Geeky Girl: Apple Deserves To Know How Bad It Is With iPhone And Etisalat

No I’m not talking about the plan, how little data there is, or how much we pay for the actual iPhone. Apple deserves to know how poor the service is from Etisalat so far.

We bought two iPhones in the iStyle Dubai Mall yesterday. As we’ve reported it took over two hours for us to get our iPhones. It seems the system was not in place to start processing the iPhone sales even though you would think Etisalat had enough time to get it right, seeing as they’ve said in the press that the deal was two years in the making.

Anyway, the issue has since yesterday been that I have not had any data connection. Voice is fine, data is not. Since we’ve been busy I have not been able to call Etisalat until the evening. So just a while ago I placed a call to Etisalat’s customer service, selected iPhone in the menus and talked to this guy at Etisalat.

That’s when it started go south fast, so to speak.

They couldn’t help us, the Etisalat guy said, because the problem is with the SIM card not being activated. He could not help us because he was “iPhone Technical Support”. “Ok,” I said, “we have a problem with an iPhone”. “But that’s not our department,” he said. I tried to explain that as a customer I don’t care, that I have a problem with iPhone from Etisalat and that he was iPhone support and he should fix it.

The issue, it seems, was that although we bought the two iPhones at the same time in the same store Magnus’ iPhone was activated and everything and I was not. I can make and receive calls but not data apparently. How that makes any sense I don’t know and the Etisalat guy could not explain it.

The service in the store when we bought the phones was just about the worse I’ve seen in Dubai. The experience tonight on the phone with Etisalat was also just about the poorest I’ve experienced.

That doesn’t bode well for Etisalat and it doesn’t bode well for the impression people are getting of Apple here.

Steve Jobs, are you listening? I bet you if you were in the store with us yesterday, trying to spend a lot of money on one of your iPhones you would have been very upset.

Yes I know Etisalat started selling only yesterday and I know we should probably give them some time to get things right but I’m not patient enough for that and I think Apple fans deserve better than they’re getting, especially after having had to wait for almost three years to get the iPhone.

So to the poor support let’s add two more things. There was, according to Etisalat, supposed to be a prepaid plan but now there is no sign of a prepaid plan. There was also, according to Etisalat, supposed to be Visual Voicemail, and now there is no sign of Visual Voicemail.

Last we heard from Etisalat iPhone support was that “they’re having problems” and that it may be up to 24 hours before my problem is solved. So basically they are charging for perhaps two days of data service, which I won’t be able to use. Yes, that’s fair, isn’t it? How about we don’t pay our bills if we feel you don’t provide us our service? I will write more about the iPhone for Geeky Girl when I am able to use the iPhone as it is meant to be used.

Steve Jobs, as I said, you would not be happy. Please come see for yourself.

Update Feb 25: Was just on the phone again with Etisalat iPhone support. It’s been busy at work so I have not had chance to call until now. The guy told me that the SIM is still not activated and that he could find no complaint file in the system for my number. Amazing! When I spent so much time on the phone with them the other night they didn’t file a complaint. That’s horrible, horrible how they treat a customer who has spent lots of money with them and complained. They didn’t even care enough about me as a customer to put in a complaint. They just let it be and let me keep on paying for a service they knew full and well was not working. So now apparently they have a complaint and I have a complaint reference. Let’s see what happens.

Update Feb 26: Apparently things are not much better in Saudi Arabia where Mobily, partly owned by Etisalat, is selling iPhone.

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