iPhone 4S Pre-Order Delay Complaint....What I did to voice my frustration.

[jbachandouris]

East coast pre-orders are shipping sooner? Well, my order was placed by phone on last Saturday and my order just became trackable today; and of course, its backordered.

The point the original poster has is that AT&T claims they can't cancel a pre-order. Now they try to tell us that they can cancel, but if they do we might have problems finding a phone so we shouldn't. Obviously they know THEY are sold out, but Apple is not. Oh well.

 

[4:20]

1) It took all of 5 minutes to fill out an online form for all 3 sites.

2) I make enough money to have all this kind of time.

3) If you think about it, an iPhone probably about 10% phone and 90% everything else.

4) I'm not doing this because I didn't get my phone in time. I'm doing this because I was lied to, and AT&T hasn't changed it's act over 3 years. It consistently takes advantage of consumers and customers.

I understand where you're coming from and I respect how much time and effort you put into righting a wrong. I hope you have the same kind of compassion for things that actually matter.

 

[bruinsrme]

If the phone was that important to the OP, then perhaps going to a physical retail establishment would have probably consumed as much time as writing letters, phone calls and posts.
Stores opened around hear at 8am, got to the AT&T store at 815 I walked out with a 4S at 902.

Preorders were also exhausted on the apple site. That also hasn't changed in 2+ years

 

[megapopular]

My question to the op:

If you've seen AT&T have problems multiple years in succession with fulfilling orders for whatever those reasons were, why did you order from them? Why didn't you order from Apple? You obviously have every right to be angry that you didn't get your phone on time or to be upset that you feel you were lied to but I think that a large part of the blame lies with you. How many times do you need to be fooled before it's "shame on you" time?

You appear to be educated yet you decided to order from the carrier directly when in 2 years past they had problems fulfilling their orders. Every iPhone has had better sales than the last version. Someone who appears to be decently intelligent as yourself should have rationalized that Apple was a better choice for preorder than AT&T.

 

[racer1441]

Hahahaha

You think the bbb actually matters and the state gives a flying flip? The bbb is a racket, and the state of California is a even bigger joke.

I have never had a single order problem with any iPhone.

 

[Zipforia]

To Zipforia:

I also filed a complaint with FCC and CA State Attorney General's office. Thank you for sharing the links.

Yes, it took only 5 minutes on each site to file a complaint, and I was able to complete the forms while having my morning caffeine, and it did not take away from any other meaningful activity in the day.

If there is a delay in product delivery, or if the customer changes his / her mind for ANY reason prior to a product even being ready for shipment, the customer has the RIGHT to cancel that order. When a company prevents cancelations of orders that the customer never received it is forcing a business relationship unilaterally. That's ILLEGAL.

Thank you.

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I understand where you're coming from and I respect how much time and effort you put into righting a wrong. I hope you have the same kind of compassion for things that actually matter.

As matter of fact, I do. The way I see it, wrong is wrong. No matter how small or trivial it is.

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If the phone was that important to the OP, then perhaps going to a physical retail establishment would have probably consumed as much time as writing letters, phone calls and posts.
Stores opened around hear at 8am, got to the AT&T store at 815 I walked out with a 4S at 902.

Preorders were also exhausted on the apple site. That also hasn't changed in 2+ years

I quote my previous reply to you.

If you have so much money that you have all this free time, then go get in line pay full price and then sell the one you pre-ordered when it comes in to someone....

Great idea!! Maybe I can do that IF THERE WERE ANY IPHONES 4S LEFT IN THE STORES!!! If AT&T told me the truth from the beginning, maybe I had the choice to do what you suggested...Instead of stringing me along with the wrong information until everything was sold out.

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If you've seen AT&T have problems multiple years in succession with fulfilling orders for whatever those reasons were, why did you order from them? Why didn't you order from Apple? You obviously have every right to be angry that you didn't get your phone on time or to be upset that you feel you were lied to but I think that a large part of the blame lies with you. How many times do you need to be fooled before it's "shame on you" time?

You appear to be educated yet you decided to order from the carrier directly when in 2 years past they had problems fulfilling their orders. Every iPhone has had better sales than the last version. Someone who appears to be decently intelligent as yourself should have rationalized that Apple was a better choice for preorder than AT&T.

If I did what you stated, I would deserve what I got. You are assuming a lot of things. Let me clarify some for you.

Yes, I did say AT&T had the same issues with pre-orders since 3GS days. But what I didn't say was that I pre-ordered all three times. This is the first time pre-ordering from AT&T. The first two times, I did not buy at iphone launch. I found out that the same debacle happened the first two times when I pre-ordered this time and did some research when my order went awry.

