Yes, folks, it has finally happened: I’ve been pushed from slightly annoyed to aghast to Pissed Off. And in the classic form, that I know makes Jolene laugh:
WHY ARE YOU MAKING IT SO HARD FOR ME TO GIVE YOU MONEY?!
I should have seen it coming. The previous post – Apple Can Suck My Left …Toe – was the start of it all… I should have known it would have escalated. In fact, Jolene asked me if I hit my pissed off point when I wrote that. I hadn’t. Obviously I hadn’t: Apple was told to suck my toe – AT&T is being told to suck a testicle. So, what flipped that bit?
There. Is. Nothing. More. Annoying. Than. Erg. OK, so it’s almost more annoying to type Like. That. Let me try again:
There’s nothing more annoying than trying to buy something from a store – and give them money! – and they won’t take it. In fact, they go out of their way to take it.
In the previous post, it walked everyone through the pain of trying to buy the iPhone 4 at the Early Upgrader’s price, when I thought I should have been able to. That and the fact that no one at Apple or AT&T could tell me why I couldn’t get the $399 price after one full year of a two year subscription.
That was just the first round. And I feel I should warn you, as a responsible author: this post is going to expose the inner-workings of a Geek/Fanboy/Male-Wanting-Shiny-Electronic mindset. If you ever saw lines of people at 9pm for a midnight opening of a GameStop or Best Buy, this is what it looks like, in side the grey matter… this is how people like me end up in that line in the first place: the thought of getting shut out, drives us into the cold, dark night with only a store marquee’s light to keep us warm.
The second round continues…
The iPhone 4 launched this past Thursday. I stopped in at an AT&T store at 8am. They tell me that they are only fulfilling pre-ordered customers and that they would be selling phones to the “unwashed heathen” on Tuesday, June 29. Store would be opening at 7am, but I should get there early – there were already 15 people in line at 4am that morning because they thought they could buy the phone, even if unreserved. They also told me that because of my story (or my Corporate plan) that I would be “allowed” to get the phone for the Early Upgrade price of $399. WHOO! That locked me into this store. Made me smile and happy. If I could get the discount via AT&T, I would forget about the Apple stores and just go with it.
By 8:45pm on Friday, the University Village Apple store still had about 100 people in line. They were only selling phones to people that had reserved them; they told people like me that they were sold out and expecting more phones in by mid-July. I wanted to check; Jolene wanted Red Mango. Was a no brainer to stop by. And I was OK with this news of July; I had AT&T as my primary plan.
Friday morning, there were reports from local FB and Tweets that three of the four area Apple stores had iPhones in stock. I said “Whoa, that’s a shock!” but couldn’t get away from work, even if I wanted to – besides I had AT&T to hook me up. Just sounded weird that people could just walk in and buy it. I mean, that makes it sound like a “regular product”. But either way the more I thought about it, the earlier I was planning on getting at AT&T in preparation for Tuesday morning. I was up to 3:30am, by the time Saturday morning came around.
And time was critical. It wasn’t a question of having the “newest, first” – it’s because I already have a sell order into Gazelle at a higher price than I would get now. I did my homework. The plan was: place the sell with Gazelle before pre-orders started, order the phone on Jun 15, get it by Jun 24, send the old phone to Gazelle, and then “PROFIT”. The problem is the whole upgrade plan got horked and this became a pain point… still is, in fact.
Of course, then I thought some more about it… the Early Upgrade price started to bother me… if it’s $399 now, and I’m not getting it until end-of-June, then next year – and lets face it, there will be a new phone that I’ll want next June – I’ll be in the same boat. Random price hikes? Screwed up calendar dates? Waiting until July to buy the phone? All likely… so why not go $599 now, let my contract expire on time in early 2011, and then swoop in as a “new” customer in June for $199? “Yes,” I thought. “I can live with this plan!”
Sunday I wandered into an Apple store, in Bellevue: sold out. I asked if they still had reserved phones; they told me they released those on Friday morning. Aha, I said – no wonder why there was stock on Friday morning. Well, good for those people that wandered in and scored. I then wandered into an AT&T store at BelSquare. Not “sold out,” but only filling pre-orders so they won’t sell me anything. This was expected: off-the-street customers could try on Tuesday. I mentioned something about paying full price for it. AT&T rep says, “Oh, you can’t do that on Tuesday morning.” ‘Hmm?’ I asked. “We don’t sell phones are full price on the day of launch.”
I… well… what else could I do? I exploded. No, I didn’t just explode. I went the full gamer version of exploded: I asspl0d3d. With the magnitude and intensity that would have made someone from Brooklyn blush.
‘Wait a minute. Are you honestly telling me that I can’t buy the phone at the full price on Tuesday morning?’
