AT&T

«It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.»
That about sums up my many experiences at this AT&T location – my «home» AT&T store, if you will. A clean, small, organized store located in the Wal*Mart plaza.
Been coming here for cell phone issues for the better part of 10 years, long before AT&T bought out CellOne. I’ve stopped by to purchase new cell phones, to receive free phone upgrades, to seek help regarding technical issues, and to add people to our ever-​growing family plan. At times I’ve left this store ridiculously happy, and then there have been experiences in this store during which I’ve nearly dropped F-​bombs. Incidentally, one of the most interesting (entertaining) aspects of visiting AT&T is overhearing crazy customer stories and interactions with the AT&T reps.
Nick is the rep who helps us more often than not, and he’s always very personable, knowledgeable, and does a great job.
The day after Christmas I stopped by for a free phone upgrade. Nick popped my SIM card from my old phone into my new phone, and off I went after less than 20 minutes in the store. Unfortunately, several hours later I realized I hadn’t received any new text messages, which was odd, and then realized that I was completely unable to send and receive text messages as well as phone calls. So, basically, the only thing my new cell phone was good for was its alarm clock capabilities.
To make a very long story short and offer some advice: never upgrade your cell phone right after Christmas. It took a couple hours on the phone with AT&T techs to learn the obvious-​in-​hindsight fact that seemingly everyone in the world upgrades his/​her phone during the days following Christmas. Subsequently, AT&T’s resources just can’t keep up, resulting in service delays of up to 48 hours, I was told. (Would have been nice if the AT&T reps at the store were aware of that fact and thus could have told/​warned me in advance.)
After 48 hours of no cell phone service I put my SIM card back into my old phone to use and, because of a family emergency, waited until I returned to San Diego later in the week to further address the problem.
Again, «It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.»