So, at 6:AM in the morning, live from New York, I was ready to upgrade my two lines to iphone 4. Apple's site of course was impossible, unless you're a masochist in love with the words "session time out". After an hour of trying unsuccessfully, I go to AT&T's site.
There's no information on AT&T's site as far as delivery date; in the Apple store, it specifically says guaranteed delivery on June 24th - on AT&T's -- nada. So, after a few time outs just like Apple's store, I friggin' finally get through, place my orders, pick my data plans, and boom, check out successful. Now it confirmation shows free delivery by the 24th - I'm at ease, and I can go back to bed a bit.
Ok, fast forward late afternoon. I get home and get a message on my home phone that VISA "Fraud Protection Services" was calling to confirm I made a six hundred and change purchase. I call back, and key in a confirmation (all automated crap of course), that it was I who made the purchase. The automated reply was: Thank you, we confirmed your authorization, please call the establishment where you placed your order and inform them to retry the credit card purchase. WHAT THE !#$!#!$#!!!
I call AT&T, and after a 20 minute hold, I get through. The the rep tells me "sorry sir, but we have no confirmed order for iphone 4's from you, so you'll have to simply place a new order if Visa did not allow a charge this morning". I now had to go through the entire process of ordering on AT&T's site from scratch! Only this time, it's even more fun because now AT&T"s site is impossible to get through without "we are sorry, but we a temporarily..blah blah blah" messages in red. It's mid day, not early in the morning, so you can imagine the traffic now. I am out of my mind at this point, and decide to take a break. I come back later, hit AT&T's site and keep hitting refresh and finally, I get through, place the order successfully, and immediately called VISA to warn them that I am trying this again and not to block the charge for Fraud Protection concerns. The sweet but scared sounding Indian women from Visa assured me that it would be no problem this time....
ah yeah...we shall see. It's amazing, with all the technological advancements, consumers are treated worse than ever, and big establishments are unbelievably incompetent.
There's no information on AT&T's site as far as delivery date; in the Apple store, it specifically says guaranteed delivery on June 24th - on AT&T's -- nada. So, after a few time outs just like Apple's store, I friggin' finally get through, place my orders, pick my data plans, and boom, check out successful. Now it confirmation shows free delivery by the 24th - I'm at ease, and I can go back to bed a bit.
Ok, fast forward late afternoon. I get home and get a message on my home phone that VISA "Fraud Protection Services" was calling to confirm I made a six hundred and change purchase. I call back, and key in a confirmation (all automated crap of course), that it was I who made the purchase. The automated reply was: Thank you, we confirmed your authorization, please call the establishment where you placed your order and inform them to retry the credit card purchase. WHAT THE !#$!#!$#!!!
I call AT&T, and after a 20 minute hold, I get through. The the rep tells me "sorry sir, but we have no confirmed order for iphone 4's from you, so you'll have to simply place a new order if Visa did not allow a charge this morning". I now had to go through the entire process of ordering on AT&T's site from scratch! Only this time, it's even more fun because now AT&T"s site is impossible to get through without "we are sorry, but we a temporarily..blah blah blah" messages in red. It's mid day, not early in the morning, so you can imagine the traffic now. I am out of my mind at this point, and decide to take a break. I come back later, hit AT&T's site and keep hitting refresh and finally, I get through, place the order successfully, and immediately called VISA to warn them that I am trying this again and not to block the charge for Fraud Protection concerns. The sweet but scared sounding Indian women from Visa assured me that it would be no problem this time....
ah yeah...we shall see. It's amazing, with all the technological advancements, consumers are treated worse than ever, and big establishments are unbelievably incompetent.
