| Author | Message | ||
     Whatever |
Warning: RANT - if you do not want to hear a rant please browse somewhere else--- So, for two years I have been paying ATT for 900 minutes anytime nationwide on my mobile phone. I called today because I have 4896 rollover minutes I can use. I went through ten minutes on the line with customer service to drop the plan down to 450 anytime nationwide, which would save me 20 bucks a month. We get everything all set up and they then tell me that I will only keep 450 minutes if I change my plan. That really sucks. Essentially, I paid 59.99 for two years, which is a total of just over 1400 dollars. This comes out to around 0.0667 per minute. Multiplied by 4896 minutes that is 326 dollars. If you take the difference (4896 - 450) and multiply it by the cost per minute that is 296 dollars that they are essentially taking out of my pocket if I change plans. Bastards!!! Now I am checking into other providers. Verizon was horrid also. They verbally guaranteed service where I lived. The entire neighborhood was a 'dead zone' (which they probably already knew). They also had a full refund policy if I kept the same phone number and had it transferred to another line. At the time I moved to Milwaukee so I got another number. They then proceeded to take over six months to refund my money... which was somewhere around 300 dollars for the original setup. They took out about 70 dollars to discontinue service after countless calls between 3 and 6 months after shutting it down. I am wondering if we get Virgin Mobile in south Wisconsin. Anyone got any ideas? I am thinking I might set up a land line and just keep the minimum on the cell for trips and such also. What do you guys have and what do you think? PS I don't want to pay for internet or text on my phone. It is bad enough that I have e-mail and internet at home, which sometimes gets a little out of control. | ||
| Spank |
I will agree that AT&T is terrible. We had the exact problem with them that you do. I thought it was highway robbery!!...Total BS!! In fact my good friends dad is a project manager for them and told his kids and me not to use them. My wife has a smart phone and the service plans for them are completely ridiculous. As soon as our contract is up (Febuary) we are going somewhere else... I can't help you with Virgin, I don't know anybody with it...maybe there is a reason?? We have had U.S. Cellular, Verizon, and Sprint. Think we are going to try Sprint again now that their service is supposedly better. I had good luck with U.S. Cell and the only reason we got rid of them was to get a bundle plan with AT&T. My U.S. Cell works in pretty much every hick town that I would go to around here and even worked well at our place in Tomahawk. | ||
| Xl1200r |
I haven't had any problems with AT&T in nearly 2 years, though I haven't had to deal with their CS that I can recall. I can understand your frustration - I think I'd be as well, but as an outside observer I don't know if I can fault them too badly. The price per minute goes down the more minutes you buy (I'm assuming) so I'm sure they're savings themselves from having people stock up on 'cheap' minutes, then downgrade plans and use up their rollover minutes, then continue the cycle. I know this isn't your intent, and perhaps they could do some kind of "one chance" thing in terms of keeping rollover minutes when downgrading a plan, but I do understand why the have that rule. To be honest, with how many you've accumulated on your current plan and the fact that they do expire, I'd be surprised if you didn't still accumulate rollover minutes even on the 450 plan. Also keep in mind that Sprint or Verizon don't offer rollover (than I'm aware of), so instead of getting ripped off this one time, you'd get ripped off every month. Just playing devil's advocate. Did you threaten to leave them if they didn't let you keep more of them? With how easy it is to switch providers these days I feel like they'd respond to that... | ||
| Whatever |
I don't have the energy to negotiate with them right now, too much running around and staying up late with the holiday weekend... I gotta go to try to fix the M2L... I will check into more options a little later... | ||
| Just_ziptab |
Everybody has a cell phone or two........times 300 millions checks coming in every month for at least $30.00 to several hundred dollars. The cell phone industry is filthy rich(IMO). You would think they would bend over backwards on any dealio.............WTF! | ||
| Bcordb3 |
I wouldn't put with that crap, I would change carriers. | ||
| Court |
Not to worry ..... If they are " filthy rich" the big o will get it from them and redistribute it to grouchy cell phone users. AT&T, who I am currently using, pretty much blows for telephone. I drop 6-8 calls a day. | ||
| Faseljd |
Check out the Straight Talk plans at Walmart, I love it . 30 bucks a month 1000 mins. 1000 texts and some internet crap, no contracts either. | ||
| Rocketsprink |
Court, you mean Oprah? Why do you guys always have to bring poltics into threads? Grow up. I went back to Sprint and am happy with their service and price plans. | ||
| Etennuly |
