I am also in back order hell (on line order) and after three calls to customer service and getting a different answer each call I gave up on getting an estimate on when my phone would ship (someone did say within 14 days). I went the AT&T store (Magnolia branch) at 8:30 pm to buy a 64 gb iPhone S and was told that they had everything in stock except the 8 gb.
I had also been told over the phone that they could cancel a premier order at a store and since I was getting a new phone number they would just activate a new phone number. After waiting in line for 10 minutes. the manager came over and started talking to me. He looked puzzled and went to speak to someone behind the cash register and came back with "we don't do that" and that was really the end of the discussion. To add insult to injury they sold three 64 gb phones when I was in the store and had "plenty more in stock".
This is probably the most dramatic endorsement for Verizon you could imagine. Sure they cost more but they don't treat their customers like dirt.
I beg to differ. Verizon is as lousy as the rest. I've been telling a co-worker to just go into the store and try out the iPhone and the Android phones and get what you feel comfortable with. He will never play games, or care about all the things that I think make the iPhone great (mainly the app selection being a million times better). So I told him to just try it out. However, a bigger iFan than me convinced him to get an iPhone. Well, he went in earlier this week ready to get his iPhone and said that's what he wanted. As you can tell, he doesn't care too much about the phones, as he didn't even care about waiting for the 4S. Well, he left with an Incredible 2 because the VZW salesperson convinced him it was better. All they care about is their commissions. The guy was upgrading from a flip phone and didn't care about all the customization Android offers. He would have been better off without all the hassle Android offers.
And to make it worse, the phone was priced at like 229, but had a $50 MIR. Well, they were "willing to make an exception and offer him it for 179 with the same MIR. But he had to buy it then. Don't worry they kept telling him, you can return it within 14 days with no problems. They didn't mention the fact that there is a $35 restocking fee whatsoever. (I had to tell my coworker that.). Anyways, they continually pushed him into it, and even got a buddy VZA salesperson to help push him into buying it that time. Well, we went to the Best Buy website today, and saw that their great once in a lifetime opportunity of 179 with a MIR wasn't that great, considering Best Buy had it on sale for $99.
Oh and another story.... A couple months ago, I was actually in the store with another coworker who was getting the thunderbolt. The guy asked about a texting plan, and my buddy was like, yeah definitely. The only one he offered was the $20 unlimited. Didn't make any mention of anything else. It was only after my buddy was like, isn't there some $5 thing for like 250 texts? Then he was like, oh yeah, that's our unadvertised rate. Unadvertised rate? WTF? So you just screw people who don't need unlimited texting into unlimited texting because they don't know better?
AT&T bad? Maybe. But Verizon Wireless is no better. They are out to screw their customers as much as anyone. Not only that, but their rates are higher (have you seen the taxes and fees as well? How come no other carrier has the same extravagant list of fees, if they are supposedly government regulated fees?), and they offer less tiers of services. Their cellular signal may be the most consistent around the country, but their customer service blows like the rest of them. At least when AT&T got rid of $30 unlimited, they offered a $25 2GB plan. Verizon? They got rid of their $30 unlimited, and offered a $30 2GB plan. Thanks Verizon. Really helping out the customers. I realize both companies care about money a lot more. But Verizon is pretty damn bad based on my experiences.
