Tech News
AT&T suffers wrath of bloggers over activation issues
By Steve Ragan Jul 2, 2007, 15:55 GMT
On the Web
Latest Headlines in Tech
- 1. Report: Apple plans mini-iPad
- 2. Nerd striptease: Unboxing lets others watch you unwrap your gadget
- 3. An online notepad? Your smartphone as a notebook
- 4. Spring cleaning for your computer: Get the gunk - and the germs - out
- 5. Repeaters help get around wi-fi hurdles
Older Talkback
page: 1
I got mine running in under 5 minutes. I guess I was one of the lucky ones.
Business users are at fault because their lack of imagination. You cannot just buy a phone and expect that you can make changes to your company phone account.
I would check with a company telecommunication manager first if I can add or remove any services.
Those users are not responsible. Any company property like phones, computers are for conducting company business only and any misuse could subject to termination of an employee.
I used AT&T for analog cell a few years back and was so frustrated and disgruntled by their customer service that I not only canceled my account, but vowed never to use their service again.
Sounds like that decision would still stand today.
From the article: 'For the large volume of users, most were able to use the iPhone the same day they got it. The minority of the iPhone users who are still waiting are making the most noise, and rightfully so.'
Statistically, if you bought an iPhone everything worked out. It seems to me that a lot of the problems (including mine) are edge cases, usually in situations where the person activating the phone isn't the account holder (either because of business accounts, family plans, etc.).
My main gripe hasn't been the problem -- new system, new phone, double plus media hype conditions -- hello, problems. No surprise that there's been problems, I'm used to problems.
What blows my mind is how Apple/AT&T seem to have completely failed to design for the inevitable problems that do occur. If I understand what's going on correctly, if there is any problem activating your phone, your order is placed on hold with no notification. I've known my order was on hold since last night, but iTunes still says my activation is being processed (but obviously, it's not).
And no email has been sent to me yet, even though the order has been on hold for at least 12 hours. It seems to me that if Apple/AT&T had planned their system to include notifying customers that a problem had occurred, please call this number to fix it the angry minority would be much less angry about the whole affair.
In summary:
Kafkaesque situation = Angry customer
It surprises me that the above is an obvious, basic tenet of customer service in the digital age, but so few companies realize it and seem to feel no regret in subjecting their customers to incomprehensible customer service procedures.
I too am frustrated by ATT customer service and switched to T-mobile. ATT should think about improving customer service. IT does help a lot if you can answer and resolve the customer issue without letting them wait for hours and sometimes they say that it is resolved but it is not. You still get an overcharged bill and you have to call again wait for hours and then again hope that it will be taken care off in next bill. I too will never switch to ATT. I would have for iPhone but I am scared off with word ATT.
A year ago I had no problems porting my phone number from Cingular to T-Mobile (I left Cingular because I moved to Chicago and their coverage there is terrible), so I got the iPhone, back to AT&T. Guess what? They said they can't port my phone because it's 'out of market' (from out of Chicago), why didn't I have this problem when I switched? So I have to call do a lot of tricky things to get in the 'market area' like give them an old address as my actual address, just so they would approve switching my number's area code. They did, but they have to ship me a NEW sim card by mail, which will take 5-7 business days. Considering there's a Holiday in the middle of this week, it'd be two to three weeks since I get that SIM card and port my number. This is stuff I expect from Microsoft, not from Apple, so there you go Apple, thanks for partnering with AT&T.
P.S. AT&T coverage in Chicago remains awful. I can hardly get a signal inside a building, and it's the only service that has that problem.
I bought my wife an iPhone Friday and we had no problems activating it. Granted, the 'This may take up to 3 minutes' message timed out, stating we'd be sent an email shortly when activation was complete, but that took no more than 10 minutes. We are existing AT&T non-business customers, which may explain part of the smoothness of the process. Overall the activation experience was great and the time delay gave us time to get her PC set up with Outlook, etc., in preparation for the first sync with the device.
Basically, I have to agree with the users being somewhat at fault with many of these problems, obviously if you're not approved to make changes to your phone plan, you will have issues activating a device that requires added services, as you are not authorized to add said services. DUH.
I waited in line for six hours for an iPhone, but then couldn't turn it on until Sunday. Very frustrating. Customer service couldn't do anything and the whole thing was a mess. You can only move that slider back and forth before you want to throw the thing to the ground in a hail of touch screen shrapnel.
