Storm8 makes games like Vampires Live and iMobsters, that operate very similar to the popular Facebook game "Mafia Wars," including letting you spend real money to get better weapons and more energy in the game. Many of Storm8's titles are top iPhone game app downloads, probably because each game says that you can get extra points in it if you download one of their other games.

BoingBoing reports that the number harvesting was hidden until the company noted it in August, chalking it up as a bug. However, the lawsuits says that only "very specific and specialized software code" could do that. Storm8 has not returned BoingBoing's requests for comment.

Lawsuit text (PDF)

iPhone game dev accused of stealing players' phone numbers [BoingBoing] (Photo: Cаvin 〄)

Why would they do such a thing? Not just for the sake of greed. It's because of their "buy one Blackberry, get one free" promotion for the holidays. WIthout the ETF hike, this could have led to an exciting new way to subsidize your purchase of a sexy new Tour: get another Blackberry of any type on the second line, cancel it, eat the $175 ETF, sell it on eBay and profit from the difference. Instead, there's now a $350 ETF, which will decrease by $10 for every month that the phone is activated.

Confirmed: Verizon Wireless to charge up to $350 early termination on "advanced devices" [Boy Genius Report] (Thanks, GitEmSteveDave!)

(Photo: Honou)

For $79.99, you get unlimited calling, text and data, that's $70 cheaper than Verizon and AT&T, and $20 cheaper than Sprint. There's no discount for buying a new phone, so interested parties should bring their own unlocked phone to the game. Bring on the price wars!

Project Dark Is A Go! [TmoNews] (Photo: emdot)

William writes:

I have actually been pretty happy Verizon Wireless until very recently.

I have one regular cell phone line with Verizon, and one of those nice little usb broadband modems. I have had both since about 2004. The great thing was that I had the unlimited broadband plan on my modem. They do not offer it anymore so I was proud of being able to keep my unlimited broadband plan.

Earlier this year, my wife and I got divorced. Among the thousands of matters to attend to, was to split our Verizon account into his and hers. I called up Verizon and explained that I needed to remove her from the account and have the account only in my name.

The rep said this was no problem, and it was quick to do. I asked him specifically to ensure there was no changes to account, and if the broadband account would remain the same. He ensured me that this would be the case, and even commented on how cool it was that I had the Unlimited plan. He told me I needed to make sure I kept it. Wise words.

I kept getting bills in the expected amount so I did not verify further at that point. This month I did read my bill, and I notice that my broadband plan has changed from Unlimited as expected to their new 5GB plan. This was clearly an error so I call up VZW to have them correct the error. I spoke at that time to rep number. 322590. She assured me that she would put in a request to have my account updated back to the grandfathered plan and I would get a call back the next day.

3 days passed and I received no notification so I called VZW back. This time I spoke to rep 319729, who was a supervisor she said.

She looked at my account, and said that VZW had refused to put the unlimited plan back on my account, and there was nothing they could do. I requested that because they had failed to provide me with what I was contractually entitled to, that they should release me from the termination charges on the account and allow me to close the account.

Rep 319729 said that it was impossible for VZW to give me the plan and I wanted, and it was impossible for Verizon to release me from my early termination. Now they are charging me $59.99 per/month for a service I did not sign up for, and do not want.

Rep 319729 said that there was a website that listed the terms and conditions that apply when VZW makes a change to the account, and it was my duty to read this mythical piece to understand what they were allowed to do, when they make changes to the account. Rep 319729 did not say what the Url for this document was.

What can I do? They took advantage of me, in a very trying time in my life, and they refuse to fix it, and they even rub my face in it, with this mythical website I am supposed to have read before calling to change my account.

Not cool, Verizon.

(Photo: daysofthundr46)

(Photo: Schröder+Schömbs PR)

Our gut reaction is "OH SWEET MERCIFUL MONEYCAT NO," but not everyone agrees.

Americans are split about in-flight mobile phones, a survey by the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics found. About 45% said cellphones should be banned on aircraft. About 40% said they should definitely or probably be allowed if they don't pose a safety threat, according to the survey, which queried about 1,000 households.

A chief concern is the in-cabin noise level. Some fear that people may carry on long conversations on their cellphones. And people generally talk louder on cellphones because they can't hear their own voices - unlike on landlines, which have a device that amplifies your voice and replays it through your earpiece.

For now, providers of in-air wireless Internet are blocking voice services, and passengers are finding ways around those blocks just as quickly. (One Consumerist reader reported that his in-air connection simply wasn't fast enough to make a call—to airline customer service, naturally—via Skype.)

Should airlines let passengers make calls via Wi-Fi? [USA Today]

(Photo: Attempts at Photography)

UPDATE: It seems there may have been lag in billing systems. Though it said zero balance when I checked online a few days ago, it has now updated to show this month and duhn duhn last month's unpaid bill. I didn't pay the bill last month because it also said then that I had a zero balance. There must be a definite lag problem that's not just me because otherwise the CSR yesterday would have told me that I had to pay up, instead of suggesting I take advantage of a free upgrade for my iPhone 3GS... Brad the friendly AT&T PR rep says he'll look into it. I declined his help and suggested that he solve the underlying issue for all consumers but not to give my account any special treatment.

PREVIOUSLY: AT&T Keeps Calling To Say I Qualify For Free Upgrade From My iPhone 3GS? (Image: Dyna Moe)

For single line plans under $59.99 and pooling plans under $89.99, overage rates increase to $.45. All other single and pooling plans increase to $.40. The rate increase amounts to what is known as a "materially adverse change of contract," which, under standard contract law, voids the original agreement, making it so customers can leave their cellphone contract without the usual early termination penalty.

Our source referred to some customers receiving a letter on July 27th and being able to cancel without ETF. It wasn't clear whether this meant anyone could cancel, or just those who got the letter.

