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What to say to NOT have your phone opened at store?

V

vampireszombies

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 20, 2011
302
15
Texas
Every time I buy a phone from AT&T I tell them "it's okay I'll open it and put my sim in at home myself" they look at my like I'm an idiot and say they need to open it, turn it on, type some mishmash in it in order to enter it into the system etc. etc. ... ??

I always hear many people on here how they unbox their new phones at home and I'm just wondering what you tell your sales people?
 
vampireszombies said:
Every time I buy a phone from AT&T I tell them "it's okay I'll open it and put my sim in at home myself" they look at my like I'm an idiot and say they need to open it, turn it on, type some mishmash in it in order to enter it into the system etc. etc. ... ??

I always hear many people on here how they unbox their new phones at home and I'm just wondering what you tell your sales people?
Click to expand...

Just say "I want to open the box myself."
 
This is why I hated buying phones in store. When I had T-Mobile I went to buy the myTouch Slide 3G. The store rep pretty much ripped the phone from the box. Tore off the back cover to insert the sim. It was even worse when I brought it back for an issue and another rep was inserting the sim into the new phone.

He got the back covers mixed up and almost dropped the phone. I just stay ordering online. I can open and activate it at home.
 
If you had already paid for it I would have called the cops on them :D No need for them to open it up
 
iHeartapple2 said:
The Apple Store will let you take it unopened.
Click to expand...

This. Just picked up mine today after reserving it last night, and the person who activated it didn't even open it; I ended up opening it in the car anyway just in case there were any problems.

-C
 
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Does the AT&T store insert the SIM card into the phone at the store, or do they come with the sims like they do when you order online from Apple?

Obviously if I could activate my phone at home, by just turning it on, the store shouldn't need to do anything. Unless the sim isn't in yet.
 
My box was opened when it got shipped to me. I was like wtf, and made sure everything was in there.

edit: whoops meant opened
 
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They don't let me take it home unopened, just thought I was missing something here.
But yes, ordering online seems to fix it.

Some sales people can be pretty rough, When I've bought a Nokia Lumia 900 the guy actually did drop it (A couple inches from the tabletop) trying to get the sim card in.
;)
 
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protobiont said:
Does the AT&T store insert the SIM card into the phone at the store, or do they come with the sims like they do when you order online from Apple?

Obviously if I could activate my phone at home, by just turning it on, the store shouldn't need to do anything. Unless the sim isn't in yet.
Click to expand...

SIM should already be installed. It was that way when I got my 16gb AT&T ip5 at the apple store and the 32gb Verizon ip5 that I got at a corporate Verizon shop.

-c
 
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Apple store actually let me cut open the plastic wrap on my iPhone 4 and do the unboxing myself. At the time I was just thinking "okay, whatever." I asked him why he didn't just do it, and he mentioned that a lot of customers like to be the first to open their new product. Makes sense.

I don't know what a carrier would need to enter as all phone ordered online ship ready for the customer to activate by themselves.
 
vampireszombies said:
Every time I buy a phone from AT&T I tell them "it's okay I'll open it and put my sim in at home myself" they look at my like I'm an idiot and say they need to open it, turn it on, type some mishmash in it in order to enter it into the system etc. etc. ... ??

I always hear many people on here how they unbox their new phones at home and I'm just wondering what you tell your sales people?
Click to expand...

If an employee gave you a dirty look when you said you wanted to open it, they were unprofessional and presumptuously innapropriate --not giving you the full Apple experience as far as customer service and satisfaction goes.
 
You can just tell them you will activate it yourself. I've never had them open up my phones.
 
I let them open mine, but I gave him the death stare as he did his thing with the phone.....(that's what.......)
 
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I bought mine no-commitment from the Apple store and walked out with the box still in the shrink wrap. They just scanned the code on the outside to add it to my account.

So my 4S was deactivated and lost service within a few minutes and my 5 was ready to go out of the box after I turned it on.
 
vampireszombies said:
Every time I buy a phone from AT&T I tell them "it's okay I'll open it and put my sim in at home myself" they look at my like I'm an idiot and say they need to open it, turn it on, type some mishmash in it in order to enter it into the system etc. etc. ... ??

I always hear many people on here how they unbox their new phones at home and I'm just wondering what you tell your sales people?
Click to expand...

two years ago when I bought IP4 at AT&T, and they did the same.

I bought verizon IP5 at apple store this year, and they didnot open it, even when I exchanged it.
 
The carriers train their employees to open the package, quickly glance inside to insure all items are present, and be sure your set before you leave.

I've developed a personal relationship with the Mgr of both my local Apple & AT&T stores. It's easy since I'm a frequent buyer, therefore I see them every month or so. It probably wouldn't work if I only went in once a year or so.

Because of this, I get great service. They know my preferences, as a result they are careful to be sure the phones, computers & accessories I buy are all in sealed unopened packaging. They know I'm not going to complain that they didn't do their job, like some customers do when things don't go their way.
 
I bought a 4S at the Apple store. The sales associate started into the shrink wrap and I asked if I could open it at home. He said he wanted me to open it in the store to insure there were no issues activating it. I didn't want to insist on unboxing it at home since insuring it was functioning properly seemed like a good idea.
 
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