Why does AT&T charge $600 just for a deposit ?

[hkfan24]

You probably have

A) zero credit

Or

B) bad credit

It doesn't surprise me if its A or B because you seem to be extremely lazy and dependent on other people, especially on these boards.

You've gone from Starting a thread to ask people to call an Apple store for you to see if they have phones in stock. You didn't even bother to try yourself. Then you made a thread asking if they accept personal checks for the Apple store because you didn't see the pay option on the website. Again you could call them yourself and get the answer. I havent even began to scratch the surface of all the ridiculous threads you have created.

I'm sorry but you really have no grounds to rant on AT&T and ask people to protest given your post history and lazy antics. If you would quit being lazy and creating these weird threads and actually make effort to accomplish things, you'd have the phone you want already and at the discounted price tag.

You've gotten zero sympathy from anyone on here. My words above are the clear reason why.

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

Not everyone who has bad credit are lazy, irresponsible, or something. I never understood that thinking. A ton of ppl were hit hard since 2008/09 when the recession hit. And it hurt their credit bad. I personally am divorced. My ex wife ruined my credit at the time. And am still paying for it now. Not making excuses, but it does not really mean that if you have poor credit you are bum or something. Often times you have to treat each case of poor credit on an individual basis, and see what happened to that person. Of course, i know that corporations wont do this. They just check your score or whatever, and make a determination from there. But dont just really assume that the OP is irresponsible without knowing what happened to them.

 

[scaredpoet]

Wow judge much??
Maybe he is a college student without any credit history.

Someone with no credit history will usually have to pay around $125 to maybe a $200 deposit.

If you're at the $300 deposit level and above, that means either you refused to give you social security number, or you've definitely done something to wreck your credit.

At $600 and above, that usually means you either have a LONG history of not paying your bills, or you specifically ran up a high unpaid balance on a postpaid cell phone account with a major carrier, and they shut you off and sent the bill to collections.

 

[hkfan24]

.....Sprint still has unlimited.

LOL. I don't know how on earth this guy came to the conclusion that Sprint doesn't have unlimited anymore. He blamed AT&T for Sprint no longer having unlimited. OP really needs to grow up.

----------

Not everyone who has bad credit are lazy, irresponsible, or something. I never understood that thinking. A ton of ppl were hit hard since 2008/09 when the recession hit. And it hurt their credit bad. I personally am divorced. My ex wife ruined my credit at the time. And am still paying for it now. Not making excuses, but it does not really mean that if you have poor credit you are bum or something. Often times you have to treat each case of poor credit on an individual basis, and see what happened to that person. Of course, i know that corporations wont do this. They just check your score or whatever, and make a determination from there. But dont just really assume that the OP is irresponsible without knowing what happened to them.

Just read OPs post thread/post history and you'll understand why no one has sympathy for him nor take him seriously. It's not an assumption that he's lazy. It's a digital archived forum fact.

 

[OatmealRocks]

Not everyone who has bad credit are lazy, irresponsible, or something. I never understood that thinking. A ton of ppl were hit hard since 2008/09 when the recession hit. And it hurt their credit bad. I personally am divorced. My ex wife ruined my credit at the time. And am still paying for it now. Not making excuses, but it does not really mean that if you have poor credit you are bum or something. Often times you have to treat each case of poor credit on an individual basis, and see what happened to that person. Of course, i know that corporations wont do this. They just check your score or whatever, and make a determination from there. But dont just really assume that the OP is irresponsible without knowing what happened to them.

Your wife ruin your credit? Who was irresponsible you or her? Just saying.. What do you mean often times and need to look at the individual basis? At the end of the day, something happen to the person that made their scores low. We all know what determines what makes your score low so I guess you can call it whatever you want. You are right corporations don't care about the person they look at the number to make a decision.

 

[SlasherDuff]

Never paid a deposit.

Ever.

Never.

Ever.

If your credit is so bad, maybe an Iphone 4 or a flipphone makes more sense for you.