When arguing with the customer service rep, and yes, you will have to argue, they may say things to you like you have to have had overage charges recently for the change to affect you. Or that based on your plan history, the change won't effect you. That's now how materially adverse changes work. It's if it could effect you.

If you need it, here is the relevant paragraph from the Tmobile contract to read:

Changes to the Agreement or Charges. EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT PROHIBITED BY LAW, IF WE: (A) INCREASE THE CHARGES INCLUDED IN YOUR MONTHLY RECURRING ACCESS RATE PLAN, OR (B) MODIFY A MATERIAL TERM OF OUR AGREEMENT WITH YOU AND THE MODIFICATION WOULD BE MATERIALLY ADVERSE TO YOU, WE WILL NOTIFY YOU OF THE INCREASE OR MODIFICATION AND YOU CAN CANCEL THAT SERVICE WITHOUT PAYING A CANCELLATION FEE (WHICH IS YOUR ONLY REMEDY) BY FOLLOWING THE CANCELLATION INSTRUCTIONS IN THE NOTICE. IF YOU DO NOT CANCEL YOUR SERVICE BY FOLLOWING THOSE INSTRUCTIONS, OR YOU OTHERWISE ACCEPT THE CHANGE, THEN YOU AGREE TO THE INCREASE OR MODIFICATION, EVEN IF YOU PAID FOR SERVICE IN ADVANCE. IF THE NOTICE DOES NOT SAY HOW LONG YOU HAVE TO CANCEL, THEN IT IS WITHIN 14 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF THE NOTICE, UNLESS A LONGER PERIOD IS REQUIRED BY LAW. EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT PROHIBITED BY LAW, CHARGES FOR PRODUCTS, SERVICES, OPTIONAL SERVICES, OR ANY OTHER CHARGES THAT ARE NOT INCLUDED IN YOUR MONTHLY RECURRING ACCESS RATE PLAN (SUCH AS DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE, ROAMING, DOWNLOADS, AND THIRD-PARTY CONTENT) ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE, AND IF YOU CONTINUE TO USE THOSE SERVICES, OR YOU OTHERWISE AGREE TO THE CHANGES, THEN YOU AGREE TO THE NEW CHARGES. VISIT OUR WEB SITE, RETAIL LOCATIONS, OR CALL CUSTOMER CARE FOR CURRENT CHARGES.

Give it a shot and let us know how it works out!

(Photo: DCvision2006)

Why number portability, when the app at the center of the investigation was about far more than that? Because the "telephony experience" has changed so much in recent years that preserving consumer independence involves more than just protecting a phone number—now it extends to things like determining how you route calls to that number, or what level of information you display to specific recipients, and so on.

Dave Rosenberg, a CNET blogger who wrote about this theory, points out that whether it's behind the FCC's investigation or not it's going to be an increasingly important issue for consumers:

For users to ultimately be in control of their telephony experience and to encourage the next wave of telephony innovation, the concept of portability will need to extend beyond just numbers to the telephony user experience.

"Apple, Google Voice, and number portability" [CNET News]
(Photo: mightyohm)

Lelah writes:"Dear:

Mr. Ivan G. Seidenberg

Mr. Robert E. Ingalls Jr.

Mr. William Barr

As President of my own company, I have to say, this is the first time in my career that I have gone so far as to send a letter to the top of the food chain regarding the unbelievable service I have received from Verizon. Let me say that if I had this type of service in my company, I would have fired the lot of them and held my head in shame as their leader. Verizon has taken customer no-service to a whole new level. Allow me to share with you my story. I am sure you will be as appalled as I am once you read through the nightmare.

THE VERIZON MELTDOWN:

Saturday, May 30, 2009:

2 door to door salesman wearing Verizon shirts arrived at my door on the morning of Saturday, May 30, 2009. The main salesman, Vadim Kushnirov announced that he was with Verizon and wanted to discuss the possibility of switching my Comcast service to Verizon. The other young man was in training. I didn't get his name however he was very inquisitive. A regular Q & A session that was so out there I had to really question who the heck interviewed him for this job in the first place. "So are you still married, he asked?" "Boyfriend?" "Your daughter is cute, almost as cute as her Mom." "Why did you get a divorce?" "Do you still love him?" "Does he pay child support?" "What do you do for a living?" "Do you make lots of money?"….HUH?" Ok…a little weird. Most would have asked him to leave, however, past the questions, he seemed like a nice kid. After Vadim offered a better deal than Comcast, (so I thought), I decided to switch services. I asked both inside my home for iced tea while Vadim proceeded to contact an office somewhere in the Midwest to get the set up started. While he was in the process of arguing with a gal over her misunderstanding of what needed to be done to get the order in place, the intern went to the couch in my living room, picked up my guitar and started playing it…a little singing went along with it. By the end of the very long session I was ready to smash the guitar over his head just to make him stop. Rude and annoying. Over at the counter, Vadim, obviously frustrated with the new gal on the other end of the line, went through several people to try to get the service set up. When the new gal got back on the line, she repeated the order back to me. It was incorrect and we started the process over and over again. This entire order entry took over 3 hours. I was patient but extremely annoyed that my Saturday was now completely shot due to incompetent customer service. When the order was finally placed, I was told by Vadim that the service would be installed on Friday, June 12. 2009. He left me his number to call if I had questions or problems. (503) xxx-xxxx. I must say, of all of the people in this entire process, he is the only one that really had enough integrity to get anything done. He did his job well, however, most of what you are about to read was completely out of his control.

Between May 30 and June 8, 2009, 3 different contractors (that I knew of) showed up at my home, unannounced, without appointments and to my knowledge, began a pre-set up for the Fios.

