Not eligible for upgrade after return...

[Vanarak19]

Ok, so I know this is a mac/iphone forum, but I figured you all have plenty of experience returning phones with ATT, so here goes.

I bought/renewed with a 64GB 4S through ATT, and then returned it back to apple. ATT had the hardest time getting my old contract date of 6/17/2012 back on my account, and I have gotten nothing but a bad feeling from them.

I now FINALLY have my contract date back, after 7-8 calls, insane. Now i want to rebuy a 4s, but I can't from Apple, saying my account is not eligible...

What gives? I have a feeling this is AT&T issue, and am still thinking about switching if they can't fix it. I can't buy a new phone on their site either. What gives?

EDIT: and I returned the original 4s because the speaker on the ear crackled.

 

[jmjoh122]

apple has a policy set up that you can't buy more than one phone per # that you have. It's set up that way so that people out there don't go and buy iphones and keep canceling their accounts. It's smart. In your situation if you go to apple and tell them what happened they might feel sorry for you and help you out. Otherwise, you're outta luck...why didn't you keep it in the first place?

 

[Small White Car]

EDIT: and I returned the original 4s because the speaker on the ear crackled.

I still don't understand. Why didn't you just get it exchanged instead? What you did only makes sense if you were planning on switching carriers. That's what it seems like you were trying to do. Was that the original plan and then you changed your mind?

 

[i hate phones]

you have to call at&t or go to an at&t store, only they can help you.

i'm confused though as to buying a phone through at&t and returning to apple... where you bought and where you return should be the same place. why did you return and now want to rebuy? usually when you return a phone you auto revert back to your old contract... at&t's upgrade system is really whacky and it sounds like you were able to upgrade early seeing how your contract isn't up til june 2012. maybe it reverted back to the standared upgrade date of 20 months or so... but again, only at&t can do anything about this, you need to call and explain to them. they might be able to override but you probably have to order the new phone through them.

 

[boomasta]

I don't know if there is really a restriction, but I preordered a 32 gb using AT&T upgrade on the apple store, returned it, re ordered another 16gb and it's sitting on my desk fine. I think you could wait a few days maybe AT&T just hasn't updated its eligibility database yet?

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I bought/renewed with a 64GB 4S through ATT, and then returned it back to apple. ATT had the hardest time getting my old contract date of 6/17/2012 back on my account, and I have gotten nothing but a bad feeling from them.

I now FINALLY have my contract date back, after 7-8 calls, insane. Now i want to rebuy a 4s, but I can't from Apple, saying my account is not eligible...

Did you make any changes to your account, e.g. drop the data package? My upgrade date was 11/1/2011 but I dropped my data from the $45 tethered to the $15 200MB package, and now I'm no longer eligible for upgrade, date is out to June.

 

[AndrewR23]

When you call *639#, what does it say?

Sometimes, Apple servers can take 7 business days for their system to recognize an upgrade (thats what they told me when I returned my 16GB for a 32GB)

 

[Vanarak19]

I still don't understand. Why didn't you just get it exchanged instead? What you did only makes sense if you were planning on switching carriers. That's what it seems like you were trying to do. Was that the original plan and then you changed your mind?

The people I talked to at apple said in order to get an exchange, I would have to send the phone back first. I told them if I was going to do that, I would just return it, and buy at a later date. I have talked to both apple and ATT (no account features have been changed on my part). ATT is giving me the run around, and in doing so, will lose me as a customer.

The reason I did everything this way was because it was what was easiest for me. AT&T should have reset my upgrade with the contract, plain and simple.

And the point made about apple only allowing 1 upgrade would be fine, but no one kept the phone here. I returned it to apple, and have recd my refund. I have done everything I needed to do, yet AT&T is still dropping the ball.

It has been since last wednesday when I finally returned to my old contract end date. So it has been days since. If I go to my local att (which by the way they have no idea which way is up), and they are a core store, I have a feeling I will just cancel the whole contract. I have had several AT&T reps tell me they have no idea how to fix the issue, so before anyone says I did this to myself, well I just made a simple return. If AT&T doesn't know whats wrong with my upgrade, and APPLE is just the iPhone seller, who else do I go to?

Its just frustrating to say the least, this should be a bit simpler. And I def shouldn't have to go to AT&T and beg for them to fix their mistake. BS.

