Worst Experience Ever

[88MVP]

Bought an iPhone Friday morning. Friday night I got mugged for the first time in my life, phone is stolen. Call AT&T, cancel service. AT&T and Apple both tell me that even though I signed up for a brand new plan less than 24 hours ago, neither one will sell me a replacement phone for less than $399. THEN Apple tells me not only will they charge me an additional $200, but they won't allow me the privilege of doing so for another 30 days and suggest I go buy a "cheap Nokia" for $80 and use that for a month. Awesome.

I thought Sprint was bad, but I guess the devil you know is better than the one you don't. I should have just stuck with them and bought a Pre. Now i'm going to be out essentially $600+ in iPhones and have to find some cheap POS at&t unit to hold me over for the next month. Worst customer service experience ever.

 

[Kmax82]

Playing devil's advocate here... How do they know you were mugged? How do they know that you didn't just throw your phone in rage and break it, and now have concocted some story to try and get another phone at subsidy.

I realize it sucks, but the person you really should be mad at is the one that mugged you. Yes, Apple and AT&T could be nice and give you a new phone, or let you buy another at a cheaper price, but I doubt that will ever happen. Just part of business. I doubt you'd get any better customer service from any other business.

I am truly sorry you were mugged...

 

[88MVP]

I understand the not selling me another phone at subsidy price, even if it sucks. What really made me feel like nobody cared at all is that they want to make me wait 30 days before I can even buy a replacement at $400. In the meantime I'm supposed to go buy some other crappy phone or just pay my $80+ AT&T bill for a month without service. I'm sure that some manager at either AT&T or Apple had the power to just say, "eff it, i'm going to sell this dude a phone at the un-subsidized price right now because that's good customer service", but really, nobody actually cared. They know they'll sell a zillion other iphones and it doesn't matter if one guy gets treated like crap.

 

[sourceninja]

Originally posted by: Kmax82
Playing devil's advocate here... How do they know you were mugged? How do they know that you didn't just throw your phone in rage and break it, and now have concocted some story to try and get another phone at subsidy.

I realize it sucks, but the person you really should be mad at is the one that mugged you. Yes, Apple and AT&T could be nice and give you a new phone, or let you buy another at a cheaper price, but I doubt that will ever happen. Just part of business. I doubt you'd get any better customer service from any other business.

I am truly sorry you were mugged...

Simple, just like when my phone was stolen with Verizon. I had bought insurance on my phone and they were happy to replace it. All they wanted from me was a police report. So I had to go file a police report then bring it back and get my phone.

Honestly ATT is almost powerless with the iPhone. They can't support it, can't fix it, can't sell it when they want to. My wife's phone died suddenly. She had my old iphone 3G. We took it to an ATT store and were told they can't do any support work and to call apple or take it to an apple store.

Drove to an apple store, boom instant new phone. So why did I have to drive 80 miles to fix a broken ATT phone?

 

[Kaido]

Quick, use Back to my iPhone!

 

[Kmax82]

Originally posted by: 88MVP
I understand the not selling me another phone at subsidy price, even if it sucks. What really made me feel like nobody cared at all is that they want to make me wait 30 days before I can even buy a replacement at $400. In the meantime I'm supposed to go buy some other crappy phone or just pay my $80+ AT&T bill for a month without service. I'm sure that some manager at either AT&T or Apple had the power to just say, "eff it, i'm going to sell this dude a phone at the un-subsidized price right now because that's good customer service", but really, nobody actually cared. They know they'll sell a zillion other iphones and it doesn't matter if one guy gets treated like crap.

Yea, I understand. The 30 day wait is a bit absurd. I would keep calling, even offer to fax them the police report like sourceninja mentioned. Hopefully you can get someone that cares a little bit to throw you a bone.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Quick, use Back to my iPhone!

They really ought to make that feature free.

Sorry for your situation OP, but I think you should be directing your anger at the mugger, not AT&T. I'm sure the reason that 30 day policy exists is to slow down the people who buy iPhones to sell them on eBay to T-Mobile customers.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Originally posted by: sourceninja

Originally posted by: Kmax82
Playing devil's advocate here... How do they know you were mugged? How do they know that you didn't just throw your phone in rage and break it, and now have concocted some story to try and get another phone at subsidy.

I realize it sucks, but the person you really should be mad at is the one that mugged you. Yes, Apple and AT&T could be nice and give you a new phone, or let you buy another at a cheaper price, but I doubt that will ever happen. Just part of business. I doubt you'd get any better customer service from any other business.

