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My First Bill people check...

A

AFPoster

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 14, 2008
1,565
152
Charlotte, NC
Well first off I received my bill it was 304.81. So I want everyone who is receiving their first bill or hasn't yet to do these 2 steps (these pertain to people buying their iPhones at the Apple store).

Your first bill will be high, obviously. This is why:

Apple charges you your activation upfront when your purchase your new iPhone 3G. Well when your first bill comes out AT&T re-charges you for that same activation fee. So if your like me with 2 iPhones one for you and one for your wife you get double charges leading almost to $80.

-- To stop this call AT&T let them know you seem to think your bill is high, higher than it should be and you suspect that you are getting re-charged for the "Activation Fee" you paid at Apple. They will fix it if it happened to you. I have told 7 of my close friends about my situation they called after me and it happened to all of them, so I am sure it happened to more than just us 8.

Second AT&T Also charges you a pro-rate fee of $40 that doesnt even show up in your Bill Summary for joining AT&T. Now I don't know about you, but if I join someone they shouldn't be charging me a 1-time pro-rate fee to join them, they should be giving me money off my first bill, giving me a high five and sending me a smiley face sticker in the mail (which is exactly what I told the Rep that I talked to). Second off Apple doesnt even mention nor does AT&T mention a pro-rate fee. Well if you lucky and this happened to you it should be removed like it was for me.

Hopefully this helps others, if others already posted this please remove this topic, and if this is already known sorry for reposting just trying to help everyone out.
 
AFPoster said:
Well first off I received my bill it was 304.81. So I want everyone who is receiving their first bill or hasn't yet to do these 2 steps (these pertain to people buying their iPhones at the Apple store).

Your first bill will be high, obviously. This is why:

Apple charges you your activation upfront when your purchase your new iPhone 3G. Well when your first bill comes out AT&T re-charges you for that same activation fee. So if your like me with 2 iPhones one for you and one for your wife you get double charges leading almost to $80.

-- To stop this call AT&T let them know you seem to think your bill is high, higher than it should be and you suspect that you are getting re-charged for the "Activation Fee" you paid at Apple. They will fix it if it happened to you. I have told 7 of my close friends about my situation they called after me and it happened to all of them, so I am sure it happened to more than just us 8.

Second AT&T Also charges you a pro-rate fee of $40 that doesnt even show up in your Bill Summary for joining AT&T. Now I don't know about you, but if I join someone they shouldn't be charging me a 1-time pro-rate fee to join them, they should be giving me money off my first bill, giving me a high five and sending me a smiley face sticker in the mail (which is exactly what I told the Rep that I talked to). Second off Apple doesnt even mention nor does AT&T mention a pro-rate fee. Well if you lucky and this happened to you it should be removed like it was for me.

Hopefully this helps others, if others already posted this please remove this topic, and if this is already known sorry for reposting just trying to help everyone out.
Click to expand...

Apple didn't charge me an activation fee when I signed up. I paid for my phone plus tax. Also, that pro-rate fee? That's probably your first month of service. There's no "pro-rate fee" on my bill, but there is a charge for 7/11 through 8/2 (my bill cycle) which is my monthly service fee. Then I have the charge for 8/3-9/2... my month in advance

I'm not saying that you don't have these things on your bill... but that pro-rate "fee" at least was probably valid.
 
I received my first bill a couple of weeks ago and although it included prorated charges it did not include a "fee" for prorating. The bill properly included partial month prorated charges and full month charges. I was actually impressed by how they showed the prorated calculation. Other services I have had from VZW to Dish arent as clear on their bill.

As far as the activation fee goes, the Apple store told me there would be an activation fee; however, they did not charge it. The fee was added to my first bill which I later had credited because of FAN discount and privileges.
 
can someone explain to me how this double charge works? the getting charged for one month in advance part.
 
Cell phone companies either charge in advance (like AT&T) or arrears (TMobile). It's easiest for the customer when they charge in arrears, but in advance is actually more traditional.

This means that the bill you get is actually for the month you're currently in rather than the month that you've just been through.

