Eligible for ATT upgrade? Get a FREE Samsung Galaxy S3 16GB + tax YMMV/REQUEST

FYI, if you buy from walmart wireless for an upgrade ($140, no tax, no activation fee), they do NOT include a new microSIM card. My Atrix uses a regular SIM so when it came time to activate I had to drive to the nearby AT&T store for them to put in a new microSIM and activate the phone there.

After several attempts I got luck today. Got it for $30, no upgrade fee and free shipping. Mentioned to CSR about Sam's club deal of 96c, Best buy deal of $48 and current amazon sprint deal of $40 to get price from $299 to $30!
Thanks OP, this really saved searching for black friday deals and rush on that day.

Quote from ANewName : After several attempts I got luck today. Got it for $30, no upgrade fee and free shipping. Mentioned to CSR about Sam's club deal of 96c, Best buy deal of $48 and current amazon sprint deal of $40 to get price from $299 to $30! Thanks OP, this really saved searching for black friday deals and rush on that day.

Great News.

After several tries to 611 number,
1 , 3 ,3
1, 3, 5
1, 7, 5

and everyone denied me the offer. Finally got Samsung S3 for free (Red) , no activation, no shipping charges. I ll be out of the rush during blackfriday.

Called this morning (611-3-3), and representative said price was $299 period. Asked to be transferred to retention. She said they couldn't do any better, but she'd transfer me anyway.

Not even sure I was talking with retention, but it was a different representative. I told her I was trying to plan my Black Friday strategy and mentioned the Sam's, Best Buy, Sprint deals. She said the price was $179.99, and they didn't price match. I asked her if she could instead do a statement credit. She offered the $30 messaging credit for 6 months. Also asked for waived upgrade fee. She said the system would only let her do one or the other (statement credit for messaging) or waived upgrade fee. She went on at some length about that.

Confirmation email states Activation Fee or Upgrade Fee $0.00.

Net cost to me: $.01 for the phone plus $11.43 tax and NO BF LINES, thanks to this forum!

Man, these CSR's can't get their story straight. Been offered 4, now going on 5 different deals. Either way, I'm at a much lower price than had I just bought through the website. Kudos to the op.

Quote from cnganesh : For all those who got the S3 upgrade - were you able to keep the 200MB data plan ? I wanted to know if there is a minimum data plan requirement for an S3 upgrade ?

Can anybody else who upgraded to the S3 confirm whether they were able to keep the 200MB plan ? I am planning to call up CS today to try for a free S3. If possible, I would like to keep my old 200MB plan.

Quote from cnganesh : Can anybody else who upgraded to the S3 confirm whether they were able to keep the 200MB plan ? I am planning to call up CS today to try for a free S3. If possible, I would like to keep my old 200MB plan.

Your data and messaging plans are grandfathered in as long as you don't change them.

Quote from cnganesh : Can anybody else who upgraded to the S3 confirm whether they were able to keep the 200MB plan ? I am planning to call up CS today to try for a free S3. If possible, I would like to keep my old 200MB plan.

Quote from eltacopirata : Your data and messaging plans are grandfathered in as long as you don't change them.

Yea they had to upgrade my data plan "from 4G to LTE" but I was grandfathered in and they kept it unlimited.

Another route for this deal:

So I've been trying for the past hour to replicate this by using different approaches (BF deals, just missing the T MO deal by a couple of days, friend who did the same thing told me to call, etc.) but the retention department reps didn't budge. I basically told the last rep I talked to that I understood they couldn't pricematch and to just tell me what steps I need to take to cancel my lines and port the numbers over to a different carrier (wanted to sound like I'm sure about cancelling, without actually having to do it over the phone just in case they called my bluff ). She then said that she understood my situation and offered this:
6 months of $20 messaging credit, WITHOUT agreeing to a 2 year deal today. She then told me to go to best buy on BF (their deal actually runs from nov 22-24 so I don't necessarily have to suffer BF lines) and that their $49.99 pricing will be for new lines OR upgrades, so to just get the phone there. I also won't have to sign the 2 year agreement until I actually buy the phone on friday. I accepted her offer and can see this going two ways:
1)
-$120 credit over sixth months
+$49.99 (+tax) for phone at best buy on BF.
+$36 upgrade free that I'm probably going to have to pay at Best buy

~ -$30 for the phone

2)
-$120 credit
find out that the black friday deal is for new lines only and no upgrades

no phone, but $120 off my bill over the next 6 months!

I wasn't due for an upgrade until June but I decided to give this deal a shot.

On Saturday, I called AT&T up and the first 2 reps wouldn't budge. Finally on the third try, I spoke to the retention dept and the rep offer me an S3 for $175 out the door plus a $45 credit and a $100 mail in rebate.

When I checked my statement last night, I was charged $220 instead of $175.

Today, I called AT&T and complained about the additional $45 charge. The rep placed me on hold for a couple of minutes and offered a $238 credit.

So I paid $220 for the phone minus $383 ($45+$100+$238) credit/MIR. If everything goes through, I'm going to get paid $163 for the S3.

Quote from cnganesh : Can anybody else who upgraded to the S3 confirm whether they were able to keep the 200MB plan ? I am planning to call up CS today to try for a free S3. If possible, I would like to keep my old 200MB plan.

I, too, was able to keep my 200MB plan. The name changed to accommodate the 4G, but no price or MB change.

Quote from sadiem : I, too, was able to keep my 200MB plan. The name changed to accommodate the 4G, but no price or MB change.

You can keep the 200mb plan but it will not be LTE. I talked to a rep on the phone and also in an AT&T store. Both told me the same thing

How long do you think this deal will last?

Just spent a half hour and the best deal I could get was $179 with 6 months of texting credit. I tried rententions first and that was the best deal. Upgrades refused to offer me ANYTHING and told me to go online and look for myself. Then he finally said he would transfer me to Premier to see if they could help. I got disconnected during the call. I called back and waiting some more, finally a representative started talking and disconnected me again. Pretty sad. I threw in the towel for now. Not worth wasting my evening on this.