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*important* if you have AT&T business account that is paid for by your employer

einmusiker

einmusiker

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 26, 2010
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If you are with AT&T premiere and your phone and account are paid for by your employer, make sure you pick up your iPhone at a brick and mortar ATT store or you will have problems purchasing it. Take my advice I just spoke with a rep and I had big problems with the 3G two years ago. Ask any questions here

You can either...

1. pick it up directly at an ATT store

or

2. drop our FAN account number and buy anywhere and readd the fan number later

I repeat, if you try to buy an iphone at apple store or walmart etc and you have a fan# you will be frustrated and have to wait for them to remove the fan# manually. save yourself a headache

EDIT: I posted this because I stood in line for the 3G for 6 hours and was turned away because of my FAN account.

The people that are calling me names because this issue has apparently been resolved (but not for employer paid accounts!) are being rude and unhelpful, when I was just trying to be helpful.
 
SAD*FACED*CLOWN said:
I'm a premiere customer and I've never had a problem getting a phone from Apple...I've had all 3 iPhones within a week of release dates also
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people can do what they wish but consider yourself forewarned if you have problems. I had the headache 2 years ago so I will be dropping my fan number ahead of time cuz I wanna buy from the apple store with no issues
 
einmusiker said:
I just spoke with a premiere rep who worked 2 years ago and she said retail stores cannot process business account orders. I believe her. she seemed like one of the few att employees with half a....
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Supposedly this was changed with the release of the 3GS. Shouldn't be an issue now.

With that said, I'm not 100% sure but I doubt it's the same way it was 2 years ago. I specifically read something in the last day or so that mentioned how Apple can now process these purchases.
 
einmusiker said:
I just spoke with a premiere rep who worked 2 years ago and she said retail stores cannot process business account orders. I believe her. she seemed like one of the few att employees with half a....
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I don't understand....AT&T retail stores can't process business account orders or Apple stores can't? because like I said I have never had a problem with either
 
They had issues with FAN accounts with the 3G. I didn't have an issue activating the phone, I just had to add the FAN back on (which I could do online easily). They have since fixed that and can add the iPhone without removal of the FAN.
 
I bought the 3gs on launch date at Apple Store and had no problems what so ever. Maybe I just had a good Apple Associate.

Hardest part about having premiere account is finding upgrade date on website.
 
einmusiker said:
people can do what they wish but consider yourself forewarned if you have problems. I had the headache 2 years ago so I will be dropping my fan number ahead of time cuz I wanna buy from the apple store with no issues
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I've had a FAN# on my account and have purchased each iPhone the day it came out. No problems here either?? I'll keep it in mind though come June 24
 
So are you saying that you can't actually buy/order the iPhone through the Apple store if you have a FAN discount or that you can't retain your discount when the new iPhone is added? I've added 2 iPhones (original and 3G) to an account with a FAN# both through Apple and not had a problem...
 
einmusiker said:
I just spoke with a premiere rep who worked 2 years ago and she said retail stores cannot process business account orders. I believe her. she seemed like one of the few att employees with half a....
Click to expand...

Yes this is true but, who in their right mind goes to a store instead of just ordering from the premier website? Also if you have been a premier manager for long enough you should know this already. I have way too many other things to do in my day then to go to an AT&T store and deal with that crap. I manage 150 AT&T phones of which about 60 are iPhones. I have not had any issues at all since day one of release of iPhone 3G and 3GS ordering on the premier site, ordered my 3GS on release day and got it 2 days later. So I'm not sure what you are talking about.
 
I have FAN and I didn't run into any issue when I upgraded my wife's phone to 3GS from Apple's online store.
 
I upgraded to the 3GS last year at the Apple store here in the Chi on Michigan Ave with a fan account & had no issues.
 
Pared said:
Supposedly this was changed with the release of the 3GS. Shouldn't be an issue now.

With that said, I'm not 100% sure but I doubt it's the same way it was 2 years ago. I specifically read something in the last day or so that mentioned how Apple can now process these purchases.
Click to expand...

Guess I was right. :eek:
 
Yes the FAN discounts were a huge problem at Apple stores 2 years ago.

But that's 2 years ago.

3GS has not had the same issues as the 3G launch (cause Thad the first time Apple went with the subsidized pricing model in 2008)
 
ok cool. thats good to know but I still might not risk it considering the problems I had last time and my history with att, I'd be the one lucky one to end up with problems :rolleyes:

so does the premiere site do preorders than too? If so I will definitely do that. I was under the impression they didnt.
 
bfh123 said:
At the risk of being flamed, whats FAN?
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Foundation Account Number. Basically, a number assigned to an AT&T Business account indicating that it receives a certain type of discount for having a business contract with AT&T.

I have had a similar experience as the OP. When I tried to purchase my iPhone 3G at an Apple store two years ago, I was redirected to an AT&T corporate store after waiting in line for 5 hours. Since then, I have always just gone to AT&T stores to purchase iPhones. Things may have changed since then, but I'm not taking any chances.
 
Uhh hai, I like know this rep who is my brothers girlfriends mother who worked at AT&T when it was Cingular but not since and she told my neighbors postman that if you have a FAN discount on your account you can't buy teh iPhone from the Apple Store. I know this is true because I had the same issue 2 years ago so it must be true and ATT would never change their policy in that short of time. Omg what do I do, we are all screwed!!!!!11!!!one!!!

Give me a break. Many of us have had FAN accounts for years, since before the wireless merger for me. Last year I walked into an Apple store and bought 2 3gs's, both with FAN discounts on launch day. Stop working people up into a tizzy over nothing. I really hate MR post keynote. All of the Dee Dee Dee's come out of the woodwork.
 
Had my FAN account since 2007, bought 1st iPhone at AT&T and the 3G at the Apple store with no problems. Never had to re-add anything. No problems here. :cool:
 
bit_bucket said:
Uhh hai, I like know this rep who is my brothers girlfriends mother who worked at AT&T when it was Cingular but not since and she told my neighbors postman that if you have a FAN discount on your account you can't buy teh iPhone from the Apple Store. I know this is true because I had the same issue 2 years ago so it must be true. Omg what do I do, we are all screwed!!!!!11!!!one!!!

Give me a break. Many of us have had FAN accounts for years, since before the wireless merger for me and I have purchased every iPhone on launch day with NO issues. Stop working people up into a tizzy over nothing. I reLy hate MR post keynote. All of the Dee Dee Dee's come out of the woodwork.
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For a quick second, I thought the first paragraph was about you haha
 
There are so many conflicting answers on here. Has anyone had experience with a FAN giving them problems when they upgraded to 3Gs? Or did someone have the process go smoothly?
 
elephunkman said:
For a quick second, I thought the first paragraph was about you haha
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Lol it was meant as a sarcastic break from all of this hyperventilating. If you have a FAN discount purchase how and where you want. You won't have any issues.

Per my post above I had NO issues buying 2 3GS iphones on launch day last year at an apple store both numbers under a FAN discount. The problem everyone is fear mongering over was a glitch in the 3G buying process and was actually rectified pretty quickly after it surfaced 2 years ago.
 
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