Don't buy from AT&T shills.

[DoNoHarm]

I went on to the apple.com website to purchase an iphone4 - without contract because I'm spending the next 6-12 months abroad. there is a "live chat" option. when I asked the representative about buying without contract, he blatantly lied to me by saying "Under US law you are required to buy phones under contract".

Obviously this guy is an AT&T representative (the live chat button was on the apple.com web page where I choose at&T rate plans). Does AT&T hire people so desperate for a commission that they lie to get a few bucks? Is a man's honor that cheap? Honestly, how can you be a human being and sell your honor so cheaply?

I'm done with AT&T. I'll use this phone (that I just signed up for at the apple store to buy without contract) abroad, on another carrier when I get back to the states, and sell it whenever apple releases phones that can use other carriers.

 

[squeakr]

Good luck with that. All the phones (contract or not) at the Apple store in the US are locked to AT&T and the jailbreak or unlock hasn't been released yet so AT&T is it, no other carrier (even when you go overseas, without the unlock you will be roaming from AT&T). Purchase from UK or Canada and they are unlocked and can be used with other providers. All US ones are locked.

 

[RafaelT]

And I take it you ruled out the probability (yes probability, not possibility) that this person just had no idea what they were talking about.

 

[Makaveliarts]

Obviously this guy is an AT&T representative (the live chat button was on the apple.com web page where I choose at&T rate plans). Does AT&T hire people so desperate for a commission that they lie to get a few bucks? Is a man's honor that cheap? Honestly, how can you be a human being and sell your honor so cheaply?

Honor or Survival? I don't think their is a point bringing morals to the table. But ether way, Reps should not be able to lie like that. I'd probably of done the same thing as you in that situation.

 

[beamer8912]

I'm done with AT&T. I'll use this phone (that I just signed up for at the apple store to buy without contract) abroad, on another carrier when I get back to the states, and sell it whenever apple releases phones that can use other carriers.

You're not. Unless you sign up for AT&T's international package, you won't be using your phone abroad. The phone is locked to AT&T (even if you bought it without a contract). You can hope that the iPhone Dev Team comes out with an unlock before you leave for your trip.

 

[mcdj]

One uninformed CSR means the entire company are evil liars? Man I'd hate to be your kid.

 

[STEVESKI07]

I'm done with AT&T. I'll use this phone (that I just signed up for at the apple store to buy without contract) abroad, on another carrier when I get back to the states, and sell it whenever apple releases phones that can use other carriers.

I hope you are one of the elite iPhone hackers then, because as of now there is no way to get the phone unlocked to work over seas.

 

[AbSoluTc]

I went on to the apple.com website to purchase an iphone4 - without contract because I'm spending the next 6-12 months abroad. there is a "live chat" option. when I asked the representative about buying without contract, he blatantly lied to me by saying "Under US law you are required to buy phones under contract".

Obviously this guy is an AT&T representative (the live chat button was on the apple.com web page where I choose at&T rate plans). Does AT&T hire people so desperate for a commission that they lie to get a few bucks? Is a man's honor that cheap? Honestly, how can you be a human being and sell your honor so cheaply?

I'm done with AT&T. I'll use this phone (that I just signed up for at the apple store to buy without contract) abroad, on another carrier when I get back to the states, and sell it whenever apple releases phones that can use other carriers.

For that much money, you might as well spend a little extra and get a factory unlocked phone from Canada or elsewhere honestly. Your post doesn't really make sense either. There are some uninformed people out there, it happens - doesn't mean AT&T as a whole is "evil".

 

[squeakr]

By the OP's logic they are evil as well as they are uninformed thinking that they can buy one out of contract from the US and use it with any other provider than AT$T.

 

[DoNoHarm]

oh crap, I didn't realize that the unlock for the iphone4 isn't out yet.

as for all the people correctly pointing out that the one uninformed person wouldn't make the whole company liars, I will concede that all of AT&T is not made up of liars, however:

- the csr (salesperson) was in general pushy.
- he could have simply said "apple does not let you buy without contract" going beyond that to say that US law forbids buying a phone without contract is so blatantly false that he is either a habitual liar or knows NOTHING about cell phones (like the Nexus One or even Apple's 3GS that was publicly sold without contract). As an iphone help person it's his responsibility to know about the product he's selling.
- this continues a pattern I've experienced at AT&T. I used to be a salesperson myself for a respected company so I guess it really rubs me the wrong way when salespeople use such tactics to dupe the customer into purchasing the phone. For example, he could have simply suggested that I purchase the phone with a contract and cancel later.

I've had experiences with other carriers and it seems that AT&T is especially bad about the disrespectful sales tactics.

 

[pugnut]

I went on to the apple.com website to purchase an iphone4 - without contract because I'm spending the next 6-12 months abroad. there is a "live chat" option. when I asked the representative about buying without contract, he blatantly lied to me by saying "Under US law you are required to buy phones under contract".

Obviously this guy is an AT&T representative (the live chat button was on the apple.com web page where I choose at&T rate plans). Does AT&T hire people so desperate for a commission that they lie to get a few bucks? Is a man's honor that cheap? Honestly, how can you be a human being and sell your honor so cheaply?

I'm done with AT&T. I'll use this phone (that I just signed up for at the apple store to buy without contract) abroad, on another carrier when I get back to the states, and sell it whenever apple releases phones that can use other carriers.

Receipt or it did not happen.

 

[deeddawg]

Reps should not be able to lie like that.

It's only a lie if the rep knew it was incorrect. You give tech support way too much credit. Remember, everyone you deal with is generally working the best job they know how to get. That person behind the counter at a fast food joint probably isn't a Harvard MBA or MIT Engineer.

 

[outphase]

Funny how people will blame AT&T for Apple's misinformed CSRs.

 

[squeakr]

It is the same with all of the carriers. An example is when I bought the EVO from Sprint (I must say that their CSR has improved immensely from a few years ago), I couldn't even find anyone that could tell me the sequence to power down. The rep said that it need to be power cycled to re-register on the system correctly, but had no idea how to do it. They were the top level tech for the device and couldn't fulfill a request as simple as how to shut the phone off.
If it is any consolation I have been lied to by many different sales people. The Apple people said it was impossible to initiate a facetime call without starting from a normal call (and even the directions in the store detailed that as well), but I proved them wrong just by playing with the demos for a few minutes. We then tried it across many different devices (and with just wifi on and in airplane mode) and found it worked. They were all delighted and we proved that facetime will be able to be used on an iTouch using this method.