A Dallas Morning News blogger decided to test out RadioShack’s new trade-in program, where you mail them your unwanted cellphone, for example, and they mail you a gift card, which you can then turn around and use to buy 7,000 house brand AAA batteries. As you might expect, RadioShack didn’t offer him as much money for his Blackberry Storm as he saw them going for on eBay, but the real problem came from the missed deadlines and delays in getting his gift card: what they said would take one week ended up taking 5 1/2 weeks, and might have taken longer had he not emailed them.
cellphones
If You Visit Venezuela, Please Bring Us Back A Penisphone
By 5.13.09
That rascal Hugo Chavez! First he uses a photo op with President Obama to hawk his new a book, and now he’s on Venezuelan TV urging his citizens to buy a new Vergatario cellphone. For those not up on Spanish slang, that’s equivalent to buying a Dickarama here in the states.
Verizon Loses The Broken Phone You Returned, Suspends Your Service
By 5.10.09
Luis dropped his busted LG EnV in the mail at the end of last year and tracked its progress as FedEx delivered the package to Verizon. Verizon, apparently unfamiliar with tracking numbers, doesn’t believe that Luis ever returned the phone, and insists that they’re owed a $320 replacement fee. Luis disputed the charge, but rather than investigate his claim, Verizon decided it would be easier to suspend his service. Now they want Luis—a customer of seven years who pays over $350 across six phone lines each month—to pay another $15 to reconnect the service they should never have disconnected in the first place. He writes:
Congressman Mike Doyle Is Pretty Much Done With These Auto Warranty Calls
By 5.8.09
Our favorite congressman, Mike Doyle (D-PA), is also fed up with the robocalls telling him his car warranty is about to expire. For those keeping track, that’s two elected officials that these robocalllers have illegally called recently. If the internet doesn’t take them out first, hopefully our public servants will. Thanks, Kenneth!
T-Mobile Provides iPhone Support Despite Not Offering iPhone
By 5.7.09
When a system update caused service failures and bugs in T-Mobile customers’ unlocked iPhones, the users emailed T-Mobile to alert them to the issue. Even though T-Mobile doesn’t offer the iPhone, they fixed the bugs and gave the users a service credit for the inconvenience.
8Coupons.com Lets You Send Local Coupons To Your Phone
By 5.5.09
Online coupons still haven’t caught on, really, but 8coupons.com may be worth checking out if you want to give it a try in your own city. Instead of implementing some high-concept location aware thing, they let you browse the site for coupons that interest you. When you find one, you send it to your phone via text message. Obviously, if you hold your phone number dear to your heart, don’t bother; if you’re the brave type who doesn’t mind risking the personal data exposure, you might want to give it a shot.
Reach Executive Customer Service For Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T
By 5.4.09
Say you got a problem with your cellphone company and you want it solved, pronto. You’ve already called regular customer service and they’re either unable or unwilling to help you, or you’re just sick of waiting on hold. You’ve got things to do! That’s where executive customer service comes in handy. Just about every big company has a pack of these people who can basically walk on water within the company and get any problem solved. The key is reaching them. Naturally, you won’t find them in an overseas call center at the end of the 1-800 number. Rather, they’re attached to the corporate headquarters executive offices. Don’t worry, we did the hard part for you. Here’s up-to-date phone numbers for the executive customer service departments for Sprint, Verizon, T-mobile, and AT&T:
Online IQ Test Is Really A Stupid Mobile Phone Download Scam
By 5.4.09
An innocent-looking IQ test on Facebook is really a test of your privacy savvy. And ability to read tiny, tiny print.
By 5.1.09
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T-Mobile is running a “flip your pearl” promotion right now, where you can trade in your old Blackberry for at least $75 (or another phone for $50) when you buy and activate a new Blackberry from them. Your trade-in phone will have to meet certain conditions for the offer to apply. [FlipYourPearl via IntoMobile]
Here Are Some Of The Companies Behind The Car Warranty Robocalls
By 4.29.09
Verizon continues its recent campaign of turning robocallers into charitable contributions, this time by settling a lawsuit against two of the companies behind those awful car warranty calls. Last time it was for $25,000; this time it’s for $50,000, all of which is being donated to the Joyful Heart Foundation, which Wireless Week describes as “a nonprofit devoted to empowering survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.”
Letter To T-Mobile Executives Results In Fees Waived, Charges Reversed
By 4.28.09
Chris was surprised to find that T-Mobile didn’t cancel his account as promised a few months ago. What’s worse, the note on his account that mentioned his cancellation request was missing, and nobody at customer service would help him. Chri works for a “very large consumer electronics company” that he won’t name (we’re pretty sure it’s Apple) and thinks customer service is important, so he gave up on the CSR angle and instead came to our site to find contact info for T-Mobile executives. One EECB later, Chris is free from T-Mobile and the ETF they tried to apply.
Make Sure You Secure Your Smartphone
By 4.24.09
Do you own an iPhone, G1, Blackberry, Windows or Nokia smartphone? Fancy phones are a nice target for thieves, and unfortunately they’re often packed with sensitive information that can be too easily accessed and exploited. Why not take the time this weekend to make sure it’s secure?
"New" Phone Bought Off EBay Turns Out To Be Used, Porny
By 4.22.09
Lillian bought what she thought was a new phone from an eBay seller with a lot of great feedback. The longer she has it, though, the more evidence she finds that it’s probably not new. Sometimes buying electronics off of eBay is like slowly peeling an onion.
Take Your Tmobile Complaints To The Tippity-Top
By 4.21.09
Here’s a big sexy pile of escalated T-mobile contact info in case you have an intractable complaint that regular customer service can’t or won’t help out with. Besides the senior management and internal reporting division, It includes a way to figure out how to dial a whole mess of executive customer service reps, as well as which specific government bodies to file complaints with the situation warrant.
By 4.16.09
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All the outrage over Sling Media’s iPhone app—which would have only worked with the latest Slingbox models—may have been moot. Boy Genius Report says they’ve received a tip that AT&T asked Apple to kill the app due to concerns about potential bandwidth drain. Update: JosephFinn points out that the tip is likely fake, as the IP address came from a prison. [IntoMobile]
Virgin Mobile Offers To Pay Your Phone Bill For 3 Months If You Get Laid Off
By 4.14.09
Starting tomorrow, Virgin Mobile will offer all customers who sign up for $30 or more post-paid plans coverage under their free Pink Slip program, which means if you get laid off and can provide proof, they’ll pay your cellphone bill for three months, and you won’t have to put a Skype number on your resume.
Teenager Tries To Bankrupt Family By Sending $4,756.25 In Text Messages
By 4.9.09
Here’s an idea, don’t use your phone to send 300 texts a day at school. Not only will your parents not get a bill for $4,756.25, you won’t go from As and Bs to Fs and you also won’t get your phone smashed with a hammer.
Rumor: AT&T To Start Forcing iPhone Data Plan On iPhone 3G Owners Who Aren't Using One
By 4.8.09
The iPhone blog says that AT&T is going to start contacting iPhone owners who aren’t using an official iPhone data plan and force them to sign up for one. The crackdown supposedly starts tomorrow in the Atlanta and Austin markets, and expands nationwide by the end of the month.
