An iPhone 4S nightmare

[rocknblogger]

On Sunday I decided to restore my phone because I was having battery and slow data issues. I had read in a number of threads that restoring and setting it up as a new phone helped quite a few people. So, since I had nothing to lose I figured I would try it.

The restore operation went smoothly until the last screen when the phone rebooted. I got an error message saying my SIM card was incompatible and that I had to get in touch with my carrier, which happens to be Sprint.

I called Sprint tech support who upon hearing the problem said I had to call Apple. I call Apple who promptly tell me this is a Sprint issue and that I need to talk to them. The Apple tech apologized and told me he would get a senior Sprint tech for me so I wouldn't have to wait on hold again and that he would explain the problem to him so I wouldn't have to.

After a short minute or two the tech told me that I would have to bring the phone to a Sprint store.

The following day I go to Sprint and the manager tells me the techs leave at 6pm and that I should go to the Apple store. I get to the Apple store but they have no more free appointments. So I make an appointment for today. I go back to Apple and the kid says all he could do is swap out the phone but if it doesn't activate I have to go back to Sprint. Of course the phone doesn't activate so I go to Sprint. I waited for almost three hours for the manager to finally come back out with my phone telling me I have to go back to Apple that they shouldn't have sent me to Sprint this afternoon. He tells me he spoke to the manager at the Apple store and she supposedly owns up to the fact that Apple should have resolved my issue.

It's now six pm and I know the Apple store is not going to have any open appointments if I go there, so I ask him to call the manager back and explain I was already there today can't they squeeze me in? He comes back "No they cant".

I'm holding a $750 brick and no one is taking responsibility. I'm besides myself and don't know who to be angry at.

Evidently the problem is that the SIM card has locked me out. So I ask the manager at Sprint, what irk they just unlock the phone then it doesn't matter what card is in there? He says he's thought of that but international dept said they can't, meaning that it won't work. I'm skeptical about that so I'm going to to get on the phone in a little while after my headache subsides and see if I can get a senior manager or tech person.

What an f'n nightmare.

 

[stickybuns]

Wow! That does sound incredibly frustrating. At this point, I think I'd just demand that the phone be replaced.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but do I thought that Sprint phones didn't use SIM cards? If that's the case, it seems really odd that you're getting an error message about the SIM.

 

[rocknblogger]

Wow! That does sound incredibly frustrating. At this point, I think I'd just demand that the phone be replaced.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but do I thought that Sprint phones didn't use SIM cards? If that's the case, it seems really odd that you're getting an error message about the SIM.

You are 100% correct. Sprint does not use SIM cards. Evidently what happened in my case is the SIM locked me out.
The Sprint manager said if he had another 32GB phone he would have exchanged it for me. I started to argue about "Give me the 64GB" but just as I started my wife who hates going to the Sprint store to begin with, came in after waiting for two and a half hours and kind blew up my roll. Make no mistake, I was on a roll, and given another few minutes with a store full of customers I may have won. But when your wife is tired, angry, hungry and frustrated, you need to know when to say uncle

So, I'm about to get on the phone and see what I can accomplish over the phone. At the very worst it's back to Apple tomorrow :/

 

[STC]

I started to argue about "Give me the 64GB" but just as I started my wife who hates going to the Sprint store to begin with, came in after waiting for two and a half hours and kind blew up my roll. Make no mistake, I was on a roll, and given another few minutes with a store full of customers I may have won. But when your wife is tired, angry, hungry and frustrated, you need to know when to say uncle

Ok sure. If you were really on a "roll", you wouldnt have given up when your wife walked in. Also if she didn't know you should have told her you were almost done and she should have understood esp all you have been through that day.

Now youll have to do more work tomorrow to get this resolved. Who knows you might have to explain yourself all over again to Sprint.

And yes I'm married as too and my wife would have been my back up when dealing w/ Apple and Sprint.

 

[stickybuns]

Just a wild guess, but I'm betting that things went screwy when Sprint pushed the update locking the SIM card slots that had been left unlocked at first.

Are you still within the cancellation period of your contract? If they can't provide you with a working phone *today*, I would loudly demand to have my contract terminated without penalty. Pick a time when the store is busy (but not too busy) and see how fast a new phone magically appears.

