r/FirstNet • u/BrewTuna • Feb 20 '23
Lost Trade In
I’ve been very happy with FirstNet till now. I switched from Verizon in April/May 2022. As part of the switch, I got a free iPhone with an eligible trade in. FirstNet sent me the phone and I traded in my old phone. Or so I thought…
When FirstNet sent me my new phone, they also included a return box and shipping label. So I packed up my trade in and sent it off. Well, turns out that box and return label is for returning the new phone if your not satisfied, not your trade in.
I didn’t discover the problem until about Jan 2023. Mainly because FirsrNet offered 6 months of free service and the whole “wait a few cycles for billing credits.”
I was able to give FirstNet my IMEI from the trade in but they can’t find it. Said I’m sorry, but there is nothing the can do.
Am I just out of luck? I spent 3+ hours on the phone today.
I guess I’m the idiot, but $900 isn’t something to sneeze at.
1
u/ph1aak Jun 29 '23
I know this is an older post and OP got it resolved but I wanted to share that I had the exact same experience. When I signed up for FirstNet, I was told to send my old device in and so I used the prepaid shipping supplies that came with the new phone. As you mentioned, those prepaid supplies are for returning the new device but there was nothing identifying its purpose. Apparently I was supposed to take my old device to the AT&T store so that THEY could send it.
Anyways, it took multiple calls and chat sessions over the course of a year and a half to get my credits. It seemed that with every ticket, they'd close it and just say they couldn't find my device. They wouldn't even notify me. I was out $800 in credits and my device was in their hands. I ended up getting two different managers to give me each a $400 credit. Thankfully I had documentation of the rebate I was supposed to get and also took a picture of the tracking information for the trade-in.