So here's an interesting predicament that I've found myself in today. As you know, the iPhone 5 pre-sale begins at 12:01 Friday morning. I'm ready to pre-order like every other geek, but I can't. Here's the gist of it.
I was in Mexico last month, and before I left I added international data roaming services for two of my lines. Pretty standard for me, since I travel a lot. Those additions didn't stick and while in Mexico, I received text messages warning me that my usage was ridonkulous and that I'd soon be poor.
I called AT&T from my hotel room and explained the situation, and the nice gal said she'd retroactively apply, and, moving forward, make sure that those services were turned on so that I wouldn't get charged ridiculous data roaming fees. Sweet. Go AT&T.
So today, I log in to AT&T to check my iPhone 5 eligibility and got this:
WTF???? Yep, no iPhone 5 for me unless I pay almost $2K, since the site wouldn't even show me my eligibility. Not gonna happen. So I give AT&T a ring and explain the situation to three people, including a supervisor. They'll take the fees off, no problem…but not until the 19th.
That's not going to work, because I want to pre-order the iPhone 5.
"There's nothing we can do, sir," I was told by the supervisor. Well that's horsecrap. I asked to speak to their supervisor, but was told that they were in a meeting. All of them. I asked the gent to call another call center, but he said that he couldn't do that.
What can they do for me? Schedule a call for an hour from now with someone. A call, no promises.
Yes, I'm angry. Yes, I will move to Verizon or Sprint if that's how I get to pre-order an iPhone 5. Does AT&T care? Probably not. But here's the thing: This is a situation that anyone could find themselves in. A situation where you are a loyal paying customer, get screwed over, and can't even give them more money for a new phone!
How is that a way to do business? I have no idea. I'll keep you updated, though. I'm getting a damn iPhone 5, and I don't care who it's from.
UPDATE at 3:15PM PT: Since the promised call "within one hour" didn't happen, I had to proactively call AT&T again. Not much was done though, as I'm told that "nobody here" has the power to credit my account for that large a number. Ok, not my problem, but thanks for the info. I made it clear that my intention is to pre-order an iPhone 5 through AT&T, and continue being a customer. I'm not sure that anyone I've spoken to truly understands that part yet.
UPDATE at 3:33PM PT: I received the following text message just now:
Now, I want to make sure you knew where I was coming from with this. I have heard multiple nightmarish stories about AT&T and their customer service. This situation didn't seem to be like a customer service one, as everyone was fairly nice, it was about procedure. The procedures in place at AT&T do not swing towards the customer's side in any way. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw my bill, I'm not rich. I had planned on doing my customary pre-order with AT&T, and the company itself was making it impossible.
Will I stick with AT&T for my pre-order even after this? I'm not sure. All I know is that this whole thing took too much time and caused too much frustration, and no customer, paying or not, should ever have to deal with that. AT&T has enough scale to handle any situation without a hassle, but I certainly didn't see it today.
FYI, I never ever brought up my post or TechCrunch while I was on the phone with AT&T today, not even once. I am not a jerk, I just care deeply about customer service and experience. AT&T messed up big-time, and I'm not impressed. I would still like to get that call from someone so I can offer some suggestions on how to make sure this doesn't happen for anyone else. I had to spend way too much time and had to be way too persistent and knowledgable about how customer service elevation works. Ugh.
UPDATE at 4:08PM PT: I got a call from the last supervisor who promised to call me back, but I missed it. I called back and said thank you.
[Photo Credit: Flickr]
AT&T Inc. (AT&T) is a holding company. AT&T is a provider of telecommunications services in the United States and worldwide. Services offered include wireless communications, local exchange services and long-distance services. AT&T operates in four segments: Wireless, Wireline, Advertising Solutions and Other. Its Wireless subsidiaries provide both wireless voice and data communications services across the United States, and through roaming agreements, in a substantial number of foreign countries. Wireline subsidiaries provide primarily landline voice and data communication services, AT&T...
Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple's product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook Air) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod, the...
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario