IPhone Saga or “How I got an Iphone and learned to hate the mall”

Posted on September 1, 2007
Filed Under business, review |

A few of you might remember me Twittering a week or so that I was frustrated that my nails prevented me from being able to get an iphone. Since then I played with a few and realized that I could, in fact, use one without trouble so four days I ago I made the plunge. Or rather, I tried to. I went to the mall, card in hand to buy one and after putting my name on the list for customer service, standing around for over a half an hour, and then being greeted by the grumpy twelve year old who runs the store I was told that the man before me in line had bought the last iphone in stock. I was told that they’d get more the next afternoon but it was three more days until I was actually able to purchase one.

Purchase, not activate.

In the store, the fourteen year old manager of the twelve year old service guy, tells me that I need to take the phone home to activate on Itunes (which I knew) and that there would be a credit check that might make me come back into the store. Never have I had to have a credit check to pay for monthly service on anything. After all, if you don’t pay they can just shut you off. Anyhow, since I couldn’t activate mine in the store we couldn’t replace Mark’s Verizon phone with another (we’re on a family plan) and so had to leave without purchasing a phone for him. After a day we decided it would just be easier for Mark to get an iphone as well (I didn’t really have to twist his arm) so we could activate them both at the same time.

I log in to Itunes, say that I want to activate two phones, keep numbers, move accounts over etc, then get a weird error message and end up activating only my phone. Three phone calls later the AT&T folks tell me that Mark will have to come into the store to add his to my plan. So, leaving me behind with four five year olds he heads down to the mall. And again, waits in line for an inordinate amount of time just to find out that, in fact, we have to activate his over the phone. So he comes home, tries to follow the instructions they gave him and rather than adding his line to mine the software wants him to pay for a whole new plan. Not wanting to double our bill he calls AT&T who tell him that he has to come into the store again to have his credit checked even though he’ll be on my plan. Frustrated, he heads out again to a different store where he hopes the line will be shorter, talks to the ever mature staff, and comes home with an activated phone.

Three days, $1200, five trips to the AT&T store, and about ten calls to customer service and we finally have two active iPhones on the same family plan. Geesh! Why do they make it so hard to give them money? Geesh!

I will say, though, the phone is amazing. I love its intuitive interface and I’m very glad I bought it. Second, the iTunes activation is a stroke of genius. Had we not needed to add two lines to a plan etc the home activation would have saved me spending time in the hellish mall. Also, as with Mac laptops, I suggest you personalize your iphone pretty quickly so it doesn’t get picked up accidentally by someone else. They all look the same when they’re asleep.

So without further ado, I introduce you to…..the Intellaphone!