AT&T Releases Bold Oct 24th

oh, and one more thing all of you AT&T users hoping to upgrade to the bold... in the store today they told me there is a new early upgrade fee of $75. my upgrade is not until february, and they said when i called AT&T that if i went to a basic at&t retail store (not a third party like best buy) they would upgrade me on the spot. but, the stores have a $75 upgrade fee.

they will say you have to pay the fee via phone as well. you can talk your way out of it pretty easy. but, they will only let you order a new BB over the phone, you won't be able to do it at the store...

just a heads up, because had i not known this i would have walked into an AT&T store all psyched for the bold only to walk home empty handed or handing over an additional $75

So you're saying you can only buy the Bold over the phone and you have to pay an additional $75?

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no, what i'm saying is this:

my phone broke the other day. i called AT&T today and kindly asked to have my upgrade due this february to be moved until now. they said, "sure, no problem, just go to a retail store and ask to speak to a manager and they will put it into the system and you can walk out with a new phone."

i go to a retail store, start speaking to a manager. he says, "did they tell you about the $75?" i said, "no, what $75?" he said, "there is a new fee for early upgrades of $75." i said, "they didn't tell me this on the phone. how would this play out if i were to purchase that curve over there?" he said, "well, the phone is $179 with a $100 rebate. so, with the early upgrade fee of $75, you would pay $155 and walk out with a new phone." i told him i had never heard of this, we had just upgraded another line last month early with no such fee.

i get in my car and call AT&T again, they said that, "oh yes, there is a new policy." i said "too bad i'm not paying it". they said, "fine." i said, "so what do i do now?" they said, "well, if you're not going to pay the early upgrade fee of $75 you have to order the phone directly through us over the phone and we will ship it to you."

so, from what i gathered from my dealings today, the only way to weasel out of an early upgrade fee is dealing with AT&T directly on the phone and ordering a phone... meaning you have to wait a couple of days after the bold comes out to physically have the phone in your hands. or shell over an additional $75.

and just for clarification: this is only the case if you are asking to be upgraded early... if you're already eligible for an upgrade, to the best of my knowledge, the $75 'upgrade fee' is non-existent.

$75 bucks to upgrade early? But, if you order the phone via landline, you dont get the good price in the store correct?

Ah I see now, thanks for the clarification.

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They are just getting worse and worse.

i'm not sure. i'm sure you can get them to give you that price. at least with the curve. the bold they'll probably be less-willing to bend on, given it's a new phone and they probably know that people will pay crazy prices just to get their paws on it.

i imagine you would get the price they have in the store... i think it all depends on your billing zipcode and what they're selling for in your area. i usually find better deals on phones through best buy anyway (actually, when looking to purchase a curve today, the better deal was in fact at the AT&T store. but they were 450 times more friendly and pleasant in best buy, which makes me want to shell out the additional $40 and purchase the phone there instead)

I've never heard of such a fee and I would NEVER pay it anyway just to have a phone. That is crazy. Maybe Scott can shed some light on this even further. Glad I've finally decided to just keep my iPhone. I'm pretty everyone that wants a BOLD though will get it. I don't forsee a mad house ala the iPhone 3G.

hopefully by tonight PG can shed some light onto this and give us an update

there has been an early upgrade fee implimented to help people upgrade to the phone they want early, as long as your 6 months into your contract they will charge you the sale price plus $75 early upgrade fee and you also get rebates that apply to the phone you choose.

the one exception to the $75 is the iphone which you pay $200 more on an early upgrade to make the phones 399/499

So if you do that early upgrade thing, I assume you get locked into another 2 year agreement?

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Originally Posted by scotts11

there has been an early upgrade fee implimented to help people upgrade to the phone they want early, as long as your 6 months into your contract they will charge you the sale price plus $75 early upgrade fee and you also get rebates that apply to the phone you choose.

the one exception to the $75 is the iphone which you pay $200 more on an early upgrade to make the phones 399/499

That's not a bad deal depending upon the price of the phone. Let's say the BOLD is $299 then you would pay that that plus $75 which isn't a bad deal and beats paying $500 plus for the phone outright unless you just don't wanna reup on your contract. Good info.

Originally Posted by djransom

That's not a bad deal depending upon the price of the phone. Let's say the BOLD is $299 then you would pay that that plus $75 which isn't a bad deal and beats paying $500 plus for the phone outright unless you just don't wanna reup on your contract. Good info.

Yea, I think I Agree with that.

The money I have put away for the Bold is about 600.
Man if I could get it for 299.00 I could get my wife a phone too :):)

Originally Posted by detfan

Yea, I think I Agree with that.

The money I have put away for the Bold is about 600.
Man if I could get it for 299.00 I could get my wife a phone too :):)

Exactly. I just thought about it and it will be 6 months for me and my wife in November. Time flies when you're having fun :D

Originally Posted by scotts11

there has been an early upgrade fee implimented to help people upgrade to the phone they want early, as long as your 6 months into your contract they will charge you the sale price plus $75 early upgrade fee and you also get rebates that apply to the phone you choose.

the one exception to the $75 is the iphone which you pay $200 more on an early upgrade to make the phones 399/499

Is it just six months in Scott? Or 6 months left? Just making sure.

six months in

That's a pretty neat deal but if the off contract price isn't too bad I think I might just get it that way so I'm not stuck for another 2 years.

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Yea 75 isnt too bad if you still have 9-12 months left...

Is it 6 months in for service or 6 months in for each line?

From what they've told me, the contract dates on each line are independent of each other. Both of my lines were off contract. I upgraded my primary line to a Curve recently (a few weeks ago when my Treo died) and had to comit to another 2 year contract to get the good price on it. My secondary line is still off contract, I can cancel it at any time or upgrade it without a fee.

I hope that answers your question.

Originally Posted by HiitzDENNIS

i went to the store today they took my name and number down and they will call me first thing when the bold shipments come in. I hope next week is the day. she also mentioned the off contract price at 499. don't how correct she is but i think it's more than that.

WAIT A MINUTE! So you're saying that I can have A&T call me when they receive the shipments of the Bold? Cuz what if they're not gonna have a release date and just show up for sale? I don't want to be that guy that wants the Bold badly but didn't have it on release day because the phone showed up for sale on a random day.

yes the sales rep at the store i went early this morning asked for my number and name and she or one of the people who works in the store will give me a call when they receive the bolds. I'm not sure about other store reps but you can ask them.

For those currently under contract w/ AT&T I wanted to share a recent experience:
I am 10 months into a 24 month contract with AT&T for 2 lines, and the account was opened online. I called to have a copy of my service agreement sent to me to confirm T&C's and early termination fees. After 35 minutes and 2 managers, they could not locate the service agreement signature page in their system. The Retention/Cancellation Rep put up quite a fight, but I stood my ground and stated that there was no agreement to enforce early termination, if they don't have a signature on file, written or e-signed.

Long story short, the contract termination fee CANNOT be applied for any reason. Whenever I decide to cancel, I am off the hook, since there is no agreement to enforce. (The rep and manager confirmed this and noted the account with employee ID's and all.)

If I chose to upgrade on my current lines, I would still pay the early upgrade charge of $75 per line as mentioned in this thread since I haven't hit the 1 year mark on the primary line or the 2 year mark on the second line.

Since it will cost less to cancel the existing and start new, or even jump to VZW for the Storm, I have to say that AT&T dropped the ball big time on this one.

35 minutes = Time well spent! Saved me $350 bucks in termination fees or $150 in upgrade costs, plus I can start over with the promo pricing on any new devices!

And another release date goes by

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