But, I have to admit, once I got it activated on Sunday (two days later!) it is so beautiful and fun to play with it was hard to stay mad at them. I probably would have angrily returned any other product, but this thing is just so damn sexy. It was worth the wait, although if you would have asked me Saturday I would have told you different. They really should have been prepared for thousands of people to activate at once.
My experience was flawless in activating my iPhone. This device is everything and more than you would expect and worth every penny. at this very moment i am very comfortably writing this blog from my throne,I hope the rest of you enjoy as much as i have been. Christmas came a little early this year.
I bought my iphone and had no difficulty getting it going. I did not go through a corporate account, just a personal one. I love my phone. It does just what it is supposed to do.
God, talk about a bunch of instant gratification whiners. You're literally counting the 'hours' that its not activated - get a life, 36 hours in not even a concern for lack of a bowel movement and you're freaking out because of a silly phone.
I didn't have any problems activating my iPhone on Sat.
Listen, if a user is buying an iphone and wants to make a change to there personal business account then they should be able to make changes. Don't ever say that a user doesn't have the right to change stuff on there own account. This is just piss poor planning and lack of service on AT&T. End of story. I must laugh though since I always find it funny when people get screwed by phone companies since it isn't myself this time. Misery loves company!
Maybe ATT is so slow in activating the accounts because they are busy turning over all your data to the government, no warrant needed.
Just wait until all these iPhone users get their first bills and then the ever inefficient ATT/Cingular customer service group gets into the picture.
ATT cannot get bills right and they have some of the worst customer service that I've ever run across. The only group worse? The cable company.
I wonder if there is a record for the largest numbers of cancellations of a service?
I contacted ATT last Friday through a site for iphones and was able to get an order through. Was not easy but after searching through the site I linked to the proper site. They took my ordr an I should have it within 3 weeks. The site is www.iphonefetch.com
'He said in the interview that most users have been able to complete activation in less than ten minutes in some cases.'
Which is it, 'Most' or 'in some cases'?
That's what Apple gets for getting into bed with one of the worst rated cell companies out there.
No one seems to be complaining about the phone itself, but the activation process which is in the hands of...AT&T. It's not an iBrick, it's iDiots at AT&T. It's not rocket science to project activations, but it seems that once again AT&T just can't seem to have the foresight of that which is beyond their noses. Maybe Jobs and company are to blame for making a deal with such a company that can't decide what it wants to do, let alone do something, like activating a phone which they have a notorious history of screwing up accounts on both the wireless end as well as the land line. The phone is great, it's the telecommunications behind it that needs their heads examined, maybe that's why their CEO is having problems finding a replacement.
Not all 'business accounts' are controlled by your company.... my company told me that I could get a discount on my existing Cingular (now AT&T) account if I told Cingular I who I worked for, so I did. Now my account is considered a 'business account'. My company has no say so over my account. I'm not sure if this will some day bit me, but I've added 2 phones to the account without any issues.
Back to AT&T... I've been calling them weekly for 2 months to solve a problem where they charge me for some mobile to mobile calls (CHECK YOUR BILL). I've submitted several tickets and am still waiting for 1) my RollOver minutes back and 2) to correct the problem.
Good luck with AT&T. The funny thing is that I had Cingular for 5 years without any problems. Was it only a name change, or are we now blessed with the incompetance of the old AT&T Wireless?
Two days without an activated telephone? The agony!
You materialistic nerds need to get a job, a girlfriend or a life. And not necessarily in that order too.
--
The time stamp on my receipt says 12:39PM on 6/30/07.
My activation notice came at 1:03PM on 6/30/07.
The twenty-four minutes included my driving home, unpacking it and updating to iTunes 7.3.
ATT and Apple rock!
Quit whining
why is it such a hassle to add the iphone to a business plan and see easy with a personal plan? why isnt the iphone available to business users? is that atts doing or apples?
To Mr. Berkstein,
Oh please!!
Given that SIM cards have worked interchangeably on unlocked handsets for quite sometime - how is someone supposed to know they can't use an iPhone with a business account? Your work gives you some basic cheap POS phone with no bluetooth, voice dialing or ability to synch address books. You buy an unlocked upgraded more feature rich phone to use instead. Why would the company care? You've bought the phone, you've spent the money, they come out ahead since you've ponied up and the phone they bought goes unused.
