Apple Retail Hell

Hello everyone. I'm currently happy to report that I managed to get two iPhones. One for me and the other my wife. I have to say that getting to that point totally sucked. In telling you the story, I will take my 4.5 hour experience (the doesn't count the 7 hours I spent waiting). Please hang with me as I explain.

I decided to get my iPhones at the Christiana Mall, in Newark Delaware - since there was an Apple store there. I got there at 1:00am but had to wait around until 6:00am when they opened the mall doors, so we could get in line. It turns out that I was the first in line and I was feel pretty stoked. My 12 year old daughter was with me and we had a terrific time just talking and spending time. I'm thinking right on, this is great. On top of that, I guess because I'm number one, I got interviewed for a Wilmington TV station and Newspaper. This was going to be "Flawless Victory," right? Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

I went and asked for a a 16gb black and white iPhone. They bring them out and had it to the person with the so-called "easy-pay" machine. They did my line first. Bing-buda-bing the transaction was completed in about 7 minutes. Sign this, sign that, can we have your credit card. Transaction complete expect for activating the phone. Now for my wife's iPhone upgrade. Everything was going down the same path until, Apple's easy-pay machine lost connection. It activated the phone, but something happened on the payment sided and they could not complete the transaction.

The associates supervisor came over, talked to an ATT rep on the phone. They told the Apple Store the phone was activated, just collect the money. Well guess what, they couldn't because their system was down. So they got another iPhone and tried to restart the transaction. As they processed it, instead of the price being 299.99 it was 499.99. The server error caused me to lose my upgrade eligibility.

As several people from the store looked mystified, they appeared unsure about what to do. At that point I called ATT to see what the issue was. They talked to the Apple store assistant manager named "Fred." During the conversation it was obvious that she asked him, "do you think he activated a phone anywhere else?" Fred responded, "I cannot be sure about that. I looked at him and said, I've been here since 1:00am and I have two calls made to my wife's phone while I was here. The phone was working and you messed it up which is why her iPhone 2G is bricked and now we cannot complete the transaction. Fred then said, "I can complete it if you give me 500.00. I'm sorry you lost your upgrade, but that's the price in the machine and there's nothing that I can do about it. Whatever pricing is coming form the ATT server is the price we must charge.

I was furious, but maintained my composure. I reached in my wallet and pulled out my Apple proCare card and told him that he is obligated to fix this problem, otherwise he could have it back. Fred didn't respond except to say that "it's ATT's fault. Their system has messed up." He then walked away and then came back saying if I wanted the iPhone, I need to give him 500.00. I thought about it but then decided to call ATT back (since Fred was okay with throwing them under the bus).

This is where things got really good. I ended up speaking to an ATT customer service person named Tashia. It turns out this woman is a real pro who was interested in have my problem resolved. Over the next 2 hours she talked to Fred, several store associates and 3 ATT stores attempting to locate the color and size that I wanted. The problem with that was that ATT stores got fewer phones than the Apple store. Finally after my daughter and I talked about it, I decided I would give up the extra 200.00's so that my wife would have a phone, despite the fact that it was the Apple store that bricked her phone.

During that time Tashia the ATT Rep called back. I told her that my wife cannot go without a phone so I was going to suck it up and pay the extra money. She said that it didn't seem right and asked if I could wait until the next day. I pointed out to her that I came from 2 hours away and that I had to go to work and the way gas prices are, traveling so far was just too much to deal with. She said, I don't think you should pay it, because you really are entitled to upgrade pricing. I thanked her and said, that's probably correct, 200.00 is a lot of money. We decided to leave.

My daughter and I hiked though the mall to leave. As we entered the food court, heading to the exit Tashia the ATT rep called back (for the 3rd time). She asked me where I was, and I told her, "almost to the exit, I was going to head south and hopefully figure out a way to unbrick my wife's first generation iPhone. She asked me to sit down and she would call me back in 5 minutes. We sat and waited. She said, "It turns out that Fred is not the manager, he's an assistant manager, who sounds like he's not going to help you. I talked to Kassie, she is the actual manager. I want you to go in and ask for her. I will call you back in 15 minutes to find out what happened."

My daughter and I went back to the Apple store and asked for the manager. She walked out and had a bag. She pulled out a box that had my name on it. I recognized it from the fist transaction more than 4 hours ago. She asked me what my wife's phone number was and I told her. She handed me the bag completing the original transaction. She said "ATT somehow fixed the situation. They didn't like how you had been treated and wanted to resolve the situation for you. When you go home, connect the phone to iTunes to activate your wife's iPhone and it will work." Wow.

Tashia the ATT rep called back to check and see if I had received the iPhone. I told her what happened and she seemed satisfied. She stated if the activation did not work to call ATT and the would make sure the problem is fully resolved. I was stunned. Somebody at a big corporation cared enough about my problem to take my situation seriously and help me. ATT earned me as a customer for life at that very instance. They acted and conducted business as professionals, unlike the amateur hour(s) at the Apple Store. They provided real customer service, rather than hyping themselves as having it. They treated me with respect. Fred just wanted the number appearing on the screen.