Carrier Locked AT&T Phone, No Contract, Contract Price?

[reddd]

Hello Friends,

I come here speaking for a "friend" of mine. This friend was part of the preorder frenzy on the 12th and had ordered a phone from AT&T... To keep things short, here's what happened:
- Got email from AT&T.. > 20 days before shipping
- Cancel with AT&T
- Order with Apple.. 7-10 business days.. meh, okay
- AT&T calls the next day, says my friend has had his order canceled
- Friend acts confused and upset
- AT&T undoes contract so friend can reorder
- Friend never reorders
- Friend is getting locked AT&T iPhone 6 Plus from Apple in mail tomorrow
- Still no contract with AT&T

So.. my friend is winning the game... but he wants to win a little more. What is the best way to get the iPhone unlocked without raising AT&T's suspicion?

 

[Chatter]

Apple will either create a contract to give it to him for the contract price or make him pay full price.
There is no "winning" here.

 

[reddd]

Apple will either create a contract to give it to him for the contract price or make him pay full price.
There is no "winning" here.

I think you misread. Apple has already sent the phone. Apple has told my friend that they have no contact with AT&T about the order after the first check because he was concerned his order would be cancelled. He paid upgrade price and AT&T has no record of the upgrade.

There is winning.

 

[zorinlynx]

I think you misread. Apple has already sent the phone. Apple has told my friend that they have no contact with AT&T about the order after the first check because he was concerned his order would be cancelled. He paid upgrade price and AT&T has no record of the upgrade.

There is winning.

No, there is no winning. They will eventually find the screwup and he will have to deal with it.

 

[reddd]

No, there is no winning. They will eventually find the screwup and he will have to deal with it.

How would they find out though? In my experience with AT&T, they don't even know what device you are using when you insert the sim card unless you tell them and I'm not going to use the one that came with it. I honestly don't think Apple will ever reconcile it with AT&T.

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

How would they find out though? In my experience with AT&T, they don't even know what device you are using when you insert the sim card unless you tell them and I'm not going to use the one that came with it. I honestly don't think Apple will ever reconcile it with AT&T.

I thought this happened to some one else?

My hope is that this all gets sorted out. Quit trying to play the system.

 

[reddd]

I thought this happened to some one else?

My hope is that this all gets sorted out. Quit trying to play the system.

Oh goodness. You caught me! My hope is that it doesn't. I like not being locked in a contract.

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

Oh goodness. You caught me! My hope is that it doesn't. I like not being locked in a contract.

Apple will gladly sell you a phone off of contract.

 

[reddd]

Apple will gladly sell you a phone off of contract.

They wouldn't when I was trying to pre-order online or I would have. At that time the t-mo version wasn't confirmed to be unlocked. I wasn't going to risk it.

 

[Chatter]

I think you misread. Apple has already sent the phone. Apple has told my friend that they have no contact with AT&T about the order after the first check because he was concerned his order would be cancelled. He paid upgrade price and AT&T has no record of the upgrade.

There is winning.

Well, I did misread and hope it works out. I suspect as others have said, they will eventually catch up especially once you activate the phone. If not - enjoy!

 

[ptb42]

Oh goodness. You caught me! My hope is that it doesn't. I like not being locked in a contract.

Then, why did you buy an AT&T phone from Apple? If you had bought a phone for T-Mobile from Apple contract-free, you could have thrown away the T-Mobile SIM and activated it at AT&T.

(You have to buy the phone for T-Mobile from Apple. If you buy it from T-Mobile, T-Mobile will keep it locked for at least 45 days).

If you buy a phone at the on-contract price ($199 for 16GB), you agree to service for 24 months, or you pay an early termination fee. AT&T is paying for part of your phone, and they expect you to maintain service long enough to pay that back.

 

[reddd]

Then, why did you buy an AT&T phone from Apple? If you had bought a phone for T-Mobile from Apple contract-free, you could have thrown away the T-Mobile SIM and activated it at AT&T.

(You have to buy the phone for T-Mobile from Apple. If you buy it from T-Mobile, T-Mobile will keep it locked for at least 45 days).

If you buy a phone at the on-contract price ($199 for 16GB), you agree to service for 24 months, or you pay an early termination fee. AT&T is paying for part of your phone, and they expect you to maintain service long enough to pay that back.

Because I also don't like paying extra money I don't have to. Anyway, with your sass aside, I still have no contract with ATT so I did win the game. I'm leaving them tomorrow.