From the blog of Cubicle101.com:

Post #1
I had planned on this post to be in regards to the iPhone App store and the apps that I'm approving of. Well it seems that it's not going to be the case, and AT&T just started a war with me.


Earlier I had posted info about upgrading my iPhone from an InformationWeek.com story where they laid out AT&T's plan for upgrading existing users, and I quote:


"If a person bought an iPhone on or after May 27, then they get to upgrade at no additional charge, and get a refund for the difference between the price of the old iPhone and the subsidized 3G model, minus a 10% restocking fee." - InformationWeek.com


I've been trying to call the AT&T stores in my area since July 11th when it launched and have yet to get ANYONE to answer the phone (Which I'm pretty sure is an FCC regulation violation for service providers). Obviously I'm not going to waste my gas driving to the store if they don't have the d*** thing in stock. So, being unable to get anyone at the store on the phone, I called the national support number to verify that what InfoWeek reported was still applicable.
Being that you're reading it here, you know things are about to take an ugly turn. The sales person I spoke with said he had heard nothing of such an offer. He put me on hold for about a minute to research it, and when he returned he tells me, "You are not eligible to upgrade at no cost, you will still have to pay the $299(16gb) cost of the phone and you will get no money back from the purchase of the original iPhone."


I proceeded to tell him that was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard considering I bought my iPhone on July 3rd, barely a month ago, and paid nearly $600 for the phone and activation plus the additional monthly charge for unlimited data usage. So I asked to speak with a supervisor, at which point he began the blabber about how they haven't started selling iPhones through the national call center blah blah blah a supervisor can't answer my questions blah blah blah. I quickly hung up as I'm not about to get into an argument with someone who's barely speaking English, and further more probably doesn't have the required IQ to perform any other job with the company other than read a screen to someone over the phone trying to get them to sign up for service.


Needless to say, I'm quite upset, and I'm d*** sure gonna get some answers TODAY regarding this. But from the sounds of things, at least the way it's being explained to me now, in order for me to get upgraded, I have to shell out another $300+, and any refund I do/or don't get is going to be pointless. If we do the math, (paid) $570, + (upgrade) $299, + (new data plan charges) $30, = $899, - (refund, if it exists) $100 = $799 out of my pocket total.


Personally, I think another upheaval needs to be started just like when the first iPhone came out, everyone ate it up, and a few months later they dropped the price of it inciting outrage among AT&T's customers which in turn were given a measly $100 gift card to iTunes or Mac store.


One thing I promise, if AT&T doesn't correct this issue I will be jailbreaking my phone and moving to Verizon. More to come as it develops.


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Post #2
VICTORY, GLORIOUS VICTORY IS MINE !!!!

Jesus jumped-up Christ what a pain in the ass that could have so easily been avoided by AT&T.

I was finally able to get through to one of the local AT&T stores where I explained their own policy to them. Their answer? You guessed it, "We've never heard of such a policy". They then told me to call Apple as they thought it was something that Apple was in charge of, even though the upgrade policy was stated by AT&T's CEO Mark Siegel in several different interviews with Info Week and Consumer Reports.

Obviously at this point, I'm fed up with the fact that each AT&T employee I speak to is dumber than the first, so I call Apple support. May I just say, thank God for Apple support. In the 3 times I've had to call them regarding different issues, the problem gets solved EVERY time with absolutely NO FUSS what-so-ever. The lady with Apple support I just finished speaking to was by far the best tech yet, though I'm opting not to post her name as I don't' want her to receive any repercussions or reprisals due to the situation.

So, after a lengthy time spent on hold while she educated AT&T, she came back to tell me the following:

1. The policy DOES stand, if you're stuck in a similar situation, here's the url to the ConsumerReports.org interview with Mark Siegel which I used to prove my point. (Old to new iPhone: AT&T upgrade policies: Consumer Reports Electronics Blog)

2. The policy isn't exactly in full detail. What I'm to do is return my iPhone 2G to the AT&T store where I will receive a FULL refund on the iPhone, at which point I'm eligible to purchase the new iPhone at the subsidized price, saving me about $100 on what I paid on the original iPhone.

Let this be a lesson to all you cubicle monkeys out there, NEVER say die, NEVER just lay down and take it, and ALWAYS fight every battle to the bitter end. But most importantly, NEVER piss off a hard core geek who damn sure knows more about the service you provide than you do.

Now all that remains is to wait until they finally get more iPhone 3G's in stock. Alas, I must still perform the "hurry up and wait" scenario.