AT&T back-office not following Customer Care agent's advice - Unlock Request

Hi @LiveItEz,

Did you happen to get this iPhone on a Next installment plan that you're still paying on (The old Next 24 with had 30 monthly payments for example)? In that case, the phone wouldn't be eligible for unlocking yet.

Did you buy the phone from someone else or did you buy it straight from AT&T or an authorized retailer?

The back office team is the one who makes the decision. What the CSR says isn't what matters. They are supposed to do preliminary research to see if a request should be submitted, but not promise anything.

Mistakes do happen, it's not unheard of. If you did buy it directly from AT&T or an authorized retailer and you are no longer making Next payments on it, I would reach out to @ATTMobilityCare (click the username to open a pre-addressed private message) with what's going on and your contact info so they can see what's going on. They're great at figuring out what's really going on. Also provide them the latest case number so they can take a look at it and see the denial reason if it's on the case.

As @jt212s, @ATTMobilityCare can move mountains, provided you are actually eligible for unlock. Send then a private message with all the details.

@LiveItEz

Being upgrade eligible does not nessesarily mean out of contract.  

Ive unlocked several phones and had some adventures with the unlock portal.  There are a few things which can mess up the computer.

If the phone is no longer being used on any of your lines.  In this case it should be unlocked as a NON customer.  This failed for me on one phone the first time, but then went through.  

If the phone is not on its original line the unlock was refuse because the "device was in use on another account"

The message back in both cases was " this device is in use on another customers account."  And every problem was with an iPhone.   I've had no problem unlocking android.

In each case, I called 611 and provided all information and the phone was unlocked for me within 24 hours.  I did have to insist the automated portal was refusing the unlock in error (because they want you to use it first.)

@jt212s: thanks for the detailed feedback. I don't have any such situations. Its a straight forward 2 year contract I had when I got my phone 2+ yrs back. I will contact ATTMobilityCare

@Busternutt: thanks!

@lizdance40: the 3 requests didn't go anywhere.

@LiveItEz   What do you mean "didn't go anywhere".  

Are you instantly getting a response that the phone is under contract or Next agreement?  

If so, this comes back to the problems I wrote about.  

Call 611 as I wrote above

@lizdance40: I could not submit any online requests myself. I called 611 multiple times and on 3 occasions they created unlock request to back office on my behalf. And, by didnt go anywhere, I meant all 3 unlock requests were denied.

What's the billing say when it comes to the agreement? Are we certiain it's not on Next? The IMEI matches the line it's on? Wasn't a cross upgrade or anything like that?

When it comes to "2+ years" the iPhone 6 didn't come out until September 2014. So if you got it at launch it just now reached the end of the contract. The 2 years plus 1 month for the end of the cycle.

@David606:

It is definitely not a Next. Yes, IMEI matched for all 3 service requests submitted by CSR. Here is a pic that tells that its eligible for upgrades in my online account.

Don't know what cross upgrades are - but it's been a simple story. Per CSR, the device can be unlocked and eligible for upgrade since 03-OCT-2016

Dang it ... just got the real scoop behind this. I was eligible for unlocking my device since it was more than 2 years BUT there was a new account created for billing responsibility change. I did NOT know that:

- Billing responsibility transfer creates a NEW account (not that I needed one!), AND

- Devices with new accounts cannot be unlocked for 60-days (apparently, they are protecting me without telling me)

So, in summary, I should have unlocked before transferring billing responsibility as 12+ yrs of being a customer does NOT mean anything when it comes to protecting me without me wanting it or them telling me.

NET-NET, I am now definitely walking away from AT&T and I will have to buy myself a cheap phone for travel.

THANK YOU AT&T! grrrrrrrrr ....

I hope you cool off before you make a rash descision.  Switching carriers is expensive, especially if your plan is well priced.  (A significant reason I am with AT&T.  And that doesn't address coverage.

At least you have an answer.