After figuring that it was going to be too long of a wait for the 64gb version, and having saved up and planned for a top quality phone with a lot of storage space, I decided the 32gb version of the i9505 Galaxy S4 with a 64gb sdcard would be good enough, and I called some local AT&T stores. They all had the 32gb model in stock, and they all quoted me $729 as the no-contract direct buy price. I had planned for it to be expensive, and had ahead of time decided that $850 was my upper limit, so this new price was perfectly fine, especially when I could go get one right now today.
So I walk in the store and ask about the 32gb model, and again confirm that the purchase price is $729, and the salesman goes and gets the phone and brings it out, and I say cool I'll take it. And he then says "I'm sorry, it's store policy that I can't sell it to you without a contract unless you buy $300 worth of merchandise in the store." I'm taken aback by this, and ask for the store manager, who comes over and confirms that yes, this is store policy. I ask if I can just pay more for the phone, if it's a profit margin issue. Nope. I ask them why don't they just sell the phone for $1000 and make that the price then if they are just going to do that. Obviously, for advertising.
I go down the street to the next store and ask about a direct purchase and again, the guy brings out the phone, and then tells me he can't sell it to me period. The only way to get it is with a contract. I ask about the contract, and he tells me the phone is $250 with the contract. I ask about the details of the contract, and get out of him that the early termination fee is $325. I then honestly ask wouldn't people just buy the phone with a contract and then cancel the contract and get the phone for cheap? He then -- very solemnly -- says ya that's a big problem for them right now with this phone. I say, well shit, I really do want the phone, you guys are the only ones in the world with the 32gb model, and if the contract is the only way to get it, then I guess I'm signing up for the contract.
He then looks at me and very seriously says to me "I'm sorry, but it would be grossly unethical of me to sign you up for a contract when you've indicated to me you're just trying to game the system."
I about flip out over this. I simply can't understand it. If they aren't making profit margin on the phone, just charge more. If they don't want people gaming the system, just make the early termination fee for S4 customers higher. All I want from them is fucking HONESTY about what their products and services are so I can make an informed decision. Instead I get told "here's the price, but oh you can't buy it" and "here's our policy, but if looks like you might actually use the legal policy, we don't want you". I wasn't trying to to fucking undermine them-- I just wanted to know how to get the phone. And after all their deceptions about pricing and locking me into a plan that has worse service, less data, and costs more than the month-by-month plan I currently have-- after telling me the only way to get their product is by signing up for that shit-- he then looks me straight in the eye and talks about ethics.
I didn't say any of this. I just looked dumbfounded and left...
And went to yet a third store, since neither of the first two had gotten my name, and very casually hemmed and hawed about potentially changing services, and looking around at new phones, and finally making the "impulse buy" decision to get the 32gb phone and sign up for a contract.
I will now wait 3 weeks or so, pay my first month's bill and cancel my contract. I've already chucked my sim card in the trash. I'm livid about the whole thing. I don't mind them trying to make a profit from a product or pimping their wireless contracts, but the level of bullshit I had to go through to get an honest answer was just appalling. If you want to make money off me, great, tell me how much, and I'll decide if it's worth while. But this deceptive bullshit just pissed me off.
Side note: apparently I've also broken the law by SIM-unlocking it. What a goddamn motherfucking joke. At least I finally have the fucking thing, sim-unlocked, rooted, and with a nice and loki'd custom rom. (The bootloader hasn't been unlocked yet, but there's a bypass called
loki, so any sgh-i337 model needs to have their roms "
loki'd").
God fucking damn, I walked in thinking I was just another customer and this was a straightforward transaction of "I'd like to by this product you're selling." NOPE. AT&T has officially made my list of companies I will avoid doing business with. What the fuck. Why did it have to be so difficult!?
