Fun and Games with AT&T, Episode I: Dreaming of iPhones

Earlier this year I’ve decided it was time to get a new cell phone. My three years old phone was falling apart and I wanted something more sophisticated. The second generation iPhone was announced that week, and with first generation phones hard to come by, I patiently waited for the newer version. When they were finally announced, I logged into my AT&T account to make sure I was eligible for the discounted price. I have two lines on the account, one already on the iPhone plan (which qualified) and another without a service plan (ended in Jun 2007). For some reason the website was showing my second line did not qualify despite the fact it was out of contract.

And so my adventure begins...

I called AT&T and for about an hour explained to the very friendly customer service person that there must be some kind of a mistake. Instead of calling me back with some answers, they put me on hold repeatedly and eventually came back with the following explanation. Somehow AT&T marked my account as under contract until May 2010 and while they can see that this was a mistake, there was no way to fix it. Instead they suggested the following solution: the night before I go to the Apple store, I should call them. They will flip the phone numbers between the two lines, making the current iPhone line appear on the other line and hence qualify it. They said it will not stop the first line from being upgraded as well. This all sounded backward to me, but I agreed to give it a try.

 

About two weeks later I called again on the night before the new iPhones went on sale. Because of the non-existent notes AT&T claims to keeps, I had to explain the whole story again, spent another hour on the phone listening to recorded messages about using the Web, the Wireless Web, and the Mobile Web (all from one phone – I didn’t know about the two other webs so maybe it wasn’t a total waste of time).

 

This time a different but equally nice (and equally useless) representative was able to find out that when I relocated from New Jersey to California in May, AT&T decided to reset all my contracts with them. She talked to the relocation team who talked to the New Jersey team and was able verbally to get the information because her system blocked access to my account information before the relocation. She said she put notes on the account and that I should be able to go to an Apple store and buy the phone. If they had problems, I was told I can call in and they will tell them that I do qualify. Again, she said there was no actual way to fix my account information in their system.

 

The next day I went to the Apple store but the lines were too long so I drove to an AT&T store which was sold out. To date, that store have yet to get any new iPhone since the launch. That weekend I drove up to FooCamp with my old crappy phone and waited to get back home and try again. On Monday my husband went to the Apple store to get 2 new iPhones, one for him and one for me. After standing in line for about half an hour, he was able to secure the last two phones. He was able to upgrade his line to the new phone at the discounted price, but not mine.

 

The Apple system showed (as expected) that the second line did not qualify. They called AT&T to find out more and AT&T had no idea what they were talking about. No notes, no nothing. They also said that since the account was relocated, they cannot access any history and that only the account owner can talk to them, not Apple. My husband spent about an hour trying to resolve the issues with my line. That hour did not include waiting in line and getting his phone upgraded.

 

During all this time I was on the phone with AT&T trying to sort this out. The new representative was confident in his ability to fix the issue and put me on hold. An hour later I was told there was just no way to fix the account, and that I can go to any AT&T store instead to buy it there, since they have more control over the process. I asked them to find out which store actually had the phones in stock. They called about 3 stores while I was waiting on line, and none had any phones left. I was told that if the store doesn’t have the phone I can order it and will get it within 2-3 weeks. Meanwhile the Apple store had phones available that day.

 

They did accomplish one thing during that call: they informed me that AT&T was still charging me for my canceled New Jersey phone numbers and said they have correct it. They didn’t. At this point I had to get off the line and go to a meeting.

 

Later that day I called AT&T again and had to repeat the entire story again. After refusing to accept the answer that there was nothing they can do to fix the account, I asked to speak with a manager. The manager said that there was one department able to fix such matters but that they don’t answer phones (internally or externally) – only internal emails, they take 72 hours to fix issues, and that they will be able to correct this. The manager brought the first person on the call and instructed her to follow up daily to check if the account has been fixed and to call me within those 72 hours to let me know when I can go to an Apple store and buy the phone. I asked twice and was assured that I will be able to buy the phone within three days. This call took about an hour and 10 minutes.

 

No call the next day, or the next, or the next, or the next. On the 5th day I called. Yes – I had to repeat the whole story yet again, be placed on hold, hear about the exciting 3 different kinds of webs AT&T offers, and was told that my account was fixed. The representative said that he can’t see any problem with the account and that I certainly qualify and can go to any Apple store and get the discounted price. I asked three times if he was sure, if the problem was actually fixed, and was told yes. I then asked if he can guarantee that I will not be wasting my time going to the Apple store again. I was given the most sincere assurances. Time on phone was only 20 minutes this time.

 

The following week, excited about finally getting my new iPhone, I went to an Apple store to get my long awaited device. Took me half an hour to get to the store, stood in line for an hour, then waited for the Apple dude to enter my information and check if everything checks. It didn’t. The system showed I did not qualify, again. The Apple dude called AT&T which took 10 minutes to get on the phone. This time AT&T knew everything about the issue and told him that I will not be able to buy the phone at the reduce price at an Apple store, period, only at an AT&T company store. They said there was no way to go around the account issue. Door to door I wasted about 3 hours on this failed attempt.

 

The next day I was going over my credit card statement and noticed I was still being double charged by AT&T. Not only was this company messing my account information and lying to me about fixing it, they were also stealing my money. I called again. I asked for a manager right away refusing to waste my time telling the story yet again. This time they connected me to some special manager person who sounded like his job is to fix major AT&T screw-ups. Like all the other AT&T representatives, he was very nice, polite, friendly, and truly trying to help. He checked all the information and after 15 minutes suggested to call me back instead of keeping me waiting. Nice start.

 

Later that evening he called back and said that he found a solution (he also warned me that since he called me back on my cell phone, I will be losing minutes for that call). There was a special team that can fix this issue within 24 hours. I asked if this is the same special team or a different even more special. He didn’t know anything about the 72 hours special team. Ok. I was willing to give AT&T one more day. The next day he called me back to inform me that the matter has been resolved and that he called the local Apple store to warn them of the issue and how to fix it. I asked him to call a different store and he was happy to do that. An hour later I was able to finally buy the iPhone at an Apple store. It took them some time to call AT&T and figure out how to do it but the important thing is they got it done.

 

I give the AT&T super manager  tons of credit for being able to get something done in such an incompetent environment. At that point he asked me if I consider the matter resolved. I mentioned the double billing which he said is not something he can help with (but gave me the number to call during a weekday – it was the weekend). I also said that I believe I should be compensated by AT&T for spending – let’s see now – almost 10 hours on trying to buy an iPhone. I told him I am not expecting AT&T to pay me for wasting my time with them on the phone – that is the cost of having to deal with customer service – but the 3 hours wasted for going to the Apple store the second time after a direct promise from AT&T that all matters have been resolved, is time lost because of an AT&T lie and mistake.

 

I was told, and I quote: “As a matter of policy, we do not compensate our customers for lost time”. Wow. They have a policy on this!

 

To be continued...