 

[rocknblogger]

Ok sure. If you were really on a "roll", you wouldnt have given up when your wife walked in. Also if she didn't know you should have told her you were almost done and she should have understood esp all you have been through that day.

Now youll have to do more work tomorrow to get this resolved. Who knows you might have to explain yourself all over again to Sprint.

And yes I'm married as too and my wife would have been my back up when dealing w/ Apple and Sprint.

Usually my wife has my back 100% of the time and this time too but she just walked in at the wrong time and didn't know everything the manager and I had discussed in the last fifteen minutes. As a matter of fact she started getting into his ass about how ridiculous all this was. But I could see I was making inroads with the guy, it was just bad timing. When my wife's blood sugar level drops, no amount of coaxing or calming down is going to work. I knew I had to get her out of there and get her some food ASAP. I love her to death but it was just bad timing.

So, update time. As I expected when I went back to the Apple store they told me it was a Sprint issue being that the SIM cards have to come from the provider. In my heart I knew thats what the end result would be.

The Apple genius called the Sprint store in front of me and spoke to the same manager I spoke to, Jose. Jose immediately started convincing the Apple guy that it was Apple's responsibility to rectify the situation. The Apple guy calmly explained to him why it was not Apples responsibility and in fact, what Apple's responsibilities are. After spending twenty minutes calmly arguing with the Spring manager he asked for a corporate number that we could call to try to get a SIM card. After about ten minutes on hold Jose comes back on the line, he can't find the right number (yeah right) but now all of a sudden he's getting a shipment of SIM cards on Friday. He says however that he's going to try to find a 32GB white iPhone so he can just exchange it for me and if not he's going to "try" to get the okay to give me the 64GB model. All this is supposed to happen by Friday.

I'm a reasonable man. I understand that this is the first phone that Sprint has had to deal with that takes a SIM card. I also understand that the iPhone is completely foreign to them and they don't understand how Apple bends over backwards for their customers (at least in my experience). And I can understand how since it's only been about three weeks, why they don't have any replacement SIM cards. I get all that. But come Friday one of three things is going to happen.

Either I get a new iPhone or SIM or they will let us out of our contract. Keep in mind folks, I did not buy the phone on contract. I paid full price. I did this for a couple of reasons. One, I wasn't due for an upgrade yet, two, I didn't want to renew our contract and three I just happened into some extra cash that allowed me to buy a new toy. One that I've been wanting for five years. Oh and four, because I want to use my upgrade for the iPhone 5.

I will say this about Sprint. Over the years I've been very happy with both their customer support and cell service as a whole. We've been with them for over ten years and I've seen the bad and the good, but they are starting to slip a bit now, at the worst possible time.

With the iPhone comes a new type of customer. A bit more well to do, upper middle class, shop savvy and demanding. When I say demanding I mean, demanding good customer support. Now please, don't get me wrong and misunderstand what I'm saying about Sprint customers. I've been there long enough to know that the majority of Spring customers are good blue caller hard working people.of course there are exceptions and yes there are people from all walks of life.

With all that's said, Sprint needs to step up their customer support/relations. Let me give you an example of what I mean.

When I went to Sprint to activate my iPhone three weeks ago the kid helping me took three phone calls and with each one stopped doing what he was doing for me to get an answer for the caller's question. Also while on the phone with the caller he started twirling my brand new iPhone on the counter like it was some toy. I was just about to say something when he stopped so I let it go. But my point is, when you're with a customer (any customer not just iPhone) you give that customer 100% attention. There are many other employees that can answer a call if you're with someone. And treat my phone like its worth more than a...pen for example...not a twirly friggin toy.

If they want iPhone to succeed, and I'm sure they do, selling it is not enough. They need to back it up with stellar support and service.

Okay, rant and everything else is over.

I'm exhausted!!! Will update once I know what the outcome is.

Please excuse and spelling or grammatical errors

 

[alent1234]

just try to restore as new again

 

[rocknblogger]

just try to restore as new again

Trust me this has been tried multiple times by me, Apple and Sprint.

Also I forgot to mention that when the Apple tech inserted a Sprint SIM from another employees iPhone, the phone worked right.

