Issue purchasing at Apple Store

[barcadeac]

Went to the Apple Store yesterday the wife and I to get new iPhones. We wanted to add her to my AT&T account because she has verizon and their service is terrible in our place. Anyway we were able to upgrade mine and since her phone is from a different area code than mine we had to go over to the AT&T store to port her number over. Apparently they've only been able to do it from different area codes for a few weeks. So we go back to the Apple Store to buy her phone but they cannot locate her number in their database so basically we now have to wait for a few days to get her phone, leaving her without a phone since she's no longer a Verizon customer. The guy in the Apple Store called AT&T who said everything thing looked fine on their end. If I log into my AT&T account I see her number there.

We can just buy a phone from the AT&T store but we have an Apple gift card and are in a big money saving mode. I keep trying to purchase online from the Apple Store and every time I do the check eligibility feature I get an error code. I called the 1800 Apple number today and they basically said it could take a few business days for their databases to sync. That seems unacceptable in this day and age. I get it might take a little bit of time, but why a business day? Is someone coming into the Apple offices on Monday morning to manually do the update?

Has anyone had something like this happen? This is extremely aggravating.

 

[kch50428]

It's entirely normal in situations where numbers are ported between companies. Most of the time, they happen in less than 24 hours... sometimes, they take longer.

 

[jsntrenkler]

Welcome to the forums ... I have had this happen in the past, usually clears itself up after a couple business days, even in this day & age. I know it's frustrating, have you tried to call out on her phone? sometimes one direction works in the beginning.

 

[barcadeac]

Thanks for the replies. We are hopeful it will clear up soon but it's just frustrating that we can walk into an AT&T store right now and purchase one no problem.

 

[Totalimmortal363]

Buy it from AT&T. Those guys make commission and you'll be helping that rep have a little bit better holiday season. As much as I love buying from Apple, and I do a lot of shopping there, I try to buy my iPhones from either myself (AT&T employee) or a different store so I can give some money to a local person in my community.