ATT will be the death of the iPhone.

Silly me for coming back to check if the whole first page was devoted to iPhone. Back to Engadget.

The ATT store I went to gave me no trouble at all.

um the whole first page minus one story is devoted to the iphone on engadget too idiot.

I was at ATT yesterday preparing to buy an iPhone and asked if I could type in one web address, after fumbling for maybe 12 seconds with the typing the ATT employee snatched it from my hand and told me "real" customers needed to see the iPhone. I was pissed, here I am ready to buy the thing and I'm told by an ATT employee I can't see it for more than 12 seconds when there are only 2 other people in the store. I'll go buy one form Apple, screw ATT.

Scooby's right, WHY AT&T?? of all the wireless providers they are the worse. It doesn't surprise me at the least with these type of sleaze tactics. I hope Apple has some sort of clause to add another provider if AT&T doesn't carry their end of the agreement.

OMG Heaven forbid a retail store try and increase sales by selling accessories! .. But telling them they HAD to or they couldn't get the phone!??

wow, now that, is shady.

They were doing the same thing at the AT&T store I went to in LA. It was the store at 3764 Wilshire. They made us buy a car charger, case and a 512MB USB key fob (not sure why this is considered an accessories). It was also written on a board. Total extra cost was $85. When I complained, I was told that the only thing they could do if I didn't want to buy the items, was to send me a phone in 2 to 5 days. I even talked to the manager of the store, but no luck getting them to budge.

I'm haven't had a chance to try to return the items, but they implied that I wouldn't be able to.

That is..... kind of ridiculous since Apple Accessories are known to be SPENDY Mothers

I was preasured pretty consistantly, and relented buying a transparent belkin case (which allowed my iphone to emerge unscathed from a drop at the airport today)... I've been in retail long enough to understand how managers attempt to get people to upsell products or bundle packages but to force... lame. But it's not entirely ATT's fault, it's the managers - just as the crap service at xx auto dealer isn't the automakers 'fault' if you will. It is, but it's not, if you're familiar with car dealerships you'll understand. The point is, the actions of these stores, forcing people to buy crap just to artificially inflate their margins, are crap but not indicative of everyone's experiences Friday night.

that said, i was upset to hear the att reps at my store inform me they sold out of 8GB models - 'the first 30 sure went by fast' remarked the employee, "yeah" I replied, "especially as I was in the second batch of SEVEN you let in... soo.... 7 8GB iPhones for customers at my store and 23 for ATT reps.

Meh, I've got my phone :).

Hitler had accessories for people too.

@bdkennedy1 and every other idiot:

www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/not:iphone/

now stop whining about all the iphone coverage.

Well AT&T have to get cash off the product somehow, Apple is getting most if not all of the money off of the sales of the iPhone. AT&T is getting their cash off of the usage charges. I can see why Verizon turned down Apple when asked to be the provider, they weren't getting as much cash as Apple is getting off of their products. Well i guess the 2yr contract makes up for that.

I was at the Graham Avenue ATT store in Brooklyn for three hours. They only had 300 iPhones and ran out. The last 20 or so people were told to order the iPhone with direct fulfillment. I ended up picking one up at the soho apple store, but am now being told by the ATT store that I have to come into the store in order to cancel my order. Not a big deal...but sucks to go back.

They tried running credit checks on everyone, but the system was so slow, that it took an hour for them to just process the first 6 people. Definitely will never go to an ATT store again. The experience was painful and the people who work there are bureaucratic and inexperienced.

However, all the carriers are like that. Apple stores stand apart because for obvious reasons young, techie, hipster types like working there. Also Apple just has a better no hassle policy and knows what consumers like. It's in their dna.

Now if only the navigation on the music in iPhone had a swipe horizontally for going forward and back in the menu structure. It's weird that they didn't exploit the horizontal swipe more in the navigation. Best phone I've ever owned though...maybe not worth the 600 bones, but still the best. (sorry for the digression)

none of the peopel i know that went to at&t stores experienced anything like this. the employees pointed over to where the accessories were, and that's it. i grabbed a DLO Jam Jacket and booked.

none of my other friends bought anything extra and none were even encouraged. it was strictly professional and courteous.

that was in three different at&t stores in the D.C. area.

