Found Footage: Apple Store refuses service to iPhone sans AT&T contract

If you can't afford to eat the cost of the phone, then you shouldn't break it. Duh.

I voided the warranty on dozens of Macs back when I was installing Monster Mac upgrades and internal hard disks, and I knew damned well that if I botched it, Apple wasn't going to give me a free replacement.

I have no problem with people taking a soldering iron or a sledgehammer to anything they own, but bitching about it when they fuck it up is just asinine.

-jcr

I hate the way his pants make that swishing sound when he leaves. What a dweeb.

I wish people would stop encouraging Jake Durgard to continue damaging his reputation. Apple and AT&T have not broken any laws. Nothing that was requested of him at the Apple store -- that he provide proof of registration and his name -- is questionable. Since the iPhone was incomplete without its SIM card that in itself was reason enough to deny service at the time. I am beginning to think that the publicity people generate by threatening to file or filing frivolous lawsuits on the Internet is resulting in a very unfortunate copycat syndrome.

I watched the video a second time after Steve Y. said it was shot in the Pioneer Place Store in Portland. He is right! (BTW, Charlie, the thick guy behind the Genius bar, wears a kilt.)


I decided to comment again to say that AT&T coverage in the Pacific Northwest is pretty good. I've used it in Seattle, Portland and Vancouver with my iPhone. It is fine for voice. Data on Edge can be slow at times, but that is to be expected. Other times it is fairly fast. I watched the video above on my iPhone at YouTube using Edge without a hitch. AT&T coverage is no worse than other places based on travel and conversation. Probably better than some. So, I am doubtful about Jake's claim that he canceled his AT&T plan because of bad coverage where he lives.

Wow... this is clear evidence of Apple violating the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

Good job, it's all on video!

BTW, if anyone wants to read about how Apple is breaking the law, check out http://www.phonenews.com/content/view/2386/9/

I watched the video a second time after Steve Y. said it was shot in the Pioneer Place Store in Portland. He is right! (BTW, Charlie, the thick guy behind the Genius bar, wears a kilt.)


I decided to comment again to say that AT&T coverage in the Pacific Northwest is pretty good. I've used it in Seattle, Portland and Vancouver with my iPhone. It is fine for voice. Data on Edge can be slow at times, but that is to be expected. Other times it is fairly fast. I watched the video above on my iPhone at YouTube using Edge without a hitch. AT&T coverage is no worse than other places based on travel and conversation. Probably better than some. So, I am doubtful about Jake's claim that he canceled his AT&T plan because of bad coverage where he lives.

You call shenanigans, huh? Well after you were taken to task by the commentary. Grow the f___ up, please.

your update, as well as the article, as well as "jake's" video are all disingenuous at best (if you say he's been on fox news, why do you not put any link to that or put any reference as to whom this "jake" is? if he's so keen on having his video about apple employees just doing the job they are s'posed to, why won't he associated his real full name with it?).

you tellingly neglect (and so do many other commenters favoring this guy's actions) the one very telling moment in the whole video. toward the end, the apple employee pops open the SIM card slot, and finds, surprise, surprise — no SIM card whatsoever. *all* apple iPhones in the u.s. ship with a pre-installed at&t SIM card. to try and turn it on without one is foolhardy. yet "jake"-videoman just says he hasn't opened the box for a month, that's all, that's why it's not registered. where's the missing at&t SIM card then, jake? i think the apple store employee (that was the portland, oregon, pioneer place store, i recognized employees there, by the way, and they do a stellar job there, i can tell you, as an end user).

he got caught hacking, and you're trying to promote him as some sort of retail martyr. shame. for shame.

Clearly the guy was trying to take advantage of Apple:

1. He had a video camera with him.
2. The SIM card was out.

He bricked the phone and is ticked that Apple wouldn't take it back.

"hat if the iPhone was a gift, given more than 14 days after purchase, with no AT&T service on it yet"

Ahem. No. The tech popped out the SIM card--it was a non-ATT SIM card. So the phone, if a gift, was shipped with an ATT SIM card. So this guy was a dishonest poser. He deserved what he got.