Category: Retail Experiences

I tried to pre-order the iPhone 4S today and it was such a hassle. I got up early to make a second attempt ordering from AT&T’s website and it let me through but it gave me this screen:

Since I’m grandfathered into the unlimited data plan I was worried they were trying to change it on me. Notice how the plan doesn’t indicate the amount of data it covers? And when I clicked Change it had a bunch of other options, none of which were unlimited, so I abandoned the idea of ordering online and decided to call instead since the rep I spoke with last night said the data plan would stay the same. Plus now that I think about it there was no display of my text plan either – I am grandfathered into the $5 a month for 200 texts.

I tried calling the number on the website but even though it was the time frame the office should be open, it told me it was closed. It provided another contact number so I tried that one and it led me all the way through to the point of holding for a representative and then told me due to circumstances beyond their control they could not accept my call, told me to call back later, and disconnected me. This happened a few times before I finally got through to a woman who barely could speak English (seriously, I do not say that for dramatic effect) and I could tell was reading from a script. She kept telling me I needed a new data plan and I couldn’t keep my existing one. She would stay real silent on the phone after I asked a question before replying (hence why I assume she was reading a script). At one point I even had to ask if she was still there. I eventually hung up because she was useless.

At that point I decided to forget it because it wasn’t worth the aggravation, but then Joe told me about a Consumerist article regarding the same topic. I learned from one of the regulars that if you pre-order from Apple it shows the unlimited plan right on the order, so I logged onto the site during lunch to take care of business. Not only did it confirm my data/text plan as unchanged, my order was placed in no time at all. Thank you Apple Gods!

Now, I still don’t trust that AT&T isn’t going to mess something up, be it the unlimited plan, or the discount we get through Joe’s employer, but I will fight them tooth and nail to get it corrected if/when it happens. It’s just real sad when the Apple site is more helpful than AT&T’s own site. You’ll be missed, Steve.

It’s crazy that banks no longer cash your change for you. Well, to be fair Chase did but then they implemented a service fee on all their accounts so we closed ours and they don’t do it for non-customers. Bank of America offers the service, but get this, they take your change and then ship it somewhere to be counted. They promise to credit your account later for the value. Um, who the hell is opting to trust them with that because I sure as hell won’t!

Coinstar gives you the full value of your change if you get a gift card or e-certificate instead of cash. I had forgotten about this so we had amassed $85 in change until this weekend when we decided to just bite the bullet and use Coinstar thinking we’d have to give them a cut of our money. The Coinstar machine at Walmart only gives you iTunes credit or cash but the one at Jewel is full-service and includes gift cards.

Thanks to them I now have $20 in iTunes credit to buy apps (I had been surviving on $15 from Valentine’s Day or possibly my birthday), Joe has $25 for Starbucks, and the rest went toward Amazon.com because we get a lot of stuff there. In fact I’ll be using all of it shortly to order a recharging station for our Wii because I’m sick of it eating through batteries, even the rechargeable AA’s. I’m also ordering a Kindle for my step-daughter’s birthday. Let’s just hope she takes better care of it than her iPod Touch which could not be fixed. The place Joe called said not to even bother coming in because once they are water damaged they are $300 paper-weights. Fantastic. Perhaps if she’s lucky the iPhone 5 will be released soon and I’ll buy it because then she can have my 3GS. It only has 16 GB whereas her Touch had 32 GB but that’s what happens when you’re careless with your possessions. Lesson learned for her.