Apple iPhone Deposit refund issue

benjamino1986 · ‎02-03-2010

I purchased an iPhone 3G in March of 2009, and had to put down the deposit of $500. I switched from my iPhone to Blackberry Bold 9700 in December of 2009 and was informed that upon doing so I would have to pay the ETF which was $175 - $5 for every month, which was 9 months. so i paid $130. I was told by the saleswoman who I went through the switch of plans with, that I would be getting my refund of $500 back minus the $130, and having gone through the deposit procedure noticed that I am now overdue for the return of my deposit. I wanted to find out the status of my deposit. I know that I had canceled before the 2 years but I don't think that should matter, because I didn't cancel with AT&T, just the iPhone service.

Planet-Ed · ‎07-09-2005

If you only cancelled iPhone service but not your account why were you charged and ETF?

Or did you add a line to get the Blackberry at a reduced price and then cancelled the iPhone so your actually on the same account still?

Deposits are normally held for 1 years of continious uninterrupted service. If you have not been had any interruptions in service then it would be just after March 2010 that you would get your refund.

benjamino1986 · ‎02-03-2010

Basically, They had to cancel the line on my iPhone because of the special data plan, and set up the new data plan on the Blackberry.

graphite07 · ‎10-16-2007

benjamino1986 wrote:
Basically, They had to cancel the line on my iPhone because of the special data plan, and set up the new data plan on the Blackberry.

all they had to was Cancel the phone data plan and add the BB Data plan. what do you mean (SPECIAL) DATA plan??

benjamino1986 · ‎02-03-2010

im just saying what the woman did. I had to pay the ETF to get out of current 2 year contract that i was in with the iPhone, and start up a new contract with the Blackberry.

EBSkater · ‎02-22-2006

You were only in a contract for the voice service. You could have purchased the second phone outright, and then swapped to it, then cancelled the original data plan and added on the new phone's data plan. You never had to sign a new anything or cancel anything besides the data plan. I would go into a CORPORATE retail store and ask to speak to a manager.

moorepheus · ‎02-01-2008

Yep, they took you for a ride on this one. Good luck getting your money back, hope it works out for you.

maddcatt1 · ‎11-03-2004

If you got the BB at a reduced price that would explain the the ETF of the iphone line of service, but you have not said if you got a reduced price on the BB. If no discount on the BB then you need to contact customer service and straighten out your account and charges.

flygrrrrl · ‎10-23-2009

You got jacked on this one! That absolutely makes no sense. I know sales people are sales people, but I wonder how they sleep at night. All you had to do was call AT&T with a new IMEI numbe for the 9700. They would have kept the same contract and you still would have $500 on deposit with them. The deposit is for the service with AT&T and not with the iPhone specifically. You would have had to pay the deposit with any phone you decided to open the account with. Once again, you got JACKED by a sales rep who was only looking to get another commission.

You need to cancel the new contract you got. Call AT&T customer service and have your old line reinstated. Then report the unwhirly sales rep to her manager. Absolutely ridiculous what lies come out of their mouths.

Message Edited by flygrrrrl on 02-06-2010 05:22:14 AM

catsmomsny · ‎03-13-2006

I'm guessing that the OP got the new BB at the subsidized price, not full price...which would explain his being charged for the ETF.

EBSkater · ‎02-22-2006

catsmomsny wrote:
I'm guessing that the OP got the new BB at the subsidized price, not full price...which would explain his being charged for the ETF.

Not particularly. Going backwards, if I had just bought an iPhone and signed a 2 year contract to get it at the subsidized price, I could then purchase a Blackberry and swap my SIM out. I would then cancel the iPhone data plan and add an iPhone data plan. No cancelling of any voice plans...this makes no sense still...I don't see your reasoning...

catsmomsny · ‎03-13-2006

EBSkater wrote:
catsmomsny wrote:
I'm guessing that the OP got the new BB at the subsidized price, not full price...which would explain his being charged for the ETF.

Not particularly. Going backwards, if I had just bought an iPhone and signed a 2 year contract to get it at the subsidized price, I could then purchase a Blackberry and swap my SIM out. I would then cancel the iPhone data plan and add an iPhone data plan. No cancelling of any voice plans...this makes no sense still...I don't see your reasoning...

