The bar remains low
Not that I collect “AT&T sucks” stories or anything, but this one seems a bit more heinous than usual:
[F]inally I decided that the new iPhone is just such a desirable object that I had to get one. Unfortunately I then found myself practically begging for somebody to take my money!
First I went to ATT’s web site to order the service. Now, here’s another bit of PSP trivia: I don’t have a credit card; haven’t since college! I do have a debit card, of course, but I simply don’t use credit. So at the ATT site, they did a “credit check” and found me wanting, and decided that the iPhone wasn’t for me. So I “spoke” to an online rep, and the conversation went something like this:
Me: Hi, I want to get an iPhone, but failed your credit check.
Rep: Sorry, then you are ineligible for the service.
Me: Really? Just like that? But I was going to pay with a debit card.
Rep: Sorry, if you fail the credit check, you’re ineligible.
Me: Seriously? What if I pre-pay for the whole two-year plan?
Rep: We don’t offer that.
Is this really true? Well, not necessarily:
I decided to actually call ATT on the phone and find out if this was really true. And, of course, it isn’t. The person on the phone said I could, indeed, get iPhone service, but I’d have to go to an ATT store and would probably have to tender a $750 deposit (!!) as a punishment for being sensible with my money and not buying things I can’t afford.
So, off to the store, and — yeah, you saw this coming, didn’t you?
Imagine my chagrin when I arrived to discover that they’re all out of them and have no clue when they’ll be getting more.
Emphasis added, and the words emphasized could probably have been left out of the sentence without changing the truth of it one whit.
Now imagine what it would be like if people like that ran a car company.
McGehee »
26 June 2009 · 5:44 pm
The quality of customer service appears to vary widely from franchisee to franchisee. We were fortunate enough, years ago, to stumble on a different franchise while looking to upgrade out (then-Cingular, now AT&T) phones.
More recently we went back to the store (now AT&T, of course) where we’d bought our LGs and spoke with a rep who had previously worked for the franchisee where we’d gotten what can only be described as unhelp with our service problem (long and complicated story, Charles has already read the details several times), and had quit there and gotten hired by this other franchise.
In the end though, we wound up buying new phones at Best Buy, on a whim, because we’d gone in with soon-to-expire rewards points looking for a whim to strike, and that’s where it struck.
So, the Princess might try going back, finding out what other stores the same owner operates, and then find one that’s not on that list.
Lisa Paul »
26 June 2009 · 6:53 pm
No, no, no. Always buy your iPHone at the Apple Store. Those people are MOTIVATED to sell you Apple products and they will run major interference with AT&T to put one in your hand. I had a similar experience in that I had little debt due to frugal habits and only one credit card. I swear they got Steve Jobs out of his hospital bed to escalate the issue.
Jeffro »
26 June 2009 · 7:00 pm
“Business principles are the same.”
It hasn’t worked in the past because the right people weren’t in charge, not like this time. This time, they’ll really really try harder and turn the volume up to eleventy, so you just watch, it’s gonna work.
miriam »
26 June 2009 · 9:26 pm
When I lost my cell phone I went to the local AT&T store to get a replacement. The place was chaos. Apparently, you were supposed to get a number to be waited on, but there was no sign advising the public of this.
Having taken a number and waited to be called, I requested a replacement phone. Now the phone is listed in my husband’s name, for obvious reasons. But I am the person who pays for it, and the only person who uses it. They told me the person whose name is listed had to come in for the new phone, no exceptions.
I went to best Buy and got a replacement phone. No problem.
Why do they have those stores? Clearly not to sell products or services.
zigzag »
26 June 2009 · 11:33 pm
It is true.
We are just appendages of our credit card numbers.
Old Grouch »
27 June 2009 · 10:43 am
Why do they have those stores? Clearly not to sell products or services.
1. To provide the appearance of service. (“How can you say we have lousy service? Look at all the convenient locations we offer!”) Sort of like banks.
2. To provide employment to the otherwise unemployable, i.e., Literature majors laid off by Starbuck’s, and Social Science majors fired by McDonald’s.