Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Beware of the 'Business Account'
- Thread starter miguelq
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Geez...i couldn't have typed this better myself. i am also waiting on the screen that says "your activation requires additional time to complete"...45 minutes later no email from cingular. i really don't think i can sleep if this phone is not working...geez
We have a similar problem. We were never B2B (Business to Business?) AT&T customers. We own a small business, and when we originally set up our account (back when Cingular was SWBELL Wireless), we directed our bill to our business.
However, Cingular verifies our social security number upon every change. Therefore, it would appear our account has personal liability.
With the change to Cingular, then to AT&T, we apparently "became" AT&T Business customers. Although we receive no discounts, have a FamilyTalk plan, are eligible for upgrades as "personal customers", and sign the same 2-year contracts as "personal customers."
So go figure. I can't find a decent AT&T Rep that can help us.
i suppose that is similar to my situation. i was informed of the same Data Plan i must accept, so i did so.
hopefully this rep can help me, if they ever pick up. on hold now 45 mins, doing nothing.
told 1-6 hours as well...this really sucks...you would think that att planned for this crap...
you would have thought so... forgetting that i waited in line nearly 7 hours, which was worth it because i do have 2 iPhones right now, but someone REALLY dropped the ball here, and it wasn't me.
i even said to the reps earlier this week that it might be a good idea for me to drop the discount and make sure all is easy to go when i activate, and they all said it wouldn't be a problem.
thanks.
Business Account Conversion Sucess? Anyone?
Wifey and I both got iPhones tonight. Neither will activate for different but apparently related reasons.
1) Mine: Definitely a biz account. I knew this would be an issue. ATT says that in the morning, a conversion person will set me up with a consumer account and then move my phone number from the biz account to the consumer account... THEN I can register using the new consumer account number. Anyone doing the same (or done it successfully) or find a workaround for the biz account issue???
2) The wife: She has a discount on her account. The word I am hearing is that at some point, Cingular/ATT declared all accounts with any discounts "business accounts." So we need to workaround that too. She also got the message that it is the wrong type of account.
So, yes, the word on the street was no biz accounts would be covered. I knew that, and I also knew that I could xfer a number. So, basically, since many of us are in the same boat (either b/c it is a biz account or just simply b/c you had some sort of discount)....
Has anyone figured out a good workaround for migrating a biz account to an iPhone account? If so, what is the exact flow of events?
I'll be happy if I get it to work by the end of the weekend. We early adopters must have patience with quirks like this.
Wifey and I both got iPhones tonight. Neither will activate for different but apparently related reasons.
1) Mine: Definitely a biz account. I knew this would be an issue. ATT says that in the morning, a conversion person will set me up with a consumer account and then move my phone number from the biz account to the consumer account... THEN I can register using the new consumer account number. Anyone doing the same (or done it successfully) or find a workaround for the biz account issue???
2) The wife: She has a discount on her account. The word I am hearing is that at some point, Cingular/ATT declared all accounts with any discounts "business accounts." So we need to workaround that too. She also got the message that it is the wrong type of account.
So, yes, the word on the street was no biz accounts would be covered. I knew that, and I also knew that I could xfer a number. So, basically, since many of us are in the same boat (either b/c it is a biz account or just simply b/c you had some sort of discount)....
Has anyone figured out a good workaround for migrating a biz account to an iPhone account? If so, what is the exact flow of events?
I'll be happy if I get it to work by the end of the weekend. We early adopters must have patience with quirks like this.
I just hung up after hold for one hour (earlier calls were "we cannot help you at this time, please call back" so I kept calling back).
Enjoying my iBrick until Monday it seems.
Or when my wife returns from her business trip on Sunday I will just set this up for her and get another one next week.
That's NOT what I like to hear. Well, I DVRed the Cardinals' game while in line this afternoon/tonight, so I might just let it run on hold while I'm watching the game. If they don't answer after THREE HOURS, I would assume they're not answering!
It appears we aren't the only ones having problems with our "business accounts." Even Macworld's East Coast Editor can't get the phone activated.
http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2007/06/iphone_act/index.php
Can they change you from a business to personal account in the AT&T Corporate store?
http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2007/06/iphone_act/index.php
Can they change you from a business to personal account in the AT&T Corporate store?
AT&T can NOT activate my iPhone!!!
I went to the Apple store today with an employees & bought 4 phones for me & my 3 employs. Tried to activate them. iTunes says I can not activate them because I have a business account. So I called AT&T and they said the iPhone will not work with Business accounts. My business pays my phone bill as well as my 3 employees. They told me my employees would either have to create a new account and pay there own bill (why would they want 2 phones) or they could transfer service but would have to be billed to there personal credit card because they would be personal accounts and also would charge me early disconnection fee!!! I can not have my employees pay there own phone bills when a they make business calls all day plus I need it on my company credit card for tax purposes.
Looks like I will have to return the phone.
I bet Apple has a restocking fee!!!
I went to the Apple store today with an employees & bought 4 phones for me & my 3 employs. Tried to activate them. iTunes says I can not activate them because I have a business account. So I called AT&T and they said the iPhone will not work with Business accounts. My business pays my phone bill as well as my 3 employees. They told me my employees would either have to create a new account and pay there own bill (why would they want 2 phones) or they could transfer service but would have to be billed to there personal credit card because they would be personal accounts and also would charge me early disconnection fee!!! I can not have my employees pay there own phone bills when a they make business calls all day plus I need it on my company credit card for tax purposes.