I have the ATT plans. Stuck with four contracts for a while. I don't recall having any dropped calls. Coverage seems to be pretty good. Any changes to the contracts are easy and CS folks are great.....as long as you are spending more money. After many years even a small cut back will cost you. They have a real bad attitude when you try to make down ward adjustments in your monthly bill. I had a seven month old cell phone that had a known problem with a weak hinge that would crack and spew out its mechanicals. This happened to mine, but in a minor slip out of my pocket, I had dropped the phone in the yard one morning. It hit hard enough to pop the battery cover off, then land in damp grass. That changed the color of the submersion dot to just barely pink and they shut me down. One customer service lady said they should replace the phone regardless of the dot color, then her supervisor got on the phone with me and said that they absolutely could not take it back with a color change on the dot, then asking me how they could tell if the hinge was broken before the phone got wet. After she went on and on about my phone being submerged, she asked how they could tell what happened first. I asked how the phones work after being wet, she said most won't but if they do they can be noisy or have bad reception, or problems cutting out. To that I replied that I had been on the subject phone to them for nearly an hour, was that not proof? She went away handing me back to the unknowing CS lady to deny me the replacement. I then bought a temporary phone that promised internet access and could not do it. So I returned that one, and found out that my son had purchased an ATT trac phone at some point for 39 bucks, plugged in my SIM card and all has been good. ATT's suggestion was to pay shipping both ways and $65 for another POS like the one that broke. Once you are into ATT you cannot get out of your contracts without paying several times it's value, that is probably why they offer multiple phones for basic use cheap prices, all of course come with two year contracts. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Well if ya had any but AT&T, you wouldn't have this problem, cuz you wouldn't have had roll over minutes to start with. | ||
| Court |
Grow up. Advice I am proud to have been ongoing for 5 decades. R Now ..... Calm down or I'll move out of Milwaukee. :-) Now I know how to make a union guy do whatever i want. I found, quite by accident, the phone number and e- mail for AT&T Vice President for Customer Service in Georgia and had quite a dialogue awhile back. Obvioulsy they have no intention, while rolling in dough like an Obama on vacation on taxpayer dollars, of changing. Hahahaha. . . . . .now back to work! | ||
| Ezblast |
LOL! | ||
| Pwnzor |
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| Whatever |
Yeah, I figured someone would have to get a jab about Obama in there... obviously cell phone plans = politics on quikboard... Shame on you Court!!! You should know better...  | ||
| Whatever |
Why don't you just let me talk about cell phones in peace???  | ||
| Pwnzor |
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| Fahren |
I'd try the wallyworld option. you are just going in for phone, no other stuff. If it works where you are and where you go, why bother with VerizATT? If enough people go for cheaper options, hopefully the pressure will be on the big companies to get more competitive. Their service is provided by Tracfone, which is a prepaid company at its roots. They seem pretty ok. Here's what wiki has to say about the Wal-mart "Straight Talk" plan: "Straight Talk is one of TracFone's newest brands. The Straight Talk brand offers five different value-based 30-day rate plans: a $30 limited plan, and a $45 unlimited text, web and minutes plan, a $135 three-month unlimited plan, a $270 six-month unlimited plan, and a $540 one year unlimited plan. Straight Talk is a Mobile Virtual Network operator (MVNO) that uses Verizon's CDMA 1xRTT wireless network, which was introduced in 2001 and is said to deliver between 40 and 60 kb/s to customers.[9] Eleven phones are available for use with Straight Talk: the LG 100C, LG 200C, LG 220C, LG 290C, LG 620G, Motorola W385, Motorola RAZR V3A, Samsung R451C, Samsung T401G, Samsung R355C, and Samsung Finesse R810C. The exception to 1xRTT-only service is the Finesse R810C, an EV-DO-capable handset which performs at higher speeds where such coverage is available. It is the only Straight Talk-branded handset to offer this functionality at present.[citation needed] Straight Talk is currently exclusive to Wal-Mart stores because of a joint-venture program between the two companies." | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Rain/Parade - Cell phone tactics. If you folks only knew what is going on in the cell phone world. Way too much to go into right now. Suffice to say, BIG changes are coming. The politics DOES come into play big time. Some of the taxing proposals floating about the hill could well kill the industry. How about a tax per text message or mb of data transfer? That's just a start... The cell phone business is about to undergo a MASSIVE change with the shift to 4G networks. The traditional revenue stream for voice calls (read "minutes/month") is going away. All calls will switch to VOIP technology instead of CDMA (or the carriers current signaling method). This means that EVERYTHING is data. The stuff that's in the pipeline is truly a sea change in the way folks communicate. The new Samsung Android tablet is going to be one to watch.. It releases in a little over a week... | ||
| Court |
I've long been an advocate that a return to $1.00 per minute would be a great way to reduce both the federal deficit and auto accidents. I also lime the $2,500 talking/ texting while driving penalty. Amazing how the cell phone has turned otherwise sane folks into total idiots. | ||
| Midknyte |
I ran on a Tracfone for a year or two. Service is fine and it'll save you a ton of money if you are just an occasional caller. Customer service is ok, but you have to wait for them to go thru their call sheet whether you know what your issue is or not - gets tiresome, but they do try. Rollover minutes, and no monthly fee. I switched to Virgin because I wanted an unlimited plan without a contract. Gotta buy your own phone though. Reception is pretty good. Customer service is real good. Had a phone brick itself and they sent a new one with no argument - even overnighted it to get it to me in front of a holiday weekend. | ||
