As an employee at Apple on June 29, 2007 I was given an original iPhone by the company. I cherished that phone. I was so excited I was even willing to pay $175 early termination fee from Verizon to get that phone and use it. And I did use it every day, for music, photos, phone calls, messaging and when iOS 2 came out, applications. Currently I only have 65 applications on my phone. So the sadness in July 2009, when my screen started to stop responding, was understandable. But I had purchased Applecare. Off I went to the Apple store, and was able to replace my handset. Well, at least until I discovered the first replacement had a broken sleep/power button. So I called up Applecare, who ever-so-graciously overnighted me a third handset. I used that phone, day in and day out until today.
About 3 months ago the wifi stopped working. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong (it doesn't really matter) but I couldn't get on wifi networks anymore, so all my data was EDGE only. That was painful, but a new iPhone was due "soon" so I waited. Then last week, Apple announced the 4S. I was going to upgrade.
My wife, who replaced her aging Motorola Razr with an iPhone on Verizon earlier this year, asked me to switch. But I was pretty satisfied with AT&T. I could do simultaneous data and voice (which I actually used) and except at home, I didn't drop too many calls... so I was sticking with AT&T. Friday morning I log on to store.apple.com and pick a 32GB Black iPhone. But wait, what's this? I have to choose a new data plan, messaging, no. I'm not upgrading my plan. So I cancel the web order, and call 1800-MY-APPLE. 30 minutes later I get Applecare. Oops, they are handling overflow. Back into the queue since they can't help me, they just walk people through web orders. 5 minutes later I'm on the phone ordering my handset, nope, no problem I can place the order with Apple and don't have to change my plan. Yep, I'm all set. Handset is due to arrive 10/14/11. Sweet!
Then the email arrives about the iPhone CSS, and I don't see my plan showing unlimited data and 200 text messages. So I get on the phone with AT&T. I speak to a nice woman, who confirms that yes, that's my plan, wow, an original iPhone data plan? Don't let anyone change that one on you. Great, everything is set, I'm ready to get my new phone.
Today, FedEx delivers without a hitch, 9:35am. I cruise home at 11:15 for a early lunch to set up the new phone, and hit the first snag - AT&T can't handle the volume of activations. OK, I try a few times and then just go back to work after an hour.
Two hours...
Three hours...
At four hours I call AT&T and ask what's up - it's just a backed up queue. Everything is fine, you phone will get activated soon. Yes, you can still use your old phone until the new one is activated.
Five hours...
Six hours...
Seven hours...
I try to activate again. What the heck, it's been a long day. WOOT! Oh, wait. You can configure your phone but you can't make calls yet. Ok, whatever, I'll get by data back on here and get it going. Applications installed, photos, music, movies, all ready to go. Wow, this thing is so fast compared to the iPhone.
Eight hours...
Nine hours...
Ten hours...
Eleven hours...
My wife calls my phone - it goes direct to voicemail. Hmmm. I look at the phone, it say AT&T as the carrier (it didn't before) so I try to make a call.
"We're sorry, you cannot make that call. Please call 611 or 1-800-331-0500"
Ok, I'll call 611.
"We're sorry, you cannot make that call. Please call 611 or 1-800-331-0500"
Ok, I'll power up the old iPhone. Uh-oh, No Service. Must be disabled already. Borrow the wife's phone and call AT&T at 10:54pm, EST. After about 35 minutes, I get a person. Oh, sure, let me help you. ICCID? OK. IMEI? OK. What plan would you like?
I'd like to keep my current plan.
You can't do that. An unlimited data plan is $30 a month, what messaging plan would you like?
I'd like to keep my current plan.
You can't do that.
"I spoke to someone a couple days ago who said I could. Don't change my plan. Let me talk to your supervisor." And I'm on hold for a few minutes.
"Sir, I can't give you the same plan, but I can give you Unlimited data for $30 a month and 200 text messages for $5 a month - that's a grandfathered plan for the older iPhones."
"No, I don't want the same plan for $15 more a month. Let me talk to your supervisor."
On the phone comes the supervisor. Sir, we can't give you that plan with the new iPhone. You have to pick another plan. This is still unacceptable. I'm ready to quit AT&T and switch carriers. I ask him how I do that. He says I can pay an early termination fee of $325. I blow a gasket. I want his supervisor. Sorry, they aren't here. That's not good enough. You've disabled my old phone, I can't use the new one, and I need to talk to someone NOW.
So someone else comes on. I'm not convinced he's any higher up the ladder, because after an additional conversation, the best he can do is keep my old phone and plan going, with a new SIM card, since they killed the current one, and let me return the phone to AT&T and pay a $35 restocking fee but no termination fee.
Unacceptable.
Ok, well, if you return it to Apple you might not pay a restocking fee. You still need to go get a new SIM card at an AT&T Core store since your current one cannot be reactivated.
So it's midnight, and I have no phone. AT&T has failed miserably at customer service, and I'm done. Tomorrow I'm getting a new SIM card for my phone, and confirming I still have the original data plan. And then I have to go to the Apple store about 45 minutes away and return the phone, get my refund, and decide what to do next. But one thing is for sure. AT&T knows nothing about customer service. I spent years working the Genius Bar at Apple, I know what customer service is. AT&T, you deserve to lose me as a customer, and I hope I'm not the only one. I hope you lose tens of thousands for your horrible customer service on this day. People waited hours for phone activations, and I have no idea who else experienced what I did and just rolled over. But I'm not rolling over.
After writing this I had a vague recollection about the changes in service from the iPhone to the 3G, so I looked it up - yep, when the iPhone 3G came out the plan went up to $30 a month and separate text messaging fees. So maybe I should have taken the offer. But I'm still mad. So I'm not doing anything right now.
ATT has always sucked at service. They were the company that made me make a "companies I don't do business with" list. They are why I waited 3 weeks to activate my free iPhone 1. They suck just as bad today as they did then and before. Too bad they are so big that it doesn't really matter. In any case, I feel your pain!
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow Apple employee (well, I was, not anymore) I totally understand how terrible customer service is compared to how Apple did customer service.
ReplyDeleteLuckily I've never really had to deal with AT&T customer service as a customer of them myself. At most I dealt with them while activating iPhones as a specialist and they were usually very nice, though sometimes not at all helpful.
What does indeed suck is that we're all basically slaves to these few huge cell companies. They can screw you over and there's nothing you can really do about it, and with so many people as customers and not many other places to go, they don't really need to care if you leave them or not, even if you threaten to take your friends with you.
I definitely hope I never find myself in a similar situation, but I'm assuming it will happen, eventually.
I've been reading about problems with those with even the $30 Unlimited data plan from the 3G - 4 who were told they'd keep the plan but then found out after the upgrade to the 4S that they now had the 200 MB's a month for $30.
For that reason, when I went to upgrade I didn't do it on the website, I did it in the AT&T store to verify with a person face to face that I'd keep my plan and I asked to get a print out of my AT&T plan before I left which said unlimited data. I got that print out.
Of course, I asked to have the phone mailed to the store, not to my house. I don't trust my neighborhood and I may not always be home during the week day. And as of this posting the phone still hasn't arrived. I check the order status, and they will email and call me when it arrives. Gosh, I can't wait.
But I wish I knew how much data I actually used. I'll definitely stream YouTube videos on more than one occasion a week. I used to use Pandora a lot on long commutes and I may do that again. But was that ever enough to be more than the 200 MB's a month that they now charge $15 for? Could I save myself $15 a month and not go over? Hmmm.