Looks like I will have to return the phone.
I bet Apple has a restocking fee!!!
I went to the Apple store today with an employees & bought 4 phones for me & my 3 employs. Tried to activate them. iTunes says I can not activate them because I have a business account. So I called AT&T and they said the iPhone will not work with Business accounts. My business pays my phone bill as well as my 3 employees. They told me my employees would either have to create a new account and pay there own bill (why would they want 2 phones) or they could transfer service but would have to be billed to there personal credit card because they would be personal accounts and also would charge me early disconnection fee!!! I can not have my employees pay there own phone bills when a they make business calls all day plus I need it on my company credit card for tax purposes.
Looks like I will have to return the iBrick!
I bet Apple has a restocking fee!!!
Looks like I will have to return the iBrick!
I bet Apple has a restocking fee!!!
what is the big deal anyways? why cant you activate using a business acct? an acct is an acct, you paid $600 for it so why cant you use the phone? ive NEVER heard of a phone not working depending on the account you have.
does ATT or apple have a reason for this?
does ATT or apple have a reason for this?
I have an iBrick too! talked to AT&T... no business account? How was this well documented?!!! must have been in fine print somewhere because I thought I did so much research on the iPhone and just found this out now!
Should have been in BIG BOLD LETTERS on AT&T's website that IF YOU OWN A BUSINESS ACCOUNT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE ACTIVATE THIS PHONE
Should have been in BIG BOLD LETTERS on AT&T's website that IF YOU OWN A BUSINESS ACCOUNT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE ACTIVATE THIS PHONE
a few hours later and i'm still here....trying to get this fixed. i apparently had a discount on my plan and when the big switch occurred, "discount" began meaning "business". i've dropped the discount, but the business indicator is still there, so now i'm trying to get that status changed so i can use my iSexy.
good thing i have chocolate to get me through all of this.
good thing i have chocolate to get me through all of this.
Read the documentation
Apparently none of you all with buisness accounts bothered to read ANY!! of the documentation that was provided to you, the info in store, the info included in the bag, any of the posts here or elsewhere that have existed
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/Documents/iphonelaunchguide2.pdf
open it, find in the article IRU and TADA!! all the info you could have needed, all you needed to do was READ!! and Oh ya if your account has was called a FAN # (FOUNDATION ACCOUNT) it qualifies as a buisness account, and discounts to an account are usally only placed on the account when a FAN # is associated.
from the att website FAQ's
Q. Are business customers eligible for discounts?
A. No. iPhone service is available only to consumer accounts. iPhone and associated wireless service are not eligible for corporate discounts.
I could lead you to more sources where the info was given, but if your pissed ...your pissed, pointing out all the ways you could have known is NOT gonna help ya's
Apparently none of you all with buisness accounts bothered to read ANY!! of the documentation that was provided to you, the info in store, the info included in the bag, any of the posts here or elsewhere that have existed
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/Documents/iphonelaunchguide2.pdf
open it, find in the article IRU and TADA!! all the info you could have needed, all you needed to do was READ!! and Oh ya if your account has was called a FAN # (FOUNDATION ACCOUNT) it qualifies as a buisness account, and discounts to an account are usally only placed on the account when a FAN # is associated.
from the att website FAQ's
Q. Are business customers eligible for discounts?
A. No. iPhone service is available only to consumer accounts. iPhone and associated wireless service are not eligible for corporate discounts.
I could lead you to more sources where the info was given, but if your pissed ...your pissed, pointing out all the ways you could have known is NOT gonna help ya's
This is not 100% true. I receive a corporate discount for my existing AT&T/Cingular account. When activating the iPhone in iTunes, I received a message telling me that the discount was not applicable to the iPhone. I had to confirm agreement with this stipulation and then I clicked Continue.
Then I received a message saying that the activation process could take up to 3 minutes. After 5 minutes or so I a message appeared saying that AT&T needed more time to activate my account. At 9:05 PM I received an email from the iTunes Store stating the same thing.
At 9:26 PM I received another email from the iTunes Store stating that activation was complete. It included a link that took me back to iTunes to complete the process.
At 9:53 PM everything looks good and I'm in the process of syncing all of my media.
Apparently none of you all with buisness accounts bothered to read ANY!! of the documentation that was provided to you, the info in store, the info included in the bag, any of the posts here or elsewhere that have existed
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/Documents/iphonelaunchguide2.pdf
open it, find in the article IRU and TADA!! all the info you could have needed, all you needed to do was READ!! and Oh ya if your account has was called a FAN # (FOUNDATION ACCOUNT) it qualifies as a buisness account, and discounts to an account are usally only placed on the account when a FAN # is associated.
from the att website FAQ's
Q. Are business customers eligible for discounts?
A. No. iPhone service is available only to consumer accounts. iPhone and associated wireless service are not eligible for corporate discounts.
I could lead you to more sources where the info was given, but if your pissed ...your pissed, pointing out all the ways you could have known is NOT gonna help ya's
I hear what you are saying... but seriously it needed to be made a bigger issue with AT&T... and furthermore, trust me, I'm not the only one who feels this way and is caught in this situation (also those pricing postings were only made recently by AT&T)....
my analogy is like wanted to buy a new car to find out after the fact that "WAIT!!! THIS CAR WAS SOLD WITHOUT AN ENGINE!!!?" ....or another analogy is if a friend asked you to come over and "watch TV"... it would be assumed that their TV would be turned on and working if you were watching it!