Monday, June 8: At approximately 10AM, a gentleman contracted by Verizon showed up at my home, unannounced. without an appointment, and knocked at the door. As no one answered the door, he proceeded to begin a set-up function that was connected with the Fios install. I happened to be at home (prior to going to my work appointment) and noticed someone in the yard. After about 10 minutes, I went outside and asked him what he was doing. He said he was with Verizon and doing some pre-set up. I went back inside and was trying to answer a few emails on my computer. Suddenly, the internet access was unavailable. I figured it was temporary but proceeded to contact Comcast as I thought the problem might be with them. The phone was dead also. I went to the neighbors home where their Comcast service was working fine. I contacted Vadim and mentioned that I thought whoever was here from Verizon, must have knocked out the Comcast Service. He asked me to turn on the TV to see if it worked. It was down also. I told him that I needed the service back up immediately. We have several users in the house and having the service down was not an option. I cancelled my appointment and stayed home from work as I thought someone would be back to connect the service. No one called or showed up until 4:00PM in the afternoon. It was someone from Comcast checking the lines. They asked me when Verizon was at the house, I told them that morning. He proceeded to tell me that whoever was there, cut all of the Comcast lines, left wires lying everywhere exposed and I wanted Comcast to reconnect, I would be charged to reset everything and re-install the lines. He was unable to do anything that evening but said he could come back the next morning and start the re-install. I told him I would call Vadim to see if we could move up the install date with Verizon. That afternoon at 4:35PM, I received a call from someone named Kirt (503) xxx-xxxx who scheduled the installs for Verizon. He told me he would have the install team at my home at 8AM sharp the next morning. Someone over 18 had to be there and it would take about 5 hours. I agreed and took Tuesday, June 9 off from work.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009:

…9AM, 10AM, 11AM….I call Vadim… "What's up, I ask?" "Where's the Network?" He's on it…. I get a call about 3PM…they are coming in the next few hours, (my thought is hurry up and wait)!

5:18PM, another lost day at work, the first of the Network makes an entrance. He has no service order and being Union, can't get started until the order comes in. "What do you want done, he asks." I explain the 6 rooms of cable connections, 2 phone lines and 300 channels of digital. He seemed annoyed and less than impressed considering it is now 5:30PM, he hasn't eaten all day and he is now on overtime. The rest of the Network shows closer to 6PM, about 5-6 of them. Still no service orders from Verizon. They all beam in on me and start discussing charges I don't remember ever hearing about. (connections, installation charges, etc). I call Vadim again as I feel like I have a bunch of guys coming up with their own set of rules and charges…Vadim shows up armed with electronic leash, headset and already patched into headquarters…He's on it, making the adjustments while arguing 2 hours in my driveway about the install charges with the Network. On with the install! 9:35PM…. I am trying out the new Fios! Wow…this is super fast…only 45 seconds to get Google launched. Who would have thought you could go faster than dial up? (I am kidding…considering I had a perfectly good high speed connection with Comcast prior to this install)! I called in the roommate to show off the new system! She was as impressed as I was! We immediately called in the Network to praise the fine work that was less than acceptable! We were told it wasn't the Fios, the awesome no-speed was due to the computer having issues? Hummm, funny how it worked just fine when it was on Comcast prior to 10AM, and since I switched back to Comcast, we are back to full speed. I made a note on Brian's (the technician) paperwork that stated the internet was less than acceptable. He left, he was on overtime, never heard back! Dennis, the phone guy is going on 4+ hours of OT…phones are not cooperating…no dial tone. "Perhaps a little CPR would help, is it dead, I asked?" He's done…no dial tone, it's time to go home…did I mention no dial tone….???? "I'll be back at 8 in the morning to get the line working, said Dennis." I suppose if I needed to call 911 for any reason, the neighbors are just 3 minutes away! In the mean time, I was supposed to be enjoying my new phone service with jimmied lines and splitters everywhere! Nice!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009:

Wednesday morning I noticed the trampling of some of my outdoor plants…basically where the lines went through the property. Not happy. I took the day off from work as I had to be at home for the set up at 8AM. Still no phone service and no technician to fix the problem… it's 9am….going on 3:41 PM…no sign of life from the Network and still no dial tone. Phone wires are lying all around my den. I call Vadim again…Vad, this is now out of your control…I need a Supervisor to call me right away. WAITING! 7:15PM, I get a 3-way call from Vadim and a Supervisor in Tech Support named James, no last name, no phone number. James assured me that someone would be out at 8AM on Thursday to set up the phone lines and make sure everything else was working correctly. It seems to me we have already had the 8AM conversation 3 times now. I told him I was done. I no longer wanted the service, Verizon or any part of the Fios experience. I would contact Comcast and have them re-connect the service in the morning which would in fact, cost me another day off at work to deal with the mess Verizon created. I also didn't want them to install because apparently, Comcast still held the phone numbers that were to be transferred to Verizon. Officially, these numbers were not going to be released until Friday, the original install date. I would have had my service reinstalled right away as I was still paying for service with Comcast. After 17 minutes and 27 seconds of conversation and making sure everyone understood that I didn't want Verizon service, guess what happened on Thursday morning?

Thursday, June 11, 2009:

Thursday morning my phone lines were full speed…guess who connected? (Verizon…after I specifically told them not to connect). Not only were the lines connected, they all went to the same phone number and gave anyone who called a fax signal! How special! Half the time the dial tone didn't work, other times people calling in would get a message that said the line was not in working order. Working order???? Was it ever? Another day off from work to deal with the nightmare. I called Comcast. They said unfortunately since Verizon took control of the numbers, It would take up to 2 weeks to get the numbers back. I was livid. Now I had to wait until June 18 to get normal phone service back. I had been using a cell phone throughout the week to contact Verizon…on hold most of the time or shifted from person to person. No one at Verizon seems to be able to make a decision, no less fix anything.

