Big iPhone fan going into this. Ill try and be brief.


7:30am: Outside AT&T store. Store opens at 8am. Manager keeps coming out to give people info, wont say how many iPhones there vs. size of line.

9:20am: I get inside. End up with the last 16gb iPhone.

9:40am: Meet a guy on the way home from craigslist, sell my old iPhone.

9:50am: Get home, activation wont work properly

10:50am: Activation finally works...sorta

11am-5pm: Notice constant phone drainage of battery, phone randomly looses power and shuts off. This happens regardless of what I am doing with the phone. At one point I charged the phone for an hour to no avail.

5pm: Call Apple store locally. Apple says "bring the phone, we have replacements in stock". I spoke to Becca at International Plaza. I had to exchange a 1g iphone before, was really simple. Off to Apple.

6pm: Get to the Apple store. Giant line, but after a few minutes someone knows who we are from the phone call and brings us in.

Past this point till about 8pm I am waiting in the Apple store. Employees are trying to help us, keep going in the back room No one is telling me anything. The employee finally comes out and says that he talked to the manager of the store, and that there is nothing we can do.

I ask to speak to the manager. I then hear the employee go up to someone and ask "where are the managers, whos still here". Didnt this kid just talk to a manager in the back room? 'The managers in the front of the store'? Thought he was in the back talking to him. K.


The manager of the iPhone store (his name is 'Asa') at International Plaza tells me that there are no warranty replacements. I tell him that I was told by Becca that there were replacement units. He offers no recourse. Asa then says that he cannot exchange a phone for me because I bought it at AT&T, not at Apple. He then uses the example of 'if you bought a TV at Best Buy you couldnt take it back to circuit city'. I then reply with "If I buy a BMW at Carmax, BMW will repair it if its under warranty"

He then goes into the back room to make phone calls to corporate. This provides no solution. I thank Asa and the gang for their time. Btw the whole time I've been talking to the manager one of his employees was standing by him not saying anything. Didnt know how to take that.

Mid reading note: Just so you guys know, Im a pretty easy going guy, usually let most things roll...road rage, I don't litter, I'm nice to my old neighbor lady. Dunno didn't want you to read and be like 'ok this guys a prick'. Moving forward....


8pm: I get to the AT&T store. AT&T WILL take my phone back, and charge me a 10% restocking fee. They will not exchange it for one of the iPhones in the back room, because they have to sell them tomorrow morning. I talk to a manger on the phone (because no manager is there) and he then tells me that they can try to take care of it tomorrow morning, and that he cannot call the head manager because he is going to the gym right now. I am told by the AT&T sales people that if I return the device I will be subject to a 72hr waiting period before the account can be consider "upgrade eligible" again.

Phone time: AT&T CSR rep gets me no where, neither does the rententions/customer relations rep. His supervisor tells me she will refund the 10% restocking fee to the account, and to go ahead and return the phone. She tells me its ok if I goto Apple and get my phone there. If there are any issues Apple can call AT&T and they can confirm the account is eligible. This was Jamie Dunn. She was really nice, but what can you do over a phone you know. Thanks Jamie.

9:30pm: Get back to Apple, get taken inside. The manager finds a person to ring my phone up. This takes about 5 minutes to get one of the employees to agree to do a 'sale'. Get started on a new phone. Soon the account of course is not "eligible for upgrade". a call to AT&T support doesnt solve the issue. I am also told that I cannot get my iPhone at Apple anyways because I have a FAN account.

So a 10:15pm or so I have nothing left. I am a customer in good standing, and I am ABSOLUTELY APPALLED AT THE WAY I HAVE BEEN TREATED TODAY. At no point did I lose my cool, take anything out on anyone, or make a scene. Apple & AT&T your policies for customer service are horrid. There was absolutely no customer service in what I experienced today.


Id love an email if you'd like to help me on this matter. Please send it to:

garagebattle@hotmail.com

Damn, I'm glad I use a Blackberry!

My day was quite ******...but not 10% as ****** as yours. Sorry, brother.

Sorry that you got treated so badly. But this is what happens when we are early adopters of a product especially on a crazy day when stores are jammed. There's usually confusion, people mislead you and make things impossible. Had you waited a couple of weeks until everything calms down, you probably could've avoided all that hassle.

What I would've done is take it easy, keep the bad iPhone until the rush calms down and exchange it at the AT&T store you purchased it from. After all, your warranty doesn't expire tomorrow. You have plenty of time.

Another HOFO member was able to purchase a phone at Apple by first calling AT&T and having his FAN removed. Once removed, Apple was able to sell him the phone. Once your phone is purchased, you just call AT&T and set your FAN back up.

I feel for you, and would not want to be the guy who has a defective iPhone that needs replacement on opening day! Also, your story makes no sense to me. Is there a new policy where you can't take your AT&T iPhone in to Apple for replacement anymore? Many, many people did it with the first iPhone. Is there something new going on here? Do AT&T buyers have to now send their 3g iPhones in for service, instead of taking it to an Apple store? Are they not under a one year warranty?

I understand that completely. I don't expect perfection, but we all deserve to be treated fairly.

Dude, It is just a freaking phone, why did you waste your time & went through so much pain just for a phone? I just don't get it.

Clearly, the guy had time invested in waiting in line; he was understandably excited about getting and using his new iPhone, only to find out it is defective. On top of that, he can't get any resolution because release day is so busy. Surely a person with 4,200 posts here can understand that. I mean, you have an exclamation mark after your E71, looks to me like you were pretty excited about that when you added it to your phone tag.

As much as I like my iPhone, probably will be getting a 3g in the coming weeks too, you could not have paid me to spends hours in BOTH AT&T and Apple stores on 7-11-2008.

Wow, Apple and ATT are going to manage to lose quite a few customers before this little fiasco is over.

**** apple and **** ATT both are a ripp off companies

fyi.. I don't even have E71 now, let it go last week. & I didn't waste more than 1 second to get that.

You can't tell if the phone is defective in few hrs. Particularly iPhone.. will take good 5-6 hrs for a FULL charge. Why would apple or at&t would care for exchange on the same day when so many new customers are trying to get the phone for the first time. It is a common sense.

You are on a phone enthusiast forum and website, why would you look down on someone who is really excited about a new product?

OP is entitled for his excitement. Not blaming him for that. I am only saying .. don't draw conclusion that it is defective on the same day the phone is released, that too within few hrs. Give it a day or two to prove that it is indeed defective & then go to the store to exchange it. By then there will be NO lines & apple/at&t can take care of him. That would have saved his agony.

Something is wrong here, either we are being lead down the path by the OP or Asa at the Apple store just screwed up.

The iPhone has a 1 year Apple Warranty and you take it to Apple or mail it in to a service depot. The fact that anyone purchased it a AT&T is not part of the warranty discussion.