AT&T and the iPhone
September 1st, 2008Okay, this one falls on you, AT&T.
I am in the market to switch to AT&T, in order to get an iPhone 3G. Now, I have T-Mobile. I have had them for nearly 4 years, after switching from AT&T around the time of the Cingular merger.
I have not had a single problem with T-Mobile.
Reluctantly, I walk in to the AT&T store to inquire about switching, and getting the iPhone. AT&T wants a $750 deposit from me, just to establish service! Now, I don’t have polished credit, so I can justify them asking for a deposit, but $750?!
That’s almost 2 car payments. That’s more than double the deposit ON MY APARTMENT. Now, not only will they explain to me why the deposit is so high, but they also will not back off of it.
Does anyone else find this unreasonable?
Apple, you would have sold an iPhone to me if AT&T had a more reasonable policy on deposits for service. Maybe you should consider asking them to change their sales tactics. After all, you’re losing money on this, too.
Here are some other examples of people unable to get the iPhone because of AT&T’s deposit policy:
http://www.nickstarr.com/2007/01/10/the-iphone-to-cost-1349/
http://consumerist.com/tag/iphone/?i=5020924&t=help-att-wants-a-750-deposit-but-i-really-want-an-iphone
http://consumerist.com/381767/att-fails-to-provide-service-holds-750-deposit-hostage-for-two-months
Fair? I think not.
September 15th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Consider the economy right now and how it sways the results of any attempt to validate the quality of your credit compared to that of others as a potential risk.
As an ex employee of at&t, in their defense the retail associates aren’t allowed access to the details of your credit report, similar to that they are not provided a reason why a check or credit card may be electronically denied for payment. That being said, you can be upset at at&t, but not at the individual retail store or associates that help you.
Trust me that your sales representative would much rather you did not have a deposit either, as the commission paid on your new line of service with an iPhone data package makes it worth it for them to help you up until the moment you require a deposit, because lets face it no one wants to pay a deposit for anything even if they probably should.
If you’re not a Mac person, if you don’t find some weird value in the strange gaggle of things in the app store, and/or if you already own an iPod, then you don’t need an iPhone, you want one.
Otherwise it’s good for bathroom games and the web browser when it isn’t crashing. It’s unfortunate that it’s the best touch screen mobile device, because touch screen aside the T-mobile Sidekick is the most user friendly device available hands down. The perfect device has the usability of the Sidekick with the technology of the iPhone. Considering Microsoft recently acquired Danger (the company that designs and maintains the Sidekick infrastructure) some pretty neat things may be in the future exclusively for T-mobile and the Sidekick. :crosses-fingers:
Cheers! Good luck with your iPhone and hope you’re enjoying Google Chrome