I've had a Samsung Impression phone since August. All along it has not worked very well, often needing to be re-started to send messages. Then this week the touch screen stopped working (meaning all I could do was dial numbers I had memorized on the keypad, with no access to the main menu). I went into a "service center" on Monday (in Manhattan at 42nd street and 5th ave), explained the issue and told them I had one year warranty, and they gave me a "new" phone and a new sim card and sent me on my way. Two hours later I got home (Jackson Heights) to find I had no service at all on the phone anywhere. Later that day I returned to Manhattan, downtown at west 14th street, and still had no service. The next day I returned to the same store, the same two people working. Explained I was in there yesterday, explained the issue, and they asked my zip code, went on the computer and said there was a tower down, or under maintenance, in my area that they started working on at 4:30 in the morning the day the phone was issued to me and continued until 5:30 this morning. When I got home the issue should be resolved, I could get a new phone, but he didn't believe it was the phone. Blindly believing this man, I said ok, thank you for your time, and left again with the same phone. This day I was working in upper Manhattan at 71st and Central Park West, and upon arriving at work, still no signal. I returned home that night to find I had no signal again. So now the third day in a row, I had to make this in-convenient trip to their store. I get there, same people working, and explain the issue once more, this time giving multiple addresses I'd been at with no service. I was asked for information under the battery but couldn't read it because the ink was smearing off. That's when they told me this "new" phone was actually re-furbished (I understand many service centers issue re-furbished phones, but don't tell me its brand new and then contradict yourself). He put in my zipcode and the two of the places I'd been working. He then informs me there are actually towers down in all of those areas (although the man the day before had told me the work started and ended and that my phone should be fine... I guess they stopped working and then decided to pick it right up again.interesting.) And the most valid point I gave them was the fact that my roommate was also an AT&T user and she has perfect service in our apartment. He said sometimes thats the case, it varies from phone to phone. That being said, I asked if I could simply try a new phone then since mine hasn't worked for three days, it is now affecting my career, and no-one has been able to give me consistent information. The man told me its not their policy to issue another phone since there appears to be nothing physically wrong and there is service being done in all these areas I mentioned. So there best solution for me is to wait it out... Hardly an option. That night I have to call AT&T, sit on the phone for literally 2 and 1/2 hours, speak to three separate people, go through all sorts of troubleshooting, and finally they agree to ship me another re-furbished phone, that may take more than 7 business days due to President's Day on Monday. So I'm supposed to either pay $15 to have a phone express shipped, or go for possibly more than 2 full weeks with no phone. This company has horrific customer service, inconsistent and inconsiderate policies, and overall poor attitude in handling customer affairs. This entire experience has been not only frustrating, but has hindered my career, cost me un-acceptable amounts of time to find no resolution to my issues, and shown me AT&T is an utterly un-professional service provider. If it didn't cost an obscene amount of money to cancel my contract pre-maturely, I would cancel it instantly.
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