My family has been brand loyal to AT&T for as long as I can remember, but my recent interaction with a local representative has me very frustrated. I upgraded from the Iphone 4 to the Iphone 6 in a local AT&T branch. I went to the branch to leave the household family plan and create my own account. In addition, I wanted to upgrade from the Iphone 4 to the Iphone 6. The representative told me that the Iphone 6 was out of stock, which I was not surprised with after the success of the launch. However, the representative that I dealt with, Karthik Adimula, told me multiple times throughout our nearly 2 hour interaction that I would have the phone shipped in 7-10 business days. That sounded like a reasonable time frame, so I proceeded with placing my order, which included providing my credit card upfront for the full cost of the phone to be held on my account until time of arrival. Again, I didn't have a choice, so I agreed. However, I then get an email stating that the phone delivery is actually 30-45 calendar days.
To me, this is extremely disappointing and unacceptable. There are many outlets available now, including an apple store, in which I could have attempted to get the phone quicker or have had the phone ordered quicker. I feel that I was bait and switched by the representative, Karthik Adimula, in an attempt to make a sale. I am not sure of the compensation structure for a retail sales consultant, but I am angry that I was mislead to basically deposit my money and wait for a phone substantially longer than expected.
I called the order status line and the representative instructed me to drive around to local wal-mart, radio shack, or apple stores to see if they had the phone in stock. Really? So I get lied to and now I have to invest more of my time and energy into getting a phone that I orignally should have had in my hands today based upon the timeline that was told to me at the time of the sale? Completely ridiculous AT&T.