AT&T Employees Screwed iPhone Customers
Yesterday, I lined up at the AT&T store to get an iPhone. I was the 21st person on line.
At 6 PM, they started letting customers in 2 at a time. After about 20 minutes, two customers walked out with iPhones. Another 15 minutes later, another 2 customers walked out with iPhones. (How on earth it takes 35 minutes to ring up 4 customers, I can't understand.) During that time, no one else was allowed into the store. Not even customers who weren't there for iPhones. They turned away at least 10 angry people who wanted accessories/assistance in the time I waited in line.
After that, an AT&T employee came outside and said they were all sold out of iPhones. But they offered to let ...
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Just wait, if it's as profitable as Cingular hopes, they will allow you, too, to join in the misery. Then you will all understand.
krickt said:
I don't have a smart phone, we're waiting on the Q, at the moment. Hubby loves Palm, likes Windows Mobile, and hates whatever the Blackberry runs.
It's Blackberry! ๐ I'd love the GSM-Q also, but Ima wait until the bugs are known.
The reason it took so long is that they are actually signing contracts and activating them at the at&t stores.
I think you might be mistaken there.
https://www.phonescoop.com/carriers/forum.php?fm=m&f ... »
As far as activating the phone, no activation was done in ANY store be it Apple or at&t.
It was actually Apple's idea to have the user take home the phone plug it in and see how "easy" the process was.
I would have been incredibly frustrated that they did not have the courtesy to let people in line know beforehand that had a limited supply (which I doubt) and just let them sit outside.
Seriously. If you have a small number of something and over five times that many people waiting in line - then it make absolutely no sense and clearly demonstrates a lack of respect/courtesy towards the customer by not informing them.
Funny thing is many people don't want to buy an Iphone simply because they have to deal with AT&T and these type of situations are only going to reaffirm their position.
Then whine about it.
Wait a week and you can get all you want! The "First on the Block" Syndrome is alive and well.
Did you walk out with your phone activated from the iPhone store? How much explanation was given about AT&T service. Obviously not much.
It takes a typical sale around 1/2 hour to complete when you look at all the aspects of the sale. I have been in this business 15 years and that has been average for all carriers I have represented over that time (Verizon, T-Mobile, Cricket, AT&T, GTE, Airtouch, etc...).
Apple sold you and phone with little or no ...
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This coming from someone who rather insult a customer than actually admit that you don't know something or that there might have been a mistake made that is actually the fault of At&t and not the customer.
Why should he trust an At&t store over an Iphone store anyways? You yourself have openly stated that you don't trust your own organization.
Perhaps he should have hopped on a plane and come to your store? ๐คฃ
What you are ignoring (not surprising) is that even if the store only had 4 Iphones, they still allowed over twenty people to wait in line for a product they knew they didn't have.
Also, as far as baseless accusations, wouldn't you assumption that:
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Apple
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After that, an AT&T employee came outside and said they were all sold out of iPhones. But they offered to let us pay the full price, and promised to deliver the iPhones to our house next week.
Aren't most stores supposed to be replenishing their stock overnight?
That's quite a time difference of one week.
Also, I still say if they only had four left they should have let the crowd know before wasting time in line like that.
If Apple made x handsets and all of x were divided amoung 1800 AT&T and Apple stores country wide where exactly would the next batch be coming from to replenish them the next day.
Steve Jobs was hoping they would sell out the first day and for the most part they did.
As for your first post, 50 phones in ten minutes? That is called handing your CC to the clerk and them handing you a box. And the proof? Apple in it's own press releases stated they would direct folks to the internet to activate their iPhones and get more than just a pamphlet for AT&T service.
We already know your stance on this one. You wished it would flop.
As far as activating the phone, no activation was done in ANY store be it Apple or at&t. It was actually Apple's idea to have the user take home the phone plug it in and see how "easy" the process was. Here in-lies the problem...too many users trying to do the same thing at the same time. Along with lack of knowledge of the plans (if purchased at an Apple store or an at&t store that didn't do their job.) I am impressed with the phone, and I am actually rather impressed with how at&t is trying to fix problems that arise as fast as possible. And t...
