You knew AT&T sucks, right?

So, I went and stood in line for an iPhone today. It's an interesting experience. I've never stood in line for a product before, and there's a certain camaradery involved. But, when it's a glorified iPod, there's also a lot of people just listening to their music.

(In case you're wondering, my boss actively encouraged me to go stand in line, because he was working on a crazy iBuckle idea. And I brought my laptop, so I got some work done in line.)

I got there around 2 or 2:30, and was number 43 in line (approximately), so the line wasn't too bad. It was also entirely superfluous. They processed all hundred-odd of us in less than half an hour once the store opened, and still had plenty of phones. (We stopped back in after dinner to grab a case for Jill's, and they were still selling them.)

Anyway, once I had my phone, I repaired to CoffeeTree to activate it. And that is where my tale of woe truly begins. While other people quickly activated their phones, I got the dreaded "AT&T is now processing your activation. You will receive an email confirmation once your activation is complete." message. I hung out while Mick gave away iBuckles and waited to meet up with my friend Nicole. After 45 minutes or so, I decided to call AT&T.

Of course, the prospect of helping a customer with an iPhone threw them into paroxysms of confusion. "iPhone, eh? Very new. Not too familiar with that." Much waiting on hold resulted. Then I was transferred to someone else who could help me. She wasn't much better, and much waiting on hold resulted. It eventually became clear that the core of the problem is that I've been a customer for too long. Of course, they didn't put it that way. You see, I'm a "converted customer." That's jargon for being an old pre-Cingular AT&T customer. My rate plan is thus "incompatible" with the iPhone, and I must be transferred.

Now, I'm a bit fuzzy on dates, but I think the AT&T-Cingular merger happened, like, three years ago. You would think, by now, that even if they didn't have all the customers converted, they would at least have an easy process for conversion that any AT&T representative could perform. Au contraire. You must have help from the special "transfer team."

I think I got transferred to them earlier this evening. I'm not sure, because they were very unhelpful and basically told me that everything would be fine and I should just wait for the email to show up that would tell me that everything was fine. So I had dinner with Jill, Nicole, and the guys from work.

When I got home, I had email. It told me that everything was not fine, and to contact AT&T. So I did. Then I sat on hold some more, only to eventually be told that the crack transfer team ninjas had all gone to bed. That's right. 9pm Pacific time is when the transfer team closes up shop. They'll be available again tomorrow at 9am. Pacific.

So, honestly, had anyone anywhere mentioned that loyal long-time customers of AT&T would have problems activating their phones, I wouldn't have been that put out. But I would have probably not bothered to show up early either.