Some of you might be in this situation.
I bought my X last November using the iPhone Upgrade Program. As of today, I've made only 10 of the first 12 payments so far. So in order to upgrade now I would need to make an "upgrade payment" that consists of payments 11 and 12. That's what I agreed to when I signed up, and I fully accept that.
If I pre-order a new phone today, I make the upgrade payment today. But if the new phone doesn't ship for a month, I will continue to make payments on the old one until it does. That will for sure include payment 11, and maybe payment 12 if I the new phone ships to me in late October.
In that case, I will have made the first 12 payments, AND paid an upgrade fee consisting of payments 11 and 12. I.e., I will have double-paid those last two payments.
That doesn't seem right, so I wanted to ask an Apple rep whether I am understanding it correctly. I just did a 15-minute online chat with Apple customer service. The service representative essentially confirmed what I have just explained above.
What *would* be fair is if Apple charged you the upgrade fee at the time you *receive* the new phone, and the upgrade fee consisted of however many of the first 12 payments you haven't yet made at the time you receive the new phone.
I am not convinced the person I chatted with is fully informed, for two reasons.
First, Apple doesn't cheat its customers. It charges high prices, but it tells you up front what these prices are and doesn't hit you after the purchase with hidden costs.
Second, it's a poor business decision. To avoid double-paying my last one or two payments, I will wait to upgrade until late October, after I've made 12 monthly payments and no longer have to pay an upgrade fee. But at that time, the euphoria over the new iPhones will have worn off and I may well have realized I can get by just fine with my iPhone X. If so, I will keep my X until fall 2019 when the next batch of iPhones come out. And by then, I will have paid off my X and get to keep any resale value it has at that time--probably $300 to $400. That is what Apple is losing by discouraging me from upgrading now by double-charging me with the early upgrade payment. What they gain is $55 or $110, depending on whether the new phone arrives before or after the date I have to make the 12th payment on my 2017 iPhone X.
It's hard for me to imagine that Apple would both cheat its customers and risk losing the revenue it gains from frequent upgraders.
But then, we're not really talking about Apple, at this point, are we? Apple is the middle-man. It's really the financing company. In my case, Barclays. That's who I should be asking about the possibility of double-paying.
I bought my X last November using the iPhone Upgrade Program. As of today, I've made only 10 of the first 12 payments so far. So in order to upgrade now I would need to make an "upgrade payment" that consists of payments 11 and 12. That's what I agreed to when I signed up, and I fully accept that.
If I pre-order a new phone today, I make the upgrade payment today. But if the new phone doesn't ship for a month, I will continue to make payments on the old one until it does. That will for sure include payment 11, and maybe payment 12 if I the new phone ships to me in late October.
In that case, I will have made the first 12 payments, AND paid an upgrade fee consisting of payments 11 and 12. I.e., I will have double-paid those last two payments.
That doesn't seem right, so I wanted to ask an Apple rep whether I am understanding it correctly. I just did a 15-minute online chat with Apple customer service. The service representative essentially confirmed what I have just explained above.
What *would* be fair is if Apple charged you the upgrade fee at the time you *receive* the new phone, and the upgrade fee consisted of however many of the first 12 payments you haven't yet made at the time you receive the new phone.
I am not convinced the person I chatted with is fully informed, for two reasons.
First, Apple doesn't cheat its customers. It charges high prices, but it tells you up front what these prices are and doesn't hit you after the purchase with hidden costs.
Second, it's a poor business decision. To avoid double-paying my last one or two payments, I will wait to upgrade until late October, after I've made 12 monthly payments and no longer have to pay an upgrade fee. But at that time, the euphoria over the new iPhones will have worn off and I may well have realized I can get by just fine with my iPhone X. If so, I will keep my X until fall 2019 when the next batch of iPhones come out. And by then, I will have paid off my X and get to keep any resale value it has at that time--probably $300 to $400. That is what Apple is losing by discouraging me from upgrading now by double-charging me with the early upgrade payment. What they gain is $55 or $110, depending on whether the new phone arrives before or after the date I have to make the 12th payment on my 2017 iPhone X.
It's hard for me to imagine that Apple would both cheat its customers and risk losing the revenue it gains from frequent upgraders.
But then, we're not really talking about Apple, at this point, are we? Apple is the middle-man. It's really the financing company. In my case, Barclays. That's who I should be asking about the possibility of double-paying.