| Augustus74 |
Uh oh, I've been paying out the wazoo for Verizon text/talk/data/plan and was actually considering a switch back to ATT (had them for a few years 4 or 5 years ago/no probs) because they just reduced said plans. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
Char, pretty much all customer service sucks when you talk to them on the phone. My advise is go into an AT&T store and speak directly to a service rep, calmly explain to them what your trying to do and seek out their options, then inform them that your going to look at other service providers if they aren't willing to help you out. You just might be suprised what that can lead to because with all the different competition out there right now they sure don NOT want to loose your business. Every phone service has their share of problems when you start checking them out, you just want to find one that has the least amount of problems. I use Verizon Wireless and have had them since 1995 but I came close to changing this spring when I had a run-in with their customer service. I broke my Blackberry (my fault), and when I called them on my backup phone they started giving me the run-a-round about getting a new replacement phone. After talking to several customer service managers, I wanted a phone I could reach into and rip their heads right off which ofcourse is impossible so I gathered up all my Verizon equipment and drove to the Verizon store by Gurnee Mills. I did all I could do to stay calm while explaining my sisutation to the Verizon service rep. She called the company and talked to them and after hearing that I was either going to get a new phone or I would change service providers within the hour, she informed me that they would get me a new Droid at the start-up pricing plan which I agreed on. Problem solved and I'm now a happy owner of a Motorola Droid. You have plenty of options and AT&T knows that so stay focused on what you want to achieve. Good Luck! | ||
| Court |
Also check into discounts. I have 22% off from work. There is also a 22% discount for school. Wish I could combine them.  I found out, when I was 400 minutes over, last month, that a mere $10 put me on the unlimited plan. Theywere very cordial about doing iy retroactively | ||
| Whatever |
I really liked Einstien because they did a similar thing for me Court, which saved me roughly 300 bucks... but I think they got gobbled up and I do like the nationwide as I am taking a trip soon. I will figure it out this week and maybe drive down to the shop on Friday. Too much to do in too little time. I leave in one month for the Smokies. | ||
| Dalton_gang |
"If they are " filthy rich" the big o will get it from them and redistribute it to grouchy cell phone users." He already has. Haven't you heard about the Obama phone? | ||
| Just_ziptab |
Amazing how the cell phone has turned otherwise sane folks into total idiots. + on that......... | ||
| Tepiddeath |
I have Boost monthly unlimited. It is unlimited everything and it is only $50 per month, and it works everywhere that sprint works. I love it! | ||
| Pwnzor |
"No dear, I don't know where the can opener is... look, I'm sort of busy here, can I call you back later? Yes, I'll pick up some milk on the way home... and if your sister is coming over this weekend, please ask her not to smoke around the kids, I feel it sends a negative message. OK, I gotta go, things are happening here... no... honey, really... I have to hang up now. Ever since my promotion to Meat Shield they keep me moving all the time. Yes, the dog has already had his shots, I don't know why the vet keeps sending that notice. I have to go now... NO, I don't want you logging into my Netflix account! Last time you erased my entire DVD queue and I ended up with Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. Please, dear, I'm really busy... OK, you can ask the gardener to prune the mulberry tree, but I don't want him touching the sprinklers again. He always resets the timer and we end up watering the cars in the driveway. Sweet heart, I really have to... no, I don't want to stop the mail service when we go on vacation. Last time it took them 3 weeks to start it back up again, it can just pile up inside the door till we get home. OK, gotta go, they're calling me on the other line... chocolate milk too? No way, I'm sick of buying it and nobody drinks it! That kid doesn't know what he likes, he wants everything and eats nothing! Listen, I am really very busy and now they want me to run some messages over the hill. I AM NOT AN ERRAND BOY, AND YOU DON'T REALLY KNOW HOW MUCH I MAKE SO HOW CAN YOU SAY THEY DON'T PAY ME ENOUGH! Woman, mind your business and hold down the fort, I am very busy and I have to go now! No... please don't cry... I hate it when you cry... I didn't mean it, I just get frustrated when I'm at work and you call with all these things we could have discussed last night or even this morning before I left. Yes, I think you're beautiful, and I miss you very much. You're my everything. OK. Yes. OK. Yes, I love you too. OK. Miss you. No, I miss you more. OK. I love you. OK. Bye. .....NO, do not have your mother call me about the easter egg hunt, it will have to wait."  | ||
| 04buell |
We have had Verizon for years and years and they have always been great. If we went over minutes or texts, they just upgraded (and back dated) our plans and fixed it for us and we never had to pay any extra fees. If we had phone problems they fix them without a hassle and we never have problems with service. I always thought I wanted an I Phone but I will never switch from Verizon. They have been too awesome. Guess I am one of the few that can't complain...... |
