This iPhone Comes With A Blackberry User's Email Address, And A Mystery
No, we didn't accidentally republish yesterday's post. This is another story of a "new" iPhone with someone else's email address, and this time there appears to be no simple explanation for it—the address on the phone belonged to a man who lived on the other side of the country and used a Blackberry.
Howard writes:
I also purchased an iPhone in New York City, but in Manhattan, and the main difference was that I pursued my case heavily both with the original store, Executive Customer Service, and the person whose e-mail address was on my phone. The store refused a return, so being a good Consumerist reader, I e-mailed the CEO directly.
They arranged for an exchange, but still failed to explain how this man's e-mail address ended up on my phone. The store claimed that this was an unavoidable part of their activation system, and the e-mail address belonged to either an employee or a previous iPhone purchaser. However, I e-mailed the address I found directly, and he kindly responded with a concerned e-mail about how he was based out of Los Angeles, a Blackberry user, and had only been in New York to exchange a SIM card a few months prior.
The kicker was that when I asked the Executive Customer Service rep about why customers' private information was showing up on the phones, I was told that they would not pursue this, and that I should talk to the store manager directly. Except that I already had spoken to her, and was lied to.
Last, when I went to exchange the phone at a store in Atlanta, the reps here told me that this was an unacceptable practice, and that their own store utilized an activation process that didn't require an e-mail address.
Here's the letter Howard wrote to AT&T. It's the same story as above but has more details, so we're including it in case someone from AT&T happens to read this.
My name is Howard ___. I am writing to tell you about a recent experience I've had purchasing the iPhone at the AT&T Wireless Store located at 1330 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York.
On November 23rd, I purchased an iPhone at this store. During the activation process, I was surprised when the sales consultant presented me directly with an unwrapped and activated iPhone— I did not watch him unwrap the phone, and the phone was a bit greasy, but I figured I'd give the sales rep the benefit of the doubt. It should be noted that the sales rep, Michael Badalov, provided excellent customer service and I have no complaints.
Upon returning home, however, I discovered that the iPhone App Store was already registered to an e-mail address "XXXXXX@gmail.com". I do not know who this person is, and concerned, I headed for my local AT&T Store in Fresh Meadows, NY. At this store, they told me that I would need to go back to the original store to investigate the issue.
I traveled back to the AT&T Store where I made the purchase, and I spoke with a customer service rep who said that this "happens all the time" and that I would not be able to exchange the phone without incurring a restocking fee. I asked to speak with the manager, Felicia Williams, who also explained that this often happens with the activation process, that other customers or staff members may have been logged into iTunes, and that there was "absolutely no way" that I could have been sold a used phone. I asked for an exchange and she refused, saying that this often happens and was an unavoidable part of the iPhone activation process.
As a customer, I'm disappointed for two main reasons. First, I am now in possession of a phone for which I'm worried may not actually be a new product— although I want to believe the store representatives, given the activation process, I hope it's understandable why I'm concerned that I was not provided with an exchange of the phone.
Second, I am dismayed that customers' contact information can spread so easily from phone to phone, and I'd be worried that my information is not passed on as well. The fact that I was told "this happens all the time" was met with much dismay.
If you're really planning on buying an iPhone, you might want to just do it online.
(Photo: edans)
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Comments:
Apple FTL! Seriously, I'm baffled at why people waste money on this overpriced piece of garbage. Oh yeah, people want to validate their lives by buying overpriced hardware and service. This would be a reasonable product at $100 less and a regular phone and data plan.
Because that's the point of this post, right? Go away, troll.
@coolkiwilivin: This was an "AT&T FTL" issue, seeing how both stories were about purchases made at an AT&T store.
Ever compare pricing on smartphones like the BlackBerry, the G1 and the iPhone? They all are expensive. If you don't want to spend the money on one, than don't. My iPhone monthly plan costs me less than my boyfriend's T-Mobile Dash piece of crap plan that can't even sync his email half the time.
I'm always reading horror stories by new iphone users how they had nightmarish experiences either with the Apple Store, the AT&T Store, or both.
