Others get iPhone 3G. I get iBrick 2

Paying extra for freight

If they had told ME to pay extra for air freight, I would have told them where they could stick their phone.

Did your daughter attempt to

Did your daughter attempt to purchase an unlocked iPhone at full price. They may not be selling these yet due to trying to keep the customers with contacts happy first. This is business, Apple has a contract with AT&T, like it or not. It is not you, your daughters, or anyone elses God givin right to have an iPhone. She doesn't have a credit rating, AT&T decided it is not worth the risk to give her a contract, not Apple. She will be able to buy one without a contract, but will have to pay the full price, not the subsidized. People really need to get over themselves, you are no more important than anyone else.

iPrepare 101: Common Sense

I do understand the time and patience it took for any person to wait in line for an iPhone and activation (I myself lining up at 6:30am at a NYC location) however consider the following:

I am simply amazed how ill-prepared a lot of people were for the purchase. During the "down-time" of the pre-activation I scanned the crowd, and couldn't help but notice that some did not even bring in the simple items listed on the Apple website, nor took advantage of resources that would follow suit offered if one would have read the information provided.

Come on now, this isn't the first time apple or any company has pulled the wool over our eyes by distracting us with long-awaited features, accessories, services, access and the list goes on... If people read and did their homework prior instead of complaining that they wasted their time in line you would notice that on apple's and at&t's website there is the dreadful asterisk accompanying the "fine print" after listing the "incentive price".

Your 17 year old daughter should indeed have been turned down even before the credit check was run.. she's under the legal age to open a contract! The fact that they even did a credit check on a minor is astounding and you should feel blessed, because they should have turned her down before it was even run. They actually tried to beat the system by running the check.

Just because she's YOUR daughter doesn't give her the right to override a FEDERAL law, nor because you've spent soooo much money and time with a particular company. There's no way she could have been applying for her own account simply because of the age factor. Now, it's conceivable she was possibly trying to keep her existing account, which is more than likely under one of her parent's or guardian's names. If that were the case, just like anything other scenario where one's social security number had been involved to open an account, the same would apply for any phone, credit card, utility bill, etc... THE ACCOUNT HOLDER HAS TO BE PRESENT and or verify information when present!

Now I do think it quite unfair that the phone cannot be purchased directly as a gift nor can it be purchased with no strings attached, but I know, you, myself and every other person who was trying to legitimately buy the phone in the last few months prior to the new phone's announcement probably did not have much success in doing so. Remember how many people were buying the phone with no intention to actually use it but only to resell it in another country? It seemed like every time I myself or friends or those who posted on blogs said, they always saw the same people buying the maximum amount for the phone that day and would thwart a legitimate person's chance of having their hands on it that day. If you could guess that could be a motivating factor, I would guess that would be the reason why for the mandatory contract agreement. Remember this is the coveted iphone, and every company has their loop-hole for changing its rules.

No one reads the fine print (which wasn't even a lot on either website, which is still posted on there as I write this) but I know if it wasn't listed it sounds like similar people would be the first person to call them out on it and file a lawsuit. Also it's amazing that your daughter saved up the necessary amount listed on the website over the course of "several months", how can that be if the new phone's announcement was only made on June 9th, 2008? That's merely only a month and 2 days before the release of the iPhone 3G. Now I would be sorry if the resources were not properly, if at all provided, but I'm not. Everyone had the same amount of time to inquire about the stipulations about the phone before daring to set a foot in that line. Surely I didn't need to have the phone immediately, but I did my homework for it and earned it.

In addition, I was one of those lucky people who had to put a small deposit on my phone due to my lack of sufficient history nor could I pay directly in cash, but I KNEW it ahead of time. Also, I anticipated everything stalling (think of last year's pandemonium), computers are not supernatural beings, they're man made and if anyone hasn't realized that by now then god help them. But that subject is a whole different conversation I could go into. However, I am surprised that people have the expectation that minors could go out and buy phones even though it is stated otherwise, elsewhere. I have never heard of any child having a phone in their own name unless they are someone's child who is at least 18yrs of age. I am surprised many didn't do the homework necessary to ensure they would not be denied. I too, am disgusted by the way this whole operation went down but I am disgusted with people who didn't take the time read the sites before going down there prepared. In addition to the wait created by the activation process, it's the unprepared people who also jammed the lines. Yes it sounds like I lived by the website like it was my bible, but all you had to do was read it a day before the sale and people with common sense could understand that it will be a contract-binding process, and for those who can't read could have definitely called AT&T to get further details.

So many like yourself want to go ahead and be angry, but I think this is a lesson learned for many. I am only a few years older than your daughter and it's amazing how someone who hasn't played the credit game that long (and with not much credit history at all) has a better understanding of it. There just needs to be better preparation done on either side.

Homework? To buy a phone?

Come on now, this isn't the first time apple or any company has pulled the wool over our eyes

Everyone else does it? That's a defense? Sorry, but it's not a very good one.

I am surprised many didn't do the homework necessary to ensure they would not be denied.

Why would anyone think that they had to scour a website for conditions or enter into a contract in order to buy a piece of hardware? I might check Consumer Reports, but that would be the extent of my pre-purchase homework.