Thank you all for your responses. I'm just a frustrated ATT customer.

When you call *639#, what does it say?

Sometimes, Apple servers can take 7 business days for their system to recognize an upgrade (thats what they told me when I returned my 16GB for a 32GB)

See attachments. I may just go to AT&T just to see someone in face. Where on earth they got the 07/2013 date from I have no idea.

 

[AndrewR23]

Ok, OP the reason Apple won't let you buy one if because your upgrade hasn't reset.

Do you have proof you returned your phone?

Heres how I got mine reset right away, Call 611 from your cell phone.

Talk to the guy, send him proof, blah blah and he can reset your upgrade instantly.

Or go in person.

 

[Vanarak19]

Ok, OP the reason Apple won't let you buy one if because your upgrade hasn't reset.

Do you have proof you returned your phone?

Heres how I got mine reset right away, Call 611 from your cell phone.

Talk to the guy, send him proof, blah blah and he can reset your upgrade instantly.

Or go in person.

Sure do have proof. Im on the phone with them now, again. She is looking into it. Whoopie She can't find anything about reversing upgrades in her notes....great!

 

[AndrewR23]

Sure do have proof. Im on the phone with them now, again. She is looking into it. Whoopie She can't find anything about reversing upgrades in her notes....great!

Bunch of bull. Guy said that to me too over 3 times. Guess what, he still reversed it.

Thats the thing with AT&T is they act like they have no power over the phone. I've had AT&T for 10 years, back when it was Cingular then AT&T. They haven't changed at all.

 

[Vanarak19]

Bunch of bull. Guy said that to me too over 3 times. Guess what, he still reversed it.

Thats the thing with AT&T is they act like they have no power over the phone. I've had AT&T for 10 years, back when it was Cingular then AT&T. They haven't changed at all.

It has not been a trouble-free 6 years for me either, and this call is taking incredibly too long for a simple reversal.

 

[AndrewR23]

It has not been a trouble-free 6 years for me either, and this call is taking incredibly too long for a simple reversal.

Ask to speak to a manager.

In fact, AT&T should have automatically reversed your upgrade once you returned the phone. Did you return it at the apple store?

 

[HKUSP.40]

Did I miss the part explaining why the OP didn't simply exchange the damaged iPhone for a non-damaged one??

 

[dave420]

Did I miss the part explaining why the OP didn't simply exchange the damaged iPhone for a non-damaged one??

Yes you did.
I hope you can get it worked out. I had an issue with upgrade eligibility once and it was a pain to work out. I couldn't get them to reset the date, so I just canceled the line and added a new one. In my case they wouldn't give me an upgrade on a line that was out of contract.

 

[Primejimbo]

Yes you did.
I hope you can get it worked out. I had an issue with upgrade eligibility once and it was a pain to work out. I couldn't get them to reset the date, so I just canceled the line and added a new one. In my case they wouldn't give me an upgrade on a line that was out of contract.

You think it would be easy to work out. AT&T should have a record that a phone was activated and then switched to the old phone. Even if not, he probably has a receipt showing he returned it.
I would go to an actual AT&T store and talk to a manager.

 

[Vanarak19]

You think it would be easy to work out. AT&T should have a record that a phone was activated and then switched to the old phone. Even if not, he probably has a receipt showing he returned it.
I would go to an actual AT&T store and talk to a manager.

ATT should have a lot of things, but thats not why I'm here

After spending nearly ANOTHER hour on the phone, the lady finally gave up and said I already had a "ticket" in the system, and that it should be fixed by the 16th. I told her I was just trying to get a new phone/contract, and they were preventing me from making them more money. She went to go get a manager, and I waited for 10 min. I eventually hung up and did other things today.

I have not been impressed ONE BIT with ATT business support. Something as easy as this seems so inexcusable not to be able to fix. The lady said that the upgrade will be fixed eventually, and that the contract date was already fixed. I simply replied with "What good does an upgrade do if I can't use it?"

She had no answer, and had no idea what she was doing, sounds like she was IMing the entire time.

I hope you all have better luck with ATT, I'm about done. Ive heard business support is better than normal CS, but this whole thing has been a sheer disaster, and they will probably lose me as a long term customer.

Thanks all for the Q/A, seems you know much more than any "Qualified" ATT person.