UNLOCKING MY PHONE THAT WAS NOT SUBSIDED BY AT&T

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@Guilherme0 wrote:

This is the second post about this issue. The first one was successfully ignored by the company.

 

I already posted publicly and private messaged @ATTCares for support with my situation that seems to be an often issue with many other customers. I bought my device at Best Buy and, as I am not an US citizen and do not live in the country, I asked the retailer for an unlocked device for my free use in US, and anywhere around the globe using the local carriers. Instead so as soon as I insert the AT&T prepaid sim card in my phone, it locked up with the carrier. Remember that I did not get any financial subside from AT&T, which means I paid full price for it. I am no longer in US and I cannot have an $900 brick because of it. I already called Apple and they were clear about who is responsible for the procedure; AT&T. Please consider that the 6 month prepaid activation does not apply for international users as they would never activate their phones with you if they knew beforehand this huge inconvenient would happen.

 

In advance I thank your attention.

 

Lino.

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@Guilherme0

As you were told in the other thread Best Buy does not sell unlocked iPhones.  They sold you a locked ATT phone from the start.  Now you sticking a prepaid sim in the phone made the 6 month rule go into effect.  Now with that said @ATTMobilityCare should be able to help with this.  @ATTTimCS could we get some help for this user? 

Glimmerman, how would Best Buy staff predict that I would purchase an ATT sim card one month after buying my phone? I clearly did not buy an ATT phone. I bought an iPhone sim free. I only decided for ATT after going to a few carrier stores at a mall in Pennsylvania. Until then my phone has never been attached to any carrier.

Hi @Guilherme0,

I apologize for the delay in getting back to your PM.  I promise that it hasn't been ignored, but unfortunately we are a bit backlogged in our volume and haven't been able to get to your post yet to respond.  We'll have someone reach out on your case as soon as possible.  I hope to have a response for you by today @Guilherme0.

Thanks @GLIMMERMAN76 for bringing this to my attention.

Thanks

Tim, AT&T Community Specialist

Thank you SO MUCH for an answer, Tim. Thank you Glimmerman for the link between me and the employee.

I am looking forward for the appropriate attention.

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@Guilherme0 wrote:

Glimmerman, how would Best Buy staff predict that I would purchase an ATT sim card one month after buying my phone? I clearly did not buy an ATT phone. I bought an iPhone sim free. I only decided for ATT after going to a few carrier stores at a mall in Pennsylvania. Until then my phone has never been attached to any carrier.

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I thought I should answer the question you posed here.    The only way to buy an unlocked iPhone in the USA is to buy the sim free version directly from Apple.   

    When purchased from any other retailer, a phone is locked to the next carrier used, Sprint, T-mobile, or ATT.   The phone has no idea it was purchased at full price.   It seems this is to keep things simple for Apple, rather than produce multiple locked phones, instead one phone that locks as soon as it's used.  

   Hope that explains things so next time you will know to buy sim free from Apple.

Thank you for your time and attention to come and reply to this tread Lizdance. Though you haven't been very helpful as it seems like you are only trying to teach a lesson here. It is not about learning what to do, yet I did learn not to ever again walking into a Best Buy store, it is about customer service after being served by a poorly trained salesman representing not only his employer but also two other third parties that carry enormous reputation of prime service which are ATT and APPLE. I am very upset but also very confident that ATT will be able to fix the mistake (I am trying not to call it a scam), made by the retailer. I am certainly aware of what to do next time but as I didn't know it beforehand and nobody made me aware of...at this very moment more people are in their stores buying something they don't expect to be like. Let's just leave it for the employee to solve with pertinent actions and creative ways to solve a customer claim.

Once again, thank you for the time.

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@Guilherme0 wrote:

Glimmerman, how would Best Buy staff predict that I would purchase an ATT sim card one month after buying my phone? I clearly did not buy an ATT phone. I bought an iPhone sim free. I only decided for ATT after going to a few carrier stores at a mall in Pennsylvania. Until then my phone has never been attached to any carrier.

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Again Best Buy does NOT sell carrier unlocked iPhones.  They only sell 3 carriers sprint ATT and Verizon.  What they should have sold you was the verizon version of the iphone not the ATT.  Go to bestbuy.com and you will notice there is no sim unlocked iphone for sale on their site or in stores.

Excuse me for interrupting you guys @Guilherme0 @GLIMMERMAN76 @ATTTimCS, but I have exactly the same problem with my iPhone 7. Can you please tell me what to do now? 😞

Hi @mr_mayami,

Thanks for reaching out.  If you haven't already done so, the fastest way to unlock your phone is through our Device Unlock Portal.   If you've already attempted to unlock your device there, and it was denied, please note that there are some requirements that must be met.  If you have met all the requirements, and feel your device is eligible, please send us a Private Message and we can look into it further.

Thanks

Tim, AT&T Community Specialist