Mine was pretty frustrating. I don't really know who I can blame for it, but all the same, I was bouncing between the Apple Store and an AT&T corporate store between 7:45 am and 5:00 pm. Here's the short(est) version (that can possibly be told).
-- checked my ATT account status online last night; already knew that I was eligible for subsidized price, since I bought the original iPhone on launch day last year.
-- went to the mall at 7:45 this morning...was about the 175th person in line. Since it was an Apple Store, wasn't worried.
-- listened to the announcements made by the employees, realized that I forgot to take off my FAN#. Called ATT, got that done in a matter of minutes, and checked my account again, and FAN# was off my account.
-- stood in line quite patiently, and actually had a pretty good time, even through all of the ATT server outages.
-- got into the store, and got to the point where I met the specialist who was going take care of me, and he was awesome.
-- in the middle of the EasyPay transaction, got some sort of error saying that the transaction could not be completed. He called ATT, and they said that they hadn't seen that before, and to just try it again.
-- tried transaction again, and got a message saying that I was not eligible for the subsidized pricing. wtf?!
-- went outside the store to call ATT, found that my v.1 iPhone had no service. Walked all around the mall, and outside, and still no service. My phone was no longer receiving ATT service.
-- went back in the store, talked to my specialist, he called around, talked to some of the managers in the store, and apparently this happened to one other person. Apparently our service had gotten ported to the phones we were trying to purchase. Checked my ATT account, and sure enough, was being charged for 3G plan, as well as the $18 activation fee, but hadn't gotten a phone. We both had to go to an ATT store and get a new SIM card to get it straightened out.
-- went to ATT, had to wait in line, got a new SIM card. called ATT to make sure everything was straightened out. Was told that even though I had gotten a new SIM, the eligibility for subsidized pricing could not be reversed. Talked to ATT some more, and after about a half hour, they told me that I would have to pay full price for the phone, and then call them back with my specialist afterward, and tell them that my situation needed to be upgraded to an "urgent case," which would in turn allow them to refund me $200 for the phone, effectively having me pay subsidized pricing for it (good on ATT for that).
-- bought the phone, all was good, other than that they ran out of the black agent18 case I wanted. called ATT CS, and spent about 45 minutes on the phone with the woman; most of what she said consisted of "hello? Can you hold for a little while longer? OK, thanks." Finally got it all ironed out.
In the end, it all worked out, but just jumping through all the hoops was a pain. I applaud ATT and Apple for finally making it work, but man, it took forever. I do understand that they were under a lot of pressure today, and I hate complaining about what happened, but it was just way frustrating, especially when I had no working phone for about an hour.
On the plus side, I was there with two of my friends, both of whom were jumping ship from TMobile (one's contract was up, the other just had it with Tmo and elected to pay the ETF). Their process in getting their family plan was smooth sailing, and their numbers ported without an issue, so I was glad for them.
At least now we've all got our phones, so I'm thankful for that!
-- checked my ATT account status online last night; already knew that I was eligible for subsidized price, since I bought the original iPhone on launch day last year.
-- went to the mall at 7:45 this morning...was about the 175th person in line. Since it was an Apple Store, wasn't worried.
-- listened to the announcements made by the employees, realized that I forgot to take off my FAN#. Called ATT, got that done in a matter of minutes, and checked my account again, and FAN# was off my account.
-- stood in line quite patiently, and actually had a pretty good time, even through all of the ATT server outages.
-- got into the store, and got to the point where I met the specialist who was going take care of me, and he was awesome.
-- in the middle of the EasyPay transaction, got some sort of error saying that the transaction could not be completed. He called ATT, and they said that they hadn't seen that before, and to just try it again.
-- tried transaction again, and got a message saying that I was not eligible for the subsidized pricing. wtf?!
-- went outside the store to call ATT, found that my v.1 iPhone had no service. Walked all around the mall, and outside, and still no service. My phone was no longer receiving ATT service.
-- went back in the store, talked to my specialist, he called around, talked to some of the managers in the store, and apparently this happened to one other person. Apparently our service had gotten ported to the phones we were trying to purchase. Checked my ATT account, and sure enough, was being charged for 3G plan, as well as the $18 activation fee, but hadn't gotten a phone. We both had to go to an ATT store and get a new SIM card to get it straightened out.
-- went to ATT, had to wait in line, got a new SIM card. called ATT to make sure everything was straightened out. Was told that even though I had gotten a new SIM, the eligibility for subsidized pricing could not be reversed. Talked to ATT some more, and after about a half hour, they told me that I would have to pay full price for the phone, and then call them back with my specialist afterward, and tell them that my situation needed to be upgraded to an "urgent case," which would in turn allow them to refund me $200 for the phone, effectively having me pay subsidized pricing for it (good on ATT for that).
-- bought the phone, all was good, other than that they ran out of the black agent18 case I wanted. called ATT CS, and spent about 45 minutes on the phone with the woman; most of what she said consisted of "hello? Can you hold for a little while longer? OK, thanks." Finally got it all ironed out.
In the end, it all worked out, but just jumping through all the hoops was a pain. I applaud ATT and Apple for finally making it work, but man, it took forever. I do understand that they were under a lot of pressure today, and I hate complaining about what happened, but it was just way frustrating, especially when I had no working phone for about an hour.
On the plus side, I was there with two of my friends, both of whom were jumping ship from TMobile (one's contract was up, the other just had it with Tmo and elected to pay the ETF). Their process in getting their family plan was smooth sailing, and their numbers ported without an issue, so I was glad for them.
At least now we've all got our phones, so I'm thankful for that!
The line grew progressively longer behind me and stretched on down through the mall and probably out the entrance doors at one end....... As it got closer to the time, we all started getting ourselves organized for the entry into the store and that was when it was announced that the folding canvas stools were ours to keep. Now THAT was neat!!! 
