AT&T Community Forums

Missing credit for the iPhone 6 trade in after waiting for 5 months and ten times of online chat

We trade in my wife's iPhone 6 for iPhone 7 on September 18th, in a AT&T store. Everything is OK after the lady checking all details. But until now, after 5 months, nothing shows up in my account. I contacted AT&T through online chat several times. Every time they say everything is OK and the credit will show up in the next billing cycle. But it never shows up. They helped me open a case but after two weeks waiting, nobody contact me and tell me what the solution is. I am very very disappointed about AT&T and their customer service. I cannot give you my iPhone 6 for FREE!!! Anybody has a similar issue? We did that in store and there is no problem of the iPhone 6. It is like new.

Responses

Gary L

ACE - Expert

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16.5K Messages

7 years ago

@xichenvt A few questions before making suggestions (suggestions are generally based on the answers you give):

~~1. What model iPhone did you trade in?~~ iPhone 6
2. Your purchased your iPhone 7 specifically on what date? (or order date)
3. You turned off Find My iPhone?
4. The turned in iPhone was definitely 100% paid off?
5. You purchased the new iPhone on Next?
6. Have you been late for any of your payments since you purchased?
7. You turned the old iPhone in at the AT&T store or in the mail?
8. What date did you turn in (or mail) the old iPhone?
9. Your receipt for turning it in said $0.00 for the trade in?
10. You removed the 4-digit passcode from the iPhone?
~~11. What condition was the turned in iPhone?~~ like new

(Sounds like you did both on the same date, but better to ask than to assume).

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xichenvt

Tutor

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8 Messages

7 years ago

We did the purchase and trade in the same day in store on September.18. We follow the instructions by the store associate.
1. What model iPhone did you trade in? iPhone 6 16GB gold
2. Your purchased your iPhone 7 specifically on what date? (or order date) September 18th
3. You turned off Find My iPhone? Yes, following the instructions of store associate
4. The turned in iPhone was definitely 100% paid off? Yes
5. You purchased the new iPhone on Next? Yes, 24month plan
6. Have you been late for any of your payments since you purchased? Never
7. You turned the old iPhone in at the AT&T store or in the mail? In store
8. What date did you turn in (or mail) the old iPhone? September 18 2016
9. Your receipt for turning it in said $0.00 for the trade in? I paid the tax on the new iPhone 7 but there is nothing about the trade in value of the old phone on my store receipt.
10. You removed the 4-digit passcode from the iPhone? Yes
11. What condition was the turned in iPhone? like new

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Gary L

ACE - Expert

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16.5K Messages

7 years ago

@xichenvt wrote:

9. Your receipt for turning it in said $0.00 for the trade in? I paid the tax on the new iPhone 7 but there is nothing about the trade in value of the old phone on my store receipt.

This is the one that sets off bells for me.

There should be a seperate receipt or at least something on the iPhone 7 receipt that shows you turned in a iPhone 6. Does anything say you turned in a phone, dollar amount or not??

If there isn't anything in a computer that shows you turned it in, then credits aren't going to be active.

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xichenvt

Tutor

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8 Messages

7 years ago

That's also my concern. I talked about this with AT&T through the online customer service. They said they can find my trade in in the system and in the first couple of months they say it may be just a delay. I contacted them almost ten times, twice a month after trade in. Now, they have no idea about the issue and open a case for me. But it doesn't help since nobody contact me about the solution. Maybe I should submit the IMEI number of my old iPhone for them to check. That's unique for each phone.

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Gary L

ACE - Expert

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16.5K Messages

7 years ago

@xichenvt I suppose...

I turned mine in at a store at the end of October and had credits less than 4 weeks later....

Next time you call, do NOT go with the where's my credits story, just ask them to confirm what date the phone was turned in, get that and some confirmation number / transaction number / info.

Sometimes it seems like they just tell you what you want to hear so you're happy and off the phone. So don't even ask about the credits until after you can get some confirmation info and you've got some info we can pass on to someone else...

I'd go back to the original store too, to see what they have in terms of records.

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xichenvt

Tutor

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8 Messages

7 years ago

That's a good suggestion. Will do that. But really disappointed with AT&T. All these things should be taken care when we traded in our phone. That's why we do that in store. That's not our job. Will try to get my phone back and switch to another carrier. It is not a big deal for $27/month but I feel cheated. I am sure most people talking about credits here have the same feeling.

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Gary L

ACE - Expert

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16.5K Messages

7 years ago

@xichenvt wrote:
That's a good suggestion. Will do that. But really disappointed with AT&T. All these things should be taken care when we traded in our phone. That's why we do that in store. That's not our job. Will try to get my phone back and switch to another carrier. It is not a big deal for $27/month but I feel cheated. I am sure most people talking about credits here have the same feeling.

You did hand them a phone that they were going to give you $650 for and walk out without any paperwork, that's kinda much on you...

That teasing aside, these processes could work SO much better than they do. They should hand people copies and the terms of the offers and make them sign off on them; 99% of the people still won't read them, but at least they can't say they never saw them.

Sounds like you did everything right and they still mucked it up...

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xichenvt

Tutor

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8 Messages

7 years ago

Just have a follow-up of my opened case and I was told that the case was resolved and I should receive the credit within two billing cycles. But who knows what will happen. Will update here when I get it.

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Gary L

ACE - Expert

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16.5K Messages

7 years ago

@xichenvt wrote:

Just have a follow-up of my opened case and I was told that the case was resolved and I should receive the credit within two billing cycles. But who knows what will happen. Will update here when I get it.

PLEASE let us know...

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Adub517

Tutor

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4 Messages

7 years ago

I am having he SAME ISSUE! We traded in TWO iPhones in October, supposed to get $650 credit for each. I have probably spent 10 hours on the phone with customer service at this point. They finally "opened a case" on Jan 27 and said we would hear a resolution by Jan 31. Of course we didn't, so we called and they said they had extended it to 2/6. Called again, still no resolution. WHAT DO I DO?? They stole $1300 of iPhones from us!

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