@XandraNasica: holy crap, what cell phone store do you run? cuz i'm avoiding it like the plague.
]]>@ViperBorg: eh, this story's likely bogus anyway. i have that charger and an iphone 3g that was bought a month ago and it works just fine. and where's the rest of the story? she didn't go back to the store and tell them it didn't work? if she'd done that and the new one also didn't work then i might be willing to jump on the wagon, but without that information i'm a bit leery.
things break, and even with cords and cables, there's a tiny fraction that don't work when you get them. so you take it back and get one that does work. you don't immediately write to consumerist and allege some sort of underhanded scheme to slough off bad product to consumers. that simply wouldn't serve the purposes of at&t. they're not making any money off the things since they are giving them away and i can probably count on one hand the number of people in the US who were waiting patiently for the free car charger to buy their new iPhone, so it obviously wasn't to woo new customers.
they're just getting inventory off the shelves. if the stuff didn't work, they would find some way to call the chargers a capital investment and depreciate it, taking a tax break in the process. they would at least be recouping some of the money that way.
]]>word on the street is that ipodjuice.com will give you a free replacement charger if you got one from AT&T that doesn't work/isn't compatible with your iPhone 3G.
Just have to send in your defective charger and they'll send you a new one back.
Gimicky, but still pretty awesome.
]]>I don't think I'd accept a charger from ATT, free or not. Last time I went to the ATT store, all of their chargers and data cables were generic brands in ATT packaging.
Check Amazon or ebay instead. The ATT store wants $30 for a Razr car charger. Amazon sells the genuine OEM Motorola version for less than $10. You can probably find a charger for your iphone on Amazon for cheap.
]]>I'd love to know if Micah even attempted to exchange the charger. This could have easily been a simple mistake, or a faulty piece of hardware. What makes people complain and post things like this before they even make an attempt at resolution?
]]>Come on Consumerist.... these stories of idiots are getting too common on here.
]]>AT&T.
]]>apple replaced it
]]>It's something about the size of the slot for the 30-pin connector and it's grip. I have a 1st gen iPhone and my roommate bought a 3G and wanted to charge it in my car. We found out the hard way that it doesn't work and actually can get stuck.
]]>And those "free" chargers are actually from China and are ordered by the store for around 89 cents, can be purchased off ebay for no more than $4-5 with free shipping. So the next time you get a "discount" by receiving a free charger, think about that.
]]>I tried using my old charger and was disappointed that it didn't work. It would be one thing for me to be some guy that knows nothing about computers, but I am a complete technophile - not to mention an apple zealot - and I didn't know that there was a difference.
]]>Also, I have an iphone, and it DOES charge with firewire. No interface, but it WILL charge with my firewire ipod charger.
]]>
*Actually, that's not what happened at all, I just laughed and threw them in the junk drawer.
Kidding aside, it was probably the honest mistake of some stock-kid in the back room. Just go ask for one that works.
]]>Nonetheless if I would have known about this, I probably would have bought a first-gen model...
]]>Now, the 12v plugs with usb ports in them, into which you can connect a standard sync cable mostly still work fine.
]]>No they don't. It's uber-stupid that they don't use the mini-USB, though. Also...neither does the Zune (which I prefer to the iPod). :(
]]>That said, if they are giving the incompatible ones away with the iphone, then that would be like giving an xbox controller away with the purchase of 360...
]]>I'm sure the Apple fanboys have oodles of reasons as to why, though.
]]>The newer dock iPods (post-2nd gen, which were firewire) couldn't sync via FireWire, but could still charge.
]]>While many docks, speaker systems, and radio transmitters made for the 1st gen iPhone have not been compatible with the 3G iphone, almost all sync cables and car chargers should be compatible.
Probably a dud car charger, and a quick trip to your local at&t store should resolve this.
]]>Um, I didn't get a free charger, so I don't feel too bad for them.
]]>All of the accessories we sell come with a 12 month warranty. If the charger doesn't charge your iPhone, bring it into a corporate store and they will switch it out for you. I'm guessing there is something wrong with the charger, because I've sold about 50 of those exact chargers (to 1st gen and 2nd gen iPhone users) and my customers have not reported any problems.
]]>Firewire uses 12v and usb uses 5v dc. When you are making a car accessory, it's much easier to use the firewire charging ports since the car is already using 12v current. The new phones don't accept it though, only the usb 5v will work.
]]>Everything might not be a "bad company" trying to screw over a customer... it might have just been a simple mistake - one which if they go back to the story, they might give them the correct charger.
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