Why Not To Buy An iPhone ... just yet

Dear Ms. McKezel,

I just spoke to Dana XXX on your customer service line. She indicated that I needed to fax items to you to initiate an adjustment on my bill. Please, however, let me give you the background to this so that I can inform you of how incredibly aggravated I am with this situation.

I received a call yesterday from the manager at the Apple Store at First Colony Mall. We are on a first name basis because I was in their store for over four hours on July 11–the day the iPhone 3G debuted. (This does not include the three hours that I waited in line outside!) I received a letter from AT&T (attached) saying that if my account was paid in full (receipt also attached) that I would be eligible for the iPhone on July 11 at a price of $199.

Once I was able to get inside the Apple store, I realized that they were not equipped to do price changes, therefore they promptly called AT&T to have them do a price reduction on their end. They said that they did, and let us off the line. We did this process a total of four more times - to no avail AND never having it succeed when my purchase was rung up on the register. Finally, we tried for a sixth time, and to the misery of us all ... the customer service rep activated the bar code on the phone that I was trying to buy. This meant that I was now in a two year contract with AT&T, but had no phone. Since the phone was activated by AT&T andyour computers on loan to Apple, it wouldn’t accept the bar code to be scanned for payment, because the phone was already activated and made it look as if it had been paid for when in fact it hadn’t! Forty-five minutes later, we were able to get a customer service manager that was able to back out that phone and let us start all over again. However, with starting all over again, it meant that we were back to square one with the activation date issue again. Finally, we asked to speak to the highest-ranking person at the call center and got Ms. Shawanna XXX. Ms. XXX was able to get the activation issue resolved, but could not override the AT&T issue with the price from her end. We were approaching the four-and-a-half hour mark on this issue, and resolved that I would pay full price for the phone and in turn, AT&T would give me a $200 credit on my monthly bill. I agreed to these terms as presented by an AT&T manager (Ms. XXX).

As of today, I am still showing a balance on my account. There is no sign of a $200 credit being applied. I am asking that this is taken care of immediately. I have already received my August bill, and will not be making a payment as it is less than $200.

The call I received yesterday from the manager at the Apple Store was to tell me that my name had appeared on an error report for their store and that if I did not contact AT&T within 24 hours my service would be terminated. After living through the ordeal that I described above, I’m sure that you can only imagine how angry I would be if my service was interrupted.

After this nightmare, I can tell you firsthand that, as much as I love my iPhone, I am telling people NOT to purchase one. I am highly impressed with Apple, but I am completely dissatisfied with AT&T and how this company has handled themselves. Given the circumstances, if I had it to do over again, I would have waited until August 25, switched my entire family to Verizon and bought a Blackberry.

At this point, I am asking two things:

(1) I want the $200 credit issue resolved immediately. This is a major point of contingency that I was told by the AT&T rep was handled before I left the store.


(2) I want a personal phone call - 713.XXX.57XX - from someone in a management position that can let me know that this has been taken care of.

I have been a customer of AT&T (through all the name changes) since 1993. I look forward to having a restored relationship with this company.

Thank you for your diligence,
Stephanie Click

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Miraculously, about 45 minutes after I faxed this, I got a call and the issue is now resolved. For today anyway ...

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iPhone 3G

You've heard the hype ... You've heard the buzz ... You've heard the lines forming outside malls all over the world ... Well, you've never heard a story like mine.

7 hours and 10 minutes after I arrived at the Apple store - I left with a phone. Oh no, I didn't wait in line all that time. That part only lasted the better part of three hours. The other four hours were spent fighting with AT&T.

I was in line with lovely people. Directly in front of me was a family (mom, son and daughter). It was the son's 16th birthday - he wanted an iPhone. They arrived the same time as me - 7:05 AM. After waiting in line over three hours, they were told that since the mom was not the primary account holder on their AT&T Family Talk plan (her husband was) - they couldn't get a phone today. I can't believe she didn't cuss out loud. In front of that family was a woman who worked as a police dispatcher, in front of her was an Asian guy that worked at the AMC movie theater and gave us the scoop on all the latest movies. I feel very abreast now of the summer blockbusters that I need to see.

Oh ... the AT&T part. Long story short - AT&T was not adequately prepared for the day. They didn't have adequate customer service dedicated to the Apple customer needs. They were not able to do the necessary reversals and contractual things that needed to be done on a scale as large as this launch was.

For me personally, they sold me a phone at the wrong price. Once they realized it, they had already run my credit card through. Apple reversed the charge on their end and gave me my money back, but couldn't get AT&T to reverse the contract. Therefore, I have a two year contract with them and no phone. (Let me insert the part about how they deactivate your old SIM card 20 seconds after they activate your iPhone.) Apple tried to sell me another phone, but an AT&T agent that was on the line working with us to sort things out activated the phone in the Apple store before I had paid for it - which left Apple with a phone that they couldn't use and me still without a phone because it was continuing to ring up $200 more than it should have been. Finally ... three hours and thirty minutes later ... from the time that I entered the store after waiting in line, with the Apple store manager and the AT&T highest-manager-on-duty in the US on the phone, they came to an agreement of reimbursement for me. I was mentally exhausted. If AT&T could have figured out how to delete my contract, I would have left immediately. No phone was worth what I went through today.

However, the Apple staff was amazing. Definite kudos to them. They held their guns with AT&T and didn't let them give me the short end of the stick ... and for that I am very thankful. My pocketbook is thankful as well.

Oh, and thanks also to the Apple store folks for bringing us water and drinks when we were in line. I regret now not taking pictures of all the folks in line. Hard to believe that I was one of the first 50 people in line. By the time they started letting people in to activate phones, the line was all the way down the mall sidewalk and around the corner of the mall. It was unreal. That was my only motivation to stay in line.

You might think my story ends there. Oh no. Not for me. Miss Bad luck comes at me with both barrells every chance it gets. I talked the Apple lady into letting me take my phone out of the store un-synced. A big no-no for them, but they were tired of me and I was tired of them. I promised to sync it when I got to work and she finally gave in.

I got to work and looked at my new friend Tim's phone syncing - did the exact same thing as him - NOTHING. Unplugged and changed USB ports. Nothing. Did other stuff that I was unsure of whether I should do. Nothing. Can you believe my cord was bad? As soon as I tried it with my old iPod cord, it lit right up.

Just add this to my "terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day" list.

With all that said, I love the phone now that I have one and it works. I've played with it all night. It does everything ... I love it almost as much as CVS, and that's saying a lot.

Tomorrow, I'm going to replace the cord. I'm sure my Apple friends will cringe when they see me come back. Bless their hearts ...