anyone ever interact with verizon's (or any other cable/telecom) executive relations team?

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In November, my contracted ended, but 2 weeks before it ended I bought a new iPhone 7 completely unlocked and contract free from Best Buy and switched my SIM card to it from my iPhone 6 that was still under contract. After my contract ended, I got the iPhone 6 I had on the contract unlocked and sold it, switched to AT&T prepaid and dropped the unlimited data because of the price increases. However, when I originally put the contract SIM card in my phone it locked it to AT&T without telling me, for no reason, even though it was an unlocked and contract-free model! So last month, when I went to switch to Verizon unlimited, my number got ported over and my prepaid plan automatically ended, but my phone wouldn't take the new Verizon SIM card and I was stuck without phone service.

I submitted a unlock request online, and it takes 24 hours to process. Ended up coming back denied because "You haven't been with GoPhone for 6 months." WTF?

So I had no phone, and I went to the AT&T store. Person at the store said it shouldn't be locked, and they don't know why it is, but they can't do anything for me in store. I told them they have to at least let me use their phone because I now have no working phone. So they let me use the store phone to call the corporate line, and the customer service Indian chick agreed there's no reason it should be locked, and she put in an unlock request for me.

After 24 hours, it comes back denied -- "You haven't been with GoPhone for 6 months." At this point I'm pretty pissed.

So I drive back to the AT&T store to use their phone again. I call the corporate line and somehow end up with the exact same Indian chick, and she tells me "Well, I guess you'll have to be with GoPhone for 6 months then." I am fricking livid at this point, and I demand to speak with her supervisor. Her supervisor comes on and tells me she will put in an escalated unlock request case for me. I ask her "what happens if this case comes back denied? They keep coming back denied but for a reason that makes no sense, everyone I speak to says it should be fine to unlock, and no one will let me talk directly to anyone with authority so they can explain to me why they won't unlock it." She says "Well, the only other option would be to stay with GoPhone for 6 months to make it unlock. But don't worry, it absolutely will come back OK, I promise you." I don't believe her, but I let her put in the escalated unlock request.

After 24 hours, it comes back denied again for the same exact fricking bullshite reason. I go back to the AT&T store and the manager there, who is really nice and sympathetic to my situation, but powerless, ends up giving me a free month of GoPhone with a temporary number just so I can make these calls from home instead of driving there.

At this point, I was entertaining thoughts of going to the AT&T store and taking hostages.

In the end, I had to get in contact with the AT&T Office of the President through their Investor Relations page here: LINK. Click the part that says "If you've contacted Customer Service and require additional support, click here to contact Carmen Nava, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience." After submitting that form, 4 days later (even though it says 24 hours...) someone from waaaay high up in the company called me and asked for my original receipt for verification and unlocked it right then and there on the phone with me without a problem.

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