Update. called them again. got the tax fixed. paying tax on 299 vs 599. not tax on 179, but close enough.

::jumps on soap box::

i used my upgrade eligibility from at&t and ordered a iphone4. got a great deal on a 32g referb iphone 4 ($179). checked out and then saw the sales tax $64 bucks!?! WTF. thats like 30% of the sales. i called at&t and asked them what was going on. they told me it's nothing they're doing and CA is charging the sales tax on the full retail cost of the phone ($600). HOW IS THIS LEGAL!?! it's called sales tax, i should be charged the cost of sales!

i did some research online an saw that 3 states are doing this CA, MA, RI.

family members are telling me to talk to an attorney and see if this is grounds for a class action lawsuit.

what do you guys think? see the good deal, and suck it up? or stand for the principal of things and send the phone back for the refund, leaving att without my business and CA without my taxes.

 

Sure seems wrong to me too, I would have to imagine there is a class action brewing in response, but you'd need to suck it up for now to become a member of the class...

 

You only have to do two things in life - Die and pay taxes.

 

Honesty its always been like that...Taxes are charged on the full price of the phone for every carrier. Lets say a phone is FREE, but the price of the phone is $300.00, you will need to pay between $25.00-$30.00 for that phone because of the tax. Its been going on for years!..

 

I think ur being a little dramatic. Let it go u got a good deal.

 

lol, it's more about the principal of things. it's a hellva deal. saving over 100 bucks. and my rant isn't with att, it's with the state.

 

It's always been that way not specific to apple, AT&T, or any phone or carrier. You can't offer a free product via contract without proper sales tax on said item. Something like that.

Good deal tho!

 

this. it has always been like that. orrrrr you could pay the full price for an iPhone 699$...

 

it's like that on every carrier, its not their fault it's the state laws. so good luck suing California.

 

do you know how mobile devices contracts work?? and why is your beef with the state??

jump off your soapbox.

 

return the phone?

 

It had nothing at all to do with his service contract and everything to do with sales tax, which is purely a state matter.

How would you feel if you bought a used STi for $10,000 but had to pay the sales tax of a $35,000 purchase? that is pretty much what is happening here- he bought a reconditioned (ie used) phone and it getting taxed as if he bought it new.

 

Ever wonder why they say $600 or $250 with 2 year contract and $50 rebate? Well, you're still paying the full price of the phone, it's just subsidized through a contractual obligation to stay with the carrier for the 2 years. So the carrier basically pays up front for a portion of the phone, and recoup their payment through the contract. Throughout this, the phone is still considered full price, so it makes sense to the gov't that it would be taxed at full price. It's just any shiesty way of getting the consumer to eat a cost that would otherwise by sunken into the carriers cost.

And also, a refurb phone is nothing like a used car. Apples to Oranges.

 

doesnt matter refurb or not you have to pay i forgot its called like subsidy fees.

 

I'm not bashing AT&T. I'm just saying that it's messed up to pay sales tax on other then the sub total of the transaction. if the billing summery was itemized as iphone4 600 bucks, shipping free sub sub total 600 tax 64bucks contract upgrade rebate 400bucks final total 264. then it would be a understandable deal.