Comments on: Apple's $30 apology for iPhone activation delays?

Company reportedly begins notifying iPhone 3G S owners that they may experience additional delays due to "system issues" and offers a $30 iTunes Store credit as an apology.

[sjschaef]

My iPhone worked right out of the box... the only issue I am having (a pre- existing non iphone ATT customer) is my voicemail. Att tried to tell me that it was a software issue.... Apple said ATT has a voicemail outage.. After calling back to ATT they admitted that this was the case.

[joeygibson]

I had problems activating, too. On Saturday morning, I noticed in the booklet that came with my iPhone a URL for att.com/WirelessHelp. I went there and saw a link that said "Activate Phone" (https://www.wireless.att.com/activations/activate_phone) I clicked it, went through the process, and my phone was activated in about 3 minutes.

[trentZ2]

Lets see u have thirty new dollars, but u have to spend it at Apple. Hmmm

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Micro$oft could take a lesson here and offer everybody a few download of the Xbox Originals due to being out for two days last week.

[askjordan]

Friday 6/19, Apple Store Emeryville CA
My activation story. I'm glad to hear other people had an easy activation process.
7:42am, arrive in the Pre-order line, over 100 people in front of me.
10:15am, finally, it's my turn to enter the store.
10:30am, first attempt at activation fails, the Apple gurus have me contact att because they say that there's an incorrect plan provisioned on my att account.
10:40am, I relay the info to At&t and the woman tells me it's an Apple Tech Support Issue. I hand the phone to the Apple guru; chit chat.
10:50am, No changes have been made to my att account. Apple guy sends second activation, the iphone now displays "activation in progress."
11:15am, completed purchase, left the store with the phone still displaying "activation in progress."
12:16pm, Phone still displaying "activation in progress." I power cycled my phone and the activation completed.

[AJinAZ]

My phone would not activate - I was told to take it home and wait. When I got it home, I messed around with it a little bit to get familiar with the phone, and I think that canceled the activation process. I finally figured out that I could restart the process by removing and replacing the SIM card.

This time it activated instantly.

Where is my $30? Do I need to contact someone?

[Vegaman_Dan]

I personally don't think Apple should give out any credit at all. Doing so as an apology acknowledges there is a problem that they feel is bad enough that they have to make up for it.

If they do this, then they set a bad precedent. When iTunes loses my library because of a bad iTunes update, will they compensate me for the hours of lost work to restore it? When my Touch crashes due to a bad OS update, will they compensate me for all that lost data (checkbook and other) that I lose? I lost a full year's worth of financial data because the update failed and the restore couldn't be used- the corrupted update made the restore incompatible. Should I be compensated for Apple's failure here?

No, of course not. Apple is not liable for anything that happens. It's in the EULA if you read it. They need to stand by that, tell the customers to suck it up and pay them more money for the honor. It's just a portable electronic item. It cannot be so important and critical to warrant getting credits when the OEM makes a mistake or else we'll start taking them to task on everything.

That's the real way it should work.

[ctekmediadotcom]

iPhone = Cell Phone = relied on for business in this world (get a clue.)

AT&T knows this, and Apple knows this. THAT'S WHY we might get this puny credit.

[Vegaman_Dan]

@ctekmediadotcom:

And yet people bought the phone knowing this already so... why does Apple have to apologize for it? It's just a cost of doing business with Apple/AT&T. People have come to expect this sort of thing from AT&T so I don't see why Apple should have to feel the need to pay anything. In fact, they could probably *charge* those people affected for the extra effort and resources that Apple and AT&T are putting forward to fix the issue. That's the way today's customer service model works, I'm afraid. Look at the cable industry for a perfect example of this in action.

[ctekmediadotcom]

96 Hours (4 Days) and still waiting for Activation!

[ctekmediadotcom]

iPhone = Cell Phone = relied on for business in this world (get a clue.)

AT&T knows this, and Apple knows this. THAT'S WHY we might get this puny credit.

[brynn08]

Apple should apologize for there exclusitivity deal with ATT.....and there garbage of a network.....should went with sprint or VZW !!!!!

[brynn08]

@ ikramerica--2008 just becuz you had gd experience with att doesnt make it bettr than sprints...as far as im concerned....sprints csr has vastly improved over the year....but you can stick to your iphone and dropp calls all day....( which att has been slammed on as of late) and il stay connected and a superior 3G network !!! oh and ill save money per month...per 2years via contract....adds up....

[brynn08]

i feel bad for idiotic ATT customers that wasted $300 on this phone which u cant make phone calls on half the time......why bcuz its the network.....proly wait till it comes to Sprint....or VZW for that matter....

[Mr.Mojo]

I waited for 6-8 hours Friday and Still No Joy. So I Googled the problem and immediately found a Web site that suggested restarting the iPhone. Voila! I was activated...

It would be nice to know if I qualify for the $30 credit; I haven't received the e-mail message...

BTW, the iPhone is not a Blackberry. It is a tiny Mac computer that also happens to incorporate a cell phone... And while I appreciate the cost-savings and functionality of the iPod Touch, being able to access a cell network when a Wi-Fi connection does not exists makes the iPhone more reliable and useful as a portable computing device.

[eastcoasthop]

At Park City Mall in Lancaster, Pa the Apple store reps told people that there was NO store browsing allowed due to the release of the 3G S. And there were 2 people in line for a phone. Great customer service! I wanted to look at notebook computers but they kicked me out so they could nerd out for the few people wanting the iphone. insane!