This 'New' iPhone Comes With Russian Email Address
It's bad enough that Victor and his friends were scammed by this AT&T store in Brooklyn, but AT&T has basically told him that they can't help fix the problem, even though he's now in another town. Update: Eugene Pikulin says this could have happened innocently when the phone was activated in-store.
My wife, my best friend and I have visited the AT&T Store at 1101 Kings Highway, Brooklyn, New York today (January 25th, 2009) where they purchased an iPhone 3G 16gb as a birthday present for me.
The representative brought out what appeared to be a new sealed iPhone box and opened it in order to set up the phone and the SIM card. The phone appeared to function properly, and only on the way back to Boston I tried to run the iTunes and the AppStore for the first time. At the bottom of each page I saw
"Account: cxxxxx@mail.ru"
That email address was not mine. I did not even have a chance to register with Apple yet. Since it was my first experience with the iPhone, I clicked "Buy" next to one of the Apps in the apple store to see if it asks me for a credit card number and was asked to enter a password associated with "cxxxxx@mail.ru" It appears Apple has already associated the serial number of this iPhone with that (previous user's) email. Did I get a refurbished phone for the price oof a new one? Or did someone purchase this phone, used it for less then 30 days and returned it before it was sold to me as new?
This authorized store is located in a Russian area, so the email ending in ".ru" is unlikely to be a coincident.
I called AT&T and was told to go back to the store where I purchased it to resolve this; I was also told that AT&T can't send me a true new phone directly by mail, and that it is unlikely that a store in Boston will agree to exchange the phone for a new one. The problem is that I am now in Boston for a while, but a much bigger problem is that AT&T is apparently selling used iPhones as new. What a great present for my 30th birthday! Buyer beware...
Victor
PS: Also of note - there is a "green dot" sticker on the underside of the case next to the IMEI barcode and the plastic wrap appears to have been cut a little too carefully (as seen on pictures) - possibly to make the box look sealed when it was first brought out?
This is a test using rich text formatting and html links. It's the generic "company" ad that should appear on all posts with the Company category if they don't have an ad attached to a specific company.
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I bought my iPhone at that store and the same thing happened to me. I didn't think anything of it since I had the phone connected to someone elses iTunes at a friends store to update it, but in hindsight it may have been a used phone.
Simple Fix. Restore it to factory default and synch it with your personal iTunes. It will be fine.
Changing Your Account
It is not possible to change the account in use on the device itself or to sync multiple accounts to your mobile device. To change the account you are using on your mobile device, go to your computer and sign in to the iTunes Store with the account you want to use on your mobile device, then sync your iPhone or iPod touch with your computer again. This will transfer the new account information to the mobile device. To sign in or out of an account in iTunes choose Store > Sign In (or Sign Out).
I had the same thing happen to me, when I first tried to use my iPhone that I got for Christmas, there was a different e-mail address attached to it. I thought nothing of it, and after I looked it up, I found the solution.
Plug in your iPhone, then sign into your iTunes account and sync your iPhone.
I can't find the box for my iPhone right now to see if there's a sticker by my IMEI, but if my iPhone is used too, I'm going to be upset.
The green dot is most likely to indicate that the phone comes with the updated charger. There was a recall last year with the original wall charger included with the iPhone at launch in July. All new chargers have the green dot to indicate that they are the new version.
Email that address and ask who they are and what their relationship to the phone is. Or do some forensic recovery and figure it out yourself. :) If it's a former customer, they should be made aware that:
a) they should have wiped their phone before returning it and
b) AT&T should have, but did not, wipe the phone before reselling it.
I dunno how in-store activation works (special copy of ITunes or not)...but perhaps there was an iTunes Store account associated with that copy, and it got transferred to the phone..
Green dot indicates that it has a newer non-recalled charger. And looking at that shrink wrap.... I would also assume it was new too.
When the iPhone syncs with the computer it transfers over the account that is signed in on that computer. So it might be the account was signed in when they activated it on their computer.
All he needs to do is sign in with his account on his computer and sync the iPhone and it will transfer over the account info.
Chris, just a heads-up -- it looks like you intended to redact the Russian e-mail address in this story, but missed one mention of it, in the paragraph that starts with "That e-mail address was not mine."
First of all if the store is an authorized retailer that mean they are not allowed to sell the IPhone in their store...only corporate at&t stores, apple, best buy, and walmart is allowed to. If at&t finds out a authorized store is selling iphones by way of the grey market ( means they buy them in bulk from a thrid party not through at&t.) they can have their authorization taken away for going against at&t's policies. I know stores that tried to do this and were immeditaly shut down....so to the buyer do not give up and you have to make it clear to at&t that they were not authorized to sell you the product but did.
@MissTicklebritches: When it comes to my iPhone, I never, ever, EVER deal with AT&T. I try to avoid it at all costs.
I recommend going to the nearest Apple Store, taking the original receipt, original packaging, etc. I've never had a problem dealing with Apple. I'm sure they'd help him out.
