Have you purchased a refurbished iPad from AT&T recently? Did it have the correct adapter?Adam made an interesting discovery when he bought one for his wife, noticing that the supplied adapter is the one for the iPhone. While it’s compatible, it charges the giant-sized iPod Touch that is the iPad more slowly, and isn’t powerful enough to keep the iPad going in photo frame mode.

Adam writes:

Have you received any report of AT&T shipping refurbished iPads with iPhone AC adapters in place of iPad AC adapters? I just purchased a refurbished iPad from AT&T for my wife, but the supplied AC adapter was the iPhone model. When I spoke to an AT&T customer service rep, they explained that the iPhone AC adapter was intentionally provided because they were out of stock of the iPad version, but that the iPhone model would work. The iPhone version will technically charge the iPad, but at a significantly slower rate. However, the iPhone adapter cannot keep up if the iPad is photo frame mode.

The customer service rep said that I needed to ship the iPad and accessories back in order to get the correct adapter, which is ridiculous. I wonder how many people will receive the wrong adapter and not realize it is not the correct model. I’m sure they will be very frustrated, possibly blaming the product. If I were Steve Jobs, this would concern me.

This is another good example of how AT&T doesn’t “get it.”

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.