AT&T is Being a Big Poo-Poo Head

You know that whole thing where people have a bad experience with a company, and they post on their blogs hoping enough people read it for the company to do something about it? Yeah, I’m gonna try that.

After finishing up my XNA game, I wanted to play around with iPhone development. To do this, I needed an iPhone, and since it was close to Christmas at the time, I figured it was as good a time as any to pick one up. Below is the story of my unsuccessful attempt at purchasing an iPhone from AT&T that started in December and is still causing me headaches to this day.

I’m an AT&T customer who wanted to upgrade to an iPhone from my Samsung A707 Sync. I went into an AT&T Store and was told that I wasn’t eligible for an upgrade until March 24, so I would have to wait or pay the full $399 price instead of the $199 price point offered to new customers. Fair enough. A few days later, I was browsing around their site and saw that AT&T was selling refurbished iPhones for $99 to new customers. I called AT&T’s sales line and asked how I could get one, and what the cost would be for existing customers. I was told by the rep that existing customers could pay $149 for the refurbished phone, their “regular price,” because the $50 discount was only for new customers. I tried to order one over the phone, but the rep couldn’t figure out how to do it because it was a special. He told me to go to an AT&T store, and they would be able to help me out.

I went back to the store, and was told they didn’t sell refurbished phones at all, and that I had to order it either online or over the phone. They wouldn’t help me do it in store either.

Back home, I noticed that the deal had expired, and the price was back up to $149 for new customers on the refurbished 8 GB iPhone 3G. AT&T Premier’s website was still showing it at $199 for upgrades, so I decided to just order it online. My credit card was charged, and I did the two day shipping option to make sure I would have it before I left to return home to Atlanta (I was in Jacksonville visiting family for the holidays). It was December 28, and I was returning to Atlanta on January 5th. By my math, two day shipping should have been plenty of time.

48 hours later, the tracking information said the order was still processing. I called up AT&T Premier, and after a 40 minute hold, they looked up the order and said it didn’t exist. I knew it DID exist because my card had been charged $212 for the phone plus shipping. While we were talking, my phone was disconnected, and it wouldn’t make any more calls. Whenever I tried to call any number, it said “Emergency Calls Only.” I called up AT&T again from the landline, and they said my SIM card had been deactivated. The rep I talked to said he had never seen anything like it, and usually that only happens when the customer requests it for a lost or stolen phone. Anyways, it was 8:30 at night, and I was told I had to go to an AT&T store to get a new SIM card because the old one could not be reactivated. I show up as the store is closing, they replace the card, and I call back AT&T to get the iPhone order straightened out. After nearly an hour of waiting, they found the order and said it had been cancelled. I stressed that I had to have the phone before January 5th, or I needed to change the address. I was told that they were giving me complimentary overnight shipping to make sure it got there in time, and no changes were needed. The next morning, I wake up to find the phone had shipped with standard shipping, with an estimated arrival date of January 6th. I called back, and they told me to have FedEx reject the package so that it would be returned to them, and they would send another phone once it got back.

At this point, I was over it and didn’t even care about getting the iPhone. I just didn’t want to have to deal with customer service any more. The phone was returned, and two weeks later I got my credit card statement to find that they did NOT refund me the cost of the iPhone. I called back yet again, and they argued with me that I actually did have an iPhone (even though they saw I was talking on my Samsung) until I gave them the tracking information. They apologized and said it would take up to three months to process the refund. That wasn’t OK with me, so I called my credit card company and (successfully) disputed the charge.

Next, my AT&T bill came in, and I saw that my contract had been extended two years. I called back again, and they said that it couldn’t be undone. I hung up and called back until I got someone who was willing to help, and they put in the request to reverse the contract extension.

My contract has been reversed, and it now expires in July of this year (as it was supposed to before this fiasco). The funny part? AT&T claims I’m not eligible for an upgrade until September 2010, over a year after my contract expires, because I “upgraded to an iPhone in December.” I’ve submitted four upgrade eligibility reversal requests (one online, two over the phone, and one in store) to get it back to March 24, 2009, but all four have been denied “because upgrade eligibility cannot be altered for customers wishing to upgrade to an iPhone.” So even if I stay with AT&T, I can’t get a new phone until over a year after my contract ends because they messed up all of these dates in their system.

So, to summarize my failed attempted at upgrading to an iPhone:

• I was offered an iPhone for $149, but even though AT&T has record of that, they will not honor the price.
• I was charged for an iPhone I never received.
• My contract was extended even though the upgrade was voided.
• My current phone’s SIM card was randomly deactivated with no explanation or compensation from AT&T.
• According to my AT&T bills, I spent over 17 hours on the phone with AT&T customer service from December 27 to January 17 and made 11 separate trips to AT&T stores (two in Atlanta, four in Jacksonville).
• My upgrade eligibility is now set for over a year after my contract ends, and even though every AT&T rep I’ve talked to admits it’s the company’s fault, none of them are able to change it.

I’ve been a customer with AT&T/Cingular for six years, and I have to say that T-Mobile is looking awfully good right now. So there’s my rant, a warning to potential AT&T customers and a plea to the company for myself at the same time.