Clinton Middleton wanted me to share his iPhone experience with you.

I was working near Fresno, California during the fall of 2007 for a three month assignment. Since I don’t have coverage in Ohio where I live, I thought I would go ahead and try out an iPhone since I had been lusting for it for months. This was a bad decision, because I knew I was signing a contract for two years, and I know I would only be in good coverage for three months, then back to Ohio until I was reassigned to a different part of the country, where I may or may not have coverage.

Cha Ching: $399.00 plus tax for the I phone and 35.00 AT&T activation plus prorated 1st months bill of 30 dollars. (prorated is important here and I will explain later).

I hate consumer service contracts. They should be outlawed across the board.

So, I tried out the iPhone in the area I was, and it was not good coverage to say the least. Here is where I made a bad mistake: I was so smitten by the iPhone that I didn’t return it in the 14 day window for a refund, or cancel AT&T in their 30 day period. I waited to cancel until day 44, partly because I loved my new toy, that worked great with WiFi, even if the coverage was spotty.

Cha Ching: $60.00 on the November bill (received at the end of October because AT&T bills in advance for the month service).

Coverage is everything. I’ve never had a problem with AT&T in the Saettle area, though.

So, I canceled the account on day 44, as I said. Any cancellations after 30 days mean you have a $175.00 early termination fee. Which I don’t like, but it was deserved and I have only myself to blame because I know coverage was spotty well before the 30 days were up.

I hate early termination fees. They should be outlawed across the board.

Here is the part that disappoints me: When you sign up, AT&T will prorate the first month’s bill, and you don’t get the rollover minutes. In October, for the half month I used only ONE voice minute, and most data was WiFi, not Edge. So I should have had a lot of rollover minutes, but no, it does not work that way. Also, when you cancel in the middle of a cycle, you don’t get the pro-rated bill to end the plan. For example: If your cycle ends on December 31, and you cancel on December 1, you don’t pay one pro-rated day, you pay for the other 30 days, even though your phone was turned off and cancelled! AT&T is taking advantage by prorating when it benefits them and refusing to pro-rate when it is convenient for them. It isn’t consistent and it isn’t fair.

Cha Ching: $60.00 on the December bill, that was only used for ONE day (the only call that day was to AT&T to cancel! 175.00 early termination fee.

AT&T has never been known for its amazing billing accuracy or fairness. Ponzi was burned by them a few years ago, too.

Now here is where it gets nasty. So during the first week of January, I get a bill for $175.00, which I knew was coming, I was angry with AT&T, so I called in to discuss this. They told me they couldn’t find the account and that it must be satisfied and don’t worry about it, even though I had a bill in my hand. So, I thought well maybe they waived the charge, they don’t have record of it and I told the rep that I was only 14 days over the 30 day limit to avoid the charge. Boy, was I wrong.

The next week, the bill collector started calling and being very nasty. On top of the $175 plus $60 for the termination fee and the December bill (when I didn’t even use the phone in December) they bill collector added on 40 more dollars!

When I tried to contact AT&T, they played pass the buck and no one was available to discuss why they would send an account to collection after so little time, and why they refuse to prorate a bill, when only 1/31 days were used. They said they had no record of my account.

So, in order to protect my credit, and being that I am just the little guy, I am eating all these costs. I do blame myself for the problem of wanting something so badly, that I made an awful decision, but AT&T is absolutely not focused on satisfying customers, or even treating them fairly for that matter, with refusing to prorate a bill when it suits them, then telling me I don’t owe money when I do, then providing no clear person to contact when there are questions that need answered.

At the end of the day, what could have been a $400 purchase independent of any carrier… it cost Clinton $800, not to mention time and untold levels of frustration.

Dunno. The iPhone hasn’t been a horror story for me. Even Ponzi’s early interaction with their (Apple’s) customer service proved to be a positive experience. YMMV?