I recently discovered my old Samsung S4 Mini cell phone will not stay put on the back bumper of my truck after a 10 mile trip. :r1: :banghead: :mad7:
Anyway, that phone was pushing 5 years old and was showing its age so I had already been looking for a new phone - this was my excuse to get it. I like the mini or "compact" cell phones because if I wanted to lug around a tablet sized phone, I would carry a tablet. :r1:
I settled on the new Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact. Best Buy was the only local retailer that had them in stock so I headed out to my local Best Buy (coincidentally, about 10 miles away).
FTR, the Best Buy sales guy, Tyler, cannot be praised enough for his patience, professionalism, patience, knowledge, or helpfulness. Did I mention patience?
The carrier for my S4 Mini was Verizon but they don't support GSM. :noidea: And the XZ2 Compact is a GSM phone.
So AT&T looked to be the best choice with an equivalent plan to what I had with Verizon (unlimited talk and text plus 1 GB data for ~$80/month).
Now the troubles begin.
Tyler gets on his computer to create an account with AT&T. Rejected. Why? Doesn't say. So he calls AT&T. After being passed to 3 different people, we finally learn it was rejected because I put a block on my Equifax data after the breach so AT&T could not verify my credit rating.
So we called Equifax and of course, they would not talk to Tyler. So after providing my full name, address, phone number, DOB, and social security number to Equifax, that was not good enough. She asked, "Okay, what it your PIN?"
"What PIN?"
"The PIN needed to temporarily unfreeze your Equifax account!"
Remember, I am 10 miles away from home.
So I gave what I thought might be my PIN.
"That's only 4 numbers", she said. "This PIN is 10 digits!"
10 digits? Who uses (or can remember) a 10 digit PIN? :banghead:
"I don't know my PIN."
"What is the balance on your Visa?" Now I am not rich by any means but I have managed to remain out of debt for many years. I don't carry any balances on any credit cards.
"Okay, what is your credit limit?" Who knows that?
Finally I remembered that Sam's Warehouse, the only store credit card I carry, just posted my annual renewal fee of $45 on that card and she finally accepted I was who I said I was and unfroze my Equifax account. Wait 15 minutes for it to go through.
Already 2 hours has gone by and Tyler is being much more patient than me!
So 15 minutes later and back on the computer to AT&T to set up the account. Rejected. :banghead:
Back on the phone to AT&T, up the chain and finally got elevated to someone who kinda sorta knew what was going on. Apparently once rejected, it takes a manual override by a supervisor to clear the reject. So the AT&T rep initiated the manual override, was able to verify I have an outstanding credit rating with Equifax, then set up the account for the new phone.
Fine. But then she said, "We will need a $500 deposit to open this account."
"What? Why? You just saw I have an outstanding credit rating!"
"Because you had a reject before." :wtf:
"But that was because my Equifax account was frozen because of the hack. Now you have access!"
"Doesn't matter." :banghead: :banghead: :censored2: :censored2: :censored2:
"When do I get my deposit back?"
"It might be after a year of no missed payments, or when you terminate your service with us! I don't know for certain." :censored2: :censored2: :censored2: :censored2: :mad7: :mad7: :mad7: :censored2: :censored2: :censored2: (24+ years in the military - I can cuss up a storm!)
"We can see if we can get $450 of that waived, but that will take about 90 minutes."
"Forget it! I am not signing up with you, AT&T. Not ever!"
So I apologized to Tyler for wasting 3 hours of his time, deciding I need to just "go off the grid" and he said, "There's always prepaid!"
Show me!
So he picked up the Cricket pamphlet. Unlimited talk and text plus 2GB of data for just $30 per month! Sign me up!
10 minutes later, I was walking out the door. :)
Now after I got home, I learned AT&T owns Cricket.
They use the same network and therefore, have the exact same national coverage. But I pay $50 per month less. Go figure.
Also, 15 minutes after I got home, I got a robo call on my brand new cell phone number wanting to settle all my student loans (I have never had any student loan). Time to register this new number on the Do Not Call registry, and learn how to block numbers.
