my iPhone At&t credit nightmare

[newtxmgf]

4:00 PM Friday : Get in line at At&T Store
7:15 PM Friday : Finally get iPhone
7:30 PM Friday : Credit Check
7:30 PM Friday: PAy for 8 gig and $100 Deposit (Which I expected)
7:30 PM Friday : New employee at At&T messes up transaction and has to redo
(credit check #2)
8:15 PM Friday: Store finally "figures it out" and leave with phone and BAN#
9:15 PM Friday: Try and activate iPhone (credit check #2)
11:00 PM Friday : Get email message that I need to go pay deposit or get Gophone
11:00 Friday : Cll at&t they say try it again (credit check #3)
12:00 AM Saturday: Get Same email about deposit or go phone
12:00 am Saturday: Call At&t they walk me through activation (credit check#4)
6:00 am Saturday: Wake up to same email At&t says nothing they can do I have to go back to the store
10:00am Saturday: Go back to store they said it not their problem its At&t corporate' problem
11:00-6:00 Saturday: at work, spent hours on phone w/ At&T saying its apple's problem then apple saying its at&t problem
6:00 pm saturday: call store again..they say they see the problem is they never linked my deposit to the account which caused the account to be suspended and thats why it wont activate they joint them up and remove the suspension..say I will not have the problem again
8:00pm Saturday: Get home try to activate again (credit check #5)
10:00 pm Saturday : Call at&t and get the following answer
#1) When original approval went through its was a $100 deposit
#2) Because of the suspension, and all the additional credit checks my credit score went lower!!!
#3) Now saying that it is requesting $500 deposit
#4) They apologize profusely ..admiting they messed and checked my credit a total of...get this...14 times??? Where and how???
#5) Only people who can fix this is the "Analyst Review Dept" which doesn't open till monday at 7am.
#6) On the phone 3 levels above the CSR...still swears cannot be fixed at this time.
#7) Gives me my 1st 2 months of At&t service for Free..again appologizes profusely, stated will remove all checks from my credit report....


BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY I WON'T BE ABLE TO USE MY iPHONE until MOnday If im lucky....I give At&t credit for being very polite people...and apple too...It's a shame that At&t is completely incompetent to handle these technical issues of the iPhone release, a shame Apple will look bad because of this fiasco.

 

[skubish]

4:00 PM Friday : Get in line at At&T Store
7:15 PM Friday : Finally get iPhone
7:30 PM Friday : Credit Check
7:30 PM Friday: PAy for 8 gig and $100 Deposit (Which I expected)
7:30 PM Friday : New employee at At&T messes up transaction and has to redo
(credit check #2)
8:15 PM Friday: Store finally "figures it out" and leave with phone and BAN#
9:15 PM Friday: Try and activate iPhone (credit check #2)
11:00 PM Friday : Get email message that I need to go pay deposit or get Gophone
11:00 Friday : Cll at&t they say try it again (credit check #3)
12:00 AM Saturday: Get Same email about deposit or go phone
12:00 am Saturday: Call At&t they walk me through activation (credit check#4)
6:00 am Saturday: Wake up to same email At&t says nothing they can do I have to go back to the store
10:00am Saturday: Go back to store they said it not their problem its At&t corporate' problem
11:00-6:00 Saturday: at work, spent hours on phone w/ At&T saying its apple's problem then apple saying its at&t problem
6:00 pm saturday: call store again..they say they see the problem is they never linked my deposit to the account which caused the account to be suspended and thats why it wont activate they joint them up and remove the suspension..say I will not have the problem again
8:00pm Saturday: Get home try to activate again (credit check #5)
10:00 pm Saturday : Call at&t and get the following answer
#1) When original approval went through its was a $100 deposit
#2) Because of the suspension, and all the additional credit checks my credit score went lower!!!
#3) Now saying that it is requesting $500 deposit
#4) They apologize profusely ..admiting they messed and checked my credit a total of...get this...14 times??? Where and how???
#5) Only people who can fix this is the "Analyst Review Dept" which doesn't open till monday at 7am.
#6) On the phone 3 levels above the CSR...still swears cannot be fixed at this time.
#7) Gives me my 1st 2 months of At&t service for Free..again appologizes profusely, stated will remove all checks from my credit report....


BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY I WON'T BE ABLE TO USE MY iPHONE until MOnday If im lucky....I give At&t credit for being very polite people...and apple too...It's a shame that At&t is completely incompetent to handle these technical issues of the iPhone release, a shame Apple will look bad because of this fiasco.

Those 14 credit checks could potential make your credit worse. Make sure they report their error to the credit bureaus.

 

[technicolor]

Man Im so sorry that happened to you.

I would have a fuggin fit if they checked my credit 14 times.

I found later that I could have fooled itunes into letting me port over my phone by using a different address, and was going to cancel my contract and start over but I figured something like this would happen so I left it alone. I figured I had already gotten lucky to get a non defective phone and for the activation to go fairly smoothly.

 

[grafikat]

Yes! it is important to keep up on that credit check snafu. I hope you don't have to buy a house. AT&T has effectively lowered your credit score by 70 points. Enough to do serious damage.

Each credit check is 5 points against your credit score. Lenders are thinking you're applying for more credit cards, etc. This can take 6 months to a year to fall off the reports. Go to optoutprescreen.com to help prevent this.

 

[ninethirty]

I also had a bit of a nightmare over this whole deal. I am a Canadian living and working legally inside the USA. I have a SSN but I have not established any credit here yet and continue to use Canadian Credit Cards vs US CC's. I called AT&T ahead of time last week and gave them my SIN # (Canadian version of SSN) and they ran my Canadian credit, approved me, and gave me a BAN number.

Cut to Friday, when I bought the iPhone the clerk wanted to run my credit but I informed him my SSN # would turn up nothing and that I had already been pre-approved over the phone. He said 'cool'. So I get home Friday night, and enter all my info, including the BAN number I was given and the process goes right up until the end (After checking the agreements) and then it tells me my credit check # is no good and to go back to the store.

I called AT&T on the phone and the first time I called it said they were having technical difficulties... 5 minutes later it said the store was closed. I tried one more time after that and it was open but the CSR said there was nothing he could do to help me and I had to go into the store.

Saturday I go into the store, talk to an idiot clerk who just couldnt grasp that I was approved based on Canadian credit and he kept telling me that my SSN required a deposit. I had him call the finance dept and they verified my BAN # was approved and said it was because it only lasts 24 hours and I hadn't used it in time, but it was re-activated.. try again. So I did, and no go.

Then I spend an hour on the phone with a very nice girl from AT&T who completely understands the situation but says the activation process is based on SSN and that my BAN # is tied to my SIN (Canadian #) and there's just no way its going to work. Bottom line, I had to go pay a deposit like a dude with bad credit. Embarrassing.

I don't hold apple responsible as it seems to be all AT&T here so I am going to write them a letter on Monday. I could have gone into the store and bought an iPhone but then got myself set up on some cheap phone + plan and gotten approved with Canadian credit only to go home, hook the iPhone up and activate as an existing customer, all without paying the deposit.

Anyway, I finally got it working, love the phone, but already my experience with AT&T blows compared to Verizon.

Edit: Actually, does anyone know email addresses for persons at AT&T that I can send this story to. I want to get my deposit back as I don't have bad credit and had I chosen any other phone other than iPhone I wouldn't have needed to pay a deposit.

4:00 PM Friday : Get in line at At&T Store
7:15 PM Friday : Finally get iPhone
7:30 PM Friday : Credit Check
7:30 PM Friday: PAy for 8 gig and $100 Deposit (Which I expected)
7:30 PM Friday : New employee at At&T messes up transaction and has to redo
(credit check #2)
8:15 PM Friday: Store finally "figures it out" and leave with phone and BAN#
9:15 PM Friday: Try and activate iPhone (credit check #2)
11:00 PM Friday : Get email message that I need to go pay deposit or get Gophone
11:00 Friday : Cll at&t they say try it again (credit check #3)
12:00 AM Saturday: Get Same email about deposit or go phone
12:00 am Saturday: Call At&t they walk me through activation (credit check#4)
6:00 am Saturday: Wake up to same email At&t says nothing they can do I have to go back to the store
10:00am Saturday: Go back to store they said it not their problem its At&t corporate' problem
11:00-6:00 Saturday: at work, spent hours on phone w/ At&T saying its apple's problem then apple saying its at&t problem
6:00 pm saturday: call store again..they say they see the problem is they never linked my deposit to the account which caused the account to be suspended and thats why it wont activate they joint them up and remove the suspension..say I will not have the problem again
8:00pm Saturday: Get home try to activate again (credit check #5)
10:00 pm Saturday : Call at&t and get the following answer
#1) When original approval went through its was a $100 deposit
#2) Because of the suspension, and all the additional credit checks my credit score went lower!!!
#3) Now saying that it is requesting $500 deposit
#4) They apologize profusely ..admiting they messed and checked my credit a total of...get this...14 times??? Where and how???
#5) Only people who can fix this is the "Analyst Review Dept" which doesn't open till monday at 7am.
#6) On the phone 3 levels above the CSR...still swears cannot be fixed at this time.
#7) Gives me my 1st 2 months of At&t service for Free..again appologizes profusely, stated will remove all checks from my credit report....


BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY I WON'T BE ABLE TO USE MY iPHONE until MOnday If im lucky....I give At&t credit for being very polite people...and apple too...It's a shame that At&t is completely incompetent to handle these technical issues of the iPhone release, a shame Apple will look bad because of this fiasco.

 

[SiLeNtKiLLa]

Very similar expierence here

Well dont feel bad man.....my expierence was too very similar to yours...here goes...

Had credit check ran on Thursday, the 28th at an local Cingualr (AT&T) store, (So amazed they actually did it after so many stores said no to me) found out I had an $100 deposit in which I thought it was going to be around $350 somewhere, lucky me. Good thing here....but......never recieved BAM number.

I call guy same day to ask about it, he say im cool, just go to an apple store or att store and they can pull up the credit check with your social and give it too you, so Im thinking...YES! Im cool!

iPhone Launch day....go past another ATT store, closest to home, just too see how many people out, around 11am EST, only 6 people....WOW...but the heat....WOW! couldnt deal with it, so went to the mall where theres an apple store, make it to 47th in line.....this around 11:30. Around 4pm, I find out that apple is ONLY selling devices and nothing more, absolutely nothing more. That causes concerns now....I call ATT store I drove past earlier, they say I can purchase here and then come pay deposit there. Ask how many in line.....only 14.....im like wow, I should go there and wait in line, im almost guranteed an iPhone. Not the case, heard they only had 20 phones and apples store only had 50, kinda getting scared now....do i stay or do I go....I stay, AC just feels so good.

Get the phone, go to ATT store, only to find the line rapped around the world....and what do you know, another wait in another line just to pay a deposit and get my phone working.....so so sexy right.

Wait in line, get in building, tell reps....I just need to pay deposit....get to counter, give info, pull info....no BAM code. Run another credit check....get code, but wrong code....14 digits, itunes ask for 13....Was told, to go home, try to activate phone, it should flag that I have deposit, get code from itunes for deposit, bring back to store, pay deposit with code. Go home do as said, wrong code, have to have pre-approved code. Setup as new customer, as told by ATT, 6 times, and always the same thing, need pre-approved code.

Told by ATT, they must be updating system, come back tomorrow at noon, it should be fixed. OK, cool, I just waited forever and 3 days, and spent 600 beans on a phone I cant use right away, not too worry, no attitude here. (ya right)

Next day rolls around, 10am, I just to anxious to wait, call 800 number, talk with someone for about 40 mins, they run another check, im on hold for 17 mins, then......another peroson picks up.....other person no where to be found....ssssssssssoooooooo go through it all again, with another check. then the lady figures it out......you should have gotten an pre-approval code on recipet after payment of deposit....I say, they couldnt take payment of deposit because I had to activate first and get some type of deposit code....she says, NO thats wrong, then calls the store, talks with store manager, same person I dealt with the day before....lady back on phone with me, she says, go to store, pay deposit, youll get your code....thats what I do, and what do you know, it works.....So all the BS for no reason, and alotta checks hit on my credit.

THEN....this morning, I get an creidt alert on my phone in email.....I just wonder what that could be...LOL....Lucky me, I couldnt remeber login or password, so Im locked out till Monday, when I call to unblock myself, I will then let you guys know what all happend.

Gotta love computers doing the hard work, that would have been easier for the human!

 

[marksman]

That is pretty horrible.

Definately make sure you get them to send a report to the credit bureaus and you should also contest them yourself. Credit Bureaus are not fond of removing credit checks but more than 1 from the same place in the same day is usually easy to get rid of.

Hopefully they get it straightened out, but that is a high level of incompetence on their part. I am not normally one people be given compensation for a rough time, but AT&T really needs to step up and make this right for you.