I've worked for companies where I got a 'business account' for cell usage, but it consisted of me getting a corporate rate for minutes and me submitting them for reimbursement. Buying the phone and paying the bill was my responsibility.
I would never have known about the issue if I hadn't read about it this weekend. And frankly I don't care what model cell phone my employees use. And I certainly don't fault them for wanting a phone that better meets their needs. I'm more interested in results than bureaucracy for bureaucracy's sake.
How do they do it? ATT and Apple, that is... They sell gazillions of this little device and manage to get probably more than 99% of them up and running within minutes. Yet, there are a vocal few idiots who whine about their experiences being 'horrific'. These muttonheads don't know horrific from cole slaw. Horrific would be something much more painful than having your newest overpriced, over-hyped, Apple toy sitting idly by for a few hours.
Sheeesh. Horrific, indeed. Whiners.
One slight modification to my previous comment.
If the hitch is not the handset itself but the service plan - then a delay in switching plans (for activation purposes) makes a bit more sense. Since the iPhone requires a different service plan, I can see requiring a corporate manager approval to change the account.
For business accounts that are personal (i.e. sole proprietor), or business accounts where the phone holder is billed (vs the company) there shouldn't be a delay.
But in those cases a status message of 'this a business account requiring special approval' should have been the message displayed rather than just a failed activation.
I have been a customer of Cingular(att) for almost 2 years I have 2 company accounts with wireless 10 phone lines.
I went to the apple store in San Antonio TX they had iphones then is was informed that business customer could not have a iphone. ATT wants me to establish another account. I was told that they were not going to allow comercial customers to have Iphones.
My company was good enough to bill me for the 10 phone lines for two years, now they want me to personally sign up for another personal account. After cingular(ATT) has overbilled my company month in and month out for two year to the point of I would not ever consider opening another account.
It is sad that apple has tied their boat a company like ATT.
'You materialistic nerds need to get a job, a girlfriend or a life. And not necessarily in that order too.'
Why is the feeling that a product or system should work as advertised the sign of being a 'materialistic nerd?'
I hope the next time you order food in a restaurant the server farts in your face, and then when you complain people tell you not to be such an uptight prissy-pants.
I mean, you ordered food -- what were you expecting, respect?
'Yet, there are a vocal few idiots who whine about their experiences being 'horrific'. These muttonheads don't know horrific from cole slaw...'
Well, on one hand you're correct - the iPhone activation process isn't horrific, and as the article and others (including me) have said, it seems to have worked for most people.
But for people who have problems, it's not the actual problem that's the problem (if that makes sense) - it's that it can be very difficult and time consuming (average time on hold per call - 1 hour) just to figure out why your phone isn't getting activated, and then you have to go through actually getting the problem fixed -- which to read some posts online doesn't guarantee that you won't have another problem and have to start all over again.
Maybe you have unlimited time and patience to figure things like that out. I find I'd rather do almost anything than spend the day playing 'find the one individual in the universe who can get my [cable/phone/internet] running again.'
I think I'm now finding the criticism of those of us unhappy with this experience more grating than the actual experience. I think the worst is when it's people who don't have a problem, who can't understand why someone with a problem would be unhappy about their problem, and thus it must point to some moral or constitutional or mental failure on the part of the person with the problem.
any business user and their company is dumb found if they're with AT&T for business communication. worse comibinaion when u add an apple product for business...sprint/verizon is the best n only choice.
Should we really be surprised? I don't know about AT&T now, but back before AT&T bought SBC, SBC had the worst customer service of any company I have ever experienced. A call to customer service would always turn into a 30 minute or longer ordeal, being passed through no less than two or three people, and known of them would have a clue what's going on. So if AT&T didn't change that when they bought SBC then they acquired some terrible customer service. Hopefully that did something about it though. Of course I wouldn't know, because I switched services long ago.
Like lambs to the slaughter.... lol.. the rest of us just sit and laugh to ourselves at the fuss being made over something so silly. Anyone with common sense would know that if At&t is involved, the product is doomed, no matter how good it is.
