Battle with AT&T... Advice?

[andreab35]

Hi all! This is long... so please bear with me. I really need advice right now.

I purchased my 1st gen. iPhone in around June of '07.
When the iPhone 3G arrived, I bought it for $199 in December of '08 and my father received my old 1st gen. iPhone.

His iPhone's dock connector decided to give out and will no longer charge. We took it to the Apple Store and they couldn't help us with the situation, and the phone is out of warranty as well. The thing the genius explained to us is to go to the AT&T store and see if they can give us a discounted price for a new iPhone 3GS since the 1st iPhone was not bought subsidized.

We explained our situation to the AT&T associate. My father wasn't eligible to upgrade for some reason. So, they refused to give us a phone. However, the associate said they will forward our issue to the store manager and bring it to AT&T corporate to look into. The guy said we should hear a response in 3-4 days.

It has been about 2 weeks now and we have heard nothing. My father called the AT&T store 3 days in a row and the associate is giving him a song and dance every day.
So, he decided to call AT&T directly. He presented his case, and AT&T went blowing him off saying it is the equipment's fault. He asked if he could be reimbursed a bit off his phone bill since he has not had a phone for 2 weeks. Again, they said it wasn't their fault and they ended the conversation with him right there.

But the funny thing is, the store associate claimed that there seemed to be a screw up in our contract and that my Dad should be eligible for an upgrade. But still, we can't get anywhere with the situation.

My father came home to me in anger about this. He is giving AT&T until Sunday to contact us. If we hear nothing, he is going to march into the AT&T store and blow up at them (and honestly, he is that type of guy to do that... most likely we will be thrown out of the store). He says if he does that, he'll get what he wants.
But anyway, aside from that bad idea of his, if he doesn't get an iPhone, he is switching to Verizon for a Blackberry, leaving me to be a sole user on AT&T with my 3G.

I know the story is quite confusing. I can provide more info.
But what advice or input could you give me to shed some light on the situation? It is greatly appreciated, as I feel bad for my father going through this, so thank you!

 

[iOrlando]

hmm

so you bought 1st gen iphone full regular price non subsidy

you then bought a iphone 3G with the subsidy .............. so far straight forward and legit

you then what to exchange iphone 1st gen for new iphone 3GS with a subsidy.


are you guys on family plan? If so, i dont see why he cant get a new 3gs with a subsidy...since he technically never bought a iphone before.

 

[UngratefulNinja]

Did he use a subsidized phone prior to using your iPhone? Was that in the last 12-18 mos? It doesn't natter what kind of phone, if so, that used up his subsidy. He has to wait to be eligible again.

 

[Disarm]

ask for the retention dept when you call since no one wants to help, they will most likely do what they can to help you, and keep you as a customer

 

[Small White Car]

My father wasn't eligible to upgrade for some reason....

...even though he's new to AT&T and so this makes no sense.
or
...because he had a subsidized Blackberry that he bought 3 months ago.

Really, the rest of your story is useless to us without knowing what you meant there.

 

[Kadman]

From both phones (i.e. different SIM cards) dial *NEW# that equals (*639#) to see what the eligibility date is for each line. That will go a long way towards explaining why there may not be an eligible upgrade path for you.

 

[andreab35]

hmm

so you bought 1st gen iphone full regular price non subsidy

you then bought a iphone 3G with the subsidy .............. so far straight forward and legit

you then what to exchange iphone 1st gen for new iphone 3GS with a subsidy.


are you guys on family plan? If so, i dont see why he cant get a new 3gs with a subsidy...since he technically never bought a iphone before.

I bought the 1st gen. iPhone without paying a subsidy price. I paid in full.
I then bought in Dec. 2008 an iPhone 3G. Since I had an iPhone 3G, I gave my father my 1st gen. iPhone to use since he never had a cell phone. So he took over my old phone.
We now want to exchange the 1st gen. iPhone he has for a subsidy price.
We are also on a family plan and he has never purchased an iPhone before. 1st gen. iPhone and iPhone 3G were paid by me.