The reason why I decided to pre-order from AT&T and not Apple was because I assumed Apple website would be even more swamped than AT&T's. Look what assumption got me.

 

[marty11]

Zip, take solace in the fact that AT&T has lost their license to launch an iPhone preorder for half a decade. Nobody in their right mind will place an order without a phone in hand going forward. AT&T's sales will reflect this as well as their cut of the iPhone 5 clusterf*** pie.

 

[Walter Bell]

Hahahaha

You think the bbb actually matters and the state gives a flying flip? The bbb is a racket, and the state of California is a even bigger joke.

I have never had a single order problem with any iPhone.

Going through the BBB actually works quite well. I had an incident with AT&T over 2 iPhone 3GS's getting stolen by USPS. I was yanked around for 3 months by AT&T, and a BBB complaint later, I had my money back in 2 days after everyone I spoke to said they couldn't do a single thing for me.

 

[macingman]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Your complaint will do nothing. People complain to these government things all the time, most of the time they don't do ****.

 

[bowlerman625]

Best.
Post.
Ever.
Not!.

 

[vitzr]

It's not Apple. It's AT&T.

This is a very old, worn out tactic of countless people who play the victim. Influenced by Apples skillful manipulation of "facts" "finger pointing & blame" it's no wonder Apple and many of it's worshipers are looked at with a jaundiced eye.

Woefully negative it's no wonder Apple is thought of as a very polarizing company. Just one more example of why it's often compared to a cult. Radical actions by irrational individuals. It's never Apples fault, never. Funny how that is.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

Instead of being a drama queen about it why not just port your number over to Verizon or Sprint and buy a phone from them?

Seems easy enough. I personally have never had any trouble with AT&T in the 9 years I've been a customer (first Cingular and now AT&T), but if I ever felt as slighted as you I would have no problem going to another carrier. Filing complaints with the FTC and BBB is going to get you nowhere.

 

[Zipforia]

Zip, take solace in the fact that AT&T has lost their license to launch an iPhone preorder for half a decade. Nobody in their right mind will place an order without a phone in hand going forward. AT&T's sales will reflect this as well as their cut of the iPhone 5 clusterf*** pie.

There IS justice in the this world!

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Going through the BBB actually works quite well. I had an incident with AT&T over 2 iPhone 3GS's getting stolen by USPS. I was yanked around for 3 months by AT&T, and a BBB complaint later, I had my money back in 2 days after everyone I spoke to said they couldn't do a single thing for me.

Here's another satisfied customer of BBB.

http://forums.att.com/t5/Apple-iPhon...907925/page/58 post 574

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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Your complaint will do nothing. People complain to these government things all the time, most of the time they don't do ****.

Then lets hope that this ISN'T most of the time.

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Best.
Post.
Ever.
Not!.

Right...cuz you're opinion matters here. NOT! Even the reply with just the pot stirring animation was a better reply than this. At least that one had creativity.

 

[wordoflife]

I AM NOT GETTING PUSHED AROUND BY AT&T ANYMORE! I WILL DO WHAT I CAN TO BE HEARD. YOU TOO CAN DO THE SAME!!

The only things I want AT&T to hear from me is
1) Long live T-mobile
2) unlock my iPhone

I can understand the preordering madness though. remember, they sold 200000 iPhones the first 24 hours (was it?).

 

[Zipforia]

This is a very old, worn out tactic of countless people who play the victim. Influenced by Apples skillful manipulation of "facts" "finger pointing & blame" it's no wonder Apple and many of it's worshipers are looked at with a jaundiced eye.

Woefully negative it's no wonder Apple is thought of as a very polarizing company. Just one more example of why it's often compared to a cult. Radical actions by irrational individuals. It's never Apples fault, never. Funny how that is.

You're kidding, right?? You're telling me Apple is playing a Jedi mind trick on us??

Apple: You will not blame us (as Steve waves his hand over our faces)

Public: We will not blame Apple (with a blank look on our face)

Apple: You will blame the carriers (as Steve looks into the Publics' eyes)

Public: We will obey.

C'mon! Now you're going to tell us we never landed on the moon??? Please. Most of us are ACTUALLY intelligent. We know who to blame. If it's Apple, then it's Apple. If it's AT&T, then it's AT&T.

 

[ibuyufo]

I spent 3 hours online on the 7th trying to get an iphone for my wife. I gave up and went to bed at 3 am. Then in the morning I got up at 7:30am and ordered through apple and AT&T. I ended up cancelling at&t. Got it on the 19th. I don't see what is the big deal to get it on the day it comes out.