 

[kage207]

SIM card issues are almost always the carriers fault and when you said you saw an Apple employees SIM card in yours was fine, I would have demanded Sprint fix it. I would have asked the Apple guy if there were any nearby Sprint stores and just go there together to explain to Sprint it is their problem that they need to fix. It's a phone, it needs to be working and they need a solution within a reasonable time frame.

 

[rocknblogger]

SIM card issues are almost always the carriers fault and when you said you saw an Apple employees SIM card in yours was fine, I would have demanded Sprint fix it. I would have asked the Apple guy if there were any nearby Sprint stores and just go there together to explain to Sprint it is their problem that they need to fix. It's a phone, it needs to be working and they need a solution within a reasonable time frame.

Yeah unfortunately the Sprint store isn't within walking distance otherwise the Apple tech would have done what you propose.

Update: I sent a terse email to dan@sprint.com not expecting an answer but much to my surprise I did get a reply. I spoke to a Sprint rep today who told me that as soon as the Sprint store receives their shipment, which they are unclear as to exactly what they are getting tomorrow, the manager is going to call me to let me know what my choice is going to be.

She told me that she did call him so he knows I reached out to a higher authority and that eyes are on him now too.

Will update tomorrow.

 

[kage207]

Yeah unfortunately the Sprint store isn't within walking distance otherwise the Apple tech would have done what you propose.

Update: I sent a terse email to dan@sprint.com not expecting an answer but much to my surprise I did get a reply. I spoke to a Sprint rep today who told me that as soon as the Sprint store receives their shipment, which they are unclear as to exactly what they are getting tomorrow, the manager is going to call me to let me know what my choice is going to be.

She told me that she did call him so he knows I reached out to a higher authority and that eyes are on him now too.

Will update tomorrow.

Ah, good luck. Oh, are there no other Sprint stores in you area that have SIM cards? Can the not send one into the mail to you? Maybe over night it? I mean really, that's what they should have done.

Oh, and a future note to all: Whenever dealing with a carrier issue when it comes to the iPhone and you are there at an Apple Store or over the phone, make sure they get into contact with the store they are sending you to so they know what's coming in. Might help everyone in the future. I kinda wish I could make a stickie for people so they know what to do when they have iPhone problems, as most don't know how to get help. I don't like how companies try to play some games in terms of who's doing what and not helping the customer the first time around.

 

[rocknblogger]

Ah, good luck. Oh, are there no other Sprint stores in you area that have SIM cards? Can the not send one into the mail to you? Maybe over night it? I mean really, that's what they should have done.

You are 100% right. Sprint should have just ordered me a SIM card and we would have been done with this. I can only assume that it's something that completely slipped their collective minds, that there may be a need to have SIM cards on hand for any eventuality. I have to further assume that it never even occurred to them that a SIM card might have an effect on the phone since Sprint uses CDMA. I think this incident will go a long way in preventing these kinds of problems in the future.

 

[kage207]

You are 100% right. Sprint should have just ordered me a SIM card and we would have been done with this. I can only assume that it's something that completely slipped their collective minds, that there may be a need to have SIM cards on hand for any eventuality. I have to further assume that it never even occurred to them that a SIM card might have an effect on the phone since Sprint uses CDMA. I think this incident will go a long way in preventing these kinds of problems in the future.

True, but they are switching to LTE which makes it that they have to have SIM cards. I just can't believe they locked the phones after they came unlocked. It's totally wrong what the carriers are doing with it. I bought the phone, signed the contract, now let me not use your "service" in another country. Otherwise if people cancel their contract, make them pay for the remaining amount of money for the phone AND a processing fee of $30, to make the carriers happy.

Anyways, hopeful it gets fixed tomorrow and you don't have to deal with it again. Kinda makes me skeptical of ever going to Sprint. I never ever have problems with AT&T in terms of customer service.

I wonder if Verizon iPhones are seeing any issues like this or did they come locked?

 

[rocknblogger]

Sprint finally came through and gave me an entirely new phone with a new SIM card.

I'm thrilled to finally have my phone back. I must say that this one is whiter than my previous iPhone 4S. I had actually started a thread about that and a lot of people thought I was being anal about it, but honest to God this one is whiter. It is also faster in terms of 3G and the screen is not green with my polarized reading glasses, which I am thrilled about.

This one is friggin perfect