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Dwight Hickman, AT&Tโs area retail sales manager, based in Starkville
http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=246112&pu ... »
Hickman, who supervises all the stores north of U.S. 82, said the company had โa couple of locations that have sold out in one hour.โย
He said the stores would replenish their supply overnight and be ready in the morning, adding, โWe had real good sales success.โย
What were you saying about distribution logistics now? I guess you have a mystery on your hands... first you have to figure out that and then you have to figure out where the next batch comes from. That should keep you busy at least a week.
iPhones iPlenty: the sell-out...
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All the stores in AZ handled things very well. I haven't heard any horror stories from our market, much less from another.
Our store was very smooth. We let one GROUP of people per rep in at a time. We got rid of our 50 person line within 2 hours. I spent about 10 minutes per person (which was a bit too fast I think, but we had to move quickly. I like spending time with people to make sure they understand exactly what's going on).
texaswireless
Wow, you have zero knowledge about distribution logistics don't you.
If Apple made x handsets and all of x were divided amoung 1800 AT&T and Apple stores country wide where exactly would the next batch be coming from to replenish them the next day.
...
Dwight Hickman, AT&Tโs area retail sales manager, based in Starkville
http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=246112&pu ... »
Hickman, who supervises all the stores north of U.S. 82, said the company had โa couple of locations that have sold out in one hour.โย
He said the stores would replenish their supply overnight and be ready in the morning, adding, โWe had real good sales success.โย
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It was just piss poor customer service at this particular store.
robtheman said:...
You're missing the point. The store should have told the people in line how many they had before they made them wait in line KNOWING that some of the people in line would not be getting iPhones. They should have told the first 4 people in line that they had the stock for them, and told everyone else that they would have the opportunity to place an order to get one in a week or so. That should have happened when the line was forming. That way, potential customers wouldn't have to be irritated when they find out A) they can't get the phone at that store and B) they could have had a better spot in a line at a different store if they were better informed.
It was just piss poor customer service at this p
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You start sending people all over town to possibly find a phone and they get upset with that. You can't make everyone happy. And like I said, I do not know that his statement was even 20% truthful. It was irresponsible.
Others asked for the store location and he was unwilling (or yet to) reply. I can tell you unless he was in Texas it is not likely he was at the busiest AT&T store (how does he assess that anyways? It is not public information).
I didn't say that the store should start sending people elsewhere. I said they should have informed the customers on what the stock was and that if they were 5+ in line, they would have the opportunity to order one. The customer could then stand in line to place an order or go stand in line somewhere else. At least they wouldn't be standing in line thinking they would be walking out with a phone that day. If I were one of those people, I'd be pissed off too.
You want to complain about AT&T, fine. I see 100's of posts here that I never respond to as I was not there and cannot comment on the sitation.
Another tactic, that was employed in some areas (perhaps others) was forcing customers who purchased an Iphone to buy accessories.
Gizmodo reported:
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Several AT&T Stores Forced Customers to Buy Accessories With iPhone
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/ripoff/breaking-several-a ... »
Following up on the launch difference between AT&T and Apple stores, we've got three separate accounts of people reporting that AT&T is forcing them to buy accessories along with their iPhone at three di
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Wait... What's that??? ...an iPhone stampede!!!
You will support anything negative and denounce anyone who replies otherwise. Your methods are predetermined.
Good luck in your spin cycle to bring down the iPhone.
texaswireless said:
How exactly do you KNOW they had more than 4? On what are you basing the statement that this is the largest AT&T store in the country?
He said county. Not country.
But it still does not account for the fact that he has ZERO clue as to how many phones they were given. He made accusations as to the intent of these employees without a shred of evidence.
