Right now, I am going through a morass of strong feelings about our terrible experience attempting to buy two 3G iPhones this morning. I am angry for wasting my morning, and furious at myself for being such a fan boy and convincing three other people to waste their valuable time with me. I am deeply saddened that I don’t get a new toy that I have been yearning for since the original iPhone announcement in January 2007.
However, the thing that really pisses me off is that we did our due diligence. We went above and beyond in preparing for this purchase and still got screwed by AT&T.
Here’s how it happened. Hot Wife’s nephew was going to get an iPhone as a “starting college” gift and I was going to replace my increasing cranky Motorola RAZR phone. Hot Wife gets a nice discount at AT&T through her work, however, she has a wonky account that always seems to cause problems when we try to make changes. After dealing with a number of problems when she got her Blackberry, she knew to anticipate problems.
So yesterday, we all trooped down to the AT&T store as directed in their marketing materials to make sure our account was ready to change out a three year old phone and add a line to the family plan. We ran into some problems accessing the account and eventually we left a message for the AT&T corporate sales guy that Hot Wife has dealt with in the past.
Finally, at 7:30 last night, the sales guy left Hot Wife a message saying that everything was fine for us to change out my phone and add a new one. We were set to go to the store in the morning.
While I took the kids to school, Hot Wife picked up her brother and nephew and got in line about 7:30 AM. I arrived right after 8:00 AM. There were perhaps 70 people ahead in line and the atmosphere was pretty jovial. Store personnel handed out water, the line was in the shade, and it wasn’t too horribly hot. They had about six registers going and each transaction was taking 10-20 minutes.
Now, on the first day of a product launch, I am pretty understanding. I expected to wait in the heat. I expected it to be slow. I was disappointed but not surprised when they ran out of 16GB iPhones. I could settle for an 8GB iPhone.
However, when we got up to the register, everything went to hell. It took her almost 5 minutes to pull up the account using the phone number. OK, the system’s a bit slow. I can deal with that. When she got it up, she said “Sorry, your account is locked. I can’t make changes or add a phone to your account.”
We called the manager. Same story. “I can’t make any changes to your account.”
Hot Wife called the sales rep and I was amazed that he answered. He did most of the talking but the end result was “Sorry, we can’t make changes to the account.”
We briefly discussed Plan B. What if I got a new family account and added the nephew as a second line to the account. We’d forgo the discount but we could walk out with phones.
“Wait a second.” I asked. “If we start a new account, can I keep my old number?”
Again, “Sorry, we cannot make changes to the old account. You would have to get a new number.”
I’m a patient person. I also hate making decisions rapidly. However, giving up on the 16GB black iPhone I wanted and having to change my number I’ve had for 3 years, was too much.” We decided to leave.
Hot Wife has since called AT&T and they have told her “Sorry, I can’t make changes to your account.”
“OK, who can make changes?”
“I can’t tell you but I can have them call you.”
“OK, have them call me. When will that be?”
“Within two days.”
“What do you mean, within two days? Don’t you want to sell me two iPhones and a service plan?”
We’re waiting for that call.
I am still feeling sick to my stomach for what I put Hot Wife and her family through. I really, really want a new toy to play with. My old phone sucks. Despite a brand new battery, it still dies unexpectedly and smells like cat urine (don’t ask how that happened but let’s just say Bluetooth is wonderful).
The most frustrating thing is we tried very hard to do the right thing. We did research, planned and organized. We knew exactly what we wanted. We were polite when we needed to be and direct and forceful at other times. Still, all we got from AT&T was “Sorry, we can’t make changes to your account.”
7 responses so far ↓
1 DigitalRob // Jul 11, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Even angry, sullen, and disappointed you’re funny.
Sorry about the problems; wish I could say something to make you feel better.
-Rob
2 Fear and Parenting in Las Vegas // Jul 11, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Don’t honey. I’m about to open a can o’ whoop ass on them. It’s good for me to do this every once in awhile. It’s like taking a commuter car out and opening it up at 100mph on a deserted road. Some times you just need to blow some carbon out of the engine.
3 cajunvegan // Jul 11, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I suppose I should make sure my account is all set before I go back as well. I am reconsidering the iPhone all together after my own crazed behavior today. However, my Treo doesn’t reek of cat urine, and she isn’t on her last dial tone.
Are we nucking futs?
4 Update: 13 Things We’re Doing This Summer « Fear & Parenting in Las Vegas // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:05 pm
[...] idea what I was in for. It’s been a heinously rough month. Running off to the condo and even hanging out in the AT&T line for iPhones we weren’t able to buy was a bit of a [...]
5 At&t suck my balls // Jul 29, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I feel for you too. I had a billing dispute in 1994 that lawyers, credit company’s and collections agents have all tried to get At&t to correct. Seems Big Brothers Records although Inaccurate never go away. Had $700 worth of toys in hand. No Iphone for me, Thanks At&t for nothing!
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