Posts Tagged ‘ AT&T ’

iPhone 3G. Bad luck, or bad Apple?

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Alright, this is absurd… I got my iPhone 3G two weeks ago.  Out of the box, it had a dead pixel.  As I suspected he would, the guy at the AT&T store told me that I’d have to talk to Apple about it.  Given my previous experience with Apple support and customer service (http://www.spoontwisted.com/apple-support-apple-care-apple-retail/), I decided to just deal with the dead pixel.  After all, who wants a refurbished iPhone for the price of a new one?  Not I.

Yesterday, I noticed a relatively short battery life on my phone.  Charged it up (second time in a day), and waited.  6 hours later, it was dead again.  Mind you, this is with 1 phone call and 4-5 text messages.

Even now as I sit here at my desk at work, my phone has been off the charger for less than an hour, and the battery indicator is already creeping down.  That’s not a good sign, folks…

So now, I know what I must do.  I will now have to go to the Apple Store and talk to a “Genius” about my issue.  He/she will most likely insult me for using Windows, and try to blame the problem on me.  I may have to make more than one visit to the Apple Store, or worse, call AppleCare’s 800 number (-shudder-).

I’ll keep you updated on the bulls**t I will likely face with the “support” that Apple renders…

AT&T and the iPhone

Monday, September 1st, 2008

Okay, 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.