I suspect from the crowd at the Crystal Lake, IL AT&T store on the day after Christmas, that I was not the only person in America that had decided to surprise someone in their family with a new Apple 3G iPhone.  While I cannot be certain what it was like at the Verizon store where they do not carry the iPhone, the AT&T location was filled with people seeking to port their numbers and accounts over to this exclusive provider for the iPhone.

Before I get too far, my issue and our learning opportunities come from AT&T’s System for on-boarding new customers with the iPhone.  The store team on the ground in Crystal Lake was great throughout the entire process.

My issue is more with AT&T’s seemingly incomplete and poor system (not the store’s) for helping customers ramp up on this season’s ultimate killer product.

Here’s a quick synopsis of what it took.

  • I started the process of acquiring a new iPhone for my college-age son a few weeks ago.  I use AT&T in my business, but the family was with the other guys.  I needed to find out how I could add a phone and deal with the texting, internet and voice needs of a serial texter.  I called AT&T and spoke with 2 reps who were completely incapable of confidently telling me what my options were and what the final costs would be to add a second line, switch to family talk and meet my son’s specs for usage.  Time investment…approximately one hour and no satisfaction whatsoever.
  • I tried the website.  Same result…no luck.  I defy anyone to pull off this simple transaction using their website.  Also, on this prime shopping day during prime daytime hours, the site was down for quite awhile undergoing maintenance.  Hmmm.  I wonder who scheduled that event?
  • I went to the store in Crystal Lake, IL and 45 minutes later I walked out with a new iPhone and Brett’s assurance that I could bring it back after Christmas to port my son’s Verizon number and move all of his contacts.  I also had the 800 number for the AT&T porting service in case I wanted to try that on my own.  Outstanding!  Score one for dealing with real live people face to face.
  • Christmas Day…the iPhone was a huge hit and a total surprise.  My wife and I had resorted to a little bit of Christmas present cruelty by just mumbling and groaning something about contracts every time my son raised the question of whether there was an iPhone in his future.  OK, it was mean, but the kid is tough, the world is not always kind, and it sure heightened his surprise!
  • Christmas Day again.  I wondered whether AT&T was aggressive enough to have people standing by to help their many, many new customers activate their freshly unwrapped products and start the meter running for billing purposes.  No such luck.  The recorded message indicated that they were closed for the day.  (OK, I feel a bit Scrooge-like here, but if I have a killer product like the iPhone and my success is a function of getting people smiling and dialing or texting as quickly as possible, I might have taken a different path on the holiday.)
  • December 26.  I power-dialed the 800 number at AT&T, put the speakerphone on and wrote a blog post, answered e-mail and reviewed the latest draft of a presentation.  After one hour and twenty minutes of being on-hold, I gave up. The next step was the store.
  • We were early, and got right up to the counter.  Another helpful Rep efficiently ported over my son’s 245 contacts from the Verizon phone (big score!) and then started the phone number port process.  The dedicated line for store reps must have been slammed.  He was on hold for 34 minutes before anyone answered.  During this time, the store filled, the line grew and everyone was after the same thing.  The family next to us had a shopping bag filled with iPhones needing numbers.  Before long, every rep in the store was on the phone and customer service ground to a halt.
  • Truth be told, once our rep was connected with someone on the AT&T side, the port was carried out smoothly and we were quickly on our way.  Probably not a moment too soon, as the people in line were getting a little feisty as the reps continued to be stuck on hold waiting for help.

My Points:

Again, this is not one of those 8 hours on the tarmac with no food or water and the toilets clogged, stories that the airlines are so good at creating.  And yet from this experience, I can’t help but think that AT&T doesn’t get it.

  • Any opportunity to capture a competitor’s subscribers must be a huge opportunity for the phone companies.  There has to be a natural motivation to create happy new customers.  All of those Verizon converts are viable prospects for internet, cable and any of the other products that they come up with to slowly bleed consumers dry.  The iPhone is the killer-app for converting customers, and its star power may not last forever.
  • The iPhone is a resonator…(Tuned In).  It is truly a remarkable device that practically sells itself.   And while the device offers a remarkable experience (not necessarily for the phone portion), AT&T missed the chapter on creating remarkable customer experiences.
  • If you are AT&T, what chucklehead decided that it was OK to staff the call center with a Rep level that had customers waiting for hours on the phone or almost an hour in-store to get their new products up and running? Someone somewhere focused on costs, kept the staff lean and forgot that they were in the business of creating great customer experiences.  And oh yeah, I would have had people working on Christmas Day to help satisfy their overwhelming urge to use this great new product.

The Bottom-Line:

Thanks to the team in Crystal Lake for helping us out so effectively, and thanks to Apple for such a great product.  As for you AT&T, I can think of other industries and companies that are disappearing because they failed to execute on the last yard.  Any leader or any company that is arrogant and complacent about taking care of customers is likely not a good long-term bet.  Perhaps they will figure out the “system” to satisfy customers with the next killer product that comes along once in a lifetime.