May 7, 2024

Apple, AT&T Won't Let You Replace a Lost iPhone?

Posted March 10, 2009 at 11:47am by iClarified · 12005 views
A new policy may have gone into affect two weeks ago that prohibits users from buying a new iPhone for 18 months.

Ronny originally purchased an 8GB iPhone but then decided to upsize to the 16GB. Unfortunately he misplaced his 16GB iPhone and is now being told by both Apple and AT&T that he is not eligible to purchase a new iPhone for 18 months because they think he is a jailbreaker.

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I unfortunately left my iPhone unattended for a brief period over the weekend and when I came back it was gone. On Monday, I went to visit my local ATT store and they were unable to sell me a new iPhone, even at the $499 price. Apparently I have had too many iPhones on my line. I then called customer care and was then bounced to an Apple store to see if they could sell me the phone. The same error occured on their system and the Apple employee advised that two weeks ago a new policy went into effect preventing them from selling too many phones on a line because people are jailbreaking them.

I origninally bought an 8gb and returned it for a 16gb within the first 30 days of service. Now I lost my 16gb and they won't sell me another for 18 months! After using my lunch break I went back to work and decided I would try again at another ATT store. The next store said they had to deal with the same problem and asked me if I was attached to my phone number. They offered to cancel my line and start another, or add a line so that I could purchase an iPhone. I told them this was not an option because I had to pay an ETF through Verizon to keep this number and I would not part with it. I also did not need another line and would not pay more for monthly service, especially if I was about to pay $500 for a replacement iPhone. I then asked to speak to the manager who said that he would emails his ops team, whatever that means.

So here I am waiting to hear from the manager and feeling like I am being punished for upgrading my phone early on. Also, why do they care how many phones I buy at full price? Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. Has anyone else had this trouble?
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