I went to an AT&T store Friday and purchased a Curve and was not made to buy any add-ons. It was suggested that I buy a car charger, but I asked if my old RAZR car charger would do the job. I was told it would.

Also, the people who work at the ATT stores get commissions. Which is why they forced people to buy accessories and having them "direct order" the phone. ATT is ultimately to blame for this aggressive sales strategy, but it would vary store by store depending on how greedy the manager is.

I'm not sure if they get commissions at the apple store. I doubt it, because the sales people are pretty chill.

What I can not believe is that people don't realize what is truly going on here. Anyone with any retail experience (mind you shady retail) knows that at the end of a month or in this case fiscal year, you up your sales big time, thus the need to purchase accessories. The big cheese above the store manager sees that Joe Manager sold 10% more accessories for the period or year in question, Joe Manager gets a raise. Some stores where my friends have worked have experienced this were they are or their boss buys 5 TVs, a laptop and an XBOX at the end of the month, holds on to them for a week and returns them for a full refund. It looks great for the manager but if some bean counter digs in any deeper, it become evident what has happened. Whenever this has happened to me or my friends we just quit working there, a couple of them have gone out of business, hmmm I wonder why?

@ruggels: Keep in mind that people could buy 2. So there could've been more than 7 sold - but still, worst case is all 13 people ahead/with you bought 2. That's just 26. It sounds like the employees were bullshitting, or they took pre-orders.

The employee managed to convince the guy I was with that a case and a power adapter was necessary. Though the power adapter might still have been worth it, the case they were pushing sucks.

I didn't think either item was necessary, but the guy I was with bought one for both iPhones we were purchasing. Incidentally, neither iPhone is mine. One belongs to the person I was with, the other is/was a gift.

you're telling me you resisted applecare, .Mac and procare at the Apple store for your iPhone? are you crazy???

[www.ifoapplestore.com]

etc

Apple can do wrong. Everyone should have known that they were gonna pull something like this. In fact its Microsoft's fault for putting out vista. If there was no vista, Apple stores wouldn't pressure people into buying accessories. I hate you Bill Gates.

At the AT&T in Torrance on Hawthorne, as you got up to the counter (only an empty display in sight), they said "What accessories do you want?" I said "What do you have?" He looked at me like I had fallen off another planet. I said "I'll get those later." He says "Heh, heh, yeah, right." If it wasn't for the 3 hours in line and the plainclothes cop, I woulda flattened him.

Haha. I heard about this. I was at the AT&T store at Pacific Place. The employees made several clear announcements saying no accessories were required, but that's simply how they made money for themselves, so they'd appreciate it. Everyone was a little baffled as to their honesty.

Wow, that seriously sucks. At least the University Village people could pop over to the Apple store that is up there.

The at&t store I spent time at yesterday was pretty awesome. The employees were nice and gave us tons of free candy while Starbucks came over and gave us warm drinks (heavy rain most of the time we were there).

Once we got in they asked what size iPhone and how many. I was never asked about accessories during any point.

I went back there today and picked up a case.

I am an ATT employee, and at our training session we were taught to offer, but not require the sale of any accessories. Any employee caught doing so was flirting with their jobs. This training was given to every ATT sales rep in our region 3 days before iDay.

Its interesting that everyone is quick to condone an entire population based upon the actions of few. We arent even allowed to buy iPhone's at the apple store until the supply grows, by nationwide edict, any employee found in posession of an iPhone will be investigated to make sure the phones do not come from their store.

For the record, Ive heard that several employees were fired on the spot last night for such tactics. Hope that helps.

AT&T Reps are incredibly poor in quality. We have a three phone family plan, and over my first semester at school, I discovered that me and my mother (yes, mother, not sister, mother) went WAAAY over our texts (OK, it was mostly me). So, we go down to our Cingular store and speak with the rep about our options. We're told that for $5 more on each line we can get a bump to 200 messages (from 50). It sounded reasonable, so we sprung for it.

