Dead Ink Vinyl

Dear AT&T Wireless,

You suck. I switched from you to TMobile six years ago because you didn’t provide reception in my condo. I was happy with TMobile. They had exceptional coverage in my condo—and everywhere else I went, too¹! They had good prices and excellent customer service every time I called them. (Their in-store service left something to be desired, but sadly that’s parity for the industry.)

I had to switch back to you, AT&T, because you are the exclusive carrier of the iPhone. I had hoped that your network coverage would have improved in the last six years, but as soon as I powered on my iPhone in my condo I saw that it hadn’t changed at all. I love my iPhone, but your disgraceful coverage limits it’s utility and hampers my ability to recommend it to non-enthusiasts.

I was reminded of this again on Sunday while attending a pre-event for Adobe MAX in the McCormick Center west building. As soon as I stepped inside, I was down to one bar, and a half dozen paces further I had no service at all. I saw other iPhone users struggling with the same problem. People with other carriers, however, had no problems at all.

So, I simply have this to tell you: I completely empathize with those who are unlocking their iPhones to use them on other networks. The moment I’m out from under my contract with you, I’m unlocking my phone and returning to TMobile.

Good luck,
David

¹ TMobile’s data services in Chicago are pathetic, but I use Sprint for mobile broadband and couldn’t be happier with their coverage and speed.

Adobe sent me a very nice email yesterday and set things right. Additionally, they blogged that—due to unprecedented attendance to MAX this year—many of the sessions will be recorded.

I’m already signed up for AdobeMAX through my employer. Early last week I decided that I really wanted to attend one of the AdobeMAX all-day, pre-event, hands-on sessions—enough to drop $750 of my own money (not my employer’s) to attend. However, the AdobeMAX account page doesn’t seem to allow a person to add a pre-event session once a person has registered. I emailed Adobe about this last week and haven’t heard back. In the time since I emailed them, the magical boundary of September 22 has passed and now the event is $950. It was a stretch at $750, but $950 is out of my ballpark.

I could write this off as a simple “oops” on Adobe’s part. I understand that some emails get lost in the shuffle. But two weeks earlier I had emailed them a simple question (“Will presentations be recorded and available for free or purchase?”) and never got a response to that email, either.

To what email address was I sending my letters? Reasonable question. What email address should I be using? The email addresses are a bit buried on the site. I would have hoped to find one on the registration summary page—but, alas, they are all hiding under the Event Fees tab. I’ve emailed questions@adobemax2007.com and I’ve emailed maxops@adobemax2007.com. If you know another one to try… IT’S TOO LATE! I can no longer afford to attend the pre-event.

Adobe, whose XD sessions I was planning to attend, has managed to design a Web site hides the important contact information, won’t let me give them more money, and has irritated me enough to somewhat diminish my opinion of them as a company.