da_craw

So I've been an AT&T/Cingular customer ever since I got a cell phone, lo these 9 years ago or so.  I patiently waited for my upgrades, and until the last couple of years, wasn't even interested in a phone with bells and whistles (or more specifically, Internet and email).  The past 2 1/2 years, though, I've had a PDA for work, first provided for me by work, and then, when my boss got his iPhone (right when it came out), on my own account (the joy of being "contract" labor).

Even though I definitely could use the higher web functionality of an iPhone (or G1), I waited until my eligibility date, so I didn't have to pay an extra $200.  Which was April 8, 2009.  Or so I thought.  My wife switched her phone from our family plan to a work plan to get a new PDA herself, and the AT&T phone associate helping her, when setting up my interim plan, assured me that I could get an iPhone at that $199 level on April 8.  Until I checked on April 1, and it said that I wasn't eligible until September 8, 2009, though I could pay $18 for the right to pay full price for an iPhone.

So now, after 2 weeks and about 3 hours on the phone with AT&T, and their utter inability to fix the problem, I got a G1 and am now a T-Mobile customer.  About 30 minutes after I made the switch, I got a call back from AT&T (a call that was promised 2 hours earlier), saying they still hadn't fixed the problem, and asking me to be patient.  The big problem here is, while everyone at AT&T I spoke to was friendly and tried to be helpful, I was never able to directly speak to someone who could fix my problem.  So after two weeks of other people trying to convince the people in "critical care" to stop screwing me, I screwed back.

So far -love the new phone, love the new company.  My new phone wasn't working this morning, but one 15 minute phone call got it all fixed, plus other helpful, friendly tips.  So, my new phone is cheaper, my new plan is cheaper, and I get good customer service.  AT&T, you're fired.