Secret Carrier Lock on Affirm Financed Phone
Switched to visible for the cost savings, which it provided. However, I live in a rural area and was concerned with coverage reliability so I bought the phone outright through affirm thinking I could switch back to a main carrier if need be. Coverage wasn’t bad enough to warrant switching back so all good. Until I went to add a line for a kids watch needing a separate line. Marketing and website said all good, add a watch! I bought the watch and then upon activation found out visible doesn’t support the standalone watch line and family plan from apple. So I then shopped other carrier options, confirmed multiple times I could make the switch, porting was available, and even checked my IMEI number. All good. Or so I thought. Once I ported my number out the switch failed. Apparently my phone, which is loaned through affirm, is carrier locked by visible who I don’t owe the debt to, or now have an account with since they allowed the switch with no notice of a carrier lock. I’ve reached out to visible via their AI chat and it’s been disconnected three times, now they won’t even connect me to an “agent”. The marketing and policies don’t match and now I’m holding a useless phone with no options that fit my needs without shelling out more money. So much for budget friendly.