Filed under: iPhone
AT&T refunding iPhone activation charges for customers who experienced limbo?
If you were one of the unfortunate souls caught up in the AT&T activation limbo, some readers are reporting that you might be able to reclaim at least a few bucks for your pain and suffering. As the story goes, AT&T is apparently refunding the $36 activation fee to those who call and present their story of iPhone despair. Of course, it would probably help if you're cordial while explaining instead of reliving the memory entirely, but a refund of such a comparatively small amount of money doesn't sound like too much skin off AT&T's back to make up for doing such a dreadful job handling the iPhone Weekend.If you try this, let us know what your experience is like. There are no guarantees here, and I was fortunate to get activated right away so I don't have any personal gripes. Good luck with those calls.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Johnny Thrash said 5:42PM on 7-27-2007
The didn't even bother to bill me for it.
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Niels said 5:51PM on 7-27-2007
When I asked, they said they weren't offering to waive the fee. Upon further questioning, they said there were thousands of activations taking place at the same time & that was the cause of the delay. My counter that it isn't me who should pay for their lack of preparation didn't sway them.
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Dan K said 6:08PM on 7-27-2007
After spending 7 hours on the phone and 6 hours in an AT&T store, I was given a $50 credit... and with another call nicely begging I was given a refund on the $36 activation (which is actually closer to $40 after they apply all of the magic fees and perhaps taxes). $90ish dollars may not give me 13 hours of my life back, but it is a good start.
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alias that begins with pro- said 6:13PM on 7-27-2007
You love 'em, you hate 'em...
Can you please un-ban my regular e-mail address?
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Nate said 7:41PM on 7-27-2007
I was able to get my activation fee waived. I called up and very cordially was asking about my bill (it had a couple things I didn't understand, such as when the actual billing date was / when the minutes would refresh every month).
I told them that I had waited a day and a half to get activated, and played a little dumb and said that I didnt understand why the fee was on there when the rep I spoke to during the elongated activation process said it would be credited.
He ended up crediting my the 36.00 but applied it to the service side of the bill (so the updated bill says I paid a 36 dollar activation fee and had 36.00 credit on the monthly service charge).
Hope that helps, the rep was very nice about it all and credited it right away.
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Todd said 7:44PM on 7-27-2007
I tried to get them to waive the activation fee when I got my first bill. No dice. They did however give me a service credit ($2!) for the day on which I started my activation process and was unable to use the phone.
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Nate said 10:29PM on 7-27-2007
Just in case it didnt come across clearly...
There was never anyone that actually told me they were going to credit it during the activation. I just acted kinda dumb and told them someone told me that during the activation process.
So play dumb, mention someone already had told you they would do it, and be really really nice. They annotate every call ( i used to work for them ) so mention that someone "had told you they would" if that rep wont do it, call back and get another. Don't get irate or else they may note on the account that you were and tell the other reps not to give you that credit.
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Marcus said 3:31AM on 7-28-2007
Ha, this is pretty easy for ANYONE to do. I called up AT&T about 2 hours ago, saying I had just received my bill and there was an activation fee on there that I was told I would not be charged for because of my 36 hour delay in the iTunes activation process. The rep kindly said he would take care of it right away and asked me if there was anything else he could help me with and sent me on my way with a "Goodnight". I just checked my bill online and I was actually credited $46. I'm not sure why, but it was pretty convenient.
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docnilay said 3:21PM on 7-28-2007
Worked for me. I had a family plan for three lines, the first line (mine) was activated right away, no problems. My two other phones took about 24 hours to activate. Yesterday I called and asked nicely prior to paying my first bill for the iPhones, and the rep credited me for the two delayed iphone activation fees of $26 each! No big hassle, they were nice, friendly, and helpful. Kudos to AT&T!
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David Chartier said 5:39PM on 7-28-2007
#4: While I don't have control over which emails are blacklisted, I will definitely submit an official request. However, since I don't think I have your original email, would you mind submitting it to me via my personal blog? I'd hate for you to post it live on a site like this, so keeping things semi-private is the only way I can figure to do this.
Please use my contact form here:
http://www.dcharti.com/blog/contact/
I know, a cheap ploy for a pageview. :)
Also, RE: our previous conversation - thanks again for understanding.
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Justin Burrow said 12:27PM on 7-30-2007
I attempted to weasel my activation fee out of their grubby, clutching hands.
My iPhone activation required two trips to the AT&T store, two BRAND NEW sim cards (one had magically been registered already, despite the fact that it was still attached to the plastic card), four hours of phone time, two pieces of incorrect advice and a whole lot of stress.
I reached a CS manager at one point, and informed him that as a company, he should be willing to turn my horrible experience into a good one. When he asked what he could do to remedy the problem, I said, "you could start by refunding my activation fee".
That's when he politely and curtly declined, and it appeared for all intents and purposes that I was going to be left with a bleeding rectum and no salve, towel, diaper or donut for relief.
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