Friday, June 12, 2009:

I spent most of the day trying to figure out how to get everything back on track. It didn't happen. The phone lines were still recovery after the surgical mess left on both the inside and outside of my home.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN:

Many Calls between: Friday, June 19, 2009- June 28th!

I called the 888 customer service line early in the morning to make certain my Verizon Service was cancelled. To cancel the service, the entire process took 57 minutes, 42 seconds (I have a timer). Let me engage you in the cancellation process. It begins with prompts that send you to new prompts, that offer additional choices that make absolutely no sense considering all you want to do is cancel service. I eventually got to someone named Karen in Damage and Claims, told her the whole story. This went on for about 8 minutes. Guess what, I was transferred, surprise…. Repeat conversation…see above! 9:10AM…new supervisor, no luck, another transfer! Now I have someone named Mamour over in Dallas, the supervisor's Manager. A few order numbers thrown at me ON9xxxxxx and ORDROxxxxx…what this means is beyond me? They are all convinced that insulting me with an offer of a $25 performance guarantee reimbursement should do the trick… WOW…I'm impressed! That's some offer! Please…. It cost me more to write you this letter! I asked Mamour what I should do with the equipment that Verizon still has at the house. He informed me I would have to take them to a drop off station for credit. Hummm…Verizon left it here, now I am expected to drive it somewhere to get credit? One thing I found very interesting, I was told to call 2 numbers to get the closest drop off location. Ok, here we go 800-209-4455 (We're sorry, we can not continue to process your call, please hang up and try again)! I gave #2 a try, 800-436-1300…It's the HOME SHOPPING NETWORK… Am I now on the hook to sell this stuff at a discount? Frustration sets in as I do not want another 57 minute phone conversation with a Verizon female computer voice recorder that actually has attitude built into the voice when you don't give her the answers she wants.

One day a gentleman named Adam Brooks showed up on my doorstep. I opened the door. He was with Verizon. He wanted to know if I was pleased with the install? Does Verizon not communicate? For a communications company, I am a bit surprised that no one there does! Back to the story, one more time. He makes notes and tells me someone will be calling me. Actually, Adam was a really nice guy and seemed to have compassion for the situation. I have to give him credit for being very professional and following through. (503) xxx-xxxx. He said he would have the contractor that installed the lines contact me. I got a call from the contractor a week later, however, it appears that the cut lines were caused by Verizon when they installed the boxes on the wall. The contractor came out and showed me where everything took place and where the problems occurred. The contractor gave me a check for $43 to compensate for damaged plants on the property. I was told that someone named Dan Ferguson would contact me from Consumer Relations with Verizon, however, I never received a phone call from him.

Well now that everything was cancelled, I was told there would be no charges! Oh look, on June 25th, I was sent a bill in the amount of $157.50. Swell! Here we go, more phone calls.

July 16, 2009: I still have a balance of 157.50 on my billing. I contact Verizon again to have the charges removed. I spoke with Chris I think (not sure, a little confusion, see July 22 notes) who after 15 minutes of repeating the story again so that I could be compensated, she informs me her computer is down (it happened the day before as well-seems to be the norm there…If I can't get working internet service from a company who provides and charges for it, why should their customer service have access to working internet)? Go Figure! She said she would call me back…never did.

On Tuesday , July 21, 2009, 9:50AM. I contacted Customer Service and was connected to someone by the name of Neil 888-xxx-xxxx. Nice guy and he seemed to have it together. He read his notes and said that I talked to Angela on Thursday, she sits close by so he will talk to her and get the scoop on the billing problem and call me back. Angela? Well ok Angela, Chris… I've been through so many people at this point, I guess it doesn't matter because no one there can make decisions that make sense anyway. I get a call from Chris…she very firmly advised me that she was right and I was wrong in a very righteous way repeating statements from her notes that she perceived to be things that I said (considering her computer went down and she had to re-construct the conversation, I suppose anything goes…She also informed me (very directly I might add) that she left a message on my voice mail stating that the charges were reversed. I suppose if I had a message on my voice mail it makes all the sense in the world for me to call customer service and find out why no one called me to inform me of a credit…If I knew I had one, would I be calling??? I really have nothing better to do with my time. I am told that as far as additional compensation I could receive the really great performance guarantee check of $25…seems everyone there has the magic check to hand out. (I lost 5 days at work and about 11 days of phone service along with trampled plants in my yard. Did I mention Comcast has to rerun all of the lines again and bury them due to the cutting of the cables)? Ok, so the $25 again is a slap in the face. Chris tells me her supervisor will give me a call…she can't give me his number but assures me he'll call…Waiting…I talked to Chris around 10AM… Matt the Supervisor calls me at 11AM. Matt is not willing to work with me…he too wants to offer the $25 slap in the face and says he can not accommodate my 5 days of work missed due to Verizon not showing up when scheduled…although it's a different compensation when I was expected to wait for contractors that didn't show up as scheduled. I explained to Matt that if I didn't show up for the appointment, I am sure that Verizon would charge me…or would that be Frontier Communications that is taking over Verizon in the NW? By the way, no one ever informed me that my service provider would be Frontier Communications…I found this out from one of the Comcast contractors.

Now let me throw out a few more one liners that were fascinating to me:

Matt: I asked him for a supervisor. He was quick to tell me she was unavailable (how did he know that without even taking a breath to ask her, does he man the Supervisor calendar)?

Matt: I asked him for the supervisor's name, Kim he replied. I asked for a last name…He refused to give me the last name, stating that for security reasons, he is not allowed to give out last names.

Matt: I asked for Kim's phone number, he stated she didn't have one! (I am becoming amused)!