So, now it's late May, and my sister just got a job where the manager is known for contacting people via text messages. The bad news is that her phone's reception is crap. Fortunately her contract expires in three weeks, so we go to check out what's available at the nearest (now) AT&T store. While there, we discover that the supposed bump in texts didn't go as we had discussed. My line got a boost to 400 SMS/MMS messages, unlimited AT&T-to-AT&T messaging, and 4 MB of WAP access. My mother's line still only had 50 messages, and all three lines had roadside assistance (which we said we didn't want since we have AAA, and their benefits are better) When we readjusted the plan so that all three lines received 200 messages apiece, we ended up saving money. The manager there wasn't exactly brimming over with expertise either, when we started asking about phone reception and really hadn't much of a clue about the UMTS/HSDPA service in our area (hint: it doesn't exist anywhere in Minnesota...)

However, when we were informed that the on-hand stock of RAZRs at this AT&T store were out, and we were directed to another nearby AT&T store, we discovered that location to be a much better experience where the manager was aware of the features of his phones, and was kind enough to let us know that if we came back in two weeks he would be willing to shave a month off of the existing contract on my sister's phone, allowing us to avoid being slammed with fees. From now on, we visit his store (not that we often visit the AT&T store...)

Moral of the store: AT&T isn't very good about maintaining seemless continuity between its retail locations, or even within its phone support (one branch of then Cingular told me I could insure a refurbished phone for $3/mo, another branch told me I'd have to get a new phone and it would be $5/mo). I'm blaming the managers on this one. Digg it up and let 'em fry. Once my contract is up, I just might jump to T-Mo.

Because my experience was so different I feel obligated to compliment the staff at the AT&T Store at the Redmond Town Center in Redmond, WA. They were very courteous, helpful, and they weren't pushy at all about the accessories. They even went around and handed out free apples to all of the people waiting in line. It honestly seemed like their primary goal was to help people get through the line as quickly as possible. Who ever was managing that store should get some positive recognition for this.

Aside from the great service, being at that store was particularly fun because it was mostly comprised of Microsoft employees. I chatted with a few of them, and apparently they have to give up on a partially company subsidized plan in order to get the iPhone because Microsoft will not pay for that phone in particular.

Now don't get me wrong, (I was the person who reported on the University Village At&T store sales technique), they were really nice, they kept on giving us snacks from the local QFC some frisbees and some chocolate but the way they implemented the accessory sales was downright awful. When you finally get into the store, the salesman asks you which variation of the iPhone you want, comes back, and mentions you must purchase two accessories. At that point I was shocked, I was like "huh?". Of course no one is going to go, Oh looks like I'm not getting an iPhone anymore. He tries to sell me the damn Apple charger which at the point
I said, "Doesn't it include the charger?"
Salesman, "No, not the wall charger."
I said, "Well I was just looking at some websites which posted the unboxing and it shows the charger."
Salesman, "Well it doens't come with one."
At this point I was just getting frustrated. I just picked up two accessories and left the store. I plan on just returning them within the next few days. (The guy here said you can open the accessories, use them, and return them without a restoking fee, so my plan was to just return it the next time I had a chance to go to another store.) But next time I'd probably just wait at an apple store instead.

They forced the accessories? If I'm not mistaken, I believe that would amount to an illegal tying arrangement. I can't imagine any manager would be stupid enough to do anything like that... But what do I know.

@discounteggroll: Our eligibility of purchasing our iPods, iBooks, PowerBooks, iMacs, PowerMacs, Mac Pros, MacBooks (Pro) and iPhones (at Apple Stores) weren't determined by our investments in Pro Care or any of that jazz.

@scarf: It's AT&T that's REQUIRING (not pressuring) people to buy accessories. The Apple Stores are letting people leave with just the phone.

