What is Digg?142 Comments
- Trax91, on 07/15/2008, -7/+84***** AT&T
(stealth was doing it wrong) - dampeal, on 07/14/2008, -2/+33It's nice to read good stories about customer service, well at least half of the story was good, then we knew ATT would FCK it up
- Remmiz, on 07/15/2008, -1/+27A positive story by the consumerist? What is this world coming to...
- pintomp3, on 07/15/2008, -0/+26why is at&t involved when doing a hardware swap? can't they just swap the SIM card?
- jroussell, on 07/14/2008, -9/+32proof that apple should offer an unlocked 3g iphone at the apple store as soon as possible. i want to purchase an iphone but will never give my buisness to at&t again. it would be worth the extra money not to have to sell my soul to at&t.
- fmello, on 07/15/2008, -2/+18It looks like Apple's customer service converted a new Apple fan-girl.
- inactive, on 07/15/2008, -0/+16That's not so bad,
If that happened in Canada, Rogers would've bent you over, in store, and jammed the phone in your *****.
Then, tell you to buy a new phone, or force you to buy out the remainder of your contract before you go get a plan from another fascist service provider. - maks327, on 07/15/2008, -0/+14I had to exchange my new iphone on Sunday. On saturday, the thing just completely died. Battery wasn't dead, wouldn't charge, wouldn't display anything, vibrate, nothing. I went to the Apple store Sunday. At 1st they told me I'd have to wait for an appointment with the genius bar 4 hrs later. After explaining that this wouldn't work (I'm from out of town, not to mention I'd already done my share of waiting on Friday morning!), they squeezed me in immediately. The Genius Bar guy had a replacement that came in a plain white box (just the phone). Swapped out the sim card, plugged into iTunes real quick, and I was done. No AT&T, no new purchase. I don't see why this guy's case was so complicated.
- bardamu99, on 07/15/2008, -1/+14Are we gonna have to go through the whole litany of what Apple has done right and wrong until the product's death? Every single client experience gets it's own article?!
I can see it now: "Dropping your iPhone in the toilet is bad", "iPhone forgotten in bus", "iPhone seen flying through window", ad neauseam... - stealth1011, on 07/15/2008, -21/+32F*** AT&T (not apple)
- GREEDOnvrFIRED, on 07/15/2008, -1/+12This is obviously not an example of a typical return. I had my first gen iPhone for 8 months when the HOME button started acting weird. (Not working every press.) I brought it to the apple store (to ask what I should do) and they replaced it without asking me a single question. I was in and out in under 10 minutes.
- Remmiz, on 07/15/2008, -1/+11First gen iPhones and second gen seem to have a vastly different set-up process with AT&T. I wouldn't be surprised if AT&T tied the MAC address of the phone onto an account or something to that nature.
- Remmiz, on 07/15/2008, -0/+9Read the article.
- Braxo, on 07/15/2008, -2/+11How are you renting the phone? After the 2 years it is yours to keep. Are you renting because it is locked to AT&T's service? That's because AT&T has 3G networks in more places in the country and also changed the way they did voicemail.
Are you renting an iPod where the only way to put music on the thing is to sync it with iTunes, or do you own the iPod? - leerayIG88, on 07/15/2008, -8/+16What, what in the butt?
- Mier, on 07/15/2008, -2/+104 hours isn't acceptable but I'm thinking it's *****. Someone had to have screwed up and since they used the word "return" I'm thinking the apple "genius" returned the phone instead of calling it an exchange. I can't believe anyone would be that idiotic to give a person ***** for a defective phone.
- Aitese, on 07/15/2008, -1/+8The iPhone as ANY other phone is brought to you in conjunction of two parties...the phone manufacturer and the service provider. Apple is there to make sure the hardware works...AT&T handle the service part. Apple were just trying to replace the phone...AT&T were insisting more money had to change hands before that could happen. How is one party not blameless to you?
- subliminalurge, on 07/15/2008, -0/+7Not only was the phone defective out of the box, but it was also dropped by an Apple employee, not the customer.
