AT&T Caves, Offers Early Upgrade Subsidy to iPhone 3G Owners
11:47 am, June 17th, 2009, Lonnie Lazar
AT&T announced limited changes to its general upgrade policy Wednesday, extending ‘eligibility’ for subsidized pricing on the new iPhone 3G S to some current customers who signed service contracts on the 3G model less than one year ago.
The changes come in response to the great number of complaints that arose after the company announced subsidized pricing on the new iPhone ($199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB) would only be extended to new customers signing a two year service commitment and to current customers who are ‘eligible’ for a hardware upgrade when they want to purchase a new 3G S model.
The standard upgrade policy has always been vague, with AT&T allowing only that “In general, the more a customer spends with us, the quicker they become eligible for a price break on a new device.”
The announcement released Wednesday stated “iPhone customers who spend more than $99 a month per line with us generally are eligible for an upgrade between 12 and 18 months into their contract,” which is vague enough, but the company will offer, beginning Thursday June 18, subsidized pricing on new iPhone 3G S phones to “customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August or September 2009.”
Further confusing the issue, AT&T offers “early” upgrade pricing of $299 (16GB) and $399 (32GB) for the 3G S model to customers who qualify. The company has an upgrade eligibility wizard on its site that tells current customers when they are eligible to different hardware options based on its secret algorithm weighing length of AT&T contract, how much money a customer spends per month, possibly one’s credit score, etc.
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in News, iPhone | Comment on this article
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Well, now that I ordered my new iPhone 3G S at the “early” upgrade pricing of $499 for a 32GB, how do I get reimbursed for the difference. I purchased my 3G on opening day in July 2008, so I’m eligible for a subsidized price of $399. Also, I purchased through Apple both times, this time online. I guess the simplest way would be for a refund to my credit card by Apple of the difference. Of course, if that doesn’t happen, I’ll need to wait a while to find out. Calling AT&T or Apple today would be an exercise in futility… or extreme patience.
RayCon, on June 17th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Hmmm. I guess I’ll have to wait ’til tomorrow to find out if I can get a reasonably priced new phone.
If not, I will cancel my service for at least three months to make sure that AT&T loses money by not treating me as the valuable customer that I am.
I deeply, deeply dislike AT&T at this point.
JAYnLA, on June 17th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
That’s great for iPhone owners with big bills – but what about the rest of us early adapters who opted for the 450 minute plan?
I called AT&T this afternoon and asked a simple question – what will it cost to cancel my current iPhone account. Answer – $120.
I then asked if I could buy a iPhone 3GS at the subsidized price of $199. Answer – Yes, of course.
When I pointed out that is an $80 savings, I was greeted with silence. The rep then put me on hold while he checked this press release, then he came back and said “check back tomorrow” and implied that AT&T knew about this and were working to correct it, as apparently they’re thinking a lot of people are going to be playing leapfrog with their accounts this weekend.
Scott, on June 17th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Wilbur Tango Foxtrot. Bitch enough and get your way. Where do I sign up for the class action since I am ineligible?
TheDude, on June 17th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
It looks like I won’t be able to get the new iPhone at a decent price, so I’ve sent the following letter to the CEO of AT&T:
Mr. Stephenson,
Well, here’s what I’m going to do.
I’ll wait until tomorrow and check one last time to see if I can ‘upgrade’ (a silly word being used here only as a matter of convenience) to a new iPhone for the much advertised low price of $299. I suspect that I will not be able to buy the phone at that price.
So let’s take the $300 that you want to gouge me for, and add in my $125 cancellation fee. We’re up to $425.
To make sure that you ultimately lose money for treating me, a good customer, in a way that I find unacceptable, I’ll cancel my service with you for AT LEAST five months. I’m actually so disenchanted, I may just use my current iPhone as a wireless only device until I can adopt another carrier. Skype will come in so handy. Why not? I’m a bit sick, anyway, of going home to NC and having everyone in my family be able to use their cell phones at my parent’s house except me, because they’re Sprint customers and your service is lousy there.
And please – don’t have someone call me simply to reiterate all of the reasons I’m furious, as you did earlier in this debacle. It’s just silly.
Really – I can’t tell how much this moment has made me dislike your company.
Yours –
JAYnLA, on June 17th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
It just looks like T-mobile maybe getting us back once again. AT&T needs to learn some serious lessons from the masters of customer service: namely The Ritz & Apple. The latter better be changing carriers real soon, or adding all to it’s ranks if they want to hold on to their customers. …
Antony Xenios, on June 17th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
I love how Iphone owners think that they’re so special and deserve to be treated as such. Every wireless company has dates for upgrades that need to be met to receive a discounted price. Just because a new phone comes out that you want doesn’t mean that you should get a discount not even halfway through your two year contract. If T-Mobile does such a better job then why do they require you to be 22 months into a contract to upgrade while every other company is 20 months and sometimes even 18. If a new Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Android or any other type of phone, that can still cost as much as an Iphone, comes out with a new phone you don’t get a discount unless you”re eligible. So just because your phone has a piece of fruit on the back, which mine does too, don’t think that you deserve special treatment.
Ted, on June 18th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
What most angers me about this whole “upgrade” problem, is that the exact same thing happened last year. It ended with the iPhone users getting their way, and then AT&T decided to do nothing to prepare for this year, when it was clearly going to happen again. Now instead of just letting us all upgrade, they’re pissing even more users off by creating an even more complicated process of deciding whether or not you can upgrade. You can’t back down and then expect us to let you lay down the law next year. Plus with as much money as you charge us for our iPhone’s service, do you really want to risk us going to another carrier?
And on a final note, I’m a first gen iPhone user, and upgrading to a 3GS would result in me paying even more for my service. AT&T would easily make back the $200 extra that I’m now not going to pay to upgrade to a 3GS.
Bryan, on June 23rd, 2009 at 3:24 pm