AT&T Lies About iPhone 4S Arrival Date

Stepping out of the VeganMoFo role for a minute; I hope my vegan followers will excuse the off topic post.

My old 3Gs. I love you 3Gs, but it’s time.

Like many excited iPhone fans, I got up early early to reserve my pre-ordered iPhone yesterday. I totally understood that this was a pre-order, and it wasn’t as if I’d get it right now- the point was to save myself several trips to the Apple Store if they didn’t have what I wanted in stock when I went. I still have an iPhone 3Gs, which I have loved, but has a failing home button and battery that’s not as good as it once was. It’s been over two years, so I was definitely excited to upgrade.

I moved last year, and since I get paperless billing and direct debit for my account, I overlooked changing my address. Since both Apple and AT&T will only ship to the billing address, I went with AT&T for the purchase, since it would be easier to directly change my address through them in the frenzy of all the iPhone preorders. That went through without a problem- no complaints there.

Twice my transaction was declined because my credit card company put a fraud alert on my card when I ordered. Not AT&T’s fault. Not even their fault that I was on hold for nearly an hour twice yesterday while trying to get it straightened out on AT&T’s end.

I got a confirmation email yesterday that said I should receive my order by October 14, 2011.

(Too big to show up on the page, so click here)

When I called because it looked like again, my order had not gone through (but it actually did), I found out that it will not leave the warehouse until October 14, 2011, which at earliest means I won’t receive it until October 15th.

So you see the lie there? Even on an estimation, you can’t estimate something will arrive on a day it cannot possibly arrive.

Oh, but there’s an asterisk, you say? That’s true. Here’s what it says:

(Too big to show up on the page, so click here)

Nothing about that it won’t leave the warehouse until then. Totally. Deceptive.

Unfortunately, I just virtually signed a contract with AT&T for 2 more years. Although I originally opened my cellular account with a smaller company that was eventually absorbed by AT&T, I have had the same account since I got my first cell phone in 1999. When this contract ends, I will be looking elsewhere, unless this supervisor (Agent #A06009) happened to be wrong.

If you haven’t bought your iPhone 4S yet, you may want to consider buying elsewhere. They don’t get richer unless we buy their products or use their services.

Edit: I have received a call back from the previous supervisor’s supervisor. Although he initially backed what she said, he did say whatever the email said should be the most accurate information. I will keep my fingers crossed, but I will not hold my breath, as the saying goes.