The Apple store manager should have been able to tell AT&T "Look, it was our fault. WE dropped it." and have that be the end of it. - dougerdo, on 07/15/2008, -0/+7That sucks alot. Once dropped...
- willr001, on 07/15/2008, -1/+8I believe they recieved a full refund for the 200 dollar defective phone, and then purchased another one for the full price; however, the difference between that price and their refund was covered by the apple store buying a gift card for themselves and using that to pay the rest. The consumer ended up getting the same phone for the same price, it was just a big hassle, and the apple store ate a loss on it because AT&T are a bunch of idiots/*****.
(That reminds me, my two year contract has got to be comin' to an end with them, and i'm getting the fudge out) - Aitese, on 07/15/2008, -0/+6In this case I don't think you're reading it right. Apple was doing all it could to help these people...the phone company was being difficult.
And we still get screwed here in the UK. Watchdog and people like Esther Ransen wouldn't exist if our consumer laws meant anything. - earnjam, on 07/15/2008, -0/+6I think someone (either the Apple rep or someone at AT&T) dropped the ball big time. It should be a simple swap of the sim card and reactivation of the phone through connection to iTunes. It shouldn't matter about upgrade or pricing when the account is already active.
- Hamletlere, on 07/15/2008, -1/+6Which would be covered by charging the unsubsidized price for the unlocked iPhone... right?
- dsmith78, on 07/15/2008, -0/+5Am I missing something here why did they have to buy a new phone if it was busted shouldn't Apple just have exchanged it. I mean why would you pay 199 for a phone and then another 231 for another one because it was busted ? I get the whole AT&T being asses about not keeping her numbers but why were they being charged for a second phone?
- Abomonog, on 07/15/2008, -0/+5Not if the phone uses 2 identifiers. The sim is only one. Phone companies don't like the sims because you can buy a cheap phone and activate it and then transfer the sim to a better phone.
High end cell phones are starting to use hardwired identifiers again to ensure sims are not switched post purchase.
If the new iPhone has such an identifier then Apples hands are tied when it comes to exchanges.
They can give you a phone but unless ATT unlocks it it's a brick and unless you do what ATT wants you ain't getting a new phone. - piznut, on 07/15/2008, -9/+14Comments on the original article page are lauding Apple for being oh so awesome and finding a magical solution that didnt require her to pay an extra $200 for a non-defective iPhone! Joy!
Are you kidding me? The short of it is this. It took them four hours in store to get a replacement for a broken phone that they just bought. Regardless of whether you want to blame ATT or Apple for this...how is that acceptable at all? - blackinthmiddle, on 07/15/2008, -0/+4Well AT&T is losing money on the sale of every iPhone and makes that money back with the two year contract. They clearly didn't factor in defective phones. Having to give two phones to one customer screws with their business plan.
Bottom line: 1phone for 1 two year contract = good business idea
2 phones for 1 two year contract = no way to make money = bad business idea
Again, AT&T should have planned for a certain percentage of phones to be defective and factor that into their financial equation. - themouth, on 07/15/2008, -1/+5Sometimes the end justifies the means. Apple has produced a superior product. Unfortunately because of the telecom laws in the US they were forced to pick a carrier.
ANY member of the US cell phone oligopoly would have tried to screw you as much as possible. Knowing that AT&T has no need for customer service, apple went the extra mile. Who knows if they're planning a long-term strategy to escape from AT&T, but hopefully they'll change the industry for the better.
I've owned a blackberry, a treo, and several windows mobile phones, the first gen iPhone and now the iPhone 3G and I can say it's the most functional phone I've ever used and I won't regret buying it for a second. - Teej, on 07/15/2008, -1/+5*****'s sake, what's with the self censoring?
- metaboman, on 07/15/2008, -1/+5I completely agree with you. If apple came out with a fully unlocked phone and only sold at the apple store, they would get all the cash and wouldn't have to depend on carrier service.
- earnjam, on 07/15/2008, -0/+4How is that any different from other phones on contracts?
- SolituSneiku, on 07/15/2008, -1/+5I haven't had a problem with ATT, right now I'm due for my upgrade so I am naturally going with the iPhone, however it was rather stupid on ATT for not honouring the 199 on a defective iPhone, that doesn't make sense at all.