Here's an example:

You sign up for service on 7/11 and they tell you that your next bill is 8/2.

If you were on TMobile, you would get a bill for 20 days (or whatever that is), plus taxes, any overages, features etc. It would be payment for 7/11 though 8/2 only. Your next bill on 9/2 would be for 8/3-9/2.

With AT&T you still have to pay that amount because you've used the service. The difference is that since it's a "bill in advance" company, you will also be billed for your NEXT cycle, 8/3-9/2. So the first bill you get from AT&T will be for a month +20 days of service and all the associated charges that go with that service.

So, with AT&T, in August you pay for your partial month of July and full August
In September you pay for September.
Etc.

With TMobile, in August you pay for July. In September you pay for August.
 
Thank god i bought my iPhone on the 30th, i still wonder how much are they going to charge me for a 10 day pro-rated, since my bill is on the 8/08.

That would mean 10days prorated + 69.99 monthly bill + $40 activation fee + $10 tax and what not...

That should be around $140, but hopefully i get credited on my ETF for the days i didn't use.
 
You shouldn't pay anything for activation fees. Just ask them to take off any activation fees, they will.
 
What bugs me is that minutes are not calculated at all on the prorated voice charge!

They use their equation of "Monthly Charge/Avg Days in Month * Days on Plan" to figure out the prorated dollar amount. In my case I have the 450min/39.99 plan. I was on the plan for 11 days last month and received a prorated charge of $14.66.That's all fine and good, but shouldn't
"Monthy Plan Minutes/Avg Days in Month * Days on Plan" equate to minutes somewhere. I payed for 165 min of time using the same equation. I only used 42 so shouldn't 123 minutes rollover?:confused:

Well I just got off the phone with AT&T customer service and apparently they don't think so!:mad:
 
I am also confused with how they do their minutes. I even asked them to explain it and they couldn't even do that.
 
My first bill seemed very high too, but the pro-rated partial month and the activation fees seemed to match what they said to expect.

Does AT&T routinely remove activation fees just because a customer asks?
 
AFPoster said:
Apple charges you your activation upfront when your purchase your new iPhone 3G. Well when your first bill comes out AT&T re-charges you for that same activation fee. So if your like me with 2 iPhones one for you and one for your wife you get double charges leading almost to $80.
Click to expand...

What a scam. Checked my AT&T bill just now and sure enough, double billed activation charges. Called AT&T and told them I already paid that to Apple, and they knocked it off the bill no questions asked ($36 for two phones).

Thanks for the heads up!
 
Wow - the worst that seems to have happened to us in the UK, well me at least, was that I was charged an extra £1 for the 10th of July - when I questioned it, I was told "It's standard practice to charge from when we dispatch the phone, not when you receive it".

No activation charges this side of the pond, not even 'legitimate' ones - just the monthly cost of the contract that you sign up for.

Yet another admittedly useless post by me, but it is just staggering when I thought us Brits got scammed constantly (don't get me wrong, we still do - have you seen the price we pay for TVs, Macs... everything compared to you in the USA?!) and yet our phone contracts are fair - charged only for outgoing calls / texts (not incoming), no activation or set-up fees; nothing.
 
agbot said:
What a scam. Checked my AT&T bill just now and sure enough, double billed activation charges. Called AT&T and told them I already paid that to Apple, and they knocked it off the bill no questions asked ($36 for two phones).

Thanks for the heads up!
Click to expand...

Are you sure? Because Apple doesn't charge activation fees at all. They are supposed to only show up on your first bill. All you have to pay for at time of purchase is the phone, any local taxes, and any bad-credit deposit that AT&T may require.
 
DreamPod said:
Are you sure? Because Apple doesn't charge activation fees at all. They are supposed to only show up on your first bill. All you have to pay for at time of purchase is the phone, any local taxes, and any bad-credit deposit that AT&T may require.
Click to expand...

