How does Note 7 recall affect upgrade eligibility?

No, I do not accept the solution. You offered no new solution, just referred to current policy. This recall is a new unique problem to which a new policy or solution should be offered to keep customer service and brand loyalty at a time when PR and popular opinion are taking a toll on Samsung.  

What do you expect?   There is not going to be a Note 7.  

So there isn't a 100% refund option?

There is no hardcore evidence that the Note BRAND is dead, that is subjective. Yes, the Note 7 is dead. But we do not yet know for sure that the entire brand is dead.

Samsung will have to do some rebranding and a ton of marketing to fix the damage.  

I am sure they are not going to abandon the stylus smartphone.  

But then this is the same marketing department that the couldn't cope with the simple concept of numerical sequence, skipped "Note 6" went straight to 7.  

I think it was very smart of Samsung to skip to 7.  It puts it on par with the iPhone branding and made it clear that the Note 7 was not a lesser device than the Galaxy S models.   

I do not believe that the Note brand is dead - they are the only ones offering this type of device and it is much loved.   As people forgave and forgot about all the issues Apple has had with their various launches, so will the Samsung users.

But I agree -- this has put a lot of us in a very bad position.  I traded in my Note 5 for the Note 7.  So I cannot just go back to the previous device.  Even if AT&T offered me a contract on a new Note 5, I would refuse unless they credited back my previous payments to put me back where I was.  I had a S7 Edge as my temporary device and hated it.  So like many of us, I'm screwed with phone choices I do not like.  Samsung would do a lot of good will if they announced a program for those of us who are in this position where we would be eligible for trade-in with no additional financial responsiblity as soon as the new Note 8s or S8's were available.

@wolfkingen I was on ATT chat this morning and asked about wether or not I could go back to a Note 4, which is what I had before the 7, and I was told that I could. The only issue is that Note 4's are out of stock online, so the chat person said that I'd have to chance visiting stores to see if they had any Note 4 units physically in stock. Note 4 was a good phone, and I need the stylus for the type of work that I do, so the S7 and S7 Edge won't work for me. But I was still told that I could roll back if I wanted to do that. Have you tried going into a store and asking someone face-to-face?

@SCFord - Were they giving you credit for your previous Note 4, or did they indicate you would have to start your payments over again?  Thank you for the information.