I finally got my letter from citizens and figured out a weird billing address issue with my iphone during the upgrade program. I ended up buying at full price that day, but has anyone had experience trying to return and rebuy their phone on the upgrade program?
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Return / Rebuy with Apple Upgrade Program
- Thread starter jimbobiii
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I was told by an Apple store rep that the phone that you return will have to be shipped to Apple, so you cannot re-buy it.
I was told that they would just give you a refund on that phone and then change that purchase to the Apple Upgrade Program. They will make sure you qualify first and that your carrier says your eligible for an upgrade.
Carrier has nothing to do with it. All they need is a postpaid line on any of the four big carriers.
So, you say, but there have been many people turned down because the carrier says they aren't eligible for an upgrade, please explain how the carrier has nothing to do with it again? The carrier has nothing to do with it if you buy it outright. I think what you are saying should be correct!
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My attempt at the AUP was a miserable failure - I gave up and paid full price. I returned that phone, and went to T-Mobile today to get a new one with the Jump On Demand program. The entire process in the T-Mobile store took no more than 5 minutes! Such a breeze compared to Apple. And I'll end up paying less, too. If you're considering the AUP, give Jump On Demand a serious look while the promotional pricing is still in effect.
People were denied because they got denied for the loan provided by Citizens bank. The carrier has nothing to do with the approval or denial of iphone upgrade program. All apple wants is an account with any of the four carriers so that they can activate the phone and give it to you.
for example i got approved for IUP and i am not eligible for upgrade. i got the phone on my account and gave it to my wife.
I hope you are right, but I sure seen people having to pay full price on launch day because the app the used to verify eligibility was saying their accounts were not eligible for upgrade. I did read about this issue on the forum here too, but maybe it was just a glitch, but I did see people forced to pay full price because the app used to verify upgrade eligibility wasn't was saying they were not eligible.
If eligibility for an upgrade isn't required then I am not sure why they would have even required that step, unless they were somehow just trying to verify the account was active.
When I did my only reservation I initially click on the AUP and it did make me verify that my account was upgrade eligible. I really don't know, but it sounds like it worked out for you.
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I hope you are right, but I sure seen people having to pay full price on launch day because the app the used to verify eligibility was saying their accounts were not eligible for upgrade. I did read about this issue on the forum here too, but maybe it was just a glitch, but I did see people forced to pay full price because the app used to verify upgrade eligibility wasn't was saying they were not eligible.
If eligibility for an upgrade isn't required then I am not sure why they would have even required that step, unless they were somehow just trying to verify the account was active.
When I did my only reservation I initially click on the AUP and it did make me verify that my account was upgrade eligible. I really don't know, but it sounds like it worked out for you.
Let me clarify the confusions. People got rejected because of their credit check as it was required to get the phone on IUP. Once you get approved they bring out the phone and ask you your account information just to activate the phone regardless of the upgrade eligibility.
Correct, they didn't check your eligibility, they verified you have an account. They did ask me if I wanted to keep my plan the same, which I said yes, and than the phone activated on that line. My line was already under contract so that was not an issue.
I hope you are right, but I sure seen people having to pay full price on launch day because the app the used to verify eligibility was saying their accounts were not eligible for upgrade. I did read about this issue on the forum here too, but maybe it was just a glitch, but I did see people forced to pay full price because the app used to verify upgrade eligibility wasn't was saying they were not eligible.
If eligibility for an upgrade isn't required then I am not sure why they would have even required that step, unless they were somehow just trying to verify the account was active.
When I did my only reservation I initially click on the AUP and it did make me verify that my account was upgrade eligible. I really don't know, but it sounds like it worked out for you.
I had a pain and hassle-free experience with the AUP, so it is possible.
From my experience, they aren't checking whether you're available for an upgrade unless you indicated that with your reservation. Selecting AT&T Next, for example, is dependent on upgrade eligibility.
Otherwise, buying the phone at full retail and fully unlocked means they only need your carrier information to validate that you're a current customer. So no, the program itself is not dependent on upgrade status unless you selected that option.
Back to the point of this thread. Anyone heard about or have experience with returning a paid-in-full iPhone 6s and buying it back immediately through the upgrade program at an Apple Store. It seems like the OP of this thread had an opened iPhone, in which case they WOULD probably not give you that phone back since they wouldn't resell you an opened phone, even if it was yours.
I ordered my iPhone 6s plus online and it just got delivered today, but I haven't opened it yet. By the time I ordered it the Upgrade in store program had already given out all of the reservations, so I just ordered it full price. Plan on going by the Apple Store this weekend to see if I can return the still-unopened phone and immediately buy it back through the Upgrade Program. Credit check won't be a problem.
I ordered my iPhone 6s plus online and it just got delivered today, but I haven't opened it yet. By the time I ordered it the Upgrade in store program had already given out all of the reservations, so I just ordered it full price. Plan on going by the Apple Store this weekend to see if I can return the still-unopened phone and immediately buy it back through the Upgrade Program. Credit check won't be a problem.
