Last April, my wife and son decided to surprise me with an upgraded iPhone for my birthday (iPhone 7 to 11). They had a good experience at the time and of course got suckered into buying the accessories including a screen protector that comes with a lifetime warranty at $45. I was humbled that they did this for me and have enjoyed the phone and service for 4mo now. It took getting use to the larger size and ended up dropping it a couple times cracking the screen protector and case, but the phone was fine.
I read on AT&T's website that you can either visit the store or use the manufacturer's website to process a replacement screen protector. So, I grabbed my original receipt and made my way to this store near Kohl's. A store representative reviewed my information and said that because the receipt shows that it is a Zag product, I had to go through the manufacturer. He suggested I go across the street to the Zag kiosk in the mall. Because AT&T's website said I could do it at the store, my frustration meter rose to 3/10.
So, I headed over to the Zag kiosk and explained my situation to a kid behind the counter as well as showed him my proof of purchase. He proceeds to examine my phone and tells me "this isn't our glass". What??? I asked him to take another look and he said the same thing adding that their glass doesn't have a black edge. Some choice words later, I stormed out of there to head BACK to the AT&T store with a frustration meter now at 7/10 as I feel like a complete idiot for being in this situation.
I explained what had happened to the same AT&T store representative that suggested I use the Zag kiosk. With a puzzled look on his face, he reviewed my account, the receipt, and came to the conclusion that either the AT&T sales rep that sold us the screen protector screwed up and scanned the wrong bar code or that I've already replaced and trying to defraud AT&T by replacing a different screen protector. I was livid at this point that he would even suggest this!!! I'm a grown-ass man at 49 years old and I've been a loyal customer of AT&T for 20 years! Look, I can afford a new screen protector - $8 for 3 on Amazon. It's the f'in principle that my wife and son bought something in good faith and now that has been totally undermined and we've been made to like like fools. So, the AT&T representative had no solution for me and said because it says Zag on the receipt I have to go through Zag. Frustration meter broke at 10/10! OMG I loathe AT&T and the robotic drones they train at the store.
Thank you AT&T for sucking the joy out of what should've been a happy memory of a Mom/son buying their husband/dad a nice birthday present. A $45 lesson for my 15 year old future consumer. Heading to Amazon, which is where we should've started 4 months ago.
Peace out for good AT&T store... read more