 

[Zipforia]

Instead of being a drama queen about it why not just port your number over to Verizon or Sprint and buy a phone from them?

Seems easy enough. I personally have never had any trouble with AT&T in the 9 years I've been a customer (first Cingular and now AT&T), but if I ever felt as slighted as you I would have no problem going to another carrier. Filing complaints with the FTC and BBB is going to get you nowhere.

I'm not entirely un-happy with AT&T. As matter of fact, I like AT&T's service where I am. I like the fact that I can surf and talk. I am just unhappy that I was lied to during the pre-order process. And that I can't cancel my order. I don't want to shut them down. But at the same time, I don't think I should take it up the butt by AT&T just because I like their service.

I'm not as passive as you. You're way of showing dissatisfaction is by switching carriers. My way is more direct...and being a "drama queen" about it . You have your way, I have mine. It is a free country.

Well, the FCC's and BBB's complaint department exist because they work. There have been number of post in this thread alone that proves that. These services exist to protect the consumer. If you do not have any faith in these organizations, then that's fine. But many people do, and many people get results.

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The only things I want AT&T to hear from me is
1) Long live T-mobile
2) unlock my iPhone

I can understand the preordering madness though. remember, they sold 200000 iPhones the first 24 hours (was it?).

I wonder too.

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I spent 3 hours online on the 7th trying to get an iphone for my wife. I gave up and went to bed at 3 am. Then in the morning I got up at 7:30am and ordered through apple and AT&T. I ended up cancelling at&t. Got it on the 19th. I don't see what is the big deal to get it on the day it comes out.

Please re-read the statement on Post #1 that's in BIG red color. After that, if you still have something to say, I welcome it.

 

[Captain America]

To the OP, I'd like you to know that I fully support you in this and am quite satisfied to see someone take things to the next level. I should've filed some sort of complaint with the Apple Store I went to as I was told by two different employees that they could create a new line without the account holder being present as long as I'm an authorized user, even though AT&T doesn't allow that at their stores. I brought that to their attention and they still told me I could do it. I wasted 7 hours camping outside their store for NOTHING. The only good thing that came out of it was that I got to be on TV a couple of times in the process.

 

[austinguy23]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Yep, it took me multiple calls to ATT to cancel my order 3 hours after ordering it. Absurd.

 

[Alaerian]

The temper tantrums you kids throw are quite entertaining.

Please, keep it up. I haven't had such a good laugh in a while.

 

[quietstormSD]

Kudos to the OP. A consumer fighting for consumer rights. I don't think the OP is doing it because of the phone itself. It's because he's been misled about the product purchase process. And lied to repeatedly.

I think I may do the same for Best Buy with their iPhone 4S debacle. (minus the FCC complaint)

 

[Zipforia]

I feel I have been vindicated. I received a phone call from AT&T Customer Service Dept.

1) They admitted I was treated wrongly. They admitted I was misled by the CSR that handled my phone calls, and apologized.

2) They admitted that same incidents occurred previously (3GS and 4) and said they are working on new policies to curb these types of incidences.

3) They will cancel my order and credit me a small monetary figure to my account for my troubles.

Whether the apology was sincere or not is inconsequential. I was happy that they admitted that they were in the wrong. Whether there are actually policies that will change future iphone launches...we will see.

 

[PNutts]

I received a phone call from AT&T Customer Service Dept.

Thank you for pursuing this. If nobody reports poor service then <insert business here> can't fix it. The next time it might have been me (or one of the other folks making light of your situation).

I've seen much stronger reactions for much smaller things. And not to be insulting but I am genuinely curious how the "just get over it" people react to their own experiences (hint: I've been told I need to relax).

Do they quietly eat the wrong meal given to them at a restaurant? Always tip the wait staff generously regardless of service? Leave the airport without a care in the world and without their luggage? I remember checking into a good hotel one night and getting the last room with Internet service. Well, it didn't and nobody could fix it (and it was next to the swimming pool on the fifth floor). Their management was clear on my position when their shuttle made an unscheduled trip to take me to a competitor's hotel. Good times...

 

[Zipforia]

Fight the good fight and forget the nay sayers.

 

[DELTAsnake]

When Apple shipped my iPhone 4S late I sent a message to Tim Cook, the next morning I get a email from an executive at Apple Australia, she arranged a time to call me. She apologized to me for the delay and explained the reason it shipped late.

I find if you let the boss of the company know your not happy and they want your continued business they will find a way to apologize.