jstogdill's dashboard

Just another quick follow up...

Two weeks after getting the iPhone I got a text message from ATT saying that I didn't have a data plan and I needed to call them. After twenty minutes on the phone it turned out that somehow the in-store Apple set up process never converted my existing account into an iPhone account. I had told the Apple clerk that I wanted an unlimited minutes plan with 1500 text messages. None of that had happened - I had been wondering why the much touted visual voice mail wasn't working on my phone.

When I was in the Ardmore, PA Apple store the store manager (who I finally talked to) spent a great deal of his time bitching that ATT was screwing this all up by making them do in-store activation (I partially agree). When I was on the phone with ATT about half the call was the ATT rep telling me how Apple was screwing up the in-store activation process.

As an aside, I had wondered if Apple got my plan right and had tried to check on the ATT web site but it doesn't even seem to know that iPhone's or iPhone plans exist. When I mentioned this to the rep she said I'm supposed to access all that stuff through iPhones (you can't - once the phone is activated there doesn't seem to be an iTunes option to view / modify the plan).

I would like it a lot better if neither of them would spend my time bitching about the other and would focus their energy on making the process work for their customers. Two weeks later I really like the phone (except for the abysmal battery life) but it will take a long time before someone is likely to displace this as my "worst recent customer service debacle."