In case you missed it, I was planning to switch to Verizon.
Then this morning it dawned on me that I never asked AT&T about get an exception made on my husband's line. They told me on the phone that I couldn't upgrade because they never make any exceptions in under 20 months (which is weird, because they have several times in the past) and that my husband's line should be at least 20 months into the contract. Sure enough, his official upgrade date is October 21st, exactly 30 days after the iPhone 5's release date.
So, this morning, I called AT&T to ask them. After jumping through some hoops, the rep said she was able to get the line approved for full upgrade pricing because it was within 30 days of the upgrade date. Great! But I need the phone on Friday in order to get my work done for iMore, so I asked if that would be a problem. Not at all -- she told me I'd get the phone on Friday. Awesome! The only requirement was that I would have to respond to the email to accept the terms and conditions, otherwise the order would be canceled. No problem.
Several hours passed and the email never arrived.
So I called AT&T to see what was up with the terms and conditions. The girl tells me that she doesn't know how to resend them, but she can transfer me to a number that lets me accept them over the phone. Ok cool. Except that the system tells me that I've already accepted them. Nope, not right. So I call again.
This time I'm told there is no record of my order and that what I "claim" to have happened earlier in the day would have actually been impossible. I go through two different levels of managers, both who tell me the same thing. My order does not exist. No notes in my account. Nothing... except for the $358.11 pending charge from AT&T to my credit card. I have an order number that turns out to be completely useless. At this point, I'm not even concerned about the phone anymore, I'm concerned with the fact that I have a pending charge to my credit card that AT&T is denying exists. After more time on hold, a manager says she's transferring me to someone else. This "someone" ends up being some weird voicemail that spews off a bunch of phone numbers then hangs up on me.
Now I'm livid.
During one of my several conversation, someone told me to go to an AT&T store and bring my credit card statement to get it taken care of. I knew this was total BS, but I went to an AT&T store anyway so that if they told me to go to one again, I'd just say "I'm actually at the store, here, talk to the manager".
Of course, the first thing the AT&T store does is put me on the phone with 611. A really nice guy answers and I'm kinda rude by demanding to speak to a manager because I don't want to repeat myself for the 50th time just so he can transfer me and I be required to repeat myself yet another time. He puts me on hold and reads through all the notes left on my account and makes it his personal mission to set everything straight. He was able to find my order, but confirm that it never completely went though. AT&T's system immediately rejected my order because of "restrictions placed on AT&T by Apple". This is why my terms and conditions never arrived. He tells me if I wait for Oct 1st, I can get the upgrade without problem. I tell him that this isn't an option because I MUST have it on Friday to do my job.
He then speaks to several different managers on my behalf and gets the line approved to attempt the order again. He says he's not confident it will work, that the same thing may happen, but that he's going to give it a try. The system goes through several glitches but eventually my order goes though. The terms and conditions email arrived almost immediately so I accepted it and confirmed that my acceptance went through. Everything looks good. Everything except the delivery date. That is unknown.
So, my plan is to stand in line at the Apple Store on Friday and purchase an iPhone on my own line for at the more expensive price. Then when the iPhone 5 that I just ordered arrives, I'll return the one I bought at the Apple Store. This allows me to get my work done for iMore, but also saves me over $200 in ETFs and taxes to switch to Verizon.
What a day.
Then this morning it dawned on me that I never asked AT&T about get an exception made on my husband's line. They told me on the phone that I couldn't upgrade because they never make any exceptions in under 20 months (which is weird, because they have several times in the past) and that my husband's line should be at least 20 months into the contract. Sure enough, his official upgrade date is October 21st, exactly 30 days after the iPhone 5's release date.
So, this morning, I called AT&T to ask them. After jumping through some hoops, the rep said she was able to get the line approved for full upgrade pricing because it was within 30 days of the upgrade date. Great! But I need the phone on Friday in order to get my work done for iMore, so I asked if that would be a problem. Not at all -- she told me I'd get the phone on Friday. Awesome! The only requirement was that I would have to respond to the email to accept the terms and conditions, otherwise the order would be canceled. No problem.
Several hours passed and the email never arrived.
So I called AT&T to see what was up with the terms and conditions. The girl tells me that she doesn't know how to resend them, but she can transfer me to a number that lets me accept them over the phone. Ok cool. Except that the system tells me that I've already accepted them. Nope, not right. So I call again.
This time I'm told there is no record of my order and that what I "claim" to have happened earlier in the day would have actually been impossible. I go through two different levels of managers, both who tell me the same thing. My order does not exist. No notes in my account. Nothing... except for the $358.11 pending charge from AT&T to my credit card. I have an order number that turns out to be completely useless. At this point, I'm not even concerned about the phone anymore, I'm concerned with the fact that I have a pending charge to my credit card that AT&T is denying exists. After more time on hold, a manager says she's transferring me to someone else. This "someone" ends up being some weird voicemail that spews off a bunch of phone numbers then hangs up on me.
Now I'm livid.
During one of my several conversation, someone told me to go to an AT&T store and bring my credit card statement to get it taken care of. I knew this was total BS, but I went to an AT&T store anyway so that if they told me to go to one again, I'd just say "I'm actually at the store, here, talk to the manager".
Of course, the first thing the AT&T store does is put me on the phone with 611. A really nice guy answers and I'm kinda rude by demanding to speak to a manager because I don't want to repeat myself for the 50th time just so he can transfer me and I be required to repeat myself yet another time. He puts me on hold and reads through all the notes left on my account and makes it his personal mission to set everything straight. He was able to find my order, but confirm that it never completely went though. AT&T's system immediately rejected my order because of "restrictions placed on AT&T by Apple". This is why my terms and conditions never arrived. He tells me if I wait for Oct 1st, I can get the upgrade without problem. I tell him that this isn't an option because I MUST have it on Friday to do my job.
He then speaks to several different managers on my behalf and gets the line approved to attempt the order again. He says he's not confident it will work, that the same thing may happen, but that he's going to give it a try. The system goes through several glitches but eventually my order goes though. The terms and conditions email arrived almost immediately so I accepted it and confirmed that my acceptance went through. Everything looks good. Everything except the delivery date. That is unknown.
So, my plan is to stand in line at the Apple Store on Friday and purchase an iPhone on my own line for at the more expensive price. Then when the iPhone 5 that I just ordered arrives, I'll return the one I bought at the Apple Store. This allows me to get my work done for iMore, but also saves me over $200 in ETFs and taxes to switch to Verizon.
What a day.