I just went through this hassle last night. Being declined doesn't mean your credit is bad. The first time I was denied was because my billing address and drivers license address didn't match. I called Citizens bank and the rep told me that was the reason so I purchased the phone full price. After using the 6s plus I decided to swap out for the 6s. Apple informed me they would just return the 6s plus and sell me the 6s on the Apple upgrade program. Here is where it starts to suck. Phone returned no problem. I start the upgrade application again and guess what. Declined! I had made sure my credit card address matched my license. I call the bank and they say you have to wait 30 days before you can apply again. Waist of my time. I just paid full price again.
I'm sure service is better than expected but Verizon isn't too bad on a family plan.
So I did exactly this today. Returned a full price purchased phone and re-bought on the IUP.
Some background:
Attempt 1
Went to the Apple Store last week and got rejected for the IUP due to the fact that I had an AT&T GoPhone (prepay). The check was failing because "This account type is not supported for upgrades" (or similar). Basically Apple's check with AT&T is non-sensical (as others seem to have stated), instead of checking if you have a valid account that you can activate a device, it checks for AT&T upgrade eligibility. I left empty handed and frustrated.
Attempt 2
I went to AT&T and created a brand new (postpaid) account. New number, new plan and NO device. Waited a couple of days so everything was looking good and updated on the account and went to the Apple Store. Started the IUP process again and this time the same AT&T check (with my new details) said "This account is not eligible for AT&T upgrades". After long calls with AT&T reps, they were stating that AT&T would not allow me to upgrade yet (probably due to being a new account and billing hasn't fully started yet). But they also stated that this should have no effect to the iPhone Upgrade Program as this is only for AT&T upgrades and AT&T next. Well the Apple check (as mentioned above) is kind of stupid because it queries AT&T upgrade eligibility instead of account validity.
I ended just buying the phone upfront which i didn't want to do.
Attempt 3
I called Apple to go over the experience, and the guy was very helpful. He said that even the first attempt (prepay) should (in theory) be allowed but regardless the second attempt should not have been so tedious. He opened a case to investigate. He even suggested returning the phone within 14 days.
In the meantime (a week later from AT&T service activation), my first bill came through and I toyed with the carrier eligibility check and suddenly it listed options. AT&T Next options and such.
I thought I'd return the phone and start the IUP again and found this post. So I went to the Apple Store today (my birthday
) and told em what happened and that it should go through today. They said its a unique case and they'll get a "more knowledgable" person to handle me.The rep who handled the process was pretty awesome and helpful.
He initiated a "unopened phone" return, refunded on a gift card (in case things fail). And started the IUP (with the same device). The AT&T check finally succeeded! But unfortunately Citizen's credit check failed with no reason. I called them and they said the rejection reason takes an hour to flow through. They asked different questions like whether my CC is a business one, my addresses match my CC and if Equifax has that address. They said i should wait an hour to get the reason.
I was just about to re-purchase the phone with the gift card, but I asked the Apple rep to try again with some details different. I thought Equifax might have my old address still as I've recently moved (3 weeks ago). He pulled up my AT&T details, pulled my address info from AT&T but I then changed the address to my old one. Low and behold it was accepted! The rep then refunded the Gift Card on my CC.
Now I have the same phone (no need to restore), refunded the full price of the phone and finally on the IUP. It was a long process but finally got through it.
Hope this helps someone
yesterday i returned the phone bought on IUP and bought a new one on IUP. the procedure was same and they checked my credit again but since i had already checked it within 30 days i was good to go. and i came out with a brand new phone.
I bought my phone through the apple upgrade program and ended up having to return it. What ended up happening is that they accepted my return and paid off he initial loan and then setup a new loan for the new phone. It was either that or going through the Genius Bar to get a replacement. But I was told they may have to do the same thing since the loan is tied to the imei and serial #
Has anyone tried pre-ordering online and pay in full, have the phone shipped to home, and bring the phone to Apple Store, return it, and enroll in iPhone Upgrade Program with the same returned phone?
I'm thinking about doing this to enroll in the IUP while being able to pre-order the iPhone X. (I have T-Mobile so I can't enroll & pre-order online.)
I know someone has done this during in-store pickup. My guess is that in-store pickup availability will be very limited for iPhone X launch, so I'm wondering if this is feasible if I have it shipped to me then return to an Apple Store and enroll in IUP.
I'm thinking about doing this to enroll in the IUP while being able to pre-order the iPhone X. (I have T-Mobile so I can't enroll & pre-order online.)
I know someone has done this during in-store pickup. My guess is that in-store pickup availability will be very limited for iPhone X launch, so I'm wondering if this is feasible if I have it shipped to me then return to an Apple Store and enroll in IUP.
The guy at my local Apple Store suggested I do this. He said the only hiccup he could see is if between the time he does the repair, and gets approval for the iUP someone else tries to buy the phone I returned and it happens to be the only one they have in stock at that moment, it'll go to that other person, nothing they can do about it. Otherwise he said it should work just as described.
That's good to hear, thanks!
Although if we return (I assume you meant return, not repair?) an already-opened iPhone, would they be able to sell it to anyone else?
Yes, return. I think it has to be unopened, they can't resell an opened one, even back to you. Saw that on a thread somewhere.