Traded my 1st Generation IPhone for a 3G

I happened to be one of those people who purchased a first gen IPhone from AT&T within 14 days of Apple announching the 3G (May 28, 2008 to be exact). Needless to say, I was bummed when I heard the 3G announcement, knowing I wouldn't be able to upgrade for an entire year, yet I had paid twice as much. Lucky for me, AT&T actually made a customer friendly decision. I stumbled across this post on Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com/5014909/att-memo-to-retail-managers-shows-iphone-3g-policy and hoped it was legitimate since I wasn't able to find any supporting documentation on the AT&T site. Since I didn't wait in line at AT&T during launch, I missed the opportunity to purchase an early IPhone and see if this was in fact true. AT&T was only doing direct fulfillment, so I decided not to bother. Instead, I waited outside an Apple store a few weeks and purchased two 3G IPhones, with two new lines lines. This meant that I still had my original IPhone which I thought I would sell on CraigsList or giveaway to a family member.

I later changed my mind and decided to walk into an AT&T store and test my luck hoping that the Gizmodo article was in fact true. To my surprise, it was, and they refunded my entire purchase price (minus the 10% restocking fee). In the end I exchanged a 1st gen IPhone to a 3G IPhone and walked out with $200 in my pocket. To top it all off, my direct fullment took two days!