Once you start streching the truth or even just completely disregarding it your other points, no matter how accurate, are lost.
The thing is that he had a horrible customer experience waiting for one of the most anticipated devices this year. He shared his experience. I don't know why you don't just say: "Wow, that sucks. I can't believe that store handled things that way. AT&T is usually better than that." Instead of trying to throw the whole thing back in his face. It really is ridiculous.
He stated that only 4 phones were sold. He stated they MUST be hoarding because they MUST have had more than 4 phones. How exactly does he know they were hoarding? He doesn't. He just made that up. Did he see folks walking out the back door selling them to their buddies? No.
He has no basis for saying phones were being hoarded. Period.
You have no way of knowing that he didn't use his Phonescoop connections and know the distribution ahead of time. He may know that they were hoarding.
He did not say that either. If he did know they had more and had a source he would have mentioned as such.
Eric is a big boy. You white knights need to let him answer for himself on this one instead of spinning his response.
robtheman said:
That's twice you've assumed things as truth which is the same thing that you're yelling at him about. ๐
Bingo. TexWireless = Pot. Kettle. Black.
But that's why we luv him so. ๐
texaswireless said:
Once you start streching the truth or even just completely disregarding, it your other points, no matter how accurate, are lost.
I would disagree with that.
You made an assertion in one of your posts ('country' vs 'county') that ended up being wrong, which someone could interpret as a 'stretching of the truth' rather than an honest mistake. Are we then to disregard absolutely everything else you say, because of that? ๐
Sounds overly harsh. Let's try to give Eric the benefit of the doubt, just as we are trying to give it to you also.
texaswireless said:
You disregard most everything I say anyways. [Ed. note: Waaah.]
I made a comprehension and reading mistake, which when pointed out to me I admitted. You go ahead and act like that was the same as his accusations.
That's kind of the whole point.
Your 'mistake' was either an honest one or calculated, depending on whether one chooses to give you the benefit of the doubt or not. Just like Eric's comments were either just the heat of the moment or had an agenda behind them, depending on whether or not one gives Eric the benefit of the doubt.
Need it spelled out further, or are you going to insist that you should be trusted, while dastardly moderator Eric must automatically be...
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I was not the only one who missed the county vs. country part of his post. Hounding them as well?
Have a good evening.
Too easy, Tex. ๐
texaswireless said:
You should be ashamed of your baseless accusations.
Ah... but do you have any basis for your shameless accusations?
See how I turned that around there? ๐คฃ
Fun aside, I can't see any reason to scream "BIAS!" at a Moderator just because he was treated badly by an ATT store and had the temerity to say so.
If you can prove a pattern of bias then you might have a case for your accusation of "bias", otherwise, just sounds like you're mad because he told it like it is and the picture was not particularly flattering to ATT.
Oh well. No carrier is perfect. And the iPhone is still a net win for ATT, even if some individual ATT stores botched their iPhone launches.
I have not seen any reports from major agencies (marketwatch, AP, Reuters, etc.) that state there has been any reported hoarding.
He was upset that he felt he was treated badly (and I did not argue that point that he felt upset, he has that right) but to extend that to an accusation of hoarding is where I felt it was biased.
texaswireless said:
The store only had 4 phones therefore they must be hoarding?
If it was a large ATT store, and Eric seemed to indicate that it was, 4 does seem awfully low, you must agree. Anecdotal reports from Mac news sites seem to indicate 20 to 100 iPhones per ATT store.
If you run the numbers, it does seem like something was fishy. If most ATT stores got only 4 phones, wow, did they get screwed on stock, as that'd mean that Apple Stores would be selling nearly all of them. Ouch.
I have not seen any reports from major agencies (marketwatch, AP, Reuters, etc.) that state there has been any reported hoarding.
Its only been 48 hours. If it holds true for a few more days, ...