Wow, makes me embarrassed to work for AT&T. I have zero to do with the wireless ex-Cingular part of the company, I'm in a different role altogether, but still, we're all one company. I'll go hide now...

@liquidsense: Yeah I'm pretty sure that with the Supreme Court screwing consumers with their pants on last week that corporations can now get away breaking consumer protection laws with impunity.

AT&T, according to reports, not only forced iPhone buyers to buy accessories, but is still leaving owners in the lurch after the "24 hour" maximum activation wait is up. Rob V.

@eattacos: Actually it's not just Microsoft. When I went back today to pick up a case I asked about adding the discount Comcast gets on AT&T plans. They said no discounts at ALL for any plan that has an iPhone on it.

Reminds me of my old GAP days. Would you like sock with that?

@BLACKICE912: It wasn't corporate discounts they were talking about. At this time AT&T isn't doing any of those for the iPhone (as you said). Apparently there is some kind of Microsoft benefit that covers some of the cost of a cellphone plan or something. According to the people I was talking with, Microsoft has made it clear that benefit doesn't extend to folks who are planing on using a phone from Apple.

It is possible that I simply misunderstood them, but it really sounded like something separate from a corporate discount plan.

I purchasd my iPhone from AT&T in Hermosa Beach, California. We were also told that we had to purchase a car charger (from Belkin @ $24.99), a case @ either $29.99 or $34.99 and the BlueTooth Headset from Apple ($129.99?). Luckily, they didn't get the headsets delivered so we were only forced to spend an extra $60 instead of an extra $189.99...or something like that.

Also, there was a one limit iPhone per person.

Ohh yeah, we didn't have clapping people welcome us into the store either, but there were some old corporate looking guys there taking photos.

I do have to say that the manager of the store there was super-cool. Gave us soft drinks, water and food as we waited.

Phobiac

I was at the ATT store on Hawthorne in Torrance and can confirm: they DID require us to be an accessory. They didn't tell us until we got up to the front of the line. I said, "Are you joking," and he said no. So, I bought a case. The staff and security were very nice at this store, but I'm surprised they are able to get away with something like this.

Here at my AT&T corporate store in San Pedro, CA, they had a handwritten sign that said you had to purchase a case, car charger, and BT headset with your iPhone if you wanted to get your iPhone on Friday at the store. The bundle prices were $599 for the 4GB and $699 for the 8GB which is $100 bucks in accessories.

They told us that if we did not want the bundle, that we had to get it by direct fulfillment, and they would ship it ASAP.

Nevertheless I was extremely angry and was even more pissed off when the guy told me initially that it would be including the Apple headset, then later said that it was actually a crappy $40 random headset.

I ended up getting a really sweet Belkin Slip Case, and the Griffin Car Charger, which I would have bought later. As I was at the counter after paying for the two accessories and phone and getting ready to "directly fulfill" my Apple BT headset, the lady working the next counter was explaining to a customer that if he already had a charger that she could use that money towards the headset. I asked my guy and he responded with mumbled words and a curious look on his face. I told him to refund my car charger and use that towards the headset. I had originally not wanted any headset and I made him aware of it many times, so he told me that I could just take what I had and go if I wanted. So I said yes and walked out.

I ended up spending about $630 somehow and it worked out, except for one little thing. I get home and pop out my BRAND NEW iPhone, and sure enough it was missing the SIM TRAY and card!! I was in disbelief and extremely angry. I go back to the store and all they can tell me is "It's Apple's problem, were not helping you."

I then went down to the Apple store, cut all the lines, explained the story to the guy at the counter and he quickly gave me a new one even though I didn't even buy it there. That's customer service.

All in all it was an interesting experience and I guess I would have been a lot more angry had I waited for more than an hour to get one.

There you go... the #1 reason for not buying an iPhone... AT&T. Remember, if you're treated badly in an AT&T store this is the same corporate mentality that's managing your phone plan. You want to support that?

#1) AT&T
#2) No copy and paste
#3) No Flash support in web browsing
#4) Fingerprints on touch-screen that's also used for movies
#5) No games

I'm still waiting for a positive reason to buy an iPhone.

