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Note: This issue of It’s Geek to Me was rejected by my editor, due to my attempt to use my column to air my grievance against AT&T.  It did not appear online, in the Northwest Florida Daily News, or any other Freedom Communications publication.  It is presented here as part of the complete archive of It’s Geek to Me.

See the following week’s column for a toned-down version that passed muster.

– Geek

Anyone with even a passing interest in technology and gadgetry has surely heard about the Apple iPhone by now.  I had successfully resisted the allure of owning this hottest piece of technology around, until my beloved RAZR V9m developed a problem with the internal LCD display a week after its warranty expired.  At $199 for an 8 Gig iPhone vs. $249 for a new high-end phone to replace my RAZR, the choice was practically made for me.  Once I’d gotten my hands on one and I began exploring its amazing capabilities, I was hooked, and I instantly understood why this one little gadget has enjoyed such universal appeal.

Unfortunately, this miracle of technology is chained to a single cell phone provider.  I don’t want to name names, but it begins with “AT” and ends with “&T”.  I visited this provider’s store in Mary Ester a couple of short weeks ago, and left there over $500 lighter than I went in, but with two new iPhones in hand – one for me, one for Spouse Peripheral.  Shortly thereafter, I received my first bill, which covers startup fees, the pro-rated first month, and the first full month of service: $209.43.  Still, despite the unexpectedly high costs, SP and I were both happy with our new devices.

That is, until two weeks after purchasing them when I began to miss calls, and I discovered that my phone’s vibrate function had stopped working.

Not wanting to blindside the store by simply bringing my hardware in to ask for a replacement, I called the store to tell them about the problem.  They said before I brought it back, I should call Apple so they could step me through some procedures to ensure it wasn’t a software problem, or “operator error”.  Mildly insulted (after all, I AM “the Geek”!)  I complied. The Apple rep decided that (gasp) my iPhone was defective, and offered to have one sent out to me.  The rep was unable to say whether the replacement phone would be new or a refurb, and I was unwilling to accept a refurbished phone to replace one that I had purchased new only two weeks prior.  Now, before I go any further I should make it clear that all warranty work on the iPhone is provided by Apple – not by the cell phone provider.  However, said cell phone provider offers a “30-Day Customer Satisfaction Policy” (also known as the “Buyer’s Remorse” period), and I was still well within that 30-day period.  Apple told me that because it had only been two weeks, I could exchange it back at the original store, which is what I attempted to do.  What followed was one of the saddest examples of a company meeting a customer’s needs that I have ever had the misfortune to witness.  This issue was instantly elevated to the store manager, who kept SP and me in his store for nearly 90 minutes the night we visited, while he gave excuse after excuse why he would not exchange my defective hardware.  While in the store, I called the national customer service desk for the cell provider, and two different national agents and their supervisors said that it is the store’s responsibility to make the exchange.  When this store manager failed to abide by the company’s own policies, I attempted to escalate it to the district manager.  As of this writing, it’s been almost a week, and I am still waiting for a promised phone call, which was supposed to come the following day.

I’m out of room for this week, but I’ll save some space in my next column to update you on the outcome of this situation.  In the mean time, if you’re considering the iPhone, you might just want to give that a second thought.  You may find that the lack of service from the phone’s sole service provider makes the whole experience just not worth it.

(Hmm… Can’t imagine WHY they wouldn’t publish this…  :-p )