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You can call it hear-say but when you hear it from multiple people at different locations it makes you wonder. From the sounds of it, store reps presold the phones to friends or family. Unless the 50 phones per a store numbers were inaccurate. Being they sold 500,000 phones over the weekend though, I find that hard to believe.
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By the way, you can roll your eyes all you want! I just choose to disagree with you on a few points thats all. Stop acting like you are on your period. Its not that serious!
Oh yeah, the period statement was completely uncalled for and I apologize ๐
I didn't see any blanket statements. He was complaining about the store he was in, and he referenced other complaints that he's heard. Your interpretation may be of AT&T as a company, but the story is of one store.
This isn't the second time he's done it. It's the first time. It's the second time a moderator has had a negative experience with AT&T and posted about it.
Seriously, I don't know why there's a difference between a regular member posting something like this or a modera...
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This is the first time. Go ahead and find a different time that he made a negative comment.
The fact that Mr. Phonescoop tried to compare his Apple experience with the ATT store experience when HE KNEW that the stores were activated the devices there and Apple sent you home to do that online. Which one do you think would require more time?
There were no in store activations. It was all done through Itunes. So my question is, how did you decide that "HE KNEW that stores were activated (sic) the devices there and Apple sent you home to do that online".
https://www.phonescoop.com/carriers/forum.php?fm=m&f ... »
Then he stated that ATT has no control of their employees WHICH he is a statement that he is not qualified to make.
That indicates that it a delibe...
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Apple received the lionshare of the handsets.
When the iTunes ROKR was launched on an allocation basis we received more phones than any other agent store in town. This was based on the number of RAZR handsets we were selling at the time. When the iTunes RAZR came out it was the same way. There were stores that did not receive ANY.
That is why I am very skeptical about the mods post. There is history with Apple and AT&T (Cingular) that phones are allocated. Some stores received far less handsets than others (and some received none). AS A MODERATOR he can find this information on HIS website, a website that is touted to be a source of information for consumers.
To then make the leap to say phones were being hoarding and policy not followed was ridiculous...
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If you want I can PM you my location and you could look up how many they sold. If it were over fifteen then either my customer lied and drove to an hour for the fun of it, or they were hoarding.
I do know there was allocation and not all stores got the same amount. I do know they did not get more stock the next day. I do know the average store received far less than the average apple store.
As a store manager I would've wanted to make sure the people waiting at 4:30 knew how many I had in stock just to avoid an unpleasant scene, but if your bosses say you cant then there's little you can do.
Employees at these stores were not allowed to say what they had by threat of termination. When they were getting low they could tell customers, "Ok, we have XXX left" (and all of the stores in the West Texas area did so).
So let's say you know you have 50, and you have a line of 60. Who is to say that some people may not buy one and someone who was 51st would get one?
I keep thinking about when I stood in line for my Wii. The store manager came by frequently to check and see who was in line and take a count of who was planning on buying a Wii.
texaswitless
I do know they did not get more stock the next day.
Dwight Hickman, AT&Tโs area retail sales manager, based in Starkville
http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=246112&pu ... »
Hickman, who supervises all the stores north of U.S. 82, said the company had โa couple of locations that have sold out in one hour.โย
He said the stores would replenish their supply overnight and be ready in the morning, adding, โWe had real good sales success.โย
texaswitless...
Wow, you have zero knowledge about distribution logistics don't you.
If Apple made x handsets and all of x were divided amoung 1800 AT&T and Apple sto
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I want to know what store this was at. Tell me what location it is, I would like to get in touch with the crew there and ask them exactly what happened.
There is not a single god damned store in the country that only got 4 iPhones, that's absolutely absurd. And we have been told that we CANNOT be sold iPhones for at least 30 days, I'm sure the reps didn't do this.
I don't mean to call you a liar Eric, but I guess that's what I'm doing. I love your reviews, you're very thorough - but this is f***ing stupid man.
What store did you go to? If you don't at least gi...