The same thing happened to me. I bought a "new" 8gb iPhone at the midtown Manhattan (5th Ave) AT&T store on 1/8/09, and when I first tried opening the iTunes App Store when I got home, it asked for the password to an email address that was totally unfamiliar to me. I didn't initially think much of it, and had no reason to suspect it wasn't new other than that: shrink-wrap looked legit, everything else appear to have factory settings, no pre-existing contacts, etc.
My thought is that maybe that was the email address of an AT&T employee who's account was set up on the computer used to activate my phone.
@Arthur Borko: Yeah, that's a way to fix it - but it remains a used iphone, when he bought a new one - I know I'd want to exchange it for what I paid for....
the little green sticker means that it has the current power adapter. the older ones would overheat and flame up
Very simple explanation. When the phone is purchased, it must be connected to an itunes account to activate. The phone was connected to a computer in the store that was signed it to an itunes account. All you have to do is plug the phone into your computer with your itunes account and itll switch. THE PHONE IS 100% NEW. this is standard practice. The Green dot on the bottom on the back indicates that the phone has the new version of the charger since apple had recalled chargers. Consumerist, do a better job of fact checking your stories. This guys issue couldve been fixed with a quick scan of apples forums or a call to a mac genius.
Among other places to call is the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. They can be reached at 311 in NYC or 212-NEW-YORK outside the city.
Just remember, when you're returning electronics, make sure to erase all your personal data off of it first. Had somebody less scrupulous than Victor bought the phone, they could have used the Russian's personal info for nefarious purpouses. Also, make sure to clean all the porn off, too.
@Eugene Pikulin: Hey i dont think this is standard practice when the phone is not supposed to be sold at that location at all since it is an authorized retailer...plus the activation process now for the 3g iphone can be done in store no need to do in store beside the actual activation or upgrade part of it... i believe the customer should pursue this matter further.
I think you're mistaken. The customer purchased the phone at an AT&T store, which is an authorized retailer, meaning they ARE allowed to sell iPhones. UNauthorized stores cannot sell them.
How can you get a .ru email address if you don't live in Russia?
@pecan pi: I'm supposing that the owner of the .ru email address actually lives in the U.S., otherwise they wouldn't be able to sync to iTunes, right? But I thought you had to have a service in that particular country to have the email address.
Couple of tid bits for hints: all iPhones have to run through iTunes for a full activation. When prior buyer and/or seller did not sign OUT of the iTunes and computer that was registered before your iPhone. When you first sync the iPhone (even if you transfer no data), your iTunes account or the one signed into the computer will transfer for purchases made to from the iPhone App store and iTunes Music store.
The green dot indicates that you have the latest power adapter. The prior model (unlike previous posts) does not get hot and blow up - but the prongs would break off in the outlet. They had a massive recall and the green dot was an indication to Retail stores to not give a buyer two adapters. Ones with the green dot have it, ones that don't would need to be opened at point of sale and the adapter swapped immediately.
The same thing happened to me. I bought my iPhone in Mass. At the time I thought it was odd, but it does not appear to have caused any problems. I like it!
@Drew Shannon: Nope im not call any authorized retailer the iphone is the only phone that they are not allowed to sell not matter how authorized they are ...they are not allowed to sell it unless they are directly owned by at&t meaning they are a corporate
All you need to do is go to Settings -> General -> Reset -> All settings
it will remove the set in email address and you will be fine to purchase, the likely thing that happened is at the ATT store a customer logged into itunes with their email address and it now gets synced onto every single new iPhone that is activated on that computer. Simple and easy to fix.
(Ex-Apple employee)
@Josh Forman: It's a special copy of iTunes for just activation, but what happens is most employee's want to charge their iPhone off the computers they use so open up the full version of iTunes on the computer and thus end up putting the email address on the phones.
I'm still confused as to what you're trying to say. The original customer bought the phone at an AT&T store. Some of them are authorized to sell iPhones.
@Drew Shannon: The way i understood is that the store was a authorized retailer not a corporate...i just checked the address of the location...it does seem to be a corporate not a authorized retailer so i misunderstood what kind of location it was.... since it is a corp store the customer should have no problem exchanging it at any other corp store in the US. sorry for the mix up hope that cleared it up more on what i meant originally
@rayray5884: This is what they told me when I bought my iPhone. There is also another little green dot on the charger itself.
Eugene is right, almost all AT&T stores for some reason have their itunes signed into somebody's account, which ends up with a lot of confused people thinking they've been cheated.
Well, I'm glad that's cleared up. I just wish the OP hadn't been accusatory without even knowing what they were talking about. The whole 'buyer beware' thing just sounds ridiculous now.
It's a Corporate location. I live a few blocks away and drive past it all the time. It's where I purchased my phone as well. The explination Eugene gave is 100% plausible.
One way the OP can make sure the phone is registered to his account is to logon at AT&T Wireless online where all your billing information and other stuff is. It will show his phone number and what iphone it's linked to by serial number.
Thoughts from a current Apple employee:
When we activate phones at a retail store, it's on a computer with a locked down version of iTunes that doesn't allow logins. The one time or another I've tried activating a phone that had an "unlocked" iTunes, the phone did not activate, but iTunes did ask to register and create an account. This is my best understanding of the process, but I could be wrong. I'm just not so sure how plausible the explanation of it being activated/synced to a computer at the same time is.