Long story short, if you put a freeze on your credit, remember to unfreeze it before you buy anything on credit or need to sign up for any new service.
Anyway, that phone was pushing 5 years old and was showing its age so I had already been looking for a new phone - this was my excuse to get it. I like the mini or "compact" cell phones because if I wanted to lug around a tablet sized phone, I would carry a tablet. :r1:
I settled on the new Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact. Best Buy was the only local retailer that had them in stock so I headed out to my local Best Buy (coincidentally, about 10 miles away).
FTR, the Best Buy sales guy, Tyler, cannot be praised enough for his patience, professionalism, patience, knowledge, or helpfulness. Did I mention patience?
The carrier for my S4 Mini was Verizon but they don't support GSM. :noidea: And the XZ2 Compact is a GSM phone.
So AT&T looked to be the best choice with an equivalent plan to what I had with Verizon (unlimited talk and text plus 1 GB data for ~$80/month).
Now the troubles begin.
Tyler gets on his computer to create an account with AT&T. Rejected. Why? Doesn't say. So he calls AT&T. After being passed to 3 different people, we finally learn it was rejected because I put a block on my Equifax data after the breach so AT&T could not verify my credit rating.
So we called Equifax and of course, they would not talk to Tyler. So after providing my full name, address, phone number, DOB, and social security number to Equifax, that was not good enough. She asked, "Okay, what it your PIN?"
"What PIN?"
"The PIN needed to temporarily unfreeze your Equifax account!"
Remember, I am 10 miles away from home.
So I gave what I thought might be my PIN.
"That's only 4 numbers", she said. "This PIN is 10 digits!"
10 digits? Who uses (or can remember) a 10 digit PIN? :banghead:
"I don't know my PIN."
"What is the balance on your Visa?" Now I am not rich by any means but I have managed to remain out of debt for many years. I don't carry any balances on any credit cards.
"Okay, what is your credit limit?" Who knows that?
Finally I remembered that Sam's Warehouse, the only store credit card I carry, just posted my annual renewal fee of $45 on that card and she finally accepted I was who I said I was and unfroze my Equifax account. Wait 15 minutes for it to go through.
Already 2 hours has gone by and Tyler is being much more patient than me!
So 15 minutes later and back on the computer to AT&T to set up the account. Rejected. :banghead:
Back on the phone to AT&T, up the chain and finally got elevated to someone who kinda sorta knew what was going on. Apparently once rejected, it takes a manual override by a supervisor to clear the reject. So the AT&T rep initiated the manual override, was able to verify I have an outstanding credit rating with Equifax, then set up the account for the new phone.
Fine. But then she said, "We will need a $500 deposit to open this account."
"What? Why? You just saw I have an outstanding credit rating!"
"Because you had a reject before." :wtf:
"But that was because my Equifax account was frozen because of the hack. Now you have access!"
"Doesn't matter." :banghead: :banghead: :censored2: :censored2: :censored2:
"When do I get my deposit back?"
"It might be after a year of no missed payments, or when you terminate your service with us! I don't know for certain." :censored2: :censored2: :censored2: :censored2: :mad7: :mad7: :mad7: :censored2: :censored2: :censored2: (24+ years in the military - I can cuss up a storm!)
"We can see if we can get $450 of that waived, but that will take about 90 minutes."
"Forget it! I am not signing up with you, AT&T. Not ever!"
So I apologized to Tyler for wasting 3 hours of his time, deciding I need to just "go off the grid" and he said, "There's always prepaid!"
Show me!
So he picked up the Cricket pamphlet. Unlimited talk and text plus 2GB of data for just $30 per month! Sign me up!
10 minutes later, I was walking out the door. :)
Now after I got home, I learned AT&T owns Cricket.
They use the same network and therefore, have the exact same national coverage. But I pay $50 per month less. Go figure.Also, 15 minutes after I got home, I got a robo call on my brand new cell phone number wanting to settle all my student loans (I have never had any student loan).
Time to register this new number on the Do Not Call registry, and learn how to block numbers. Long story short, if you put a freeze on your credit, remember to unfreeze it before you buy anything on credit or need to sign up for any new service.