I have my own AT&T nightmare story, albeit from 14 years ago now, involving a long distance charge to Eastern Europe I never made and the 4 months it took to clear it. I vowed then I'd never use AT&T again, and I've stuck to my promise.
All in all though, this makes me happy I'm a Sprint user. Oh, and now with the Palm Pre coming, I won't feel left in the dark for the latest wave of smart phones.
@coolkiwilivin: I'm not really seeing the relevance of your rant given the content of the article. This could have been about any phone. The issues were with the store and customer service after the purchase by AT&T. But thank you for taking the opportunity to share your deep personal insight and opinion about the iPhone anyhow.
@ionerox: My gf just bought a blackberry perl from sprint for $40. Im sure the "new" model is more expensive, but geez people, shop around.
AT&T is terrible and I would not be surprised if their NYC stores employ the same "fell off the back of the truck" purchasing methods as all the sketchy little electronics stores around the city.
@Davan: DH and I bought ours at an AT&T store. The salesperson brought out two wrapped phones and opened them in front of us. We have not had any problems.
So far, this sounds like an Apple Store issue involving unscrupulous managers and employees.
So, if anyone happens to be sold my wife's iPhone which she lost a month or so ago, let me know.
@silver-spork: Scratch that, it just sounds like unscrupulous managers in general. I wonder how they are dinged by returned merchandise.
It sounds like everyone in the store has their stories together.
@Davan: "Shop around" for what? Brand new hardware is expensive, and some people actually like new technology instead of last generation. I'll spend the money on an iPhone or G1 anyday over a BlackBerry Perl, and look for deals on other stuff I buy instead.
I had a similar thing happen when I went to buy a new AT&T Fuze at a corporate-owned AT&T store.
The sales guy brought the box out, rang it up and handed it to me. I was buying it unsubsidized, so there was really nothing else to do but pay and leave.
Before leaving the store, I went to open the box and found it was not sealed. Not surprisingly, I found the phone was a nasty, greasy fingerprinted mess. It was obvious that it had been passed around the store at the very least. I expect it was probably used as a demo device.
When I asked the sales guy for a "new, unopened one" he glared at me and said that "they're all like that. We open all of them." I told him that was not acceptable, and that I wanted a new phone in a sealed box.
It was obvious that the reason he didn't want to do it was that he was "busy" with another customer who came in after me, but I persisted. Eventually I guess he got tired of me standing around next to him and his new customer, and disappeared into the back of the store.
He returned a minute later with a fresh, sealed Fuze in its box. I guess the first part about "we open all of them" was just a lie. He wouldn't even look at me while we completed the exchange transaction at his register.
Don't accept obviously used phones; there's no valid excuse, especially when you are paying a premium for a premium product.
@SanDiegoDude: Though with Sprint laying off thousands of employees, you gotta wonder whether the Palm Pre will ever see the light of day.
I think the best course of action is to open the box at the store. There's no rule against returning it if it's used, when you paid for a new one, or opening it at the store. But, if you do open it at the store, open it in front of the person working with you on the sale, and make sure you don't touch the phone too much, otherwise the greasiness could be attributed to your mitts.
And I'd say you should at the very least know when to return a product...they'll start making excuses, like "we open all of them to inspect them for security reasons" which may or may not be bull, but if you don't think that's the case (which it doesn't seem to be here) then you should pursue it and make sure you get one that is in all of its original packaging and fingerprint free.
And I'd open it in the store also to make sure it's not actually a stack of tiles.
@pecan pi: Palm will offer a GSM version of the Pre sometime after Sprint releases it. They'd be insane not to.
@silver-spork: Notice in the article they say they bought it from....AT&T. This has nothing to do with Apple stores or employees from Apple.
Simply states (as a previous Apple Employee), the activation process does need to run through iTunes and there is a chance that when they do an activation that the last iTunes account was not signed out of and will be synced to the iPhone.
