Many of you know that I recently returned my iPhone 4. Not because I didn't like the phone. It was strictly because the area I live and work doesn't have 3G data service. Using an iPhone on EDGE network was acceptable the first few iPhones, but as more people got iPhones the network slowed to a crawl. Additionally, the new iOS4 software allowed multitasking which opened the possibilities of listening to Last.fm or Pandora in the background and tweeting, browsing the internet, etc. at the same time, but forget about that on EDGE. EDGE didn't even allow Last.fm or Pandora to load. The music would continue to buffer until I couldn't take the wait anymore. Web pages would take several minutes to load and many times my Twitter timelines would time out completely. The situation went from multitasking to no-tasking.

On July 9th at around 4:45 p.m, I brought my iPhone 4 to FedEx and said goodbye. I missed it terribly, but was realistic. I couldn't effectively use the device on EDGE network. Many people on Twitter were shocked at how quickly I went from announcing my decision to return the iPhone 4 to actually following through with my plan. I'm sure many of my followers expected me to rethink my decision and keep the phone. I didn't have that luxury because of the 30 day return window. I knew if I really wanted to revert my contract back to pre-iPhone 4 days, I'd have to send the iPhone 4 back immediately. I figured since I activated the phone on June 23rd, I'd have until July 23rd to get the phone back to Apple.com (I had to return to Apple.com because that's where I purchased the phone), but I didn't know until later that AT&T started my contract the date I pre-ordered the phone on July 17th. That's right, AT&T started my contract before I activated my phone or even received my phone. From July 17th to the 23rd my iPhone 4 was either in China or in transit to Pennsylvania.

On July 12th at 3:34 p.m., I received an email from Apple Returns notifying me that they received my iPhone 4 and my bank account would be refunded $210.94. The email also said to call AT&T to cancel wireless service if that's my intention. That was my intention and I was glad to see the return date was July 12 because it was well before the July 17 deadline for returning the phone. I immediately called AT&T at the number given to my by Apple Returns department with the intention of canceling my AT&T service. I knew after the contract was reverted I'd have about 5 months left and I'd incur an early termination fee. It didn't matter to me. Unfortunately, the AT&T representative didn't have any knowledge of the return and said it could take 72 hours for the Apple system to "talk" to AT&T and recognize the return. I thought that sounded reasonable, so I hung up and slept well knowing at least Apple recognized the return. I figured once my $210.94 was deposited back into my bank account, I'd take the opportunity to call AT&T again.

On July 13, Apple credited my bank account for my $210.94. It was a nice surprise to see how quickly Apple did their part. After calling AT&T, I was highly disappointed in how they did their part. AT&T told me they still haven't received any notice that Apple.com has received my returned iPhone 4. Even though I had an email with a return number and my bank account was credited already. I was told about the 72 hour waiting period and chose to keep checking my AT&T online account to see if the contract date would revert back automatically. I called Apple just to verify the return date and not surprisingly, Apple confirmed the July 12 return date.

July 14 was my "wait and see" day. I didn't place any phone calls.

July 15 is when the massive frustrations really started. My first phone call was AT&T and I was told that I HAD to call Apple and Apple HAD to call AT&T to notify them that my iPhone was returned. I thought, "ok, that sounds cool. I'm not sure why I wasn't told that back on Monday though." Next call was to Apple. The Apple representative called AT&T while I was on hold and I thought was confirming the return date. Sadly, I was disconnected from the call and there's no easy way to get back in touch with the same representative. Account notes is the only way for each representative to check to see what's happened on each call. That goes for Apple and AT&T. If a representative doesn't take good notes it really goes downhill when trying to explain for the millionth time what's going on. Anyway, I called Apple back and the representative decided to do a conference call with AT&T. There I was on the phone with Apple returns department AND AT&T customer service at the same time! I was so excited! This had to be the end of the story. Freedom from AT&T was only minutes away...I thought. You guessed right if you thought it couldn't be THAT easy. The AT&T representative wouldn't accept the word of the Apple returns department rep. because 'I could have asked my friend to call AT&T and tried to revert my contract.' Was the AT&T representative serious?!? Dead serious. In that conversation I was told it could take 7 to 10 business days for an automated system to tell AT&T that my iPhone 4 was returned. No phone calls from Apple returns would be accepted as proof of return. Why did AT&T tell me to call Apple returns to begin with if verbal confirmation wouldn't be good enough? Why was I told it would be up to 72 hours before AT&T would be automatically notified if now I'm being told it would be 7 to 10 business days? The answer is because AT&T doesn't seem to have any kind of continuity in place to handle this situation. It doesn't seem like they get together as a customer service group and discuss return issues, customer complaints, etc. After the ridiculous conference call, I was as frustrated as ever and chose to go to bed.