Did he use a subsidized phone prior to using your iPhone? Was that in the last 12-18 mos? It doesn't natter what kind of phone, if so, that used up his subsidy. He has to wait to be eligible again.

My father never had a cell phone before. The 1st gen. iPhone I gave him when I bought my 3G was his first cell phone he has ever had.

ask for the retention dept when you call since no one wants to help, they will most likely do what they can to help you, and keep you as a customer

If nobody is able to help us... I will bring this across to him, thank you!

...even though he's new to AT&T and so this makes no sense.
or
...because he had a subsidized Blackberry that he bought 3 months ago.

Really, the rest of your story is useless to us without knowing what you meant there.

My father has never owned a Blackberry. He never owned a cell phone before. The 1st gen. iPhone which I gave him was his first cell phone he has ever owned.
What I meant was that if he can't get a new iPhone for a subsidy price, he is going to switch to Verizon and get a Blackberry.
"My father wasn't eligible for an upgrade for some reason" meant that I thought we would be eligible for an upgrade for him, but apparently he wasn't.
Sorry that I wasn't clear.

 

[iOrlando]

seems like the problem might be att thinks he has a newer iphone in his name...even though its yours and its the first gen....

other then that...this actually sounds pretty simple so i dont know why they are giving you such a hard time.

he never has bought any phone ever.....he would like to buy a new iphone 3gs...why he cant get subsidized price...beats me..


i would also just try different att stores...you just need to find an associate that cares...

 

[Vudoo]

When you bough the 3G iPhone, was it for the same telephone number as the 1G iPhone? Or did you buy the 3G iPhone under your dad's number and then swapped phones? And are both phones under the same family plan?

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

Here's how it needs to go:

Call AT&T and tell them you opened a second line on your account and didn't get a phone at the store because they didn't have any free phones in stock when you were there. They may be having trouble understanding that yes, he has an iPhone but it's already been paid for and wasn't part of the contract for the new line.

You may need to take it to the management level because after a certain amount of time (not sure how long it is anymore) you lose that new customer eligibility. At this point you're just gonna have to hope for some sympathy.

Good luck!

 

[Night Spring]

Ask if *your* line is eligible for an upgrade. If it is, get a new iphone for your line, then swap SIMS.

 

[UngratefulNinja]

because after a certain amount of time (not sure how long it is anymore) you lose that new customer eligibility.

I suspect that's the case here. She mentioned Dec 2008, if he signed up then, he's surely not a new customer anymore, that's been almost a year.

 

[ChaSSe]

If you want to know how to fix this PM me

 

[andreab35]

seems like the problem might be att thinks he has a newer iphone in his name...even though its yours and its the first gen....

other then that...this actually sounds pretty simple so i dont know why they are giving you such a hard time.

he never has bought any phone ever.....he would like to buy a new iphone 3gs...why he cant get subsidized price...beats me..


i would also just try different att stores...you just need to find an associate that cares...

Yup. He never had a new iPhone in his name. I don't understand why I'm getting such a hard time with them. If this store doesn't work, I know of another AT&T store I can approach in the area.

When you bough the 3G iPhone, was it for the same telephone number as the 1G iPhone? Or did you buy the 3G iPhone under your dad's number and then swapped phones? And are both phones under the same family plan?

When I got the 3G, my 1st gen iPhone number was transferred to the 3G. The 1st gen. got a new number because he never had a number before. We are under the same family plan. It's just the two of us on it.

Here's how it needs to go:

Call AT&T and tell them you opened a second line on your account and didn't get a phone at the store because they didn't have any free phones in stock when you were there. They may be having trouble understanding that yes, he has an iPhone but it's already been paid for and wasn't part of the contract for the new line.

You may need to take it to the management level because after a certain amount of time (not sure how long it is anymore) you lose that new customer eligibility. At this point you're just gonna have to hope for some sympathy.

Good luck!

I could say that... but wouldn't they already know my story that I have presented?