Matt: He also told me Kim would not be able to give me any answers that were different from his… Why have a Supervisor if her subordinate can always make instant decisions and answer for her? Glad we cleared that one up!

Matt: I asked him where the corporate office was. He said St Petersburg FL

Matt: I asked for the Corporate phone number: Classic response, "They don't have one!"

I am seriously amused at this point!

My response: "Wow Matt, A communications company that provides phone service all over the country and they doesn't have a phone of their own?" "No wonder my phones never worked!" "They haven't figured out how to hook up the first one over at headquarters! "

Matt: "I can give you an address, you can write to them!" PO Box ya da ya da ya da! Thank you, so helpful.

Matt: I asked for a physical address, he wouldn't give me one.

Matt: I told him I wanted compensation for the 5 days I took off from work to accommodate Verizon's necessity for me to be home, although they didn't show up when promised. His response…The $25 performance guarantee. I told him I make no less than $65 an hour and that's what I expect as compensation….8 hrs x 5 days even though I have spend endless additional hours trying to get this mess straightened out. He told me that he can not just whip out a check. It's against Verizon guidelines. I asked him to send me a copy of the guidelines. He said he couldn't do that. He told me that it is against policy to compensate for work lost or send out a copy of the guidelines! I asked him for a copy of the policy… No, he can't do that either. He also told me, and I quote "It was against FCC rules." That's a new one!

Well…he told me he would have Kim call me sometime between noon and 5PM! Nice… I wasn't sure how that would be possible considering Kim didn't have a phone! Am I missing something here?

1:30: Kim leaves a voice mail…with no return phone number! She must have borrowed a phone from AT & T! She said she would call me sometime the next day! So, do I wait for the call? Maybe sometime between 8AM-5PM!

Wednesday, July 23: Kim calls the other phone number that I rarely answer at 11:30AM. She is not willing to offer more than $25. As I mentioned to Matt, if I was going to hear the same song and dance each time I hear from another Manager, then send me to someone else. I told Kim the same thing. At least she didn't make any decisions for the next Manager in line. That would be James. He is supposed to call me sometime between now and 5:00PM. Hurry up and wait some more. I get the call from James at 3:30PM. Amazingly, he is one of the few at Verizon that is allowed to have a phone. I guess security isn't an issue for him and going against Verizon policy is ok, because he did give me his last name (Hobson) and a phone number where he could be reached. 636-xxx-xxxx. I did ask for an employee ID#, but he said he couldn't offer that as it was an internal number and policy not to give it out. (Lots of policies)! Of course I was offered the usual $25. I think if they keep offering the $25 dollars, I suppose it would add up each time and eventually I could collect a lot of checks for $25 until I got the compensation I deserve. I let James know that $25 is not acceptable and, like Matt, asked him if he would work for $25 a week. Of course he said no. I asked him why than should I be any different? As you can imagine, we wasted another 20 minutes on the phone going nowhere. I did ask for the Corporate number. He put me on hold for at least 5 minutes and came back with a "We can't seem to find it." He informed me that someone would call me within 24 hours with the number.

Well, as you can see, it is now Friday, July 24 at 9:35AM. No phone call from anyone, at Verizon Corporate if there is such a thing!

July 23, 2009: I received a call from Wendy Allen…somewhere in Texas. She proclaimed to be the Manager of the entire building, as she put it. She said she was in control of Texas, California and some other state (not mine). Twice she repeated these states, Oregon was never included. I asked her why she was calling me as she was not in my state. She corrected herself at that point and told me she had the west coast. Of course, $25 was her best offer and not acceptable to me. I am now frustrated. I told her I would locate someone on my own that could make decisions. Wendy's offered her number at 972-xxx-xxxx. So, I guess the policy doesn't work here either cause I got both last name and phone number. Different rules for different schools!

Next step? I will continue my quest and just keep adding to my list of notes from May 30 and send this letter out to anyone who will listen. My next step (consumer advocates who are receiving a blind copy of this letter), the FCC, government officials (I am well connected), who may have more contacts than I do. Eventually someone will listen but I would like to see Verizon do the right thing and just compensate me for the 5 days I missed from work. They expected me to be here, I lived up to my end of the bargain. It will be interesting to see what happens next!"

Verizon Says It Will Limit New Handset Deals [Reuters] (Photo)

Part of the problem is that AT&T and Apple's systems are not hooked up. The other part is fraud prevention, I suppose. That this helps suppress the number of successful cancellation is probably just like an unexpected bonus for AT&T. It wasn't a big deal, though, as I was able to push past this—mocking them for previously telling me I would get an automatic email letting me know my service was cancelled after Apple got the phone I mailed back to them did the trick somehow—and get them to just let me fax in the return receipt without ever having to leave my blog cave (thank you, faxzero.com).

Over the last 1-2 years Skype has gone from being a great alternative to the greedy phone companies, to being worse than AT&T, Time Warner Cable and Comcast combined. Skype's shady business practices are unlike anything I have experienced with ANY phone or cable company before. And I am saying this as someone who spends $150/year on Skype subscriptions and at least another $50-$75/year on additional Skype out credits.

I have had a Skype Unlimited World subscription for a long time now. When I signed up for the subscription, it not only gave you unlimited calling to landlines (at least to selected "world" countries) but also offered 3 free Skype-in numbers (normal telephone numbers for your skype account) and a Skype To-Go number (a dial in number to use skype from any phone).

I signed up for the subscription with my credit card and had it auto-renew every 3 months. Earlier this year though, BoA changed my card number (remember when BoA was compromised?). After this I used my new credit card in March to buy Skype out credits and also set up auto-recharge for those skype out-credits (it automatically buys $10 more credits if my balance falls below $2).