Friday, July 16th, I was on the phone four separate times with AT&T and one time with Apple returns department. The first AT&T call I was told it could be a 30 day time period before AT&T might recognize that my iPhone 4 was returned. Meaning I'd be locked into a new two year contract AND have to pay for a full month of phone service even though I sent my phone back on June 9th. I called AT&T back and the representative was very nice and waived my $18 activation fee and gave me a $25 "inconvenience credit." He told me that he saw a bunch of notes on my account, but not one of them said my iPhone 4 has been returned by Apple. He suggested that I call Apple to ask them to go into their Notes area and at least leave a note that the phone was returned on July 12. I was like, "that sounds like a great idea. If AT&T won't trust a phone call from Apple returns maybe they'll trust a note in my account from Apple returns." The same AT&T representative told me he was going to put in my notes that I'd contact Apple and they'd put a "return confirmation" note in my account notes (lots of note taking lol). I quickly called Apple and was flatly told that there's absolutely no way for them to make a note in my account that AT&T would be able to see. What?!? Why was I told to call Apple (and be on hold AGAIN) and have them make a note if Apple and AT&T notes don't communicate? I was upset, but also concerned that the AT&T representative put a note in my account saying I'd call Apple to get confirmation and that wasn't possible, so I called back AT&T in order for them to put an additional note in my account stating that I tried to get Apple to type the note, but the systems don't "talk." The AT&T representative was clueless and after I explained the situation from the very beginning she decided to get rid of me by transferring me to "AT&T Customer Care" because "they have access to more notes" than she does." AT&T Customer Care? Who had I been speaking to all week? It turns out, her transferring me was a blessing in disguise. The AT&T Customer Care representative looked in his notes and said, "I really don't know why you've had so much trouble getting your contract reverted. It clearly says in MY notes that your iPhone 4 was returned on July 12th." OMG! Can you believe that?!? I was so relieved. Finally, I was talking to the right person within the huge AT&T company. Within minutes he had reverted my contract from a brand new 2 year contract back to my old contract that ended on November 21, 2010. I thanked him over and over. He had saved me. As soon as he said he had reverted my contract I asked him to speak to the cancelation department because I wanted out of AT&T. He said that department was only open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. It was already 10 p.m., so I was SOL.

On July 17, I called the AT&T Customer Care number that I was given the night before. It was a Saturday and was told I couldn't cancel my contract on the weekend, but chose to check anyway. I hadn't exactly been given accurate information the whole week. Turns out I could cancel contract over the weekend and was talking to the right person to cancel it. The representative told me she could put in a request to cancel my contract, but it wouldn't be canceled until August 14th and I'd be responsible to pay for the entire month of service because my request to cancel fell within the current billing cycle. I figured there'd be some roadblock, but I calmly asked her to take a look in the notes and verify that the notes say I returned my iPhone 4 on July 12 (before new billing cycle started). She said yes it does say July 12 and I asked her to see if she could cancel my account as of that return date. After about a five minute conversation with her supervisor and an attempt to get me to try a 3G microcell, her supervisor canceled my contract! I owed $50 for the last billing cycle and $80 early termination fee which I was completely fine with paying. It was never about trying to scam AT&T for a waived termination fee or any monetary adjustments at all on my account. It was strictly about getting AT&T to recognize I HAD returned my iPhone 4 on July 12 and to cancel my contract. I was a premium business member (or whatever it's officially called) since 2003, but without 3G in my area it really wasn't worth continuing the contract. The AT&T representative said she was sorry several times about what I've had to go through and said she's willing to talk to her supervisor and colleagues about the severe lack of communication between all of them. I told her I'm happy that it's finally over, but happier that she's willing to communicate what happened to other co-workers. It'd be a shame if any other people had to go through this.

I don't like being the angry, persistent customer. I didn't yell during any of the conversations, but I did express frustration. I'm afraid that if I wasn't persistent, I'd still be in my contract well past the 30 day "buyer's remorse" period. The way it was going, I'm not sure my AT&T account would EVER show that I returned my iPhone 4 and I'd be out of a phone and locked into a 2 year contract.