Some Verizon customers received GSM-provisioned iPhones [Updated] You've got to feel for Frank G., who shared this story of holiday woe on the WWW Artist's Consortium mailing list. He ordered a Verizon iPhone 4S, and received it, but when he tried to activate it -- no joy.
Frank spent an hour and a half on the phone with Verizon tech support in an effort to activate, until they finally sussed out the problem: the phone wasn't allocated for Verizon. Rather than attaching to Big Red's CDMA network as it should, the phone was apparently set up with a GSM SIM that thought it was intended for one of Vodafone's overseas networks. We know the 4S is a worldphone but this is a bit much, no?
Frank returned his phone to a New Jersey Verizon retail store, where they confirmed that indeed the phone was improperly provisioned; unfortunately now he has to wait a couple more weeks for his new device (although maybe he shouldn't have had to wait; see below). The store techs reportedly said that at least 10 other people had come in with the same issue that day.
It seems like we would have heard more commotion about this problem if it was truly widespread, but let us know: have you gotten a mismatched Verizon iPhone this holiday?
Update: A source inside Apple retail (also in the Mid-Atlantic region) says this issue has been cropping up recently, but not all Verizon outlets are dealing with the issue like the one Frank visited. The source reports about a dozen cases of customers coming in with Verizon-ordered, GSM-provisioned phones. The local Verizon stores are refusing to assist the customers, instead referring them to the Apple Store's Genius Bar (sans appointment) for help. "This is Apple's fault; they are the ones that need to fix it" is the party line from Verizon, according to those customers.
Meanwhile, commenters Ben, Josh and Sean recommend calling AppleCare's help line for assistance, or trying a restore of the phone via iTunes. In past circumstances with misprovisioned devices, the restore process was adequate for getting the phone back on track -- sometimes after two or three tries.
Update 2: Oh man, we just got Frank's full story directly from him -- and it's not a pretty tale for VZW's customer service, especially considering that Apple may be able to reprovision the phone over the air. Read on for the gory details.
I bought the iPhone 4s at the West Long Branch, NJ Verizon store.
I first spent 30 min with [VZW's] level 1 support on the phone. After 30 mins of trying to activate the phone, she says I need to bring the phone back to the store to get it "upgraded". I asked her if it is a hardware or software issue (since if it was a software issue, I might be able to fix it via some support website... the store is a long drive in holiday traffic). She had no idea what she was saying and was getting frustrated at me. That was not a good customer experience.
Then she puts me on hold for 5 min and comes back and says I was right. I can update the phone with the help of her support guy.
The guy comes on the phone and we spend a little over an hour trying all sorts of resets, reconfigs, with and without iTunes updated, with and without the SIM plugged in the phone, etc. He was a competent guy, but finally relented when we saw the Vodaphone NL as my carrier. He said that these phones seem to be AT&T phones, and I had no choice but to go back to the store.
I drive to the West Long Branch store. The tech (Danny) is very competent, but says I need to repurchase the phone. I have to return the existing one and repurchase another one. However, I used my $100 off gift (from Verizon) on my old phone; which was an incentive for me to buy the phone. Danny and a support manager on the phone both said that $100 discount could no longer be honored; it would have to be applied on my bill. I was constantly told that Apple was at fault, which, IMO, is amateur. The customer should not be concerned about the vendor's supply chain or OEM/reseller agreements. I am dealing with Verizon, not Apple.
So now I have to repurchase the phone at a higher price and get reimbursed with a credit. This is a problem. I get my phone charges reimbursed by my employer. I send them a copy of my bill to get reimbursed. The $100 credit will be confusing to the accounting department of my employer and will delay my reimbursement since I will have to spend the time to explain it, etc. There's no doubt my reimbursement will be delayed next month.
Then when I finally complete all this paperwork, he tells me "You will get your phone on Jan 13." So now I have to wait another 2 weeks for the phone! This is now going beyond absurdity.
So now, I've spent over half the day screwing around with a mistake that Verizon made and it has cost me nothing but aggravation. I should never have bought the iPhone in the first place.
Note this was my day off from work.
Also check how long I have been a customer. It's over 15 years. No good customer of any vendor should have been treated like this.
Thanks Laurie!
Some Verizon customers received GSM-provisioned iPhones [Updated] originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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