I do not imagine this is a hard thing to accomplish, but please avoid AT&T at all cost. Simply drive to your local Apple Store (with 200+ nationally and internationally) there is hopefully one close to you. All of the Apple Retail employees have the proper training and skills.
"Last, when I went to exchange the phone at a store in Atlanta"
What is up with the 2 iPhone stories in 2 days having the common thread of the people going to other stores in distant states to complain?
I'm not calling shenanigans or anything, but it seems rather odd.
If they don't take the phone back, take them to small claims.
@Davan:
I can tell you that I have had at least two run-ins with AT&T managers that lied directly to my face, and had someone outside of their store to backup their claim, to try and secure a sale. Long story, but I will never user AT&T for wireless again because of their unscrupulous business practices.
Could have been a returned phone that AT&T tested and put back on the shelf. Personally, when I or my friend bought iphones, the phone was always completely sealed, and unwrapped right in front of us.
It's probably a new phone. It was just activated using another customer's confidential information.
@nicemarmot617: Sounds like employee has a locker full of "acquired" phone that he sells as new and then takes the new merchandise and sells it on the side. For a few bucks he can turn "like new" stolen iPhones and make them 100% new, all he needs is non-local buyer in a rush.
The real idiots are people who are willing to spend $40/month to just get voice, I can't understand why those people are so stupid, when voice service isn't worth more than $5/month (data's worth at least $200/month), and they should pay you $100 to take a phone with only voice.
Sound dumb? Well, no dumber than your post. Some people think that the iPhone is worth it. Their call, not yours.
This happened when I was helping my friend activate her new iphone. I thought it was quite strange as well. She ended up having a lot of problems with her phone (could not receive voicemail, syncing issues, email issues) and took it back to the Apple Store in Columbus, OH for a no questions asked exchange.
I dunno about anyone else, but my iPhone has been well worth the amount of money that I've spent on it. Let's see, my previous phone cost $20 less per month, and nothing up front, but could do all of 2 things, and not very well - make and receive phone calls, and text message. Wow what a great deal! I thought I'd never need a better phone than that. Then Apple came out with the iPhone, and I was like eh, I'll just wait, even though I've been waiting for the iPhone or some variation for much longer than any of you, I can pretty much guarantee it as a life-long Mac user. I will admit that there was a certain sense of pride or validation in using an operating system that was the joke of the industry for years and years and thus the lament of many of my high school friends, but I'm getting off the topic, because Apple is now cool and therefore I am the coolest of all of you because I'm old skool. So anyway, I waited for a year and finally decided that the iPhone might be a good purchase. Now that I have the iPhone, I wonder what the hell I was thinking having a phone that could practically do nothing. How many times has the iPhone saved my ass on a business trip? I can't even count, and I've only had it for 5 months. The iPhone is well worth the price for what it does; are there devices that can do a similar thing for cheaper? Yes, there are. Are they as elegant as Apple's solution? Absolutely not. This is the reason I've been a Mac user for my entire life; I don't like the ugly garbage that the competition makes. If you are OK with it, that's cool with me, but I also don't eat the generic cocoa krispies, even if they are $2 cheaper. They're not the same and not for me.
@JustThatGuy3: Who the heck only charges $5 a month for voice? Send me to that bandwagon. And if it's prepaid, that won't work for me...my cell phone is my only phone, you betcha I use it every day and a lot.
@Chris Wanja: To fix the phone? Cause AFAIK, you can't buy an iPhone at an Apple store. I wanted to, and there aren't any ways online to do so. I thought you had to go to AT&T to buy one.
@ScottRose: I think the larger lesson is that you probably shouldn't buy an iPhone out of state or in an area unfamiliar to you. Just wait til you get back home and do it.
@pecan pi: Ignore that comment, I forgot that on the Apple store page there are links to find a retail location.
The thing is... Iphones are like cars... the moment they're driven off the lot they lose value. I would have been on the news if I was sold a used phone for the price of a new one.
I suggest asking for a still packaged iphone and asking to unbox it yourself to ensure there are no shennanigans. Also check itunes and the app store before leaving your place of purchase. Also bring two large thug like guys with you to intimidate the liars at the AT&t store.