Dear Anyone With An iPhone,
If you can find the time between waxing your Beatle and humping the Mac guy to donate a little money to charity, all us poor people and the sick people without insurance and the homeless people would really appreciate it. I know you get a yuppie buzz from 'contributing' to important causes like I dunno... making Target the #1 retailer in the US, but us poor, starving, ill, and homeless folks also think you could possibly get even greater satisfaction from volunteering in a soup kitchen or taking in a foster child or spending the $600.00 you just wasted on a phone that will kamakazi in a year on something like rent for one of the poor saps that probably works for you.
Thanks a lot,
America
Don,
I am an ATT 'business' customer simply because ATT gives anyone working at my company a slight discount for a bill that is completely in my own name for a phone that belongs to me. I did not know this discount made me a 'business' customer until an earlier sim card failure required repair. So not all 'business' customers should have expected to need 'approval' to buy a new phone.
it sucks and blows at the same time. Whatever name it has,. Cingular or at&t the customer services/ services SUCKS! I happily paid my $250 to kill my contract,.,. worse waste of consumer time than dressing up as a burrito at Chipotle.
Go to school. get a Job. try not to be a burden to society. lame
Dear Sweet Child of Mine,
Why are you so angry? Why are you so greedy and fat? Why are so many of your brothers and sisters fat and greedy while other children starve and can find no protection from the heat and the cold? Why is it that you're so angry? Is it because you know that it's a farce to spend so much money on a telephone? Is it the dependance on the telephone that has made you this way? Why don't you have any compassion for anyone other than yourself? Is it just that your generation is self centered or is it just you? How hard would it be to put others before yourself for once? Wouldn't feeding a family for 3 months be more satisfying than owning a status symbol phone?
Just wondering,
America
My activation on Friday went smooth-as-silk. Droped it in the cradle, iTunes launched with a dialogue to either change phones on an existing account or create a new account. I had an existing account with a Motorola 220MPX Microsoft Mobile 'smartphone' (more accurately 'self-aware,' in that is chose to never work). I was prompted for my ATT/Cingular account login/password, the phone number I wanted to upgrade and plan options (the simplest and least expensive was thoughtfully preset as the default), clicked 'go' and a progress bar appeared stating up to 3 minutes may be required, but had success within 45 seconds.
I have heard repeated tales about people trying to activate through Verizon (Verizon doesn't offer iPhone), trying to get Florida area codes for their billing address in Maine (against FCC rules), and trying to change phones or add data plans for business numbers for which they do not have administrative rights over as an employee. Anybody who has ever had any exposure to working a technical helpdesk will attest that there will always be a minority of the population who are completely clueless, completely unreasonable, or both when it comes to any technical process- regardless of how overwhelmingly user-friendly it may be to the rest of the known universe.
Don't listen to people more messed up that you are. The iPhone rocks. If you are technophobic, this is your phone. It does everything a smart-phone claims to, but everything works incredibly well. There's nobody more customer-focused than Apple- why they want to control the activation process- and they will make sure you get up and running ASAP. If the request is beyond the ordinary, it may take longer, but you will never read a comment about somebody who didn't get help and is now delighted!
SomebodyJul 2nd, 2007 - 17:11:30
A year ago I had no problems porting my phone number from Cingular to T-Mobile (I left Cingular because I moved to Chicago and their coverage there is terrible), so I got the iPhone, back to AT&T. Guess what? They said they can't port my phone because it's 'out of market' (from out of Chicago), why didn't I have this problem when I switched? So I have to call do a lot of tricky things to get in the 'market area' like give them an old address as my actual address, just so they would approve switching my number's area code. They did, but they have to ship me a NEW sim card by mail, which will take 5-7 business days. Considering there's a Holiday in the middle of this week, it'd be two to three weeks since I get that SIM card and port my number. This is stuff I expect from Microsoft, not from Apple, so there you go Apple, thanks for partnering with AT&T.
P.S. AT&T coverage in Chicago remains awful. I can hardly get a signal inside a building, and it's the only service that has that problem.
Hello Somebody,
Just wanted to let you know. I work for AT&T. Go to a retail store in Chicago and get a new SIM card. This will fix your issue. I had a person come into the store that was having issues with their activation, we changed the SIM. Everything works now
Here in Australia we have 2 main telcos and their customer service and prices are so bad that I cant imagine that they will be able to anything other than poison the iphone experience. I no longer own a mobile phone and am a whole lot happier and richer for it.
