Despite not knowing how to use her phone for anything other than making calls, Michelle’s mother somehow racked up a $1500 bill for 2,888 MB worth of “music or video streaming.” It certainly wasn’t the latest Justin Bieber video on loop. Michelle is trying to negotiate with Verizon but all they’ve done so far is offer a 50% discount. That’s still about $600 more than Michelle wants to pay. [More]
cellphones
Obama's Debt Reduction Plan Includes Letting Debt Collectors Robo-Call Cellphones To Collect On Federal Student Loans
By 10.4.11
One part of the debt-reduction bill Obama sent to Congress is a provision that would let debt collectors robo-call cellphones to collect on what’s owed to the government, like federal student loans. [More]
Senators Introduce Bill To Ban Mandatory Binding Arbitration Clauses In Cellphone Contracts
By 10.4.11
When you buy a new cellphone you have to sign a contract where you give up your right to sue. You agree to what’s called, “mandatory binding arbitration.” This is a bad thing to give to an industry that has high levels of complaints about hidden fees and abusive anti-consumer practices. Because if their crummy customer service fails to remedy an issue, your last resort option is to participate in a kangaroo court system that is paid for out of fees paid by the cellphone companies themselves. So Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Al Franken (D-MN) have today introduced The Consumer Mobile Fairness Act that would ban mandatory arbitration clauses in cellphone contracts. [More]
Bill Introduced To Let Robots Call Your Cellphone
By 9.29.11
Since ’91, it’s been illegal for telemarketers to use autodialers and other robot-like devices to call your cellphone. Last week, a bill was introduced to change that. While in the past email hoaxes have gone around saying that your cellphone could be opened up to telemarketers, HR 3035 seeks to let businesses contact your cellphone “for informational purposes.” [More]
How About Some Customer Service, Cricket? Response: Chirp… Chirp…
By 9.2.11
Cricket is perfectly capable of selling reader skokieguy a smartphone for several hundred dollars, but when it comes time to replace his defective battery for free under warranty, all of a sudden they become powerless. [More]
Don't Get Ripped Off By Your Cellphone When Overseas
By 8.9.11
Tales abound of cellphone bills in the double-digit thousands from customers who got snagged when traveling overseas. But there’s a bunch of easy ways to make sure that your cellphone bill doesn’t outpace your airplane ticket when gallivanting internationally. [More]
Get $500 Each Time Sprint Called You After You Said Stop
By 8.8.11
If Sprint telemarketed you after you told them not to call you again, you could get $500 for each time they rang you up, thanks to a recent class action settlement. [More]
Are You "Baller" Enough To Get Secret No-Contract Cell Service?
By 8.3.11
It’s buried on the websites but you could be saving on your cellphone service every month if you signed up for one of their no contract plans. Not only are you not locked into contract, the actual per-monthly bill is cheaper, for exactly the same plan. [More]
Get Free Minutes In Verizon Wireless Class Action
By 7.21.11
A class action suit that alleged Verizon Wireless charged customers on the “America’s Choice II Calling Plan” for roaming, even though the plan is supposed to have no domestic roaming, has resulted in a settlement. If you were a subscriber to this plan at any point after February 21, 2005, you’re gonna get some free minutes. [More]
Antitrust Committee Chairman: AT&T, T-Mobile Merger "Contrary To Antitrust Law" "Should Be Blocked"
By 7.20.11
Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, called on the FCC and the Department of Justice to block the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, saying the deal would “likely cause substantial harm to competition and consumers, would be contrary to antitrust law and not in the public interest, and therefore should be blocked by your agencies.” [More]
Canceling Verizon Without ETF Over Fee Increase Is Hard But Doable
By 6.29.11
Some readers have tried out the info from yesterday about using an increased regulatory fee Verizon is charging to get out of contract without paying an early termination fee (ETF). The most successful so far was commenter doogz, who got his ETF cut in half. Here is his story: [More]
New Fee Is Your Chance To Break Verizon Contract Without Paying Early Termination Fee
By 6.28.11
It’s possible to break out of your Verizon Wireless contract in the next 60 days without paying an early termination fee because they’re increasing the “regulatory fee” they charge customers from $.13 to $.16. This is what is known as a “materially adverse change of contract” and by standard contract law, it renders the contract void if one of the parties doesn’t like the change. [More]
Full Details On New Verizon Data Plans Leaked
By 6.23.11
Android Central got their mitts on the official internal training charts as well as a lengthy email to Verizon Wireless retailers explaining the nitty gritty on how the new tiered data plans work, and how much they’re going to cost you. [More]
Verizon Rolling Out New Tiered Data Plans July 7th
By 6.21.11
Tipsters have told Droid Life that Verizon Wireless is getting ready to roll out a new tiered data plan structure that will hit the streets on July 7th. Essentially, they will be $5 more per data tier than AT&T’s. Here’s the breakdown: [More]
Text 4ER411 To Find Nearby ER With Shortest Wait
By 6.17.11
A new service called “ER Texting” lets you send a text message to 4ER411 and get a report on the expected wait times at nearby emergency rooms. [More]
AT&T Annoys With Fake "Your Receipt Enclosed" Mailer
By 6.15.11
Reader Sean got an odd notice from AT&T. It had “Receipt Enclosed” written on the outside of the envelope. He thought that was strange as he hadn’t used AT&T for a few years. Recently someone had tried to charge some unauthorized items on his credit card so he was worried that someone had bought AT&T service using his info. See, that’s how they getcha! By preying on that nagging doubt that maybe, just maybe, the letter is for real. [More]
Sprint Tries To Convince You Your Phone Sucks, Not Their Tower
By 6.14.11
Cal is at his wit’s end. After the third service outage in the past three months and going through the laundry list of troubleshooting procedures, an upper-level Sprint tech assured him there was no problem with the towers near his house. It was his phones. But when he drives just a few miles away, the signal is perfect. Then when he returns to within 250 meters of the towers near his house, his phone goes into roaming. He’s sick of the runaround and just wants Sprint to fix the towers. Here is the letter Cal wrote Sprint CEO Dan Hesse and several other top Sprint execs: [More]