I'm with you, i never had to pay a deposit for any of my phone contracts, whether it was with alltel or at&t

 

[noteple]

They charge $650 and up because they are too PC to say they dont want your business.

 

[hkfan24]

Here's OP's post copied and pasted from the thread linked
On page 1. It's one of OPs other threads.



It's gone from the site..now it's a 300MB for $60 that's a horrible deal.
The economic is horrible right at the moment and my dad will buy my the next iPhone maybe but the monthly plan has to be cheap and I checked sprint's but it's $80...for the cheapest
I thought it was $75? I checked like last month
I just am pissed that for basically nothing cost so much. I mean if they give you unlimited text for at&t than that would be a good deal but just for a lame basic plan. I am a teenager so I don't have my own job yet. I am very concern about the next iPhone's monthly plan because since it will be 4G who knows if it will be insanely high. We need to do a protest or something about those greedy companies over charging people just like the Facetime thing for at&t all they care about is money when they already have Billions of dollars and the hard working people is barely able to have food at the table because of this mess.


Here's the link. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1432725/


So do you guys feel sorry for the guy now? Hey OP, try making less beats and music on your iPad, log off the forums, and go get a job. Problem solved.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

At $600 and above, that usually means you either have a LONG history of not paying your bills, or you specifically ran up a high unpaid balance on a postpaid cell phone account with a major carrier, and they shut you off and sent the bill to collections.

That indicates the OP's parents have been pretty irresponsible and the doesn't fall far from the tree.

 

[NismoRoadster]

(Bob the RV salesman checks Homer's credit on a computer, and a siren wails when the results come back)

Homer: Is that a good siren? Am I approved?

Bob: You ever known a siren to be good? (Chuckles) No, Mr. Simpson, it's not. It's a bad siren. That's the computer in case I went blind, telling me, "Sell the vehicle to this fella, and you're outta business." That's what the siren says.

 

[hkfan24]

That indicates the OP's parents have been pretty irresponsible and the doesn't fall far from the tree.

I agree. He stated in the linked thread above that his parents BARELY have enough to cover the cost of everything. If he loved his parents, he wouldn't bottleneck their finances like that. OP has serious priority issues. I wouldn't have the heart to put my parents through that even if I had good grades and maybe deserved it. I would be grateful for having a phone/phone line in general but OP HAS to have the iPhone 5.

 

[tymaster50]

That's total bull....I mean just for a freaking deposit? It's not even an upgrade fee or anything like that and how does AT&T expect someone to pay that kind of money ? If for $50 more we can get it unlocked without a contract.
How stupid is AT&T they are so heartless and greedy..because of them sprint eliminated their unlimited data. I hate such hate for at&t...I am sure lots feel the same way about this. We all should protest to make att have lower monthly payments. $60 just for 450 minute minutes talk and 300MB that's barely anything for 2012. But yes...the question is why would AT&T want to charge $600 for a stupid deposit? In this economy?....So freaking angry.

its them saying "hey you f'ed up, we can't trust you"

 

[hkfan24]

If OP is this heated over not being able to get an iPhone 5 for the discount price, he's in for a treat when he tries to buy a car or home.

 

[fullmanfullninj]

Be a more responsible person and keep your credit up to par and you wouldn't have these issues.

Think before you post. As someone pointed out, it could have also been that OP has no credit to begin with. If OP has no credit at all, how is he supposed to keep his "credit up to par"

Should've been smarter... I'm 20, in college, and have great credit. People, you have to prepare for your future so things like this don't happen!!!

I disagree with your post. I am also 20 and in college with "excellent" credit, according to my credit reports. But beginning to build credit is up to each individual. I began building my credit with a credit card because I had a job and felt I could spend responsibly - which I did.

But if someone is unsure of their own spending responsibility, maybe they need a few more months-years to mull it out and mature their own finances. For some, that could mean as young as 16 or in their early 20s, for others it could be never. But if this guy does have terrible credit, you don't want him with loans and cards.