@pecan pi:
Nobody does; the guy I was responding to made a completely moronic post, and I was calling him on it.
@SanDiegoDude: The same exact thing happened to me with AT&T; they would not budge. That was 8 years ago and I refuse to have anything to do with AT&T.
I have 5 phones with Verizon wireless, a home phone with Verizon and Internet with Verizon - I highly recommend them
@jeffs3rd: girl friend got one from ATT store, brand new with the plastic cover sticker on the touch screen. Brought it home turned on and try to use app store, somebody else's yahoo email address poped out. I restored the phone back to the factory default. still not sure how this could happen.
I had the same thing happen to me as well when I bought my iPhone. I am sure this happens just about every time they sell a phone at one of the AT&T stores. I watched them bring a wrapped iPhone out from the back room, open it, and plug it into the computer. The phone is definitely brand new. The phone just got synced with someone else's iTunes account for the iTunes (on iPhone) store. As it was mentioned before, the account it got synced with could have been either the employee's account or a previous customer. The phone had no personal or confidential data on it and no music, just the email address. It also asked for a password before it would let you use the account for anything. Frankly I don't see the big deal. The phones are brand new. You're supposed to sync them with your computer anyway to put all of your own data on. I was a little annoyed that they had to take it out of the box before giving it to me, but what are you gonna do?
I had the same thing happen to me as well when I bought my iPhone. I am sure this happens just about every time they sell a phone at one of the AT&T stores. I watched them bring a wrapped iPhone out from the back room, open it, and plug it into the computer. The phone is definitely brand new. The phone just got synced with someone else's iTunes account for the iTunes (on iPhone) store. As it was mentioned before, the account it got synced with could have been either the employee's account or a previous customer. The phone had no personal or confidential data on it and no music, just the email address. It also asked for a password before it would let you use the account for anything. Frankly I don't see the big deal. The phones are brand new. You're supposed to sync them with your computer anyway to put all of your own data on. I was a little annoyed that they had to take it out of the box before giving it to me, but what are you gonna do?
Sucks that these things happen and then everybody blames every sales rep at all the stores. You cannot generalize every employee as "sleezy sales rep" as someone said in here. I work in a corporate store and I like to think that I am not one of these reps and dont enjoy being refered to as one. I really dont think people understand how customers really treat most of us. I will agree sometimes the reps do deserve it though I know they are not all good and tempers are lost on both sides.
Ok back on topic. I am not sure how this one happened but i fully explained how the other iphone complaint happened in that post. Most stores and their employees are not out there to blatently screw you over. I will admit there are always a few bad apples out there that give the bunch a bad rep.
As for being a phone that was sold out then put back on the shelf there is no way for us to do this in the store it automatically takes it out of inventory and we have to send them off.
@nicemarmot617: I went to that exact same store as in the article to purchase my iPhone 3 weeks ago. The service I received was excellent and my phone was in perfect unused condition. Yes, there seem to be crooked employees at that store, but the same could be said for anywhere. Don't hose all NYC stores or their employees. It's not fair.
*They arranged for an exchange but still failed to explain how this man's e-mail address ended up on my phone. The store claimed that this was an unavoidable part of their activation system and the e-mail address belonged to either an employee or a previous iPhone purchaser.*
BS.
Ive never seen a carrier's POS activation system that required a customer's email adress to be used.When a phone is set up for the very first timea custmer's email is then entered in to activate push email service on the handset.
Sounds like AT&T got a shipment of refurbs and mixed them with new ones-and no one in that company is going to take responsibility for that kind of screw up.
Sobuyers beware.
AT&T does not recieve shipments of refurbs in the store locations. I work in a cor store
I just personally can't understand why you would take a greasy, clearly used phone and then act surprised when you find out its used. I'm not trying to excuse the poor actions of the company, but when I buy a phone, I want it new in a box with the wrapper on. Some sleazy sales associate pulls a phone out of his pocket I say "no thanks" and leave.
I dont know, Im a sprint user. Is this common for Iphone users?