09-29-2012 03:26:18 PM
I have never been more frustrated as an AT&T customer to learn that my recent orders of iPhone 5's would be shipping far beyond the 14-21 days estimated when the order was placed. When I spoke to a representative they assured me they were "unable to cancel."
A couple of things to note:
1. I was charged for both devices the day the order was placed, therefore AT&T is making money on me over a month in advance when I have and will have, no product. Typically, as widely appreciated, customers are not charged for their orders until they are SHIPPED.
2. To be unable to cancel or adjust an order with a corporation after I accepted the terms and conditions and paid for the devices is blatently disrespectful to the customer.
3. I can cancel the order in the following methods, most of which AT&T would not appreciate:
- I could call my credit card company to stop payment on a product I will not have in the forseeable future.
- I could cancel my AT&T lines, all of them, and move to Verizon where I WOULD be able to cancel my order after it was made.
4. I do not appreciate AT&T placing the blame on Apple for not supplying enough phones to the customer demand. It's basic supply and demand concepts. AT&T's responsibility to THEIR PAYING CUSTOMERS was to present HONEST and UPFRONT timeframes for both the processing and shipping dates.
5. Correct me if I am wrong, but AT&T Customers are able to return their devices within the first 30 days of ownership. Well, I own the invisible phones that have not yet shipped and that won't ship until October 23- November 1.
09-30-2012 04:39:57 AM - edited 09-30-2012 04:42:34 AM
courtt329 wrote:
I have never been more frustrated as an AT&T customer to learn that my recent orders of iPhone 5's would be shipping far beyond the 14-21 days estimated when the order was placed. When I spoke to a representative they assured me they were "unable to cancel."
A couple of things to note:
1. I was charged for both devices the day the order was placed, therefore AT&T is making money on me over a month in advance when I have and will have, no product. Typically, as widely appreciated, customers are not charged for their orders until they are SHIPPED.
2. To be unable to cancel or adjust an order with a corporation after I accepted the terms and conditions and paid for the devices is blatently disrespectful to the customer.
3. I can cancel the order in the following methods, most of which AT&T would not appreciate:
- I could call my credit card company to stop payment on a product I will not have in the forseeable future.
- I could cancel my AT&T lines, all of them, and move to Verizon where I WOULD be able to cancel my order after it was made.
4. I do not appreciate AT&T placing the blame on Apple for not supplying enough phones to the customer demand. It's basic supply and demand concepts. AT&T's responsibility to THEIR PAYING CUSTOMERS was to present HONEST and UPFRONT timeframes for both the processing and shipping dates.
5. Correct me if I am wrong, but AT&T Customers are able to return their devices within the first 30 days of ownership. Well, I own the invisible phones that have not yet shipped and that won't ship until October 23- November 1.
there are some points in a online order that make it almost impossible to cancel, this is with all businesses
On number 4 - Apple is the manufacturer, Apple is repsonsible for the stock, it was already reported that there was a shortage of screens and with the newly reported issues of scratches and damage on phones that shipped it was a given that things are not all puppy dog tails and icecream in Apple land right now - what did you want the carriers to do, if apple can't supply the device, then there is nothing that can be done but excersize patience. Or did you want the carriers to stop taking pre-orders for the phones once they hit the cap of the stock they where supposed to get, key word supposed to get, that would have generated way more of these types of posts over all the carriers forums then the why do I have to wait posts - these posts are on all the carriers forums that allowed pre-order of the iphone 5
On number 5 You are 100 percent right, customers do have buyers remorse of 30 days to be able to return a physical device in the box to the location they bought it from, you have not started the 30 days buyers remorse becasue you have not activated the phone, so this is not a valid point
On number 1 - If you used a normal credit / debit card a ping charge was made to verifiy the authrnticity of the card and if the charge would process, depending on the issuer of the card this ping charge will drop off after what ever time period the issuer has set in their system, you will get the actual charge when the device ships, all corporations that accept criedt / debit card utilize this method - in some cases like a filling station the ping is for 100.00 and takes seven days to drop off
On number 3 - you might want to look into the ramifications of credit card - most card issuers will not invalidate a charge unless there is sufficient reason, they just don;t do it on a whim.
On canceling the account - do you expect the other carriers that have the iphonen not to bein the same boat with no stock available? From expierence - there is a point in both verizon and sprints online order process that their orders cannot be canceled either - I use all three carriers for personal use and my compnay's use so this is actual hands on expierence.
Lets add another factor into the mix, say you cancel your serivce, have you totaled up what it would cost you to actually cancel?For example, the last bill which is not pro-rated, the remaining etf - remember upgrade date does not equate out to conttract end date, upgrade date on an account in good standing is normally 4 months before contract end, if you have a family plan, then you need to factor in each and every other lines etf, they all are seperate contracts with seperate etf's
Bottom line - the simple fact that the iphone 5's where is very short supply was all over the net, the reports of other factors like physical damage on devices are showing up, and not just in isolated instances where all over the net, the fact that there was a shortage of the screens that would delay processing where all over the net. The demand for the supply of available iphones far exceeded what Apple was able to put into the pipleline, so maybe Appl should have postponed the sale of the phone so that had enough stock to ship to each and every carrier in the US. Not going into other countries supply because they are 3 different models of the phone for carriers outside North America depending on the bands the phone need to have.
Wil end this on a question for you - you state " AT&T's responsibility to THEIR PAYING CUSTOMERS was to present HONEST and UPFRONT timeframes for both the processing and shipping dates." - Just exactly how can this be down when APPLE can;t give a HONEST and UPFRONT answer on how many device THEY will be able to sell the carriers? Preetty sure that crystal balls that actually work do not exist in this space / time continuim
10-01-2012 04:59:46 AM
Well said. I understand people who are upset but often their anger is mis-placed at the carrier. It is the same story in the forums for every carrier. The vast majority of comsumer frustration should be placed on Apple. However, the public loves Apple and cannnot comprehend that they may have screwed up here.