- Yimyack, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3Proof positive that companies should NOT do joint ventures.
The iPhone should just use Skype. - Teej, on 07/15/2008, -1/+4I hate fanboys as much as the next guy, but did you even read the article?
- UezeU, on 07/15/2008, -1/+4DRM
- Davey, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3I also had to return mine, it got really hot and froze, and was out of the store in ten minutes without any involvement with AT&T. I think this person got stuck with both a confused Apple employee and an idiotic AT&T rep.
- suntzusputnik, on 07/15/2008, -1/+4at&t wants to be scrooge mcduck and try to cash in as much as possible at whatever cost to the consumer
- inactive, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3You're clearly not familiar with Rogers' policies
- Gev1982, on 07/15/2008, -3/+6This doesn't make sense. I worked in an AT&T store as an RSC for almost 2 years, including the launch of the last Iphone--If there was something wrong with the phone coming from the manufacturer, there are policies in place to allow for the EXCHANGE of a device without a headache(usually takes about 10 mins) The story gets confusing to me because they started talking about changing/keeping phone numbers, which makes NO sense--somebody was not communicating effectively. In a situation like this that should have never even been discussed--It would just be a matter of exchanging phones and activating the new one. You guys obviously didn't get the entire story--I know it is fun and popular to vilify at&t, but in this case, they are not the only party to blame. -Dugg down for making sense
- Freps, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3My future sister-in-law had a similar scenario, where she had a defective iPhone 3G (microphone would only work intermittently). Since she couldn’t call Customer Support because of her hardware issue, she went to the AT&T store. They informed her that since she had left the store, Apple would handle all warranty-related issues. Apple then said that because she bought the phone at an AT&T store, she had to return it there. Several hours and many tears later, the Apple employee actually argued with the AT&T manager and finally resolved her issue. This is the problem with two companies (who each have storefronts) in bed with each other for one product: it’s easy to cast the blame on the other, and customers get lost in the mix.
- PopcornDave, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3I'm sure they'd be happy to for locking you in to a 2 year contract that would only allow them to blow you and charge you a roaming charge if you went outside their blowing area not to mention the extra charges for text blowing you or video blowing you.
- Aitese, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3I'm guessing this time round to prevent some of that unlocking and hacking goodness AT&T have locked the physical phone to their sim card at activation making the process a little more cumbersome.
- RealmDown, on 07/15/2008, -0/+22012
- naevity, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2Geez, my iPhone 3G had a dead pixel on the screen, the Apple store in Boston had it exchanged and I was out the door in 20 minutes. 10 Minutes of that was waiting for someone to bring it from downstairs. Very painless.
- inactive, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2After this release for my own reasons I now hate AT&T and I am canceling service with them to move to sprint.
- Dralite, on 07/15/2008, -2/+4so... why did they have to do anything with ATT in the first place? put one old sim in the new phone and it should work right?
- blackinthmiddle, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2Actually, now that I think about this more, I'm wrong. Although the iPhones are being sold through Apple and AT&T, AT&T already bought them. So they're all owned by AT&T regardless of who's selling them. So the chain is
person notices phone is busted ===> AT&T notices Apple sold them a defective phone ===> Apple rectifies the situation (which they did).
The reason why things seem weird is that although AT&T bought the phones, Apple is still selling them (and passing the money back to AT&T). Bottom line: the buck stops with Apple. They sold AT&T a defective phone. - pyrates, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2If that's true, ***** that. I refuse to buy any phone that is locked to a carrier that I can't unlock myself. I like GSM because it prevents what was happening with CDMA. But if they're doing this, this shows no advantage for GSM over CDMA.
- maxlightz, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2i had the same speaker problem with my Gen 1 iPhone where it would onyl play sound when docked
- celotil, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2If you look inside the phone, there's likely to be an IMEI number, a unique ID number particular to that phone. Many phones have them, and many phones transmit that number as a precursor to communicating with the network. If someone stole your phone, you could report it, the IMEI is cancelled, and the phone is useless as a phone.
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