That said, the OP has a couple of choices, limited by the fact they're in Boston. I would want to know how they found out the serial number is registered to that email address. If he just went to the Apple Support website, I would reccomend calling AppleCare - they'll have much more info, most importantly when the phone was registered. If it was the same day of the purchase, I'd say there was just something a little screwy with how ATT activated the phone. Plug it in to iTunes on the OP's home computer and click Restore. That'll make it like it was out of the box. AppleCare should be able to change the reg information, and if they're not/won't, keep in mind the warranty follows the serial number, not the owner.
Should the OP decide to bring it into an Apple Store for replacement, the best they will get is a service part and not a brand new one out of the box. Apple Stores can only swap out broken phones for brand new ones if purchased at an Apple Store, and generally only within the first 30 days.
Lastly, the ATT store in question is authorized to sell iPhones. It's listed on ATT Wireless' website.
@dcx516: They do not "overheat and flame up". The older ultracompact adapters were affected by a safety issue. The metal prongs could break off of the adapter and protrude partially from a wall socket, posing an electric shock risk.
To their credit, Apple immediately notified all iPhone users by e-mail and letter; getting a new adapter is as easy as dropping by an Apple store or calling Apple for a replacement.
i was gonna make some snarky comment about iphones, but i can't think of anything :-/
@Anna Rizhavskaya: Since when can "Authorized Retailers" not sell iPhones? I got my 3G at Best Buy, and I'm pretty sure they're not an AT&T corporate store or an Apple Store.
So what is he gonna do with all of that Russian disco it came preloaded with?
A follow-up by the OP to determine the verity of the situation would be appreciated, and to those who say this isn't newsworthy: it is. Technologically illiterate iphone buyers would likely freak out that there is some unknown e-mail address on their phone (that they can't access) and most will (with the help of semi-savvy friends or relatives) figure out that it's a Russian address, which will increase their suspicion.
Regardless of how easy it is for someone who's experienced in the use of an iphone to "fix" the phone by resetting it, and regardless of the fact that it's not an indication that the phone is used, it should NOT have happened. It's like grandma buying a new car and having all of the stations set to gangster rap stations, the seat memory settings and mirrors set for someone who's 6'5" and 300lbs and the climate control set to full tilt A/C.
Think about it.
@Eugene Pikulin: Shouldn't AT&T say, use an iTunes account not already linked to any specific person to activate customer phones? Wouldn't this be a better business practice, and more likely to protect customer information?
I'm not sure I agree with your assessment, as when I had my iPhone replaced they activated it for me but I did not have anything auto-loaded into the phone except my phone number. Then again, that was at an Apple store.
@KStrike155: By "authorized retailers," she means independent wireless phone stores that are not owned by AT&T. I don't know what it's like where you live, but such stores are a dime a dozen in NYC.
@KStrike155: like i said in my post above best buy walmart, at&t corporate and apple is allowed to sell it everyone else no...hence at&t other authorized retailers....
OK!!! This is not a big deal and is not an issue of the phone already having been used. I can almost assure you (not 100% as of course I was not there), being a rep in a corporate store, that the phone is new. The green dot just means it has the correct charger and not the reacalled one. Also I open the iphone boxes with a box cutter and slide it into the groove around the back which makes it look very neat and its just quick and easy!
Also I am guilty as charged of not taking my email address off my itunes after I go on and update my phone. Also sometimes when I have to hook a customers phone up to my itunes to restore there email addy syncs to my itunes and I have had customers say that they got may email addy on their phone when they try to buy something from itunes. This is not a big deal seeing that you have to enter my pass code to actually buy anything or to get into my account. Its something that automatically happens if my phone auto syncs to my computer and I forget to take it off.
I think you should have gone into the store and talked to a rep. I'm sorry customer service could not give you a reason as to why this happened but since they do not acticvate the phone they are unaware of some of the small things. Most store reps would know about this and would have been happy to change this for you.
Dont worry we are not selling used iphones in store as new. As a matter of fact there is no way that i am aware of to put a returned iphone back into inventory!
OPEN AND TRY ANY ITEM YOU WANT TO BUY AT THE STORE BEFORE YOU PLUNK DOWN YOUR MONEY.
STORES NO LONGER CARE ABOUT CUSTOMERS, THEY RIP YOU OFF WITH A SMILE, AND THEY EXPECT YOU TO BE A REPEAT CUSTOMER.
WELL, ALL TOGETHER NOW, REPEAT AFTER ME, GO TO HELL iPHONE.
The exact same deal happened to me. No matter what the story is behind this, an account from an employee should not be automatically transferred to your new phone during installation. And, if this were the case, the employee ought to help you set it up with your account at the time of installation. I'll be going back to AT&T to figure out what happened and I will demand a new phone. I don't trust cell phone companies one lick.
I wonder what would happen if you brought it to an Apple store and told them what happened. The worst they could do is say they can't help you.