When I bought the two iPhones the guy at the Apple Store said they had to charge an $18 activation fee on each. I said "ok" since I already knew the $18 was coming and thought Apple must be collecting it on their end. I was already an AT&T customer, out of contract / upgrade eligible, and no credit deposits required. I was told "$340" for each phone and it sounded right given the activation fee and tax.

Looking now at the Apple Store receipt, it isn't itemized but there is an extra charge lumped into tax. Both receipts say:

iPhone 3G 16GB Black $299.00
----
Sub-Total $299.00
Tax@8.25% $41.17
Total $340.17

Since 8.25% of 299.00 is $24.67, I have no idea how their math is supposed to work out. That $41.17 figure isn't double tax, it isn't tax on the iPhone + $18. Tax is $16.50 too high. So... what the hell? Can anyone else post their Apple Store receipt numbers?

Regardless, until I did the math just now I didn't pay close attention to it since it was around the $18 activation fee I was told I was charged.
 
I believe that I read someplace that in California you are charged tax on the unsubsidized amount? I'm not in Cali though, so I may be mis-remembering.
 
ottergal said:
I believe that I read someplace that in California you are charged tax on the unsubsidized amount? I'm not in Cali though, so I may be mis-remembering.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just did the calculations on my iPhone receipt. The tax at 7.75% is on an amount of $499, not $299 of what I bought. The hell?

EDIT: Found two threads:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7561568
http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=88880

Would've been nice if the damn Apple specialist would've told me.
 
ottergal said:
I believe that I read someplace that in California you are charged tax on the unsubsidized amount? I'm not in Cali though, so I may be mis-remembering.
Click to expand...

Ah, yup. That's exactly it. Sucks, but I guess it makes some kind of sense. Effectively it's a $499 product, and just because AT&T chips in an even $200, Apple still needs to pay the state sales tax on the sale of a $499 product.

So, apparently the guy at the Apple Store was just warning me that AT&T was going to be charging $18 activation.
 
AFPoster said:
I am also confused with how they do their minutes. I even asked them to explain it and they couldn't even do that.
Click to expand...

hahah..see what i mean. never dealt with this with Verizon. Sure Verizon has its own minor problems, but its since resolved most of those.
when the iphone attaches itself to a carrier like Verizon, than you might see one in my hand...you bought it because it was the latest and greatest.

Don't get me wrong I am a Huge Apple Fan, which I know you know, since I have swayed "some" people into switching from PC to Mac...no names mentioned.
 
Yep, the 8.75% tax on $499 v. $299 took me for a loop as well, b/c Apple doesn't explain the the unsubsidized price being taxed. It's California State Law that transactions of this nature be taxed 8.75% on the unsubsidized price, so with that being the standard (I just accidently typed SATAN v. standard) I guess Apple doesn't have to explain itself on the receipt. :mad:
 
Can anyone explain why they do the partial month billing, and don't let you just complete a 30 day cycle from the day you signed on. Does the partial month count as a month into your 24 month contract.
 
ok I remember when I bought the 3G Iphone the guy at Apple store says there is an activation fee that is going to be charge but I did not look at the receipts closely if they did charge it and I can't tell right now because I'm at work so I cannot confirm. But i tried and call AT&T anyway to see if they will remove the activation fee on my AT&T bill because Apple already charged me for the activation fee upfront (even though I've not confirmed it on my receipts). Anyway, he told me that Apple should have not charged me for the activation fee and I should go back to Apple Store and get a refund from them! :(

So I called Apple store to confirm my situation and now they said Apple store were not charging activation fee upfront at all when they sell the 3G Iphone :eek::confused: So I was like, I wish I had the receipts! Now I'm anxious and can't wait to go home and verify it. Unless somebody here can verify that they were charged activation fee by Apple store?
 
eplchamps0304 said:
Can anyone explain why they do the partial month billing, and don't let you just complete a 30 day cycle from the day you signed on. Does the partial month count as a month into your 24 month contract.
Click to expand...
I think companies prefer to stagger billing through the month. Otherwise, all of those first-day iPhone purchasers would have the same billing date, and be calling customer service with questions on the same day every month.
 
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