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iPhone 11 iPhone Upgrade Program Return/exchange Process

I

iAdamator

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 10, 2013
698
172
South San Francisco, CA
Hi All

I wasn’t sure which sub-forum to put this in. Hopefully this is right.

I’ve been on the IUP a few years now. No issues there. However this year when I ordered my new phone I did something I was a little hesitant about. For the past few phones, I have always gotten 256 Storage. This year I choose 512. My phone is my families main camera and we have 2 young children so I take a lot of video and edit them into home movies. With the camera now recording in HDR and Dolby Vision and me really having no clue what to expect file-size wise I figured it was safer to take a “Have and not need approach” vs a “Need and not have.”

When my phone arrives I may quickly realize that I just didn’t need the 512 and will wish I got the usual 256. My question is it even possible to do an exchange/return when you use the IUP? If so, I am guessing it’s not a simple process. Plus I wonder if they would even have a 256 in stock to exchange to.

Part of me thinking I may need to just keep what I have and learn for next time, rather than going through an exchange hassle. I would definitely know next year if I need 512 again or if I could go back to 256. Going to 512 adds $6.25 to my IUP bill. I hate to waste money on something I don’t need, but it’s not the end of the world.
 
Yes you can return a phone that is on iup. They will just close out and you have to start the new process again.
 
Does this effectively get you out of your iPhone upgrade program after paying only 12 months?
According to their terms if you return your old phone and then decide to return the new upgraded phone it just cancels your new loan and you don't get the old device back. I'm assuming you can then just purchase a different device and open a new loan at that point?

  1. Return of New, Upgraded iPhone After Exercising Upgrade Option. Should you exercise the Upgrade Option and subsequently return your new, upgraded iPhone under the terms of Apple’s Returns and Refunds Policy, the Financed iPhone that you traded in will not be returned to you and the New Installment Loan associated with your new, upgraded iPhone will be terminated.
 
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Malnoth said:
Does this effectively get you out of your iPhone upgrade program after paying only 12 months?
According to their terms if you return your old phone and then decide to return the new upgraded phone it just cancels your new loan and you don't get the old device back. I'm assuming you can then just purchase a different device and open a new loan at that point?

  1. Return of New, Upgraded iPhone After Exercising Upgrade Option. Should you exercise the Upgrade Option and subsequently return your new, upgraded iPhone under the terms of Apple’s Returns and Refunds Policy, the Financed iPhone that you traded in will not be returned to you and the New Installment Loan associated with your new, upgraded iPhone will be terminated.
Click to expand...
Yes in a away if you are currently on iup and traded your phone and you decide to return the new phone, you essentially are closing out the loan. You will have to start the whole process as new loan and also risk a hard pull. Unless you already had a hard pull less than a month from citizens, you will only see the hard pull once.
 
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Just keep the 512 model! That’s what I went with this year and last. I’ve never heard of anyone saying “I wish I’d gotten the smaller capacity” - but I have seen people fill up their phones at a critical time and wonder what to do.
 
Shadowbech said:
Yes in a away if you are currently on iup and traded your phone and you decide to return the new phone, you essentially are closing out the loan. You will have to start the whole process as new loan and also risk a hard pull. Unless you already had a hard pull less than a month from citizens, you will only see the hard pull once.
Click to expand...


On the topic of the hard pull, how often is that done? Is it every time you get a new phone with the IUP?? I think I read somewhere it may be skipped depending on your history but I haven’t noticed that to be the case. My credit is the best it’s ever been and they still do some kind of pull yearly. But I don’t know it’s a hard or soft pull. Is there a way to tell that?

I got my loan info from Citizens last night for my new phone and I always forget the give you a new loan number and everything. It all just starts over!

Thanks for the replies regrading my OP. I’d imagine I will know pretty quick when my new phone arrives regarding how much storage space I will need. I’m sure I can figure that out even before I send off my old phone. But if they don’t have a 256 in stock for my exchange, it may not be worth it to exchange it I’m thinking.
 
iAdamator said:
On the topic of the hard pull, how often is that done? Is it every time you get a new phone with the IUP?? I think I read somewhere it may be skipped depending on your history but I haven’t noticed that to be the case. My credit is the best it’s ever been and they still do some kind of pull yearly. But I don’t know it’s a hard or soft pull. Is there a way to tell that?

I got my loan info from Citizens last night for my new phone and I always forget the give you a new loan number and everything. It all just starts over!

Thanks for the replies regrading my OP. I’d imagine I will know pretty quick when my new phone arrives regarding how much storage space I will need. I’m sure I can figure that out even before I send off my old phone. But if they don’t have a 256 in stock for my exchange, it may not be worth it to exchange it I’m thinking.
Click to expand...
To answer that hard pull, it depends. usually first time you sign up for the iUP, it will likely be hard pull, but after that if you just upgrade it will just be a soft pull. However, I read some people here do sometimes get a hard pull even when they are upgrading from existing iUP. Now if you return it, and close out your loan, it is a done deal. So when you start a new loan, it will likely do a hard pull once. If it's a hard pull, you'll see it on the report. If it's a soft pull you won't.

Even if you are upgrading from an existing, it's always a new loan number. But I think it's different when you completely start fresh new as in a new customer.
 
I’d keep the 512, especially for recording a lot of family videos is 4K. I keep all of my photos and videos on my iphone (with external backups, of course), and I have 90gb of available space.
 
Malnoth said:
Does this effectively get you out of your iPhone upgrade program after paying only 12 months?
According to their terms if you return your old phone and then decide to return the new upgraded phone it just cancels your new loan and you don't get the old device back. I'm assuming you can then just purchase a different device and open a new loan at that point?

  1. Return of New, Upgraded iPhone After Exercising Upgrade Option. Should you exercise the Upgrade Option and subsequently return your new, upgraded iPhone under the terms of Apple’s Returns and Refunds Policy, the Financed iPhone that you traded in will not be returned to you and the New Installment Loan associated with your new, upgraded iPhone will be terminated.
Click to expand...

yes, I did that one year, and it got me out of my original loan. I did quickly set up a new loan for another iphone, but I could have walked away.
 
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