Just step right up and you’ll hear a tale,
a tale of a rose-gold phone.
It started at a local store
and ended there as well…
Okay – it doesn’t rhyme but the Gilligan’s Island theme has been going through my head and I was trying to be clever. Anyway, let me tell you my tale
In December (less than one month ago), I took my daughter to our local AT&T store to purchase a new iPhone 6s for her to take with her on her study abroad. At that time, the thought was she would take it with her and buy a new sim card and plan in New Zealand when she arrived so the phone would need to be unlocked. After much discussion with our sales person (who by the way made several mistakes such as misquoting the terms and price of plans which we needed to call over the manager to clarify) as well as a phone call to AT&T support to find out if she would be able to get the phone unlocked, because the sales rep didn’t know how we could do this, we finally agreed to purchase the phone. We also knew we would have to purchase the phone all at once, no installments, in order for AT&T to do the unlock. Lastly, we discussed insurance as my daughter didn’t want to pay for it but once I confirmed that it would cover smashed screens (the demise of her previous phone), I told her I would cover the monthly insurance charge.
Roughly ninety plus minutes later we walked out of there with her brand new rose gold iPhone 6s.
Then she tried to have the phone unlocked. No go. Apparently, AT&T insisted that because I still had time left on my contract, we couldn’t unlock her phone. After a bunch of back and forth phone discussions, they finally agreed they could unlock the phone because we owned it outright having paid for it in full at the store.
Roughly ninety plus minutes later, we had the instructions to unlock the phone once she arrived in New Zealand.
You’re probably asking yourself why I love AT&T after that … keep reading.
Last night, at about 7:22pm, I got a text message from an unknown number stating, “can u try calling my ohone multiple times” spelling mistakes and all. It turned out to be my daughter, using a friend’s phone.
Yep, my daughter couldn’t find her phone (did I mention she’s in New Zealand) and she wanted me to keep calling it in the hopes she would find it buried in her bag, her friend’s bag, the car… yep you guessed it, her brand new phone was missing. It’s not the first time I’d been asked to do that and the phone had always turned up but I quickly grew suspicious of the circumstances, and it wasn’t long before she admitted the phone was probably stolen (left in an unlocked rental car), not lost, and, rightly so, she was also speaking to the police as she texted me.
So I immediately suspended the phone, traveled home (we’d been in a restaurant enjoying dinner), and called AT&T at about 8:25. Once I navigated the stupid computer answering system, I didn’t have to wait on hold for long, maybe two minutes before explaining that my daughter’s phone was stolen, she’s in New Zealand and asking does my insurance cover that.
The operator said it does and I was so happy! She said she’d transfer me to the insurance company and they would handle getting me a new phone. She put me on hold and transferred me … she transferred me to my daughter’s phone number!
So I hung up and redialed AT&T about 8:35pm now. Again I had to scream at the stupid automated computer voice answering system until it agreed to send me to a human being. This time the wait time was going to be 5 minutes. About 7 minutes later another young lady answered. I explained to her everything that had transpired and she said not to worry, she would transfer me correctly and it would be extremely easy to answer the phone prompts and get a new phone.
She did the transfer. And now the real fun began.
Because, you see, when I entered my account information, the insurance company told me we didn’t have insurance on the phone! The automated system then stated if I believe this was in error to press a number and it would send me back to AT&T.
I did and it did and now I had to wait about 7 minutes to speak to someone (again after screaming at the automated computer answering machine). A young man came on the phone, I explained to him my tale of woe, including the fact that I had told the salesman at the store I wanted insurance and this was news to me that I didn’t have any insurance.
He fiddled around some, took some information, looked at my records and then transferred me to someone in Customer Care (I believe that’s what he said, and it’s an oxymoron if ever I heard), who could help me.
Now I’m taking names. And this young ladies name was Tristan Hugh (if you could believe her). She said she was there to help me and asked if she could put me on hold for a bit as she did some research. She did this twice and when she returned she told me there was nothing she could do because I bought the phone at the store and not over the phone.
Wait, I bought the phone at an AT&T store.
Yes you did.And isn’t that the same company as AT&T.
Yes it is.
Aren’t those employees AT&T employees.
Yes they are.
And yet you can’t do anything when one of your employees screwed up?
No because it’s the store.
It’s an AT&T store.
Yes but we can’t do anything – you need to call the store. Did you call the store?
No! I didn’t because they are the ones that messed this up to begin with and I don’t trust them. I didn’t because by the time one of you told me that, it’s 9:10pm and the store is closed! Enough. I tell her I’d like speak to a supervisor.
I can have a supervisor call you within the hour.
You can’t transfer me to your supervisor?
No, I can’t.
You’re a phone company and you can’t transfer a phone call?
No, because he may be busy with another call.
Fine, so he will call me tonight by 10:15pm?
Yes.
What’s his name?
John.
What’s his last name?
Um… let me check I don’t know. Hold on, he’s sitting right behind me.
(I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried).
Returning, his name is John Allen.
So John will call me by 10:15pm tonight?
Yes.
Fine.
It’s almost 18 hours later. I’m still waiting for John Allen’s phone call.
You still wondering why I love AT&T?
Here’s why.
Feeling completely defeated. Feeling horrible for my daughter who will now be out another $750 (though this time I wasn’t going to pay for the phone all at once, that’s still $1500 and for a college kid that’s a shit load of money; hell $750 was a lot of money and she worked hard for that). Feeling protective, knowing I didn’t want to burden my daughter with that because I knew she already felt horrible and I didn’t want it to ruin the incredible adventure she was having, I resolved myself to just buying another phone, shipping it to her and worrying about the money later.
So I went over to the AT&T store this morning where we bought the phone. After waiting about 20 minutes, I was able to speak with the store manager, Ron. I explained my tale to Ron, and after some discussion back and forth, and research, Ron explained to me that they would give me a new phone for the amount of the deductible as if I had insurance, as well two months of the insurance payment (December and January). It was exactly what I had hoped for; more than that I could not wish and within 45 minutes all my issues were resolved!
In the end, it was exactly the opposite of my experience with Verizon Wireless. I always say everyone screws up. No company is perfect but you don’t judge a company by their mess-ups, you judge them by how they fix them. In the end, one employee took ownership of the issue and did what he needed to do to come to a fair conclusion of the problem.
That is why I love AT&T.