I am truly sorry you were mugged...

Simple, just like when my phone was stolen with Verizon. I had bought insurance on my phone and they were happy to replace it. All they wanted from me was a police report. So I had to go file a police report then bring it back and get my phone.

Honestly ATT is almost powerless with the iPhone. They can't support it, can't fix it, can't sell it when they want to. My wife's phone died suddenly. She had my old iphone 3G. We took it to an ATT store and were told they can't do any support work and to call apple or take it to an apple store.

Drove to an apple store, boom instant new phone. So why did I have to drive 80 miles to fix a broken ATT phone?

Because it's not a broken ATT phone...it's a broken Apple iPhone.

 

[Goosemaster]

As upsetting as this situation is, ATT and Apple have absolutely no liability in this matter.

File a police report and present it to the store. Also google 'street fighting' if you need to.

 

[FerraraZ]

Yeah it really is unfair to blame a company because you got mugged. Carry a knife or gun.

 

[88MVP]

Brilliant. Nowhere did I blame either company for what happened or say that they were somehow "liable". I said it's a dumb policy to not even allow someone to purchase a replacement phone after an incident like that.

You also clearly don't live in a city. If you'd actually pull a knife or a gun over some cash or a phone and risk getting shot yourself, you're an idiot. At the end of the day I can replace the damn phone. (although in my case, I have to wait 30 days. Thanks, Apple)

 

[Parasitic]

Well, why don't you use this chance and port back to Sprint? Seeing how you're no longer eligible for a second iPhone, might as well cut your losses.

Or better, yet, head down to the AT&T or Apple store, start a new line of service, get another iPhone with subsidy, wait until next month to cancel that new line so you have the iPhone with your old number.

 

[ViRGE]

Wow, sorry to hear about that man.

Anyhow, there's no way they're going to sell you another subsidized iPhone since the last one isn't paid off*, however as Kmax has already noted, 30 days before you can even buy another one is absurd. I would try another round of calling AT&T and Apple, I can't fathom why they wouldn't want to sell you another phone at full price right away.

* On a somewhat related note, does AT&T do insurance for the iPhone? AppleCare covers defects, it doesn't cover destruction/theft/loss

 

[Dacalo]

Sorry to hear that, I hope the mugger(s) DIAF.

That is very d-baggery of ATT and Apple, but it's pretty common these days...CS is not as valued as it used to be.

 

[IHAVEAQUESTION]

You don't seem one bit angry about being mugged. But the companies, which are in no way liable for your misfortune, are being blamed for sticking to their policies.

 

[between]

...

 

[sourceninja]

Originally posted by: 88MVP


You also clearly don't live in a city. If you'd actually pull a knife or a gun over some cash or a phone and risk getting shot yourself, you're an idiot. At the end of the day I can replace the damn phone. (although in my case, I have to wait 30 days. Thanks, Apple)

It's all in the training. In my state I can protect my property. So I would pull my pistol in a movement that looks exactly like grabbing my wallet and shoot the bastard. Failing that, I'd probably be pissed off enough to shoot him as he ran away after giving him my wallet and phone. The law in my state is obscure enough that it might actually be legal as long as my property is on him.

But I'm not suggesting everyone carry. It requires dedication and training to effectively use a weapon. Most people won't do that, and thus are putting themselves at more risk.

 

[Need4Speed]

Originally posted by: between

Originally posted by: 88MVP
"eff it, i'm going to sell this dude a phone at the un-subsidized price right now because that's good customer service", but really, nobody actually cared.

I worked in a call centre for a telco for a little while. Every day, you would get customers trying to pull a scam (weasel out of the charges they had legitimately incurred, try to get out of contracts early but not pay out their commitments, try to get insurance added to their account AFTER they lost/ fucked up their phone, etc.) You also get genuine customers who have had some bad luck. It becomes difficult to determine the scammers from the decent people. In the end, all you can do is have a set of policies and apply them evenly to all customers.

+1 .. it sucks, but that's the reality.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Spend the money on a G1 dev phone instead.

 

[Parasitic]

Could you then get somebody you know to open up a new line of service, get the iPhone, after 30 days cancel and bay the ETF?

 

[Exodor]

I'm not a cell support specialist or anything but how hard could it be to just block the IMEI of the stolen phone from the network?

Even blocking the SIM card would prevent the thief from using your plan but it seems like blocking the IMEI completely would weed out the scammers pretty quickly.

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: Exodor
I'm not a cell support specialist or anything but how hard could it be to just block the IMEI of the stolen phone from the network?