Last Saturday morning (June 6), I get an email that Skype failed to charge my credit card for the subscription and that the subscription will therefore be cancelled on June 9. That would not be a big deal if there actually was a way to log into your account to update the payment information and then charge the (new) card. BUT THERE IS NO WAY TO UPDATE YOUR BILLING INFORMATION FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS! I kid you not: something that can probably be done by any mom and pop show cannot be done with the billing system of one of the largest internet corporations.

Oh, there are plenty of links where one might think that you could update your billing information, but they all lead to a page where you can buy more Skype out credits. If that is the way to update the billing information, then I already did that in March when I bought Skype out credits. And that obviously did not work.

Furthermore, I am floored by the shadiness of this business practice: why are you being forced to buy something (which you potentially do not want) only to update your billing information? Seems very shady if not illegal to me. The mob might pull a trick like this but an internet company that positions itself as alternative to the "evil" telco's?

Still, being an upright customer of Skype, I turned to their customer "service" for help. There is no way to contact customer service except through their online web form. No telephone number you can call, no chat, not even a Skype handle to call. A little strange for a "telephony" company.

Despite multiple attempts, I received two canned responses over the next two days that there is no way to update the billing info for subscriptions. You have to cancel the old subscription and buy a new subscription. This seems rather convenient, since the new subscriptions no longer offer all the benefits of the old subscriptions, so that the same package of services costs approximately twice what the old subscription cost.

I'm not sure I agree with Ian's conspiracy theory, but this policy is extremely strange. We know that other readers have had problematic customer service (or lack thereof) experiences with Skype, but has anyone else experienced billing issues like this? Is there a really good PayPal-specific reason for it?

RELATED:
Having Problems With Skype Technical Or Customer Service? Use Twitter And, Well, Skype
Hey Skype, If You're Going To Sell Other People's Numbers, At Least Have A Customer Service Department

• multimedia messaging
• horizontal typing
• compass
• video and voice recording an
• a camera autofocus that lets you select your point of focus by tapping your finger on the touch screen

The new iPhone: See all the leaked photos here [Apple 2.0, via The Awl]

Peter, who runs the English-language Share Skype blog, has a Twitter account. You can contact him for help when the regular support channels aren't working quickly enough for you. His Skype ID, as well as those of other employees, is available at the blog.

Share Skype (English) [skype.com]
Peter at Skype [Twitter]

Ann Anderson
Executive/Regulatory Escalations Analyst
Qwest Executive Office
Customer Advocacy Group
877-440-8959
ann.anderson@qwest.com

Annette Herman
Executive Escalations Manager
Qwest Executive Office
303-965-1469 or 877-440-8959
Annette.Mattingly@qwest.com

(Photo: Peter Kaminski)

Be sure to 1) be nice and professional ! and 2) read our tips on what to say when you call.

Sprint
703-433-4401

Verizon
845-365-7700, 908-306-6750, 910-794-6200

T-mobile
877-290-6323 Ex. 8025, 8025, 8024, 8023, 8021

AT&T
Eastern States: 877-707-6220
Western States: 800-498-1912

(Photo: helgasms!)

Tmobile
Stuart, Executive Assistant to the Vice President
1-877-290-6323 ext. 341-8025.

Glenn A. Zaccara
Sr. Manager, External Affairs
425-378-4982
glenn.zaccara@t-mobile.com

Michael Butler
Chief Marketing Officer
Michael.Butler@T-Mobile.com

Bryan L. Barkoff
T-Mobile Wireless
Regional Retail Manager
Detroit North
Office # 248.465.1756
Fax # 813.353.6711

Kelly Spindle
Executive Customer Relations Coordinator
T-Mobile USA
877-290-6323 Ex. 8082

Avelar, Mercedes
Mercedes.Avelar@T-Mobile.com'

Clelland, John
John.Clelland@T-Mobile.com

Carney, John
John.Carney@T-Mobile.com

Otley, Casey
Casey.Otley@T-Mobile.com

Brodman, Cole
Cole.Brodman@T-Mobile.com

Corporate Responsibility Department
corporate.responsibility@t-mobile.net

Deutsche Telekom AG (owns T-mobile)
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 140
53113 Bonn, Germany
Fax: +49-228-181-8872
www.telekom.de

Investor Relations E-mail: investor.relations@telekom.de; investor.relations@usa.telekom.de

Other e-mails:
'hamid.akhavan@t-mobile.com'; 'michael.guenther@t-mobile.com'; 'rene.obermann@t-mobile.com'; 'robert.dotson@tmobile.com'; 'robert.dotson@t-mobile.com'; 'robert.p.dotson@t-mobile.com'; 'Kai-Uwe.Ricke@telekom.de'

T-Mobile International (T-Mobile's parent company)
Landgrabenweg 151
53227 Bonn, Germany
Fax: +49-228-936-31719
www.t-mobile-international.com

File a complaint against T-Mobile with the Washington State Attorney General's Office
[www.atg.wa.gov]

When you file this complaint, use this address for T-Mobile on the form:
T-Mobile USA, Inc.
12920 S.E. 38th St.
Bellevue, WA 98006

File a complaint with the New Mexico Attorney General's office
[www.ago.state.nm.us]

When you file this complaint, use this address for T-Mobile on the form:
T-Mobile
Customer Relations
PO Box 37380
Albuquerque, NM 87176-7380

"You can try dialing 1-877-290-6323 x341-8025 and changing the extension to do an EVCB (Exec. Voicemail carpet bomb) buy reducing the extension by 1 (i.e. 341-8024, 8023, 8022) so far i have been doing this and it seems to be connecting me to various executive customer relations personnel."

