Anyone else successful in getting them to waive the fee? I was 2 years ago but am running into resistance this time.

I don't think it's fair business practice to charge me a $40 fee so I can pay them $2k+ over the next two years. Their official response via twitter is that the fee goes to "continue to provide customers with excellent services now and in the future!"

If I ever want something, I threaten to leave. You need the retention department. Your mileage may vary.

I too think they are crooks.

stop "upgrading."

you probably pay $1000+ for a laptop that you don't use as much as your phone, why not pay $650 for a phone?

leave the contracts and extra fees behind. reclaim your freedom!

Honestly, I'll take the $650 in credit card debt over the contract ANY DAY.

I ready about this with Verizon when I upgraded a couple years ago.


Basically, Verizon and AT&T have realized they are the big dogs and can get away with these fees. Starting a couple years ago, they instituted a pretty strict no waiver policy for said fees. Your best bet is probably to play chicken and threaten to cancel.

I do think JonLobb may have a point. I think I'm just going to save a little each month for the next phone upgrade. You're paying for the phone one way or the other.

I did manage to get them to say to me on twitter that the fee helps cover "equipment changes", which pretty much makes my point because they wouldn't charge me $40 to downgrade to an iPhone 4, which they also confirmed.

Reading some fine print, it seems like the $40 fee is one of the pieces of their puzzle to sway everyone into signing up for AT&T Next ($40 fee is waived with a new AT&T Next contract) and getting everyone off of unlimited data plans.

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stop "upgrading."

you probably pay $1000+ for a laptop that you don't use as much as your phone, why not pay $650 for a phone?

leave the contracts and extra fees behind. reclaim your freedom!

Honestly, I'll take the $650 in credit card debt over the contract ANY DAY.

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I paid $550 for a laptop over 4 years ago. I just checked amazon, and their best seller right now is a $250 Dell laptop that would blow my old one out of the water.

You don't need to pay anywhere near $1,000 unless you want a macbook or something fancy.

quote:

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quote:

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stop "upgrading."

you probably pay $1000+ for a laptop that you don't use as much as your phone, why not pay $650 for a phone?

leave the contracts and extra fees behind. reclaim your freedom!

Honestly, I'll take the $650 in credit card debt over the contract ANY DAY.

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I paid $550 for a laptop over 4 years ago. I just checked amazon, and their best seller right now is a $250 Dell laptop that would blow my old one out of the water.

You don't need to pay anywhere near $1,000 unless you want a macbook or something fancy.

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You totally got the point...

Update: called them yesterday, they delayed me until I get the phone, then they'll be able to give me an account credit for the fee.