MY father once told me "Son, if you are ever faced with an important moral and legal question - just ask a bunch of random strangers on the internet" In that vein...
I recently signed up for a new iPhone 3GS and a 2 yr contract. Due to a number of issues, it took AT&T about 2 weeks to ship me the phone. It arrived on a friday, and I didn't go about trying to activate it until tuesday of the next week. That morning they emailed me to tell me that Thank you for choosing AT&T. Unfortunately, either we have not heard from you in several days, or you have chosen to cancel your order. In either case, this e-mail confirms your order cancellation. If you believe you received this message in error, please resubmit your order on att.com/wireless, or visit a local AT&T retail store. Go to att.com/storelocator to find a store near you. Thank you. AT&T So now I am in an interesting spot. I have an iPhone that I legally paid for (albeit at a discounted rate - $199) and no contract. Since they cancelled the contract am I free and clear? It was one and a half business days from when it arrived to when they cancelled my contract. Doesn't that seem weird?
I have consulted a lawyer friend, but she hasn't gotten back. Let's hear your thoughts huddled internet masses!
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I am going to go on an uninformed limb here and say that you are in the clear. Of course, read your contract to be sure. You could also just call them, and record the call and ask if they have an account in your name. If they say no, then proceed to profit...sell it, use it on T-Mobile or do w/e you luck bastard.
PPS. I would not say that the contract is canceled, that very well is an automated e-mail. Unless the contract was signed digitally, delivered electronically and/or states that all future correspondence may occur electronically then I don't believe the contract is actually canceled.
mewannaxbox said:I am going to go on an uninformed limb here and say that you are in the clear. Of course, read your contract to be sure. You could also just call them, and record the call and ask if they have an account in your name. If they say no, then proceed to profit...sell it, use it on T-Mobile or do w/e you luck bastard.
PPS. I would not say that the contract is canceled, that very well is an automated e-mail. Unless the contract was signed digitally, delivered electronically and/or states that all future correspondence may occur electronically then I don't believe the contract is actually canceled.
They will charge him a cancellation fee, the same thing happened to a friend.
Can you create an account online? If so, you should be able to see what the status of your contract is with them. If not, they probably fubared it up and it slipped through the cracks. This happened to me two years ago when I was trying to upgrade under my business/FAN account with them and they gave me the promotional rate on the phone I wanted without upgrading my contract. Nothing ever came of it.
Again, YMMV. I would just do your due diligence to see if they actually canceled the contract.
@brunoPuntzJones they did. it's right here as you would expect it is very precise on how they can nail you for certain things and very vague as to what the steps are when they do things wrong.
@mewannanxbox - I agree about not believing everything that you read. I called up that morning to activate it. they told me I couldn't, because they had canceled the contract. He told me to go into a store, fill out another app, get another HARD PULL(booo), and then the phone would work.
@blok - I'm not necessarily out to screw them. After all, I did go into this to get an iPhone. I'm just wondering if I have any interesting options here such as a month-to-month contract, pay-as-you-go, or possibly using T-Mobile.
As long as you're sure that AT&T isn't going to go after you...I would have absolutely no moral qualms about taking this freebie from a company like AT&T or Apple with unethical and anti-competitive business tactics. Enjoy it!
oh yeah - one other thing because this IS fatwallet after all. My credit is respectable, but ex is frozen and I have a fraud alert on all 3 bureaus. I had to call them about a week after ordering because they had apparently choked doing the credit check. Is there any chance that they ran it twice and somehow got cold feet when they saw the freeze and the fraud alert the second time? AMEXTrueCredit only shows one pull.
rossasarus said:MY father once told me I have consulted a lawyer friend, but she hasn't gotten back. Let's hear your thoughts huddled internet masses!
The most you could profit from this is $400, i.e if you sell the phone for $600. How much is you lawyer friend charging you? I hope its free. Looks like too much trouble for a couple of hundred $s.
Make sure ATT does not come after you. They can cancel the contract but they certainly will NOT forgive their phone. Usually customer has to return discounted equipment within first 30 days to cancel the service, however, if customer fails to do so , they will bill you for it. If the bill is not paid, then comes the collection agencies in the picture.
If you can get ATT on phone saying you dont owe them anything and even if something shows up on your door, you are not responsible to return it becuase you are too busy in your life... bla bla, then I would keep that as a proof.
When I added a new line to my existing service, I purchased a G1 (T-Mobile). The charge for that phone didn't come until 4 months later. In the mean time, I kept wondering if they just "forgot". Don't count your chickens...
Be careful. You may receive a bill from a collection agency months or even a year later saying that you breached the contract and therefore are responsible for a certain amount. Dealing with a collection agency is a pain regardless of whether or not you are responsible for the charge.
I'd do what's right. Call ATT and activate service.
Nothing personal against the guy, but it seems people in fatwallet are very quick to blast people for 'not paying up', etc. Whenever there is some mortgage post 1/2 the posts are about how the dude needs to be more responsible, etc. I don't really care either way, but how is this that much different? You know there was some messup at ATT and that you should be in contract? The moral bottom line is that the RIGHT thing is to call ATT and get it straightened out. I'm not passing judgement and I don't really care if you keep the phone and never get billed, but the you should consider calling att anyway. Besides like they said above, id imagine ATT will figure it out and bill you $800 later on...
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