(Photo: Greg Easton Photography)

PJ writes:

My wife just received a bill for $1800 for my wife's blackberry when she normally pays around $65. They claim she used 150mb of data and charge an outrageous amount per kb for an extra $1500 in data charges and $200 in taxes! They can't explain what the data was that caused this mess and expect us to pay the bill. She has had her Blackberry for 2 years and never had a bill over $70 and never used more than the 4mb (that's the blackberry plan she is on).

I can't believe that they expect us to just pay the bill.

I would try the ol' escalation trick to get this figured out.

Do nothing. By doing nothing, you can trick the PBX into thinking you have a rotary phone and force it to get you an agent.

There's something beautiful about its passive aggressive approach and taking advantage of their need to maintain legacy support for a quaint technology of yesteryear.

PBX Hell: 50-Plus Hacks and Tips to Get to a Real Person at Any Corporation in 10 Seconds or Less [VoIP-News] (Photo: termie)

Some Verizon customers upset about shortfall charge [King5] (Thanks to Cory!) (Photo: Atilla1000)

Save the number (I save it as "Z Douche" so it sorts to the bottom of my contacts list and makes me laugh) and assign it a silent ringtone. Similar calls from other numbers can be assigned as Z Douche's second cell phone or landline or whatever. Typically they call from a handful of numbers repeatedly.

It doesn't solve the problem, but it makes it much less annoying and doesn't burn your minutes.

PREVIOUSLY: Who The Hell Are These People Calling My Cellphone About A Car Warranty?

Bob canceled his account. They billed him for 11 days after he canceled because their "policy" is to bill for the entire billing period. He protested to no avail He filed an FCC complaint. Nothing happened for a month. Then he called up identifying himself as a reporter. The FCC then forwarded his complaint over to Sprint who just reiterarted the policy. Oh, and they told him his account hadn't been canceled and he owed them more money. Bob and the Sprint rep kept missing each other's calls, and then she responded to the FCC complaint saying Bob was unreachable, and, here's the kicker: they said Bob called back after he canceled and asked for the cancellation to be postponed - a blatant lie. The FCC then closed the investigation.

Dan Hesse, you should be ashamed.

FCC: Sprint Can Be Judge And Jury [Red Tape Chronicles]

This Kid's A Text Maniac [New York Post] (Thanks to Paul!) (Photo: uberculture)

(Photo: blueoneiam)

Sorry, Dan, that really sucks. Theoretically, it should be traceable by its signal. But checking the comments on a post about this issue on Chris Pirillo's blog, there's several people saying that AT&T was no help and wouldn't do a trace when they reported their phone stolen to the police. Here's one of the guys who was successful, though.

ConditionWon wrote:

I FOUND my phone because the thief registered it with ATT, so Apple help was able to confirm the phone #, and user who had taken my phone… I gave that info the the cops, and the guy was arrested! BTW… ATT was of NO help whatsoever, they wouldn't even confirm that the # my phone was registered under was their customer. Yay for Apple though!!!

What Happens when your iPhone gets Stolen [Chris Pirillo] (Photo: frankieleon)

Turns out that NJ has fewer surcharges than New York. Good for people who signed up for service under one address, but then actually use the phone more in a state with fewer surcharges. To do it with Verizon, just log into your account and go under My Profile -> Phone Usage addresses. Other services you can probably just call up or do it online as well. Caution, though, depending on your plan, you could then open yourself up to roaming charges if you don't actually use it most often in the area you say you are.

Breakdown of the difference in charges between the two states below.

NY TAXES

Verizon Wireless Surcharges and Other Charges & Credits $4.24
Fed Universal Service Charge $0.96
Regulatory Charge $0.07
Administrative Charge $0.85
Gross Receipts Surchg $2.36
Taxes, Governmental Surcharges & Fees $5.27
NY State E911 Fee $1.20
NY City 911 Surchg $0.30
NY State Sales Tax $1.80
New York City Sales Tax $1.80
NY Local McTd Sales Tax $0.17

TOTAL $19.02

NJ TAXES

Verizon Wireless Surcharges and Other Charges & Credits $1.81
Fed Universal Service Charge $0.89
Regulatory Charge $0.07
Administrative Charge $0.85
Taxes, Governmental Surcharges & Fees $3.96
NJ 911 System/Emerg. Resp. Fee $0.90
NJ State Sales Tax $3.06

TOTAL $11.54

Difference = $7.48

...you'll probably have to listen to their whole spiel to do it. Also, it will only work of the telemarketer follows the rules, less scrupulous ones or outright scammers are unlikely to let you off their list, and could even find ways to profit off it. "Thank you for your selection. To process your opt-out request and verify your identity, please enter your bank account number..."

Victory for consumers; defeat for robo-calls [MSNBC]

So one of our readers posted that Tmobile complaint video (

PREVIOUSLY: Tmobile: Pay $25.65 To Talk To Us About How We Overcharged You For $25.65

Dear Consumerist,

For five years I worked as a producer for two different television station consumer units, sorting through viewer e-mails, phone calls and letters. From this vast list of complaints, I would choose cases to investigate and feature in our on-air reports. If I were still working in TV news, I would have chronicled my two-month experience with "the new AT&T" in a multi-part report. The resulting series could have won an regional Emmy when I documented the double-speak, screw-ups and sloppy service I encountered.

This case starts with a loyal, longtime customer making a simple request to transfer existing service to a home I was buying. It ends with a frustrated customer so exhausted by his entire AT&T experience he finally cancels his $1428 a year phone/internet due to numerous billing errors, poor customer service, and five service outages in the span of 60 days. Even after the cancellation, the billing problems and nightmarish calls to "AT&T's award winning customer service" department will have to continue just to get the final bill sorted out.

