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211 Comments
- Dumbledorito, on 10/11/2007, -12/+141"Hey, Bob. You think selling all this stuff with the iPhone will work?"
"These people are willing to drop 500 bucks on a phone. We slap an Apple logo decal on your Yugo and sell it for an extra grand to one of these suckers." - trghpy, on 10/11/2007, -17/+114ATT = commissions
Apple = happy employees - locojones, on 10/11/2007, -19/+108omg, salespeople trying to make a commission? STOP THE PRESSES!
- Mohdoo, on 10/11/2007, -4/+90Why, may I ask, was breaking in any way necessary in the title?
- bpapa, on 10/11/2007, -5/+89Buying at the AT and T store was a hassle. Of course, their registers and service are slow to begin with. Then, a little after 6 pm all of their registers went down.
I was 10th in line and I didn't get to exit the store until about 6:40 not only because of the computer problems, but because the AT and T reps were pressuring the less savy customers ahead of me (how somebody who waits in like 7 hours for something and doesn't know EVERY SINGLE THING ABOUT IT including that they could activate the phone later themselves is beyond me) into what plans and accessories.
Luckily my clerk was nice and could tell I wanted to get the frick out of there and didn't hassle me about skipping the credit check in store, but her ass manager reminded her "make sure you sell the accessories" because he didn't hear her ask me. I told the manager that she had asked me, but I wasn't interested. :) - Monk1932, on 10/11/2007, -7/+59BREAKING!!! You're a Moron!
- DAVIDPOWERZ, on 10/11/2007, -2/+51Buried as Inaccurate.
AT&T being jackasses is in no way BREAKING - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -4/+52apple is well-known for fabulous customer service and expertise. cell phone carriers, however, are notoriously evil, and at&t is no exception. if cell phone manufacturers did not have to partner with them, the world would be a much happier place. cellularly, at least.
- orangester, on 10/11/2007, -1/+37Dugg for being a hero to that customer sales rep.
The last thing I want to hear at the end of my day is my manager constantly reminding me to push the store's credit card application.
Bless you sir! - robbh66, on 10/11/2007, -3/+38Most worthless use of "Breaking" on digg. Ever.
- evilelf2407, on 10/11/2007, -3/+30HOW is this breaking news?
- arkive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+23They asked me, politely, if I wanted to buy any accessories. They didn't in any way force me.
I ended up buying a case and a Bluetooth headset. - omarciddo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+21Breaking? If it's more iPhone news it better damn well be current. We've got enough iPhone stories as it is, so they may as well be relevant.
- mannymix03, on 10/11/2007, -0/+21really? because i didn't have to buy accessories and i wasn't even pestered either, just a simple "do you want anything else" and that was it, ran my credit card and boom i'm done :D
I was 3rd in line, and i was out of the store by 6:08 and home by 6:15 - quantumHobbit, on 10/11/2007, -0/+19The only part of this story that doesn't surprise me is that this didn't happen at more stores.
- cyclopsface, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17by my calculations, it takes you approximately 7 minutes to get home.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -3/+16Telecom companies are guilty of much worse crimes. I'm surprised they showed so much mercy
- mentat, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12Actually, such a world exists. It's called Europe. It's apparrently common for people to buy their phones separate from their service, and to be able to take their phones to any service provider in the area. Of course, since we only have two GSM carriers in the States, and we have poor consumer education and GSM locking provisions in our laws, cell phone companies can wreak havoc upon us all they wish. I'd be glad to call my phone's manufacturer instead of my cell provider if it broke if it meant that I'd never have to deal with this hell again.
- KSUdesigner, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11How is this any different than stores that only sold the Wii in bundles when it first came out? I agree this is lame, but it isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened.
- Jeffler, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11The comment system is breaking my chances at getting seen.
- ThatsNotPudding, on 10/11/2007, -6/+14This the same corporate behemoth that so willingly spread it's legs when the NSA asked them too (and probably still are). If the iPhone fails, it's epitath will be summed up with three letters and an ampersand.
- KSUdesigner, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Not quite. I didn't intend to buy any additional games initially when I bought a Wii, but was forced to. And we are talking about accessories being sold for the iPhone by AT&T. Exactly how would you have to pay a monthly fee for your accessories?
I whole-heartedly agree that it's ***** that you are forced to use AT&T if you want an iPhone, but if you hate them so much, don't buy the damn iPhone. Simple as that. - kjcdude, on 10/11/2007, -3/+11I have allot of friends that work at AT&T and they don't make ***** off selling the iphone because of the fixed price.
The make there small percent off the phone, but where they make there most money is selling accessories and then upgrading plans.
Some of my friends even try and sway people away from the iphone due to making more commission on other phones. - mentat, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8I think you have that backwards. I've never had a problem with Apple taking care of my laptop or iPod. Hell, my friend's ancient iPod mini got stuck in a firmware flashing cycle, begging him to hook into wall power (via FireWire only, for some reason it didn't like USB power). We went over to the Apple Genius Bar, they hooked it up, poked around inside its firmware to make sure everything was OK, and sent us on our way, no hassle, no charge.