Ask if *your* line is eligible for an upgrade. If it is, get a new iphone for your line, then swap SIMS.

I have checked my line. I am not eligible to upgrade till August 2010.

I suspect that's the case here. She mentioned Dec 2008, if he signed up then, he's surely not a new customer anymore, that's been almost a year.

One thing that the associate told me is that when the new iPhone came in, he said the contract was renewed when it really shouldn't have been renewed. That's what the associate told me.

 

[madlymocha]

Hope this helps

I added my husband to my phone line earlier this year with a phone we already had. In July, we wanted to upgrade him to an iPhone and had a problem similar to yours. Instead of adding the line with a contract they should have simply added the line, contract free since you brought your own equipment. That way, you would have qualified for an upgrade. Go into the store and have them remove the contract from your account. He can still be on your account with you paying the bill, for the $9.99 a month without it. It takes a couple of days to get into the system, but if you want to upgrade immediately, they should be able to do it. I know its a hassel, because it was for me as well. I spent alot of time on the phone and in the store to get it taken care of. Since this has been an ongoing, documented issue for you, hopefully they can get it taken care of immediately. It only takes a couple of minutes to do and a manager in the store should be able to help you. Good luck! I hope it works out.

 

[andreab35]

I added my husband to my phone line earlier this year with a phone we already had. In July, we wanted to upgrade him to an iPhone and had a problem similar to yours. Instead of adding the line with a contract they should have simply added the line, contract free since you brought your own equipment. That way, you would have qualified for an upgrade. Go into the store and have them remove the contract from your account. He can still be on your account with you paying the bill, for the $9.99 a month without it. It takes a couple of days to get into the system, but if you want to upgrade immediately, they should be able to do it. I know its a hassel, because it was for me as well. I spent alot of time on the phone and in the store to get it taken care of. Since this has been an ongoing, documented issue for you, hopefully they can get it taken care of immediately. It only takes a couple of minutes to do and a manager in the store should be able to help you. Good luck! I hope it works out.

Hello madlymocha!
Thank you for your response. That does seem to make a ton of sense. I mean, my father was the one who was being added on and we had our own equipment. I was the one who was upgrading, not him! Haha.
If I get no where, I will attempt the tactic you stated. He has had no phone for two weeks. Tomorrow we will be going to the AT&T store to hopefully resolve the issue.

I appreciate all of your responses. I will let you all know what happens (and hopefully it is on a positive note)!

 

[andreab35]

Alrighty you all!
Finally my father and I pushed through AT&T and were able to upgrade my father last night.
The sales rep we got at the same store was extremely helpful to us this time. He spent an hour in front of us on the phone with AT&T corporate trying to help us with our case further, since corporate failed to respond for two weeks. He explained our issue to them numerous times (I reinforced it further indicating that we originally had our "own equipment" so we are anyways eligble to upgrade).
So finally, AT&T researched it and the next day I got a call saying that my father was eligible for an upgrade.
We went in yesterday and our rep was really happy to see us. My father wanted my 3G instead (I don't know why) so I got the 3Gs instead. Our rep switched our SIM cards and even took the time to put my data on the new phone and wiped out the 3G that was mine so my Dad could start off with a clean slate. He even cleaned my Dad's phone and used a scratch remover to buff out some slight scratches I got on the phone before. Later, he threw on a screen protector completely free for him, and also gave us a $25 courtousy credit.

Both of us are extremely happy. My Dad can finally apply his FAN discount since we do not have an original iPhone anymore.
Although the wait was so long when it originally was supposed to take 3-5 days, our rep was extremely helpful at the end.
What great service!

 

[Bacong]

Glad to see it worked out for you

 

[ucfgrad93]

Glad to see it worked out for you

Me too.

 

[McBeats]

nice one man! squeeky wheels will get the grease

 

[andreab35]

Thanks guys! I'm glad too!
And not to mention, once they saw us pulling out the Verizon flyer (my Dad was going to go with Verizon if he couldn't be allowed an upgrade) I think they started shaking in their shoes a bit.