Someone with no credit history will usually have to pay around $125 to maybe a $200 deposit.

If you're at the $300 deposit level and above, that means either you refused to give you social security number, or you've definitely done something to wreck your credit.

At $600 and above, that usually means you either have a LONG history of not paying your bills, or you specifically ran up a high unpaid balance on a postpaid cell phone account with a major carrier, and they shut you off and sent the bill to collections.

Do you have a source for this? When I worked in Best Buy Mobile (two years ago, I was 18 at the time), I tried applying for a new line (2-yr contract) just for the hell of it. My deposit was $600. I had absolutely no credit and I definitely did not have a "LONG history of not paying your bills", since I did not have any bills at all to my name at that time.

And no, just because it was Best Buy doesn't mean the deposit amounts were different; the deposit amount of $600 requested of me would have been the same in a carrier store as well.


Edit: In response to OP:
Build/improve your credit and get over it. This is a two year contract, in which you'll paying that amount for two years, however miniscule that seems to you at the time. If you have a super dependable job (salaried, not wage), then yay! You can pay that amount for two years! In which case, that $600 deposit which will be returned to you in a year shouldn't be a problem either; yay!

If not, cell phone companies don't need customers signing two year contracts and then not being able to pay half way through or something.

Just consider a prepaid option and build/rebuild your credit from here on out if it irks you that much. joeshmo2010 is right...you'll need credit in the future, and it'll be for something more important than some dumb phone.

 

[Mr Hill]

Go to T-Mobile or do prepaid and build your credit in the meantime.

 

[brianbunge]

LOL, even if he pays full price for the phone he would still be required to pay the $600 deposit in order to have a post paid account with AT&T. The deposit is based on his credit score through Equifax and is there to insure he pays the bill...

 

[KTF]

it does NOT cover the cost of the phone.

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maybe you'd be better off with prepaid or T-Mobile.

iphone in T-Mobile Is a Joke!

 

[okwhatev]

Your wife ruin your credit? Who was irresponsible you or her? Just saying.. What do you mean often times and need to look at the individual basis? At the end of the day, something happen to the person that made their scores low. We all know what determines what makes your score low so I guess you can call it whatever you want. You are right corporations don't care about the person they look at the number to make a decision.

I was married and going through a divorce and my partner spent over $100,000 on my credit line. Then made sure I lost my job. If people want to destroy your life, and make it their mission to, purely because they hate themselves so much that they have to make sure everyone is as miserable as them, they will succeed in doing so.

Live and learn. It's only money after all... which if you've ever gone through the horrors of evil and divorce, you would know sometimes it's NOT about responsibility but rather about trusting someone else with your life and then finding out you can only trust yourself. It's a hard, expensive, and painful life lesson. But it's not about responsibility. Unless you think that you should never open your heart to anyone or else be deemed an irresponsible idiot. Which in that case, I feel bad for you even if it's most likely true.

 

[Agent OrangeZ]

Be a more responsible person and keep your credit up to par and you wouldn't have these issues.

Yeah... be a more responsible person. Or be like me and have an unexpected major medical episode that almost kills you, puts you out of work for a year... unable to pay your bills... and the unplanned hospital bills pile up... even though you do have medical insurance. Then you go back to work and earn a wage again and are making significant strides to pay your past bills... but since your credit score is wrecked, you need to pay a deposit on a cell phone.

Guess I should be "more responsible" and not get sick again!

 

[okwhatev]

And as long as you pay for the iPhone in full, I see no reason why you should have to sign a two year contract with a carrier to have service for it. Much less put a deposit down on top of the contract commitment. A two year agreement should only be a requirement due to a subsidy, not for any other reason.

I had an account with AT&T and a $1200 monthly bill with 4 lines on a friends and family plan. One month one of my friends didn't pay his $200 portion, leaving a $200 balance. Even though I had just paid $1000 on the bill, due to that $200 balance they cut all 4 phones off right before a busy holiday weekend. Even though the next day I paid the $200 in CASH in person to an authorized AT&T dealer, AT&T took 5 DAYS to reconnect the phones, saying there was "absolutely nothing that could be done" because of the holidays. Meanwhile I still paid for those days without any service at all, making me look unprofessional and pathetic.

