Apple stores now open at 8 A.M. to handle iPhone 3G demand - Page 2

Great idea. They could even sell it online.

you can buy as many as you will activate. a family plan maxs at 5. more than that (say for a second family plan) and ATT makes you pay a deposit on all additional phones. something like $200-500 a phone depending on your credit. if you are willing to pay that, you can do a second family plan an and get 5 more. and yes I was crazy enough to call and ask them to see what the answer would be.

That's exactly what I did. PLaced an order on the 12th, got the call on the 20th, walked in, picked it up, and walked out in 15 minutes. No muss - no fuss. Got some dirty looks, though.

That is the best option, but they charged me right away each time.

OMG, am I happy to be out of there. This isn't sour grapes, because working for Apple was a wonderful experience, but the retail leaders just ask more and more and more of the stores without wanting to provide the resources to make it happen.

Being open even earlier is the right thing to do for the customer - no doubt about it.

But those poor managers. The same 5 managers who used to run a store open 10-9 pre-iPhone are now managing a store open from 8-10. This spreads the store's leadership way to thin resulting in under-developed employees, stressed out managers, and unavailable management. And let's not even get started on the open store management requisitions that haven't been filled for months, in effect leaving the store's leadership teams even more crippled than they should be.

It's no wonder Apple Retail's once legendary low turnover is slowly becoming on-par with most.

Even worse, the poor retail employees can't ever seem to take a vacation. The early Summer was blacked out for iPhone, the late Summer is blacked out for BTS (Back to School), the Fall will be blacked out Christmas (yes, I said Christmas), the Winter is blacked out for Mac World. Wanna vacation Mr. Retail Employee? "We have time for one week in early March... oh, that doesn't work for you? Sorry, the business has to come first."

One of the most difficult tasks for any retail chain is committing the capital resources to keep their people, their lifeblood, the 'soul of the stores' top priority.

Maybe the retail leaders are taking their que from the iPhone development team. <--- ok, that WAS a bitter jab at my over-promised/under-delivered iPhone. (sorry)

I would like to tell my AT&T/Apple iPhone story.....I had one in my hand(s) but couldn't buy it. I was so close.

I waited -- first for the new one....even though I needed a phone 3 months ago. I waited for the frenzy to subside a bit, so I wasn't waiting hours in line.

I was there - at the front - inches away from purchasing, having, using a coveed iPhone.

helpful Apple person: "hi - who is your current cell phone provider? AT&T. Phone number?.....ya di da...
I am sorry you have a "URG" number on your account - we cannot sell you a phone. You must go to a corporate AT&T store or call their customer service..... Next..."

ME: Help - excuse me....what. I am here to purchase an iPhone - MY iPhone that I have been longing for - for months. I am ready to upgrade my AT&T service, add data and to sign a new 2 year contract. I am here - I am ready to BUY.....please explain.

nice Apple person....Sorry, it has been our experience that if you have "URG" code on your plan that you have a discount associated with your account and we cannot add an iPhone for you. You must talk to AT&T. Next.

ME -- but they don't have phones.....you have phones...NOW. They would make me wait for weeks - they must be ordered. You have a phone now - today and I am at the front of the line. I am ready to give you my money, upgrade my service and my two year committment of more money!!!

nice Apple person ....Sorry, you must talk to AT&T.

ME: --- not a happy girl! I call AT&T from the Apple store....I don't want to leave - they say they will hold a phone for me if I can get this worked out.

AT&T tells me: Yes, you have a tiny weenie discount $14/month on your phone account with your family. Oh, it isn't on your phone - it is on your husband's phone. But yes, the nice Apple person is right, you must remove the discount from your account before you can purchase an iPhone. We can re-add the discount after purchase, but it will take one to two billing cycles for the discount to reappear. No, we cannot backdate the discount. You will lose potentially $28. And by the way, we cannot guarantee how long it will take for the discount to come off your account so that you can purchase the iPhone...could be 30 seconds, could take as long as 24 hours.

The only other option is to go to the AT&T store and order your phone from them....

ME: THEY DON'T HAVE PHONES!! I am in line - at the front of the line -- I am inches and a "URG" code away from being an iPhone owner/user extrodinaire.
Okay, the discount is on my husband's phone?! How
bout if I set up my own account?

AT&*T
Well in order for us to do that there would be an $18 transfer charge and we would have to have your husband approve the change.