I believe they have a docking station that connects directly to your bank account...

"No copy and paste"

Is that true??

I hope, I really hope that Apple or Jobs will comment on this crap come Monday. If Jobs heard about this he's going to go ballistic. In the words of Fake Steve Jobs, its "not how we roll". Of course, I'll bet you Jobs didn't want AT&T to sell these phones in the first place. He's probably kicking himself for not going the "alltell" route and rent cell towers, launch an Apple cell company and control the whole shebang.

I *was* going to buy the phone from my local AT&T store, then I heard from the store manager on Wednesday that I couldn't because I was a customer already. His direct quote was "The iPhone is only available for new customers or customers who are eligible for an upgrade. Since I switched to Cingular in February because of the iPhone, I thought this was a pretty shitty thing to do. After I explained this he agreed to sell me one... but by that time I had already made up my mind to drive the 45 miles to the Apple store where I know I'll be treated right.

I hope Jobs will make the AT&T CEO issue an apology and somehow make up for this used-car-salesman tactics, or go to court and break the agreement, which then will allow Apple to seek deals with all carriers. Now that the other carriers have seen the phone in action they will undoubtedly love to sell Apple branded phones.

Whether it's AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, or otherwise, I have trouble understanding why anyone would ever voluntarily buy a phone in a retail location like that.

The last time I bought a phone in person, it was at a Verizon store in a mall about five years ago. The entire experience, including waiting and waiting and waiting until it was my turn, actually took longer than it did to buy my last car.

This is what the internet is for, people.

@ Jordan:

1. The service from AT&T (cell service) is great in my area, so I don't really have any complaints here. Yes, the PROCESS of getting an iPhone from them may suck, but that's why you go to an Apple store. I was able to get my phone and out of the store in under 2 minutes (yes, UNDER 2 minutes). Activation was done in less than 5 minutes.

2. Yep, no copy and paste, but so far I haven't actually needed it.

3. Flash support is overrated, and it's made up for by an extremely powerful browser that is, by far, the best for a mobile yet.

4. You only see the fingerprints when the phone is off, and even then they're not annoyingly visible (and I have OCD when it comes to fingerprints on screens). When the phone is on it's as bright as day and impossible to see them.

5. No games... or instant messaging. The only thing I'm crying about is the IMing.

@megazone - the seven who left the store before me had one phone each, the att reps were informing people they could only sell one phone per person and they'd have to get back in line for more, I believe this is in agreement with all the att stores who were not selling two per person/transaction like the apple stores.

that said, 4gb ain't that bad, I've just parred down my playlist to two feature length films and 30 albums... and damn this thing is sweet :)

AT&T is totally clueless. There staff is totaly incompetent. i felt like i was buying a used car. the manager, with a Bill Murray Kingpin comb over, told me that if i opened the seeled bag i would be charged a 10% restocking fee. And if opened the box it would be 25%.Uh,don't you have to open the bag to take the phone out when you bring it back?
Then went to apple and was told 14 days open box or not no restocking fee. Huh? i thought they were in this together?
Apple getting in bed with ATT is like marying your cousin. You think your in love but your kid comes looking like the one who plays the banjo in deliverance. Then you know why you should have maybe thought long and hard about it.

@XTREMECAMERA: What the manager told you was absolutely correct from the AT&T side of things. You can't buy an iPhone as "equipment only" at this time. It can be done as an upgrade on your line if you are eligible or as an additional/new line. I can imagine Apple selling you the phone without asking about your current service, but you may run into the exact same roadblock when you try to activate.
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The problem at the stores is the independent operation of the stores combined with all of the new representatives hired to help with the additional volume. I'm not sure the "sales quota" reasoning applies to iPhone sales, since they don't do any account activation at the store. More likely what happened was that some folks got greedy. Plus really poor service from crappy pay and hiring standards.

This is just like how SOME Best Buy stores got in trouble with new console releases. It wasn't a corporate decision, just like this wasn't an AT&T corporate decision.