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

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Posted March 10, 2009 at 11:47am by iClarified

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

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amir - March 11, 2009 at 4:49pm

This is exactly the kind of bullshit that makes me want to go with a different phone company. AT&T sucks to begin with. If somebody wants to buy another phone let them buy one. If AT&T and Apple keep this up they will loose everyone eventually. Please someone make a replica so all this can go away!

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Marcos Parrilla - March 11, 2009 at 9:11am

Hey Matt, please read other posts before saying anything. In my case I still have the Iphone 3G. I took it to a store and they won't let me use it. They won't sell me one and won't activate my phone in 18 months. They forgot to mention that went I disconnected my phone a while ago ( 01/24 ). The problem is I don't feel like going back to the store and fight with them so I can pay $30.00 more a month. And before some one else say anything, I paid for the phone and I am a loyal customer. I have been with AT&T for years (that'll change soon). This should not be happening at all.

Matt - March 11, 2009 at 8:39am

Come on people, read between the lines here. It doesn't say if you loose your iPhone you can't buy a new one from AT&T, it says, if you're an idiot and loose your iPhone repeatedly AT&T will cut you off. But rest assured a normal at&t customer can loose their iPhone and get a replacement as long as it doesn't happen every 3 months. This is a totally misleading post that is likely here to slander AT&T and we find out the author is connected to Verizon, hmmm, does this sound at all misleading or biased.

Nick - March 11, 2009 at 9:58am

think you need to do the reading. In this post he states he returned his phone to the store within the exchange period and got the 16gb one. So he lost one iPhone, not two, so that disproved your whole post. The poster never repeatedly lost his iPhone, only once. I've also read about people on the apple forums that only lost one iPhone and apple and AT&T refused to sell them another one. In my opinion apple and AT&T need to pay better attention to the customers and notthink thy are gods and people will buy their product regardless.

ricardo - March 10, 2009 at 9:33pm

they dont want to sell you other phones because they want you to stay with your old phone or without the phone since they are going to come out with the new model so people will have the rigth amount of time to be able to upgrade to he new one.

Marcos Parrilla - March 11, 2009 at 12:20am

Also I forgot to tell you they won't let me use my Iphone 3g(same 1 I had in my account before) or an old model for 18 months. I don't think they will let me buy a new model(if it comes out) either. Honestly the T-mobile G1 is looking good right now.

Marcos Parrilla - March 10, 2009 at 7:36pm

Almost the same thing happened to me, only I still have the phone. I disconected it for a while, cause I needed the money. Now, they won't let me get the SAME IPHONE 3G back in my account. This is really stupid.

Nick - March 10, 2009 at 10:57pm

Have you gone into an AT&T store with the phone and talked with them? There should be absolutely no problem switching back to it. I would just throw your SIM card back in it and start using it.

Marcos Parrilla - March 11, 2009 at 9:03am

Yes I went with the same Iphone. They told me to sell it, because I would not be able to use it for 18 months. That was in the store. The problem is with the data plan. I have the Iphone activated but they can't put the data plan. I can't do it on my computer nor the store.

Nick - March 11, 2009 at 9:46am

Well then you are doing something wrong, because they should be able to do it. Have you tried reinstalling the firmware on your iPhone and then activating it and changing your at&t plan through iTunes? If you still can't, jailbreak and unlock your iPhone, put a data plan on your account and then use your iPhone. If it is a 3g iPhone, don't upgrade the firmware to 2.2.1 or you won't be able to unlock and use any sim card.

Avi - March 10, 2009 at 1:51pm

my dear friend, just get your self a new one on eBay for the same amount and if you want you can work it with Tmobile (stick it to the man). P.S contact me I have a sper one :-)