ME: not a happy, AT&T customer....."forced" to go to the AT&T store, wait weeks for a iPhone. I can't even break my account off. This is absurd. I would need my husband permission to transfer off. Isn't this the liberated year of the woman! I can set up my own account but I cannot port my number.....

All of the above equals a very unhappy, frustrated AT&T customer, with NO iPhone. Hence, I write.

Dear AT&T -
I am about as unhappy a customer as you can get! I have been loyal to you through the years....@ 10yrs....
Because my spouse works very closely with you and your future technologies - we receive a little $14/mo. discount on our cell phone plan. I appreciate the discount - but I don't appreciate the monopoly you have created with regard to the sale of the iPhone.

- I have been left with the option of waiting for weeks by ordering a phone thru you.....
OR

- Losing $28 in discount....and it's not the money that bothers me. It is the 2 30-50minute phone calls that it will take for me to remove the discount...and then the second call to put the discount back on. It is the funny look that my husband will give me for the hassle.
If I walked into the Apple store and smiled at the nice Apple person and said.....I would like an iPhone and I am a new AT&T customer....I would be using an iPhone today.
Where is the logic in turning away....new data business - a new 2 year contract. Mr. Business Man, Corp. America...where is the logic in turning away a customer -with money in hand?
All this happened a week ago -- I still don't have an iPhone - I still want to buy an iPhone. But thanks to corporate run-around non-sense....I haven't had the gumption to go for it again. those new blackberry's thru Verizon are looking real tempting..... and btw, please don't threaten me with the "service contract fee".....I am long beyond that. Just fix this mess

Kind regards,

Elizabeth



Dear Steve Jobs-
How are you? I feel as if I know you since I have been a loyal Apple customer since the first MacIntosh.
I didn't buy the first iPhone - sorry, my husband convinced me that I should wait for version 2. Here I am trying to buy version 2. Please read above. What a mess of corporate bureacracy. I am confident that when you set up this corporate deal with AT&T and this latest launch - you wouldn't have agreed to this.
I have this confidence because I know you want to attract the "enterprise business customer." The new apps offered with the phone and the ability to make enterprise level upgrades etc. You want the corporate "Blackberry" business.

If you are courting business from the "business community" why wouldn't you make it easier for us with a business discount to get this new toy in our hands?

I am a recruiter - I talk to technolgy people all day long - I don't think you want me telling my iPhone corporate bureaucratic story? Instead, I think you want me the talker to proclaim.....ease of use, ease of interface, streamline, efficiency. I think all of these adjectives are/were part of the plan. Unfortunately, not my experience.

Steve, please look into this problem. It is a corporate disservice....it is making APPLE look bad.** YOU have influence over these AT&T folks who don't quite get it yet....

We want the phone - but how much pain will we endure to get it?

**PS> 2 people in line behind me - just that day - in that same store. Had the same "URG" code issue. One guy had gone to the AT&T store to have his "discount removed". He was red-faced and panting 'cause he had rushed back and was trying to get a phone before they ran out again.

It is more common than you think. I am just a little business woman - potentially the corporate decision maker of tomorrow. Certainly, the household decision maker today.


Thanks Steve - I know you will do the right thing.

Kind regards,

Elizabeth

"All of Apple's US retail outlets are now in a permanent launch mode"

More like permanent [out to] lunch mode.

I've yet to have a satisfactory experience in an Apple store. The problem has been staff with little ability to understand anything about Apple products and services outside a narrow, canned range of possibilities. Perhaps they need to pay the kiddies more so that they can get smarter ones, and pack these off to Radio Shack.

I'm looking forward to having an iPhone 3G, but dreading the process of acquiring it.

1) What do you expect from the retail employees of a retail store? Their whole job description is knowing a narrow view of the products they sell. If you want to shoot the shit over Bash as the default Unix shell in Terminal you've gone to the wrong place.

2) There is absolutely no reason why you have to go to an Apple Store. Hit an AT&T Store and they'll call you when it come in. Simple. No hassle.

If you have time, just go to an AT&T store and fill in a direct fulfillment plan

Shouldn't take you too long and you leave rather quickly and can pick it up when it comes in

Not too much hassle

Ordered an iPhone through an AT&T store.

It just shipped, seven days after I ordered it. Not bad!