Warning to upgraders: Palm store/new service nightmare (long)

[misterya]

It may not actually classify as a nightmare... but there's no way I would have knowingly stepped into this, either.

A week ago, my contract with Verizon was up, & I ordered an Arctic 680 with Cingular/AT&T service from the Palm store online to replace my trusty 650. (Wanting a different COLOR is what I blame for most of this now.... good ol' silver at the Cingular store would have been way easier, I guess, they have Crimson, too, maybe I should like Silver & red more). I wanted to keep my cell number, so chose this option through checkout. I spec'd overnight shipping, b/c it wasn't much more, & even with some processing time assumed I'd have my new phone by Tuesday or Wednesday of this week at the latest.

A big WRONG on that. Nowhere does Palm tell you that there is a TON of behind the scenes mumbo-jumbo that has to happen to get an account activated, (the official Palm Store timeframe is 24 to 72 hours for activation), let alone port a number. As of yesterday, (Thurs.) my phone still hadn't shipped or been activated... I finally got a customer service representative on the phone who went to the trouble of involving his supervisor & contacting Cingular/AT&T to get the account activated, which they did, but... It's still "24 to 48 hours before the phone will ship... You'll see an email notifying you that it did..."

Which is still pathetic. Even after explaining it had been almost a full week, there was nothing that anyone could do to prioritize my order.

All of this falls within the realm of not great, but what we've come to expect from service industry in general... If I had received my phone the first part of next week, I never would have posted. But today, WHEN MY VERIZON ACCOUNT WAS DEACTIVATED without me having another option in my hands, I felt like I I had to warn people. I had clients calling my business partner telling me they were getting a "...this number is no longer active..." message when they dialed my cell. A quick call to Palm (who originally answered "Radio Shack dot com".... what's up with that? One guy at home working a few different accounts, or cost-saving measures back-firing?) & they said this shouldn't have happened, to call Verizon & get service back temporarily, which I DID, & the V. rep explained to me that I would have to open a new account because the old one had been closed.

So: I'm going to wind up borrowing my MOM'S PHONE (yea Mom) until I see something on my porch from Palm Tuesday? Wednesday? Who knows?

The moral of the story: If you're not buying an unlocked phone, buy Silver or Crimson from the Cingular/AT&T store. I certainly would have if I had known I was going to be without ANY cell service for at least 3+ days!


Buy AT&T Treo from AT&T
AT&T 680 from AT&T or Palm Store?
Experience with Palm Store for new AT&T service

[cartogary]

Wow, definitely a bad dream. Tho' what really killed you was the Service Activation and Porting your number. Trying to do that online is the kiss of death. I found out from a ATT tech a couple years ago that porting a number is real hassle and a rep at the store can make it happen but they really have known their stuff and activate a new account at the same time.

If anyone needs to do this in the future, I recommend going to a ATT/Cingular store two weeks ahead of old account expiration, port your number and activate a new account AND take any phone they'll give you for FREE. That way your got the new SIM card with your phone number on it + a Free (backup) phone. At the same time order whatever GSM color Treo 680 you want from Palm. When it arrives just set it up, insert the new SIM and you're good to go. Yeah, the'll be some account overlap as old acct. dies and new acct. begins, but it'll be worth it. And you probably can sell the Free phone on eBay to some teenager for $50.

Miserya, hang in there, the 680 is nice move up, and upgrade to the 1.09 ROM it definitely helps the battery life.

[comiken205]

cartogary,

If you get the new phone and then order the 680, don't you have to pay full price for the 680? Just asking in case someone thinks they will get it at the free price if they get a new service agreement with AT&T.

[bluenadas]

Porting a number can take a minimum of 20 days....thinking they'd send you your phone without some delay to get the account set up was just an over sight on your part in my opinion.

Even today some things can not happen over night...

[misterya]

... quicker than they were really supposed to, is my best understanding. The actual "port" is supposed to happen after you recieve your new equipment in the mail. (All of this is coming from Radio Sha, er, Palm Customer Service, & as I've never done this before, it's just what I was told, so...)

AT&T activated an account for me, new service. They set up the account on their end for my old number, the phone ships to me & I "pull the trigger" somehow for the port to take place after I receive it.

If what you're saying bluenadas is that it's unrealistic to think that a number port can happen instantaneously (whether the new phone is in your hands or not) then sure I was mistaken, but I think ALL of these problems would have been lessened by buying straight from a brick & mortar AT&T store, which was the overall point I was trying to make.

New service + number port = Don't buy through the Palm store (or for that matter any of the online retailers, I would say) unless you've got a couple of weeks for headaches, including possibly having no wireless service at all for a time.

[bluenadas]

I would agree that if you're doing some time consuming items then a brick and motar is the way to go. Not to mention, why would you ever add a thrid person to a purchase without need? In my opinion you're only adding another level for people to screw up.

[comiken205]

I ported my number from Verizon to Sprint. They gave me my new phone and said to use my old Verizon phone until the Sprint service took over. They said it should take about 2 hours. Exactly 2 hours later, my Sprint phone rang and my service was activated just like that. No hassles at all.

[cartogary]

comiken205

Yes, I guess I was assuming a full price new Treo 680 in my description, sorry to confuse. I was understanding if you wanted the locked Copper or Arctic, which Cingular doesn't stock, that you'd get Cingular branded phone from Palm, pay full price, and then when to go to the store to activate it you'd get the rebate to send in. But they are probably doing something different now.

Don't you really always pay full price and then wait for a rebate check in the mail?

[comiken205]

Yeah, that is true. Sometimes you get the in store rebate. Of course, sometimes!

[LotusLord]

Well that is a CDMA to CDMA port. It took about 4-6 hours for my inlaws to port from US Cellular to AT&T (CDMA to GSM), but during that time, one phone would ring, and the other would be used to dial out.