-48 hours for my upgrade eligibility to reset. That is, the store system did not have the capability to manually override eligibility and that removing Next from an account was a more involved process that took more than 5 minutes or so.

If anyone has any real-world experience that contradicts that, that would be nice.

I would assume that switching from contract to Next is a faster process.
 
iphone5att64 said:
Cool story. I signed up for the next plan for the 5S at an AT&T store. I found next to cost more and decided to switch to a contract. When I called AT&T, the rep said I could cancel next and switch to a contract at the store without returning the phone. When I went to switch at the store, they said I had to return it and wait for another one to be in stock to switch to a contract. I asked to waive the restocking fee and they did because they wanted a good evaluation. I took the SIM and put it in a Verizon 5S. The next day someone signed up on a porn site with my email address.
Click to expand...

Now the real question:

Was it a good porn site? Did you see *gasp* boobies?

I never knew there was porn on the Internet. Do I just google "sin" or something??? Help! These basement walls are starting to close in on me.
 
There must be more ppl with this same issue (preorder on 2 yr contract and want to switch to next). If anyone has been successful with making the switch, please share.
 
Just an FYI...return and re purchased at the Apple Store worked without any big issue

Went from 2yr to next on att
 
Returned and repurchased device in apple store. They made me go to att to change my service contract. Everything went smoothly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back