Is anyone else having problems after the nightmare activation? I have had my Iphone sitting on my desk most of the day trying to download email, update stocks, etc. in what has been a hit or miss proposition all day. Right now I am looking at a 'Loading' message on the Safari browser that has been there for at least 5 minutes - going nowhere. Getting over the activation issue is one-thing - having to put up with Edge, if its going to be like this, is another issue all together.
HTurpin
Patience people. Any new technology is going to have it's glitches. This IS a little ridiculous though, didn't they know so many people would be trying to activate all at once? DE DE DE! I hope enough people complain that they were out of service long enough to warrant a partial refund on their monthly bill, it's the least they can offer.
What a nightmare! But I still hear plenty of folks talking about getting an iPhone.
The Hot Sauce Collector
hotsauce.zlio.com
The ATT Activation Nightmare Goes on!
I've had my 8G Iphone since Friday.
I went down to the ATT store when the Online activation wouldn't even let me register. After waiting over an hour at the store I was given a number and assurance of activation in a few hours. This was 10am Saturday. Nothing had been resolved by 5pm so I call the various ATT numbers, none of which were the least bit helpful, they hung up on my 3 times while on hold, they routed me to various other departments and then finally told me to call Apple.
Once I called Apple they walked me through a call with ATT where ATT agreed to waive activation fees. Apple even offered to send me a blue tooth headset.
Needless to say, Monday came and still no activation. So I sporadically called ATT to check on the status of my account. What a waste of time. Every ATT rep had a different line and story. At the end of the Business day on monday I had to renew my other phone service. I talked to yet again another ATT rep and asked if my activation fee had been waived, he informed it had not. I then asked him if ATT would waive my first month of service,Yes, I had read the Blogs where other customers had been credited months of service fees. The rep who was trying to be slick when I demanded my service fee waived informed me I should be thankful to get a waiver on my activation fee and that ATT would not waive any service fees and offered me $6. He informed me I wouldn't get my activation fee waived either. I hung up on him and called another ATT number.
I informed the new rep of my wonderful experience with her company. She checked my account and made sure my activation fee was waived as well as my first month of service. Clearly the previous ATT rep Lied. Lying to it's customers is apparently how ATT conducts it's business.
5:15 pm 7/2/2007, still no activation. Thanks Steve for finding such a wonderful partner for your customers to work with.
Well I wish I was only wating around for 40 hours. I got my iPhone Friday... yes, I was one of those people in that line that wrapped around the mall... and I am still not activated. I have spent my entire weekend and most of today's work day on the phone with customer service. I am pushing 72 hours not only without a working iPhone but NO cell phone service at all. I am now looking for my reciept.
It took grand total of 12 minutes to get the thing working.
Then again, I am not a moron.
America Jul 2nd, 2007 - 20:07:01
Dear Sweet Child of Mine,(notice the lowbrow US cultural reference)
'Why are you so greedy and fat?'
Why are you such a douche bag?
'Is it because you know that it's a farce to spend so much money on a telephone? '
LOL, we can afford it, sucks to be you.
'Why don't you have any compassion for anyone other than yourself? '
We do not have compassion for you because you are a douche bag, I thought I mentioned that. How is this for compassion, you can have my old cell phone, just look for it on ebay.
'Wouldn't feeding a family for 3 months be more satisfying than owning a status symbol phone?'
Like you could do either. Besides, this is a really cool phone.
Purchased the IPHONE 5 days ago and STILL haven't been able to activate it...Cannot wade through their terrible un-friendly website...Apple's instructions are geared only for people under 30...and they ASSUME that everyone has an ipod, which I don't. The instructions on their website even declare, 'it's as easy as setting up your IPOD'...What about those of us who do not HAVE an IPOD???? Yes, they have an activation video, but the instructions assume too much...
It's going back to where I bought it, untried, untested..too bad. And I have to pay a 're-stocking' fee on top of it... This process has worn me out, back to my old crappy clam-shell Motorola
Just got my iPhone 2008-10-31 and and it has been hours and the phone still is not activated. I guess AT&T still has not fixed their issues with activation. The only response I can get from AT&T is that I just have to wait until the phone recieves the signal that it is activated. They cannot tell me when this will happen. All I get is excuses as to why it has not happened within a few minutes.
Very disappointed.
page: 1
Your Talkback on this Story