They are the definition of EVIL corporate GREED, not only charging whatever they wish regardless of cost to them, but making sure to squeeze every single drop out of their customers... from locking phones so that when you travel you cannot use other SIM cards and are stuck with a $4000 bill upon your return, charging for Facetime, throttling grandfathered data plans, $20 for SMS that doesn't use any resources on their data network... the list just goes on and on. As a tech head I agree that they have the fastest network overall, and as an addict to having the best I will admit to willingly pay outrageous sums of money to having the fastest cellular experience... but if anyone offered a faster experience I would drop them faster then a punctured lithium battery emitting smoke.

 

[Myiphone7]

I was married and going through a divorce and my partner spent over $100,000 on my credit line. Then made sure I lost my job. If people want to destroy your life, and make it their mission to, purely because they hate themselves so much that they have to make sure everyone is as miserable as them, they will succeed in doing so.

Live and learn. It's only money after all... which if you've ever gone through the horrors of evil and divorce, you would know sometimes it's NOT about responsibility but rather about trusting someone else with your life and then finding out you can only trust yourself. It's a hard, expensive, and painful life lesson. But it's not about responsibility. Unless you think that you should never open your heart to anyone or else be deemed an irresponsible idiot. Which in that case, I feel bad for you even if it's most likely true.

Girls Like this do exist but in the end it's important to trust you more than anyone else.

I've had some bad experiences dating girls who were pretty selfish and created a lot of misery but luckily it never got nearly as bad as this because I never gave her more than I wanted to

 

[hkfan24]

The last few posters need to understand why this guy or should I say kid, is ranting. He wants an iPhone 5 but at the expense of putting his family in financial jeapardy. He said it plain and clear that his parents can BARELY afford to cover the costs of everything. He stated that he is only a teenager and can't get a job. If you read all his old threads, you can see some of his ridiculous threads of protesting and other nonsense. Secondly, the kid asks us to do all his recon work for him.

I'm sorry but I can't feel sorry for a teenager that HAS to have an iPhone 5 and is protesting the carriers lower his rate and not make him put down a deposit. Secondly, this kid needs to wake up and put the iPhone 5 dreams behind until he gets a job. He wants a cheap phone rate and a phone at a discount price but if his parents can barely cover the cost now, imagine when he goes past his data plan. What happens then? To the OP, is it WORTH making your parents struggle over an iPhone 5? Grow up, go to junior high or high school, get a part time job and get your iphone 5 and don't bottleneck your parents money over this high end phone.

Take any other phone you can get and be thankful. You are pushing and pushing your parents to buy you an iPhone 5 as your first phone which is immature on your part since they'll barely be able to pay the bill. You need some priority lessons.

 

[paulrbeers]

Wow judge much??
Maybe he is a college student without any credit history.

I was in college, with almost no credit history (and what little I had was questionable) and still got a family plan for my fiance and I and it was my first cell phone plan ever.

It doesn't take much of a credit history nor even that great of one to get a deposit free cell phone plan. The OP literally has none (which is almost impossible in this day and age) or the OP has completely hosed his credit score at which I would say probably buying an iPhone and it's expensive monthly plan should not be his/her first concern. Instead he should get a basic phone and use the money he saves every month to pay off his creditors!

 

[hkfan24]

Guys, read above. He's a teenager in junior high or high school that's asking his parents to pay for an iPhone 5 that they can barely afford. OP can't just setting for any regular phone that his parents give him. He's insistent on the iPhone 5.

 

[tucker3434]

They tried to do the same to me when I attempted to switch from Verizon. My scores are great but I guess I have a thin file. Never any mortgages, car payments, or loans. Just a couple cc's that i pay every month. I stuck with Verizon.

You can contest it with AT&T but it didn't get me anywhere.