../../../..//2008/04/25/if-you-thought-atts-2/
If you thought AT&T’s $2 fee to pay a bill in cash in-store was bad, wait till it goes up to $5. The price increase is scheduled for later this year. [Red Tape Chronicles]
telephony
Sprint Sends You Bill For $32,669
By 4.25.08
Jessie opened his Sprint bill and nearly had a heart attack. Staring back at him was in big bold letters: COLLECTION AGENCY ALERT. After recovering, Jessie looked at his bill and nearly had a second heart attack. It said the amount due was $32,669.00. Huh? Had his cellphone been hacked? Used as a call-home payphone for a neighborhood of Tajikistan émigrés? Used by NASA as a Space Station communications channel? Take a guess and then see the answer inside…
Quit AOL Using Highlighters
By 4.24.08
It looks like AOL is up to its old shenanigans and is still making hard for some people to cancel service (yes there are still some people using AOL), but reader Richard figured out a way to finally get through to them, with a highlighter. He writes:
I could not find a way to contact AOL to stop my service. So I took a yellow marker, drew a line though that line item on my credit card bill, and wrote on the bill….”Do not pay, account in dispute”. I paid all the other items on the CC bill that month. It took AOL about 2 weeks to call me…..I told them what I thought of their service, and instructed them to terminate my account, while I was still on the phone. It worked. They seem to understand when you tell them you are not going to pay.
That’s one way to go about it. You could also call up your credit card company and request a chargeback, but this has the added benefit of zero hold time. First rebates, now AOL cancellations, this highlighter is starting to look mighty potent.
AT&T Phones On Sale For $.01
By 4.24.08
Today only, all AT&T phones are on sale at Amazon for only 1 cent with new service plan (Sorry, the iPhone is not included). We don’t know whether it’s an error or what, but it looks like on some of these you actually make money after rebate.
Sprint Reps No Longer Allowed To Quote Customer In Quotes In Case Of Subpoena?
By 4.23.08
Interesting, completely unverified, tidbit from an anonymous Sprint employee: “We’re no longer allowed to quote the customer in our notes [on the account] because if they’re subpoenaed by a judge then they’ll be evidence proving they’re telling the truth regarding their situation.” Any Sprint insiders care to comment?
Reach Verizon Wireless Executive Customer Service
By 4.22.08
Here is a new number for reaching the Verizon Wireless Executive offices: 908-306-6750. They picked up right away for us. 910-794-6232 for Lisa Bennett, Executive Customer Relations, still works, as does a general executive office inline, 910-794-6200. Use the info in this post to guide your contact through the process of dealing with executive customer relations.
Union Hits Picket Line To Protest Verizon's Poor Customer Service
By 4.21.08
The IBEW 824 union is generating good business for the stick and sign makers of western Florida. First they picketed over Verizon ignoring the quality of its copper lines at the expense of pushing out FiOS. Now they’re picketing over what they say is Verizon’s poor customer service. One self-identifying union member said in the comments on this local news bit, “We are losing customers because of billing problems. We are losing customers because when the customers call in with billing or installation problems the employees are told to focus on “educating the customer on Verizon products and services” not on correcting their problem or answering their questions. ” Verizon’s response was that they haven’t gotten many complaints from customers.
By 4.21.08
../../../..//2008/04/21/skype-offers-unlimited-long-distance/
Skype offers unlimited long distance for $2.95 a month. [Reuters]
BillShrink Finds Your Optimal Cellphone Plan
By 4.18.08
BillShrink is a new site that analyzes your cellphone use and shows you the plan from all the carriers that will save you the most money. You can either manually enter your zip and how much you’re paying monthly, or the more security cavalier can get more detailed results by offering up their cellphone number and carrier site password. I tested it out and while some parts of the website had to be tried a few times to get them to work, overall it was a good ride. They told me I could save $205 a year by switching to Tmobile. I’ll think about it.
Get Free Sprint Features With URL Hacking
By 4.14.08
Two more instances of Sprint’s insecure online system:
General Outage Hits GrandCentral
By 4.13.08
Google’s telephone service GrandCentral has been down all morning. The service’s first general outage affects all customers; any calls to GrandCentral numbers are immediately disconnected.
Qwest Sells Woman "Cheaper" Package That Costs More, Has Unmentioned 2-Year Commitment, And Requires New Modem
By 4.7.08
Matt’s mom, a longtime Qwest customer, called up the company to switch her long distance over from AT&T. The CSR suggested she switch over to a bundled package that would save her $11 a month and offer faster Internet connection speeds. What the CSR didn’t mention was that the new package required a 2-year commitment, that it wouldn’t work with her current DSL modem, and that it actually came out to about $3 more per month.
By 4.4.08
../../../..//2008/04/04/2600-motorola-employees-got-an/
2,600 Motorola employees got an early termination notice today, bringing the total number of Motoworkers disemployed in the past 15 months to 10,000. [Chicago Tribune via DSLReports]
Union To Protest Verizon Ignoring Its Copper Phone Lines
By 4.3.08
Florida Verizon workers are going to picket Verizon HQ on Monday because, in their quest to lay down the fiber, the union says Verizon is neglecting the copper, reports DSL reports.
“Verizon is not letting us do our jobs, and not letting us take care of the customer,” said Doug Sellers, president of the union that represents Verizon call center and repair workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 824. “Customers are waiting up to 10 days to get their phone lines fixed … If you have something as simple as static on your line, that could be out 10 to 15 days.
Customer complaints have gone up, and union workers says preventative maintenance has been largely forgotten about in some places, an accusation supported by the findings of several state public utilities commissioners. Are you a Verizon landline customer? Have you noticed things getting worse? Let us know in the comments.
At Sprint, Nothing's SIMple
By 4.2.08
Allison and her husband wanted to reduce the amount of minutes they’re signed up for on their Sprint-Nextel cellphone plan. While that was a hassle in of itself and Allison ended up getting a phone with another company, the fun really begins once “”Insert SIM” started flashing on her husband’s phone (which is on the Nextel network, which uses SIM cards). Sprint seemed convinced that the SIM card had been reported as lost or stolen and couldn’t be activated. This was very bad as it was her husband’s business line. What followed were a series of 45+ minute call time waits, disconnected customer service calls, fruitless visits to the store, conflicting and confusing information given by different customer service reps and tech support personnel. During the fracas, her husband lost one customer who hadn’t been able to reach him during the outage. Over 100 days into the reign of new Sprint CEO Dan Hesse and shennanigans like the following story are still happening. