Another Update: It’s now 10:22 pm and I do in fact have my iPhone! But don’t let my excitement from the last post fool you - it was hell getting here! So, I went back to the store (you know, right after the ‘WOOT!’) - and their systems were back down. So I ended up waiting there for about another hour and a half while they tried to figure out a way for me to activate and port my number so I could take my iPhone home. Eventually they got it figured out (without any of their systems working) and I walked out with a working iPhone. At first it was a bit anti-climactic, since I had been so eagerly waiting for it, but now that I’ve installed a few apps and smudged the hell out of it, I feel a bit re-invigorated.
Update: It’s now 3:11pm CST and I just got the confirmation message from ATT that their rep. is going to contact me soon to pick up my iPhone. Apparently that is a system-specific, auto-generated message that is sent when they check the phone into the store. And I just now received a call that it’s ready! WOOT!
Original Post:
So, as I posted in the AT&T wirless forum, and written on my business blog. I had ordered my 16GB White iPhone at my local St. Louis AT&T store on the 24th of July and tracked it feverishly since. According to the order status page, my order had shipped on 7/26/2008 and was expected to arrive on 7/28/08 by 3:00 pm. Sure enough, I watched the FedEx tracking updates and it was delivered at around 1:00 pm C.S.T.
I hastily made my way to the ATT store, only to be informed that their entire system was down and that they were unable to process anything! Apparently - according to store staff expressing frustration - there was a system-wide shutdown due to a virus and ‘unauthorized access’ to something. With no other details or iPhone in-hand, I came back home. Now, I’m waiting, as I have been, impatiently for this iPhone debacle to conclude.
What’s worse, is that when I had first gone in there - about a week after the iPhone launch - one of the salespeople was trying to get me to do direct fulfillment. Since I’m an existing Sprint customer, I wanted to be sure I could port my number and establish an ATT account once I got my phone. This salesperson had suggested that I could ‘go ahead and order the phone, sign up for the service’ and that I could ‘use a loaner phone’ till my iPhone arrived (which at that time could’ve been 10-21 days!).
Well, my current phone is an HTC-Mogul and I use it for everything, e-mail, txt, web-browsing, etc… I certainly didn’t want to get some cheapy loaner phone and put all my stuff on hold while waiting for the iPhone! So I told this person that I’d just come back when their stocks were replenished - convinced that I could wait it out.
The reality was that I spent the next several days scouring forums, and viewing various replenishment tracking sites, to find the White 16GB model I wanted so badly. There seemed to be a nationwide scarcity, but the silver-lining was that the model I wanted was in greater supply and lesser deman than the 8GB or 16GB Black.
While running some errands, I decided to stop back in to the ATT store and see if, by some miracle, they had one laying around (yeah, pathetic, I know…) - and that’s when a new salesperson explained the direct fulfillment process to me again. This time however, I caught a key detail that wasn’t provided with the first salesperson; I wouldn’t have to use a loaner phone or sign up for the service until my iPhone actually arrived. Whether, the first salesperson was just eager to sign me up, or whether she didn’t know about that option, I’m not entirely sure.
In any case, I placed my direct fulfillment order with that second salesperson - and I did mention at the time that I had spoken with someone else before.
So, that brings us to today. As I walk in, both salespeople were there and I was greeted by the person I had spoken with first. When I explained to her that I had come back in and placed my direct fulfillment order with another sales person (who happened to be directly behind her at the moment), she immediately took a ‘confused’ tone. “I thought I explained the direct fulfillment to you…” - Which I found a bit unprofessional - so I retorted - “You did.. you told me I’d have to use a ‘loaner-phone’ and sign up that same day. When I came back in, another sales person explained that I could place the order without switching phones until I actually had the new one.”
At that point, I could tell she was pretty angry about the whole situation, but my point is this: I don’t give a flying F**K about who gets which commission. I’m there as a NEW CUSTOMER who is ready to buy one of their most expensive products with nearly their most expensive plan. I have been waiting through various ‘replenishment issues’ (which I realize is not ATT’s fault, but still) and it seems like I’m practically begging for these people to take my money.
Anyway, this is obviously my attempt at channeling my iPhone anxiety/cravings into something more creative time-consuming, as I still wait for my iPhone. I guess my real point is: “But I want my iPhone NOW!” - and yeah, that sounds just as childish as you’re probably reading it.
So, if you’ve been refreshing your FedEx tracking data every five minutes, checking the ATT Order Status page like it’s going out of style, or waiting eagerly for that e-mail from ATT that your iPhone is ready and waiting for you, you might be in for an even longer wait. My suggestion… whine about it in your blog and try to get mad at someone about something miniscule. 
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