I did not order online when I did my Jump upgrade this year. I walked into the T-Mobile store (just make sure it is a corporate store and not reseller) Ask if they had a 15 Pro with 512 GB and they did as everyone was grabbing the titanium so color selection was limited to black or blue I took the black model and then did the physical trade in at the T-Mobile store. I got lucky as it was the 22nd and they had product available. I also beat the rush of folks in the store later in the afternoon. As I was leaving with my new iPhone the line was out the door.
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Other Reminder: Do your trades in person
- Thread starter orangecrushv
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I did an online trade in on my MacBook. The store wouldn’t take it because it was initiated as an online trade in. They only offered to drop it into the outgoing FedEx but couldn’t provide any sort of paperwork to prove I had left it with them, so I opted to FedEx it myself and get a receipt.
Might be different for phones though.
Not just FedEx but FedEx Ground which employs a different type employee than regular FedEx. My Ultra trade in has still not arrived back to Apple as FedEx Ground claims the box was damaged which is code for "item stolen by FedEx Ground employee".
I always trade-in my phone in person as it is the safest way for me. Other people might think differently than I do.
Attractive targets... they know that in the days and weeks following a new iPhone release, there will be a bunch of trade-ins being sent back, phones that have been erased and have activation lock removed. While my assumption would be that these devices would then be reported as stolen, and blacklisted, perhaps this doesn't always happen (and even if it does, they are hoping they can sell to an unsuspecting buyer before the blacklisting process can go through).
Apple and carriers that offer trade-in programs should aggressively pursue this, and in the meantime should issue an assurance that if the phone is stolen in transit, the trade-in credit will still be issued. I ordered from AT&T, and there was no option in the ordering process to select to return the trade to a local corporate store, just to ship it. I assume that this method is logistically the simplest for them, but this epidemic of "damaged packaging / empty box" reports makes me very nervous to do so.
I'm going to try to return it in-store, but I've heard that store personnel often don't want to be bothered by this (especially if you didn't buy directly from them). If I absolutely must ship it, I'm going to use a different box... though the thieves can surely figure out that it's a trade-in based on the shipping label, I'm guessing they most likely initially spot their prey simply by looking for the telltale standard box size.
I’m not sure why you would be wasting time “going back and forth with fedex” when you need to escalate the issue with Apple.
Apple is the shipper, not you, so FedEx’s business relationship is with Apple, with whom they have a contract. Apple selected the shipper and paid for the shipping, so it would be Apple’s responsibility to handle this event. If someone in Apple’s customer support told you otherwise, they were mistaken as long as you used the trade-in kit and shipper Apple provided.