How do I keep the phones? AT&T

[Spanky4$]

I ended up not being authorized to change an account that i wanted to add a couple additional phonelines to after waiting forever to get an iphone 6. I did not want to miss out on the opportunity to purchase the phones and l I figured if i started up a whiole new account that i could pay off the phones and cancel the service. However now at&t is telling me that i need to return the phones to cancel the service, of course i do not want to do that!

How can i keep the two phones and cancel my commitment to at&t.

I signed up for the mobile share plan.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

Just to be clear...

Your part of the contract is keeping service active, their part is they subsidize the cost of the phones, right?

So you want to not fulfill your part and they should still fulfill their part?

 

[Spanky4$]

I do not want their subsidies. I only want to keep the phone so that i may unlock and move to a seperate service.

 

[penajmz]

Did you sign a new contract? Went with NEXT? Regardless, some way or another you have to pay for the phones to keep them.

 

[baller1308]

I do not want their subsidies. I only want to keep the phone so that i may unlock and move to a seperate service.

You can return the phones to AT&T and buy the phones contract free from Apple. Of course the lowest end model runs $650.

 

[0007776]

I do not want their subsidies. I only want to keep the phone so that i may unlock and move to a seperate service.

Then you shouldn't have signed a new contract. If you keep the phones you will have to pay for at least the first month of service, and then pay an ETF, not sure what AT&T's is but likely somewhere around $350. Your best bet would be to return them and then if you want to buy a new one do it either on the line you will be using or just pay full price for them.

 

[BrettDS]

If you purchased the phones on contract, then you can cancel the contract and pay the early termination fee (this is $325 minus $10 for each month of paid service. If you don't have any paid months, then it will be $325) Keep in mind that there are taxes and telecom surcharges based on this $325, so in the end you'd pay more than just buying the phones outright from the beginning... you'd have the $40 new line charge, the first month of service, the down payment you paid when you got the phone, and the ETF and taxes on it. ATT does have a 14 day return policy, so it's possible that you may need to wait 14 days before you can cancel and keep the phone, but after that they definitely shouldn't be able to force you to return anything.

If you purchased the phones with the NEXT plan, then you can pay off the phones at any time and the phones are yours to keep. There is no contract with the NEXT plan, so you can cancel anytime. Just call them up and tell them that you want to pay off the phone and cancel your service. You'd still have to pay the first month's service, but that should be it.

 

[Newtons Apple]

I actually think that the OP thought he was going to get over on AT&T.

 

[BrettDS]

I actually think that the OP thought he was going to get over on AT&T.

I don't think so. In his original post he said:

I did not want to miss out on the opportunity to purchase the phones and l I figured if i started up a whiole new account that i could pay off the phones and cancel the service

I think he had phones in his hand and wanted to purchase them since he didn't know when he would have the opportunity again. I believe he expected to pay for them.

 

[indychris]

I don't think so. In his original post he said:



I think he had phones in his hand and wanted to purchase them since he didn't know when he would have the opportunity again. I believe he expected to pay for them.

I think he expected to pay for them, too, but I also think he believes it fine to put AT&T through all the hoops of creating an account, billing him, etc., then simply canceling the account immediately so that he could own the phones quickly and outright.

People may not realize it, but it actually COSTS AT&T to create accounts for people. Additionally, though I'm sure they make something off the phone sales, the bulk of their prophet assuredly comes through the service they provide.

I guess since they are an evil corporation it's okay to skim off of them?

 

[BrettDS]

The etf is there to protect att from people canceling their contracts early. If they don't make it high enough to cover their costs then that's their own fault. I'm not sure that creating an account then canceling it is a great idea, but I don't feel badly for att.

Like I said above, it costs more to buy a phone under contract or through next and immediately cancel it than to buy the phone outright so I'm not sure there is a big rush of people trying this.

 

[hipnetic]

I ended up not being authorized to change an account that i wanted to add a couple additional phonelines to after waiting forever to get an iphone 6.

What's this all about? Is this your mom or dad's account? And why would you have been adding lines instead of just upgrading a phone using an existing line?

I signed up for the mobile share plan.

Am I correct in assuming that you purchased the phones through their Next plan? So you've financed the phones at 0% interest over 20 months with them. I don't know what the terms of their mobile share and Next plans are, but perhaps if you decide to cancel service you need to completely pay off the Next plan balance? And/or, they may have some stipulations about you canceling service within that 14 day return window. If you cancel within 14 days, maybe they want the phones back, but after 14 days they don't? In that latter case, you would need to pay for some portion (perhaps a whole month's worth) of the mobile share monthly plan.

 

[barkomatic]

I do not want their subsidies. I only want to keep the phone so that i may unlock and move to a seperate service.

You already got the subsidy when you bought the phone. The price you paid was not the full price.

 

[seth556]

It sounds like you don't understand how the contract works. I'm assuming you're young since you seem to be on a contract that isn't signed by you (likely your parents) and also judging by your user name.

You're going to either have to keep your contract that you just signed for some allotment of time and keep your phones (look at the contract you just signed) or cancel it and return the phones. I'm not positive since I haven't read your contract but it sounds like they have a part that says if you open an account you have to keep it open for a certain amount of time to keep the device (and pay a large ETF), or you'll have to return the device when you cancel (which probably involves less fees). If that's the case, you're much better off returning the phone and canceling the contract now.

EDIT - I think you were thinking you could sign up for the service, pay $200, cancel the service, pay $450+ more and keep the phone. In that case you might be best off keeping the service for however long is required and then paying the ETF. Their plan was to have the phone in stock to lure people to ATT and singing up or renewing their service instead of making a much smaller amount on the phone. Why sell just the phone when you can easily find someone else who will buy the phone and service?