Here's a summary:

I called 12 days before my move to transfer service to a new address. The next day, I had no dial tone or DSL. Seems my service was turned off. I had to call and have the phone and DSL service restored. This restoration apparently set into motion a series of events including the cancellation of my pending transfer, activation of a second transfer order (which meant I had another phone number change), cancellation of that second request and a return to the original transfer order.

Repair Service

The day the phone was turned on, it would ring in the house but callers would hear heavy static. Immediately I used my cell phone to call Repair. When I checked on my repair request the following the day, there was no record of my call. I should have gotten a name because I would have been cozy with them after six calls to the repair line. In general, the phone would be repaired on a Tuesday work fine a day or so, then heavy static would appear on the line and by Friday, it would go out all weekend. This occurred five times. During the final outage I was supposedly moved up to expedited service, only to get an automated call on my cell phone early Sunday morning: "Due to heavy work loads in your area we cannot honor your request for expedited service." Later that evening, I got a call from a technician who told me "I've fixed this line three times already. There is an underground cable going bad in that area."

Billing Errors

A few weeks ago, I had to call because I was getting a bill from my previous address. It seems service was still on at the apartment, even after I moved and called to turn it off. A rep said she was clearing the account on December 10 and my online bill showed a zero balance.

All the back and forth on the order apparently caused numerous services (such as "inside wiring maintenance plan", "PC internet security suite" and "equipment protection plan" to be added to my account without my authorization. When I called to have them removed, the first rep argued with me about the equipment protection plan. "It doesn't cover my phone which is cordless with a built-in answering machine," I said. "Oh yes it does," she said. "Lady, I'm looking right now at your terms and conditions for the plan and it does not cover this kind of phone." She continued to argue with me, so I finally asked for a supervisor. "None are available. They're in a meeting." I told her she was incompetent, hung-up and got another rep who supposedly removed the charge.

When she was finished, I asked for a supervisor. After a short delay (meeting must have ended early) I got one. She basically called me a liar saying "Our representatives are trained to go over each aspect of the order with the customer. You just didn't pay attention." As a person who reads the fine print, I know such services are essentially worthless (to me anyway), and there is no way I would agreed to having $13.50 crammed onto my phone bill (especially the internet security plan which does not work on a Macintosh).

This exchange left me so angry and frustrated I immediately called back and had my services turned off. The notes on my account must have been extensive because the rep didn't even try to convince me to keep my services.

Today, I get a letter dated January 1, 2009: "We recently sent you a final bill for your former telephone service. Our records indicate $48.86 is past due." I called about the problem, waited 24 minutes, and customer service sent me to the billing department . They tell me they only make payment arrangements, so I had to hang up and call back (27 minutes) for the rep to "make a second request to clear the account." I also asked that a supervisor call to help me clear this up. She refused to transfer ("they're in a meeting" and took a number. Two days later, still no callback.)

From October 23 to January 5, I only wish I had made all my calls on speaker phone and on-camera. My time on hold, staticy service, conflicting automated messages, flurry of mailings (Welcome to the New AT&T!) would have made a
nice series or reality show.

Maybe I'll do that as I try to get Brighthouse to actually show up and install a cable modem and digital phone service. (I'm only into my fourth call to them so far!)

Sincerely yours,

Anderson W.

ESCALATE! For the love of god people, please escalate. Do not let the first-tier, outsourced reps and their always-in-a-meeting supervisors dictate the level of service you're going to receive. Ask for the supervisor's supervisor, EECB's, executive customer service, you have the powah. [sic] Otherwise, if a consumer news tv producer can't make it happen, there's no hope for the rest of us.

(Photo: xanteen)

Lundyncanada downgraded her cellphone plan months ago but Tmobile has continued to charge her the higher rate. Every time she calls, she's assured that everything will be fine on the next bill, and it never is.

"I'm so fucking sick of tmobile right now, but i'm not going to. Fuck you tmobile, fuck you. This is how you treat your customers when they stick with you for 4 years. This is the thanks you show them?" she says in the video.

This is a classic case of when you need to escalate and bypass the robots. Lundy, call one of the Tmobile executive customer service numbers listed here so you can talk to a real person and get your problem fixed.

F*ck You T-Mobile, you Suck Big Time!!!!!! [YouTube] (Thanks to Bon1bon!)

As I was getting into my car to go to work a Fed Ex Express van pulled up behind me. It was my replacement Jawbone from Aliph. I definitely wasn't expecting it to be overnighted to me.

I opened the box and inside with the brand new Jawbone was a hand written note from Lindsey Cromwell who is Richard's executive assistant. Also include were 2 Jawbone car chargers and 2 sets of their new earbuds which was another unexpected surprise.

This was a great customer service experience!

Excellent. Horrible problem reported Monday night, no-questions replacement + personalized prizepack received Wednesday morning, going from Jawbone melting to jaw-droppingly good customer service. You just earned yourselves a place in the "Above and Beyond" hall of fame!

PREVIOUSLY: My Jawbone Melted

Smoke began pouring out of Marc's Jawbone cellphone headset last night:

I purchased a new Aliph Jawbone 2 directly from Aliph back in July. I owned an original Jawbone and was happy to see it shrink in size. It's been working extremely well and I haven't had any issues with it...until last night.

I connected my charger to a USB port on my computer and I charged my headset like I have any other time. I was on my computer doing some web surfing when I noticed a burning smell. I look over at my headset and saw smoke coming out of it.

I immediately disconnected it from the charger but the smoke kept coming. I noticed that it was also getting hotter. I didn't want it to burst into flames so I ran into the bathroom and ran it under the faucet. I've attached some photos showing what ended up happening to the headset.

I contacted Aliph support and was told that since it's not a technical issue that they could fix (really?) that my issue would be forwarded to a specialist. I'm still waiting to get a call back and will update once I do.

Must have been one too many steamy calls on the $.99 per minute lines.