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Social security numbers and iphones

Folks,
Looks like I will be permanently iPhoneless. With all the identity fraud going around I'm certainly not going to give out my SS number just to get a phone. But the AT&T store and iPhone store require it. Any way around this?

Richard
... and poof, he's gone. It's all done with mirrors.

2X1gigMirror door, 1.25 gigram, Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Posted on Dec 15, 2008 2:05 PM

43 replies

Tamara

Level 6

13,738 points

Dec 20, 2008 11:12 AM in response to Richard Davis6

It's not an Achilles Heel but a side effect of businesses being burned by irresponsible customers. If people took responsibility and paid their bills, you wouldn't need to go through a credit check for everything from electrical hookup to buying a cell phone.

Dec 21, 2008 12:54 AM in response to Randy Fast

Yeah, right, that's what Verizon told my husband and yes, he also entered it on a keyboard so that the store rep "never sees it". Funny how he has to give his entire SSN which they have on file (probably to a service rep in India) to make any changes to the phone plan.

It's a phone. It's not worth giving out your SSN for.

Both our Verizon phones are broken and I've been wanting an iphone. But I'm not giving out my SSN. When we moved to Portland, I had to run all over town with my passport to avoid giving out the SSN to utility companies. There's no way a phone co. can justify asking for it; all they have to do is cut your service off if you don't pay. Count me as a brand spankin' new Macbook owner who has been purchasing Macs for me and my business for 18 years, has no debt, lots of credit and will not be buying an iphone. I tried using the 141-11-1111 and 999-99-9999 as proposed on other websites but the final screen says I have to take my social security card to the Apple store. Not gonna happen.

Tamara

Level 6

13,738 points

Dec 21, 2008 4:29 AM in response to Amy Singmaster

You can always pay the deposit that ATT requires for unverified credit or you could try bring copies of your credit reports and see if they'll accept those.

Dec 21, 2008 11:38 AM in response to Tamara

You wrote "You can just pay a deposit"

Rep at AT&T store didn't know exactly how much the deposit would be but thought it was $500 or $750. Sorry, but just under $1,000 bucks to walk out of the store with an iPhone sounds a little unreasonable. (Also, by the way, the minutes are 25% higher than I'm currently paying and coverage area may not be as good). Especially, as a previous poster noted, AT&T can just cut you off if you don't pay your bill.

The whole situation just kind of burns me so I've now slipped into "won't do it for the principle of it" mode.

Richard

Tamara

Level 6

13,738 points

Dec 21, 2008 11:59 AM in response to Richard Davis6

Any company can cut you off for not paying your bills. This isn't exclusive to ATT.

Dec 23, 2008 1:28 PM in response to Tamara

quasi-quote "anybody can cut you off for not paying your bills. It's not exclusive to AT&T"

I think you missed our point. Why does AT&T need such a large deposit if you won't give them your social security number? After all, they can simply cut you off if you don't pay.

I'm in my fifties and have excellent credit. AT&T doesn't need to spread my social security number around to find this out.

Richard

Tamara

Level 6

13,738 points

Dec 23, 2008 1:36 PM in response to Richard Davis6

How do you expect them to find out how your credit is if you won't give them your SS#? They're not going to take your say-so on the subject.

The large deposit covers the months you could rack up bills without paying before being cutoff. Figure a family plan for 2 iPhones is minimum $120/month and you could probably get away with 2 or 3 months of non-payment before being cutoff. On top of that, there is the cost they incur trying to collect on the debt.

[RM]

Level 1

124 points

Dec 23, 2008 3:33 PM in response to Amy Singmaster

pdxrider100 wrote:
I tried using the 141-11-1111 and 999-99-9999 as proposed on other websites but the final screen says I have to take my social security card to the Apple store. Not gonna happen.

See, that is called fraud what you're trying to do. So you don't trust Apple and AT&T so much, looks like they have much better reason not to trust you, doesn't it?

[RM]

Level 1

124 points

Dec 23, 2008 3:59 PM in response to Richard Davis6

The bottom line is AT&T needs your SSN to protect YOU from any kind of Identity Theft situation you're so worried about.

cevtv

Level 1

0 points

Dec 23, 2008 6:05 PM in response to Richard Davis6

Richard Davis6 wrote:

I'm in my fifties and have excellent credit. AT&T doesn't need to spread my social security number around to find this out.

Richard

Don't like the terms, don't get the phone. Simple as that....

Dec 28, 2008 12:23 AM in response to cevtv

"if you don't want to give up your social security number, don't get an iPhone."

That is exactly my policy. I don't get the phone. AT&T and Apple don't get any money. Looks like a lose/lose situation to me. But that's the way its got to be.

Richard

Dec 28, 2008 12:25 AM in response to [RM]

"AT&T needs your SS to protect you against the identity theft you're worried about."

Not true. Think about it some more.

Richard

Dec 28, 2008 12:38 AM in response to [RM]

"Just a guess, the number is probably even lower. You have a lot of b@lls fighting us here, if you're so smart and wise, why don't you do anything about it for real? We, users, don't really care if you get an iPhone or not, I don't."

I have no idea what any of the above means. As for your lack of caring, I don't care if you care or don't care... you have my permission not to read this thread further. I'm just voicing my dissatisfaction so that Apple and AT&T know their policy is unacceptable for some of us. Maybe they'll change it after getting my feedback. Probably not. So be it.

Richard

Social security numbers and iphones