Disclaimer1: The intent is not to bash AT&T or especially their customer service representatives; it is intended to point out a flawed policy decision that has hampered my preparations for returning to the states after being stationed overseas and to help others work around the flawed policy.   Disclaimer2: Sorry for the wall of text … read the “Problem” and “Solution” lines if you are just scanning.   First, I am stationed overseas with my family and have received orders back to the states.  My wife is absolutely gaga over the iPhone4, so we decided to order a pair of phones to be shipped out to us in time for the move (that way we have phones as soon as we arrive).  I called the new service line and had a long discussion with the service rep on how to accomplish this … we identified two problems and solutions.     – Problem 1: AT&T / Apple will not ship iPhones to a PO Box or APO/FPO.     Hey, I completely understand.  AT&T doesn’t want to be liable for “loss” while in shipping to those locations … makes sense to me!   – Solution 1: Ship the phones to a trusted family member and have them forward them to the me.  This means I assume the risk of loss and cost of replacement.     – Problem 2: The credit card that I pay for the service with must match the shipping address for the phones and the service.     – Solution 2: Call your bank and have them change the credit card billing address over to your trusted family member.   I made the arrangements and called AT&T back, discussed the situation and solutions with the service rep, and placed the order.  After waiting 72 hours for a confirmation e-mail that never arrived, I called AT&T back and determined that my order had been cancelled because;      – Problem 3: Not only do the credit card address and shipping address have to be the same; but that address also has to be your address on a credit check!  If that doesn’t match up … WHAMMY … order cancelled without notification.  And BONUS!   They CANNOT place another order with AT&T over the phone.  You have to physically appear at a store in order to place another order.   So being the forceful kind of person I am, I asked how I can appeal the decision to cancel my order because they don’t think I’m legit.  Answer : I can’t.  I spent an hour on the phone with the very helpful service rep.  He searched for and found a phone number for the group that does the reviews of iPhone orders … they couldn’t even review the decision.  He even found the phone number for a local AT&T store to see if I could place the order over the phone for my trusted family member to pick up for me.  Neither attempt was successful.  There is NO APPEAL to the review process that denied my order.       – Possible solutions for 3:         – Pick an address that you’ve lived at and have someone trusted there … maybe that will allow the credit check to pass.           – Your trusted family member would have to get the service in his/her name, buy the phones with his/her money, send them in the mail … and 45 days later, I could transfer the service into my name.           – Wait until physically present in the states and find an AT&T store nearby that may or may not have the iPhone4 available.   Bottom line: AT&T has an understandable desire to minimize losses due to fraud and/or theft.  But no process is perfect.  The one they’ve chosen to follow has no ability for competent people to review an automated decision or for a potential customer to provide additional proof of legitimacy.  Although I’m sure this doesn’t represent a significant segment of their customer base, it is significantly detrimental to my ability, as a military member returning from overseas service, to ease my family’s transition back state-side.  If you’re in a similar situation, I hope you find a way around the last problem!