My MotoV557 breaks under warrantee and I spend three and a half hours on the phone with Cingular trying to find out if I can get a replacement or not, and if I can insure it or not (and depending on how much). In the end, they still screwed things up and sent me TWO phones (with a warning that if I do not return one, I will be charged its full price). Now I'm stuck with a phone I hate (LG CU400) and I'd be willing to spend $300 and replace it with something like a Nokia E61. But no, I'm on this stupid contract for another year.
Please explain the logic of that, because the only reason I haven't dropped this phone like a hot potato is because it's under contract. And the only reason I'm going to buy OS X 10.5 when it comes out is because I know that if things ***** up I'm getting some god damned service! - anonymous6237, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8lol... Ass manager
- s1mph0ny, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7That's the new digg format. If it isn't a story from 3 years ago it's "Breaking:"
- itistoday, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7Wow, Steve Jobs is going to be so pissed if he hears about this...
- charlie55, on 10/11/2007, -5/+11nobody "forced" anyone to do *****.
- Atacand, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Same here, the att guy was anything but pushy
- pixelbasic, on 10/11/2007, -1/+740 minute conversion rate in any cell phone store is pretty damn good. Count your blessings. Pretty petty all the same.
- pixelsoup, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6In Australia you can buy a phone through a carrier to get a discounted phone, or buy it separately then go to any carrier to get your sim card activated with a plan. Your sim card will fit in any phone you purchase. Similar to Europe.
- EdwardsNH, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6There's a difference between trying to make a commission, and telling someone they HAVE to buy accessories.
- tomi, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7Welcome to my blocklist. Not because I'm a Kevin fanboy or anything, but this is the second time I've came across a comment like this from you. Grow the ***** up.
- jhuebel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5You did so well, then you pimped your website.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7forced meaning if you don't buy the accessories you cant buy the phone. RTFA.
- dn11, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7i'm so sick of "Breaking" it makes me want to automatically bury a story regardless of content
- mikull, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4not to mention that you stood on line for wii because they were ridiculously hard to get. there are stacks of iphones waiting at my local apple store.
- thenoise, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5three separate reports! MY... GOD.
what's that, three out of thousands? yes, seems like a big deal to me. - crazzy88ss, on 10/11/2007, -4/+8i wouldn't say "happy" but at certainly not sales driven.
- TeatimeGrommit, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4The claim FTA is that the reps are bonused based on accessories sold, not phones. If true, that would be an incentive to drive away people that want a phone w/out any accessories. But, if true, it also means that AT&T is retarded since as MonkeyFarts points out it is better to sell something than nothing.
- MonkeyFarts, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Somehow I don't think this is entirely just the AT&T salespeople trying to make a commission. One of the reps told the customer that if they didn't like having to buy the phone as a bundle, then they could just leave. Why would a salesperson say that to a customer? A salesperson's goal is to sell at least something to their customers, not to drive them away. That's how they make commissions in the first place: by selling things. This just plain smells like good old AT&T to me.
Unless these people are horrible salespeople, which I suppose is easily a possibility. - nolesshabitual, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4no commission=not your problem= just buy an iphone then
oh and sales is a real job especially if you're in the 40% of the population without a college degree. we can't all be programmers ***** - JetwingX, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Buried for abusing the caps lock key
- RunLikeTheWind, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Cell phone manufactures don't *have* to partner with a carrier, it's just an unfortunate trend in the US. The real question is why did Apple choose to partner with evil ol' AT&T instead of just selling it unlocked, not attached to a contract, and tell consumers that it could be used with ATT, T-mobile, or whatever GSM carrier they wished worldwide? After all, touchscreens, music, WiFi and GPS have all been put on phones before, but releasing a phone for the US masses without making you sell your soul to a carrier? That would be revolutionary.
- linuxrebel, on 10/11/2007, -4/+8Ma Bell is back and boy howdy is she pissed........ Uncle Ronny knocked her out of the ring and gave us competition. Cousins Dick and George let her get back to her old fighting weight
- trunkster, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Same here. The AT&T store I went to was very nice, they even brought food and drinks for us while we were waiting. They showed us the accessories but did not require us to buy any of them. I got a Jam Jacket case for my iPhone though. They would never tell us how many phone they actually had while waiting outside but they did tell the group at the end of the line that they would have to order a phone and have it shipped to them.
- Milamber, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Seriously? "and boom"? Even I'm excited about the iPhone, but you don't need to start turning into Steve Jobs.
for reference... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8L39UwOS-Y
All in good fun :P - Jolene, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3What AT&T did is called a bait and switch. They didn't advertise the Iphone before hand as bundled. Where as, stores that were selling Wii bundles did advertise the bundles.
AT&T only advertised that it required a 2 year contract. Then when the customers get there they changed the deal. Iphone+Contract+lots of accessories.
Bait & Switch. - seanroth, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Don't you have better things to do?
- RAiNsTorm, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4having worked retail at a store where I also had to sell cell phones, I can say it is about two things: Numbers and Commission. Salespeople are forced to keep certain sales numbers of attachment rate. 2-3 attachments per phone sale are optimal, and the people who buy nothing can really hurt your numbers and almost negate the next 1-2 sales.
It's a shiatty job, and hardly ever worth the work and time in the long run when regular commission on normal sales can be higher. BTW, I sold Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile... and they were all the same. -
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