Even blocking the SIM card would prevent the thief from using your plan but it seems like blocking the IMEI completely would weed out the scammers pretty quickly.

It's not very difficult, but since none of the carriers share their blacklists.

 

[88MVP]

Originally posted by: sourceninja
It's all in the training. In my state I can protect my property. So I would pull my pistol in a movement that looks exactly like grabbing my wallet and shoot the bastard. Failing that, I'd probably be pissed off enough to shoot him as he ran away after giving him my wallet and phone. The law in my state is obscure enough that it might actually be legal as long as my property is on him.

But I'm not suggesting everyone carry. It requires dedication and training to effectively use a weapon. Most people won't do that, and thus are putting themselves at more risk.

This is just wrong. If you shoot the guy in the back as he's running away with your shit there is no longer any direct threat to your person, so you'd have difficulty arguing self-defense. It also makes zero difference whether he has your property or not - defense of property (especially something low value like a cell phone) doesn't give you license to shoot the guy in the back without warning. (This is why you can't say, booby trap your land with spring-loaded shotguns aimed at tresspassers) End result, you're going to be looking at manslaughter charges and a gigantic legal bill even if you did somehow beat those charges. So, best of luck to you, retarded cowboy. In the end what would have been a stolen cell phone or wallet is going to cost you either a boatload of money in legal bills or years of your life in prison.

As for the phone situation, after submitting a police report and jumping through 19 other hoops they told me I could pick up a new phone this morning at 8am. I get there at 8 and I'm told that the manager I need to enter the auth. code won't actually be there until 11. At 11, there's another problem and now I'm without a phone until at least Monday. Absolute nightmare.

 

[miniMUNCH]

Originally posted by: sourceninja

Originally posted by: 88MVP


You also clearly don't live in a city. If you'd actually pull a knife or a gun over some cash or a phone and risk getting shot yourself, you're an idiot. At the end of the day I can replace the damn phone. (although in my case, I have to wait 30 days. Thanks, Apple)

It's all in the training. In my state I can protect my property. So I would pull my pistol in a movement that looks exactly like grabbing my wallet and shoot the bastard. Failing that, I'd probably be pissed off enough to shoot him as he ran away after giving him my wallet and phone. The law in my state is obscure enough that it might actually be legal as long as my property is on him.

But I'm not suggesting everyone carry. It requires dedication and training to effectively use a weapon. Most people won't do that, and thus are putting themselves at more risk.

That you entertain shooting someone in the back because they stole $500 or so from you is an excellent reason why you, inparticular, should not be allowed to conceal carry.

If you'd seriously shoot them that means you value another human life at less than $500 or so...

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: 88MVP

Originally posted by: sourceninja
It's all in the training. In my state I can protect my property. So I would pull my pistol in a movement that looks exactly like grabbing my wallet and shoot the bastard. Failing that, I'd probably be pissed off enough to shoot him as he ran away after giving him my wallet and phone. The law in my state is obscure enough that it might actually be legal as long as my property is on him.

But I'm not suggesting everyone carry. It requires dedication and training to effectively use a weapon. Most people won't do that, and thus are putting themselves at more risk.

This is just wrong. If you shoot the guy in the back as he's running away with your shit there is no longer any direct threat to your person, so you'd have difficulty arguing self-defense. It also makes zero difference whether he has your property or not - defense of property (especially something low value like a cell phone) doesn't give you license to shoot the guy in the back without warning. (This is why you can't say, booby trap your land with spring-loaded shotguns aimed at tresspassers) End result, you're going to be looking at manslaughter charges and a gigantic legal bill even if you did somehow beat those charges. So, best of luck to you, retarded cowboy. In the end what would have been a stolen cell phone or wallet is going to cost you either a boatload of money in legal bills or years of your life in prison.

As for the phone situation, after submitting a police report and jumping through 19 other hoops they told me I could pick up a new phone this morning at 8am. I get there at 8 and I'm told that the manager I need to enter the auth. code won't actually be there until 11. At 11, there's another problem and now I'm without a phone until at least Monday. Absolute nightmare.

Oh fuckin' a. Can we keep the e-badassery talk in OT please?

Originally posted by: 88MVP
Brilliant. Nowhere did I blame either company for what happened or say that they were somehow "liable". I said it's a dumb policy to not even allow someone to purchase a replacement phone after an incident like that.

Well, you did imply that there was something inherently wrong with them not selling you a phone for below retail price. Twice.