“It’s not our policy.”
‘WAIT a MINUTE. I’m trying to buy a phone from you – AT FULL PRICE so that you don’t have to subsidize anything – and you’re telling me that you won’t sell it to me?’
“It’s our policy that only people that qualify for an upgrade can get it on the day of release.”
‘THE DAY OF RELEASE WAS THURSDAY.’ (Yes, I can actually talk in all caps – it’s not about volume either: if done right, you can whisper in all caps. It’s an East Coast thing.)
“Our release to the public is Tuesday.”
(*twitch* Is this AT&T kid giving me attitude?)
‘I am aware of your release date. Why? Because when I tried to pre-order the phone I was given a higher than expected price which left me in the hands of AT&T. Why was a higher price? No one knows. Apple says it’s you – you say it’s Apple. I even wrote an email to Steve Jobs, asking him who I should be pissed at because you are both blaming each other. I can accept the higher price or the longer wait period, but I simply want to know why so I can plan accordingly. I started my contract in 2008. I bought a new phone at the Early Upgrade price in 2009 and that extended my contract to 2011. I should get the discounted price, but I can’t and now I’m willing to pay more so I can get the better discount next year. Why am I so aware of the AT&T launch day? BECAUSE I AM EXPECTED TO GET THERE AT 3AM TO GET A PLACE IN LINE. Are you now telling me that even if I did all of that, you simply will not sell me a phone because of a known but not published policy?’
“Let me check your account and see why you think you aren’t elligable for an Early Upgrade … Oh, I see. It says here that you already used your Early Upgrade last year.”
‘Yes, and I extended the contract, at that point. Are you telling me that I get one Upgrade per 2-year contract?’
“Yeah”
‘So why did I have to extend the contract to get that price? That makes it a three year contract, which you don’t even offer?’
“Uh…”
‘See why this is frustrating for people? My contract should have rebooted with the $200 fee I paid last year… why would I agree to an extended contract if it limits my buying power for the next two years?’
“Yeah… it shows it right here though: “already used it” – are you telling me that no other AT&T store could answer this?”
‘That’s what I’m saying. Because now, you see, I’m now even more pissed at AT&T than before. I held out looking for hardware because your company told me you could sell to me on Tuesday. Had I known of this policy ahead of time, I could have done something about it. I mean, what I don’t get is that aren’t I a customer here? Why is it that AT&T is working so hard to screw me out of service here?’
After that the guy at AT&T was honestly helpful, in terms of information. He had empathy for my issues, even if he couldn’t help me. Believe me – it helps when you’re talking to someone behind the counter that sees things through your eyes. They might not be able to help, but at least they can empathize.
Of course, now that the Bellevue store has told me this, I had to confirm it with the Redmond AT&T store. So, later that day, while I was already at RTC, I paid AT&T a little visit, and yes: they were able to successfully negate that feeling of… satisfaction that the empathetic Bellevue store offered.
‘If I sleep out for a phone, can I buy it at full price?’
“Sure!” says the happy AT&T rep.
‘Are you sure that I can do that? Your Bellevue store tells me I can’t because of “policy” and believe me: you do not want a customer like me, standing in line all night, only to get in the front door and hear “Oh, sorry, we can’t sell this to you because of our policies.’
“Uh… Uh… let me go check.” He goes to the back room and returns: “I’m so sorry, but you are correct: only upgrade customers can buy the phone on Tuesday.”
‘Really? Now, why is that?’
“Hey look – we’re a services company… we don’t make any money on the phone – we make it up on the 2 year contract.”
(*twitch* He did not just play the services card.)
‘Wait a minute. I get that. You require the two year contract for phones that you subsidize. You have to in those cases because you are discounting the phone. But here I am, offering you full price for a phone so you don’t have to subsidize it. You get all the cash up front and I stay on my current 2 year contract.’
“Yeah, but you see… well…”
‘Why is it that AT&T is constantly out to screw it’s current customers? I’m an active customer, on an existing contract, and I’m offering to give you money. Not even asking for a discount – no! I’m asking to pay full price and in turn, I’m getting screwed with a sandpaper condom. Why is it so hard to give your company money?‘
*WHABOOM!*
There it is! The most frustrating thing to a consumer! You have money to spend – they have product to sell – you want to give the money for the product and they go out of their way to say no. Repeatedly.
*sigh*
Glad that’s out of my system and hopefully this is the end of the saga. The only way for this to go south at this point is if Apple tells me the same thing, but I doubt it: I don’t recall Apple ever telling me “sorry, but we can’t take your money…”
Only two things left for me to do: cancel the Gazelle order and wait for Apple to deliver me a new phone …some time in late July.