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ericzeman said:
This just goes to show you how incompetently run some AT&T stores are and how little control AT&T has over its employees, and how LITTLE REGARD AT&T EMPLOYEES HAVE FOR CUSTOMERS. And I was not alone. We heard similar reports from people all over the country.
My guess is that this trend has something to do with the ever falling compensation plans that Cingular/at&t keep rolling out. Reps aren't payed nearly as well as they used to be. Because of this, many of their most experienced (read best) sales reps and managers are leaving the company. If you offer McDonalds wages, you get McDonalds workers...
ericzeman said:...
Folks, the local AT&T store has lost my business forever.
Yesterday, I lined up at the AT&T store to get an iPhone. I was the 21st person on line.
At 6 PM, they started letting customers in 2 at a time. After about 20 minutes, two customers walked out with iPhones. Another 15 minutes later, another 2 customers walked out with iPhones. (How on earth it takes 35 minutes to ring up 4 customers, I can't understand.) During that time, no one else was allowed into the store. Not even customers who weren't there for iPhones. They turned away at least 10 angry people who wanted accessories/assistance in the time I waited in line.
After that, an AT&T employee came outside and said they were all sold out
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We were also under the expectation to complete a "pre-credit check", and sell accessories while trying to explain the damn plans, all in under 12 minutes per customer.
So before you go ranting off on AT&T, maybe you should be directing your anger at Apple, which by the way, controlled shipping, and allocation...
Perhaps you should research something a little better before you open your uneducated mouth about anything. ๐ฟ
We were also under the expectation to complete a "pre-credit check", and sell accessories while trying to explain the damn plans, all in under 12 minutes per customer.
but but but texaswireless said that never happens in the 15 years of business since being in the industry
texaswireless
It takes a typical sale around 1/2 hour to complete when you look at all the aspects of the sale. I have been in this business 15 years and that has been average for all carriers I have represented over that time (Verizon, T-Mobile, Cricket, AT&T, GTE, Airtouch, etc...).
lol sure...
Ashdizzle...
Our store was very smooth. We let one GROUP of people per rep in at a tim
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The whole launch was screwed up. We didn't even know what came in the damn box.
As far as Texas and his estimates. They are correct in regular activations.. We weren't activating them in store, so it was alot shorter time frame.
I just had my first customer with an iPhone problem. An indirect mall kiosk took a deposit for a new customer AND initiated his port request. I hope the guy can get this fixed, cus that agent just screwed him BAD.
In the case with the port customer, why couldn't they get the Iphone on the plan? If he did the port request properly then it should be able to be activated on the newly created plan from what I read. ๐
To top it all off, I think the store ran it without his social on the account, so he may not have even needed a deposit.
I have no way of knowing whether or not this moderator is telling the truth about his experience, and neither does anyone else in this thread, whether you support him or not. My problem with the post is it's written in a way so that it can't help but cause people to fight with each other in the forum. As I understand it, moderators are supposed to prevent that sort of thing, not contribute to it, or worse yet, start it. The internet is already a medium wherein it's very difficult to believe most of what you read. Forums and blogs, in particular, are ...
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Have fun at howardforums.
The moderators run this site. They will do as they please. If he doesn't like what they're doing, then he can leave (as he threatened to do). So have fun at howardforums.
Will I leave the site? Probably not over one posting that I'm unhappy about. I enjoy the posting from other users too much to do that. I do think more care should have been used when writing this post.
By the way, I did check out howardforums once, and I think it sucks. Again, my humble opinion.
Quite honestly, the fact that Eric, and others, had problems...
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That doesn't apply to all of the employees in the thread. There are some that didn't slaughter eric for the way he posted his message. Posts getting on eric's case for being a site moderator really make the company look bad.
robtheman said:
Hey cing, where are your iPhones? I want to buy one from your store.
cing cing works with me at the ATT store in totem lake, know wait I work at the Alderwood mall for tmobile, no that aint right either i run my own successful business and don't work in the industry, yeah that's right.