3 Messages
Nextup waste of money!!!!
I’ve had nextup since it started in 2013. I have NEVER traded in a phone to get a new one. I have NEVER had to “pay off” a phone. I’ve usually gone beyond the 12 month mark typically around 2 yrs and gotten a new phone when either my son or husband broke their phone.
Apparently they changed this in 2021 with no notification to any customer so I could then say it’s no longer worth it. Now I signed a contract 12/4/2020 and still had the good nextup, so after 29 months my son could use my phone so I wanted to get a new phone. Again always have done this. Now they tell me they won’t honor my contract, won’t let me utilize nextup (with well over 50% paid off) and have representatives that don’t know the original plan vs the change in 2021.
Im disgusted with the lack of customer service lately. I’m disgusted with the service in general. I’m a family of first responders and can’t use the phones 1/2 the time due to sos mode, dropped calls, etc. No credit ever issued, no assistance and no reason except they keep saying pay more it’ll work better and it doesn’t!
My husband got a new phone 8 months ago and didn’t have nextup nor traded a phone and without his permission added nextup to his line.
The customer service is HORRIBLE, wait times to speak with someone is HORRIBLE, the lack of knowledge is HORRIBLE and I can keep going. When my contract up I’m canceling them. Not worth my loyalty as they have none.
formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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118.4K Messages
28 days ago
I think you are confused.
'Next' is the finance option. It's represented on your bill by the installments. This financing option started in late 2013 as a replacement for 2-year service contracts. This along with new plans, separated equipment and service as two different charges, giving customers the flexibility to bring their own phone and pay less for service, or choose a less expensive phone, or a more expensive phone and pay for the phone at a fair price separate from their service cost.
https://www.theverge.com/2013/7/16/4528404/att-next-phone-upgrade-plans-a-huge-ripoff
(Not that the author of that article had any idea what they were talking about)
'Next up' is an early upgrade option which charges a fee monthly to upgrade at the 50% mark.
Several years ago the installment length was still 24 months. That's when phones were still $650 for a flagship. As the cost of phones has gone up, the length of installments has has extended from 24 months to 30 months and now 36 months. The length of installments has been 36 months since at least 2019 for consumer accounts.
So the 50% point is 18 months after your purchase. You still have the option to 'pay to upgrade' with Next up.
Now the red flag 🚩 is how on Earth your husband has a brand new iPhone 8 from at&t?
The iPhone 8 is a 7-year-old phone, a phone that AT&T has not sold for years, not even as a cheap prepaid option.
The oldest phone that AT&T has available for sale is the third generation iPhone SE or an iPhone 14.
So I don't know if this is a copied post which means we can expect a Spam link, or your husband doesn't have an iPhone 8 and maybe has a brand new iPhone SE 3rd generation, or maybe you have time warped and don't realize how long it's been since your husband upgraded and he really does have an iPhone 8 since 2017.
In any case, if this is the first time in 7 years that you've read your bill and noticed that you have a fee for next up, or installments for a phone that you paid for in full when you purchased it, the time to bring this up to AT&T would have been immediately. Not years or months later.
Which brings me to the final point, this is not AT&T. This is a customer populated community forum. The only response you will get from AT&T here is to contact them directly using live chat or a phone call.
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ATTHelp
Community Support
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232.9K Messages
28 days ago
Hi @Steigs, this isn't how we'd like you to feel about our services. We're here to help get this sorted out.
The Community Forums are a public support option where other users, and AT&T, will try and assist with high level support needs. This means we won’t be able to look into account specific concerns. To get the help you need for your unique issue, please review our Contact Us page [www.att.com/support/contact-us/], and choose the best option to reach out to us. You can call, chat, or reach out via social media, and we can review your specific issue and provide you support. If you feel your issue isn’t account specific, and can be answered generally, please let us know, and we’ll be happy to help.
Thank you for contacting AT&T Community Forums,
Andrew, AT&T Community Specialist.
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dwill05
ACE - Master
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11K Messages
28 days ago
You were either paying the Next Up fee or you weren’t. It would have been on every monthly bill whether you had it or not.
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Steigs
3 Messages
28 days ago
Not confused. READ what I wrote not I guess what y’all want to read. Ugh.
I know I had next up on my line since it started HOWEVER it was not like it is now. This changed as per information I demanded from AT T yesterday after 2 hrs on the phone in 2021.
Husband got new iPhone 14 Pro 8 MONTHS ago not an iPhone 8. He didn’t want next up nor ever had it.
Been with this company since it was Cingular so way beyond 7 yrs oh and btw 2013-2024 is 11 yrs not 7. Switching as service is spotty and just subpar.
I don’t need keyboard tough guys I was venting and that’s it. I am quite sure others found next up a waste of funds not just me.
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dwill05
ACE - Master
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11K Messages
28 days ago
Maybe you should explain how Next Up “changed” in 2021, and why you’re unable to use it.
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formerlyknownas
ACE - Sage
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118.4K Messages
27 days ago
You might want to reread what you wrote. 🤨
That is not how next up has ever worked. Never.
It has to be added to your line with each new phone purchase, at the time of purchase. It does not stay on your line forever.
The only changes have been to the length of installments which used to be 24 months, then 30, and now they have been 36 for 5 years, since 2019.
Like I said you might want to read what you wrote. Because you wrote iPhone 8. And since it's extraneous information to your complaint, I can't imagine why it would have been included at all.
So in the end, you don't know how it works. Apparently you've never known how it works if you thought it was some kind of a plan that stayed on your line forever
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JefferMC
ACE - Expert
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36K Messages
27 days ago
While I agree with the title of your post (NextUp is a waste of money), your post is convoluted and confusing. You claim how NextUp works changed, but you don't explain either how you think it worked before or after this alleged change. You don't explain exactly what happened that has you up in arms.
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