But the OP didn't JUST buy the iPhone...he bought it in March 2009, nearly a year ago. If he had just bought it within the past 30 days, then I would agree with you. But if he got the iPhone at the subsidized price and wanted to get a BB at a subsidized price as well, then he would have to pay the ETF for the iPhone (or whatever the remainder is). Now if he paid the full unsubsidized price for the BB, then I can see what you're saying. That's my understanding, anyway. I could be wrong

EBSkater · ‎02-22-2006

I still don't fully understand. Starting to, but not sure. I would have thought that if I wanted to buy one phone right after the other, they would have either informed me that I couldn't do it unless I purchased the new phone outright, or that if I found an amazingly gracious sales rep who needed to meet his quota, that they would have extended my contract even further. I don't understand, of course my brain is dying from school, so that may be an additional strain, haha.

benjamino1986 · ‎02-03-2010

i appreciate all your help guys and gals, and when I get a chance I'm gonna go into a store and have a nice long chat with management. so the general consensus is that AT&T messed up and screwed me ?

EBSkater · ‎02-22-2006

benjamino1986 wrote:
i appreciate all your help guys and gals, and when I get a chance I'm gonna go into a store and have a nice long chat with management. so the general consensus is that AT&T messed up and screwed me ?

I vote a ginormous, gigantic, humongous, massive....YES.

juicy907couture · ‎01-18-2008

catsmomsny wrote:
EBSkater wrote:
catsmomsny wrote:
I'm guessing that the OP got the new BB at the subsidized price, not full price...which would explain his being charged for the ETF.

Not particularly. Going backwards, if I had just bought an iPhone and signed a 2 year contract to get it at the subsidized price, I could then purchase a Blackberry and swap my SIM out. I would then cancel the iPhone data plan and add an iPhone data plan. No cancelling of any voice plans...this makes no sense still...I don't see your reasoning...

But the OP didn't JUST buy the iPhone...he bought it in March 2009, nearly a year ago. If he had just bought it within the past 30 days, then I would agree with you. But if he got the iPhone at the subsidized price and wanted to get a BB at a subsidized price as well, then he would have to pay the ETF for the iPhone (or whatever the remainder is). Now if he paid the full unsubsidized price for the BB, then I can see what you're saying. That's my understanding, anyway. I could be wrong

I think I understand what you are saying. They signed a 2 year contract (contract A) and got the cheaper subsidized iPhone. Then decided they wanted the Blackberry a few months later, and cancelled their iPhone contract, was charged the ETF, and signed a NEW 2 year contract (contract B) to get the subsidized Blackberry.

I don't think that is the case. Within a certain amount of time (I think it's 6 months) they would have reinstated contract A. They should not have been allowed to sign contract B, since contract A should have been continuted.

benjamino1986 · ‎02-03-2010

I paid something around 260 for the blackberry so im pretty sure it wasn't subsidized. It was done as an early upgrade, so i had to pay full price for the phone.

Planet-Ed · ‎07-09-2005

benjamino1986 wrote:
I paid something around 260 for the blackberry so im pretty sure it wasn't subsidized. It was done as an early upgrade, so i had to pay full price for the phone.

If thats what you paid then it was subsidized. The Blackberry Bold 9700 full retail price right now is $449.99

kp512blndi · ‎06-20-2010

I'm sorry to tell you this but you were cheated by the represetative.

When I used to work at AT&T they offered you what is considered to be an exception upgrade based on numerous bits of criteria. This means you get a phone for the 1-year price for a two year contract. As a result of you getting the discounted pricing you would just be extending your contract and additional 9 months from the date in which you intiated your new service. Also no ETF should have been applied because you weren't actually cancelling the account. What would have needed to happen is that if you were going to the store to handle the transaction that notes would have needed to be placed in the system regarding the approval for the exception upgrade. When you went to the store a manager would have needed to override the upgrade option in the store based on the notes and charged you the appropriate price as well as charged you $18 for the upgrade. Your deposit should have stayed in tact and continued as though nothing happened.

Basically it sounds like a lot of inexperience and a greedy sales rep who made more money on not only the Bold that you bought, but the features that went along with it.