Fuck you, AT&T

On October 8, 2011, I had finally had enough.  My iPhone wasn't working and we were heading down to Parents Weekend and all I wanted was a phone that worked when I needed it to.  And for the husband to have a phone that didn't randomly shut off.  And for the girl to have a phone that . . . well, she didn't necessarily need a super fancy phone, but her $15 no camera, no keyboard phone was kind of sad.

So I spent a solid 20 minutes on the phone, ordering the iPhones from AT&T for all of us [Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Don't expect any birthday presents!] and was really pleased with how efficiently everything was being handled.   Which is a huge surprised, since AT&T usually has below standard customer service.  But I was pleased to find that they had hired people who could be helpful.

And then?

I checked to see when I'd be getting the phones [after cursing myself for not ponying up $6 extra in overnight shipping] and guess what? NO ORDER HAD BEEN PLACED.

Then my head exploded.

And I spent 40 minutes with an increasingly unhelpful person who basically said, "Yeah, we goofed, so . . . you get to wait 21-28 days for your phones.  Nope, can't help you.  Nope, that's your option."

I asked to speak to a manager and was told someone would call me back within 2 hours.  Yeah.  O.k.  Speaking to someone above the manager? That would take up to 72 hours.

You know how when you call Apple a really kind person [my feeling is that they employ Canadians] talks to you and helps you out? AT&T is the exact opposite of that.  It's like they feel like they have to balance out the good customer service Apple offers.

Now, the thing is, I'm not a person who jumps at the next cool thing.  I've had my iPhone 3G for the past 3.5 years, my computer for 5 years and frankly, if they worked at the necessary speed, I'd keep them.

But I was so excited to have worked enough to be able to purchase phones for me and my family with MY MONEY [and when you haven't worked in a while, you know how exciting it is to be able to use YOUR OWN MONEY and to be able to buy something that isn't strictly a necessity] that to be confronted not only with bullshit incompetence but don't give a shit customer service is so upsetting.

Yes, first world problems.  I'm the first to admit that.

But it's more that people won't be kind or helpful.  That makes me nuts.

So I'm trying to figure out where to go and what to do and which service to use.  The other 2 phones have contracts that expire in November, which is about when AT&T said they could ship the new phones.  I may just wait and jump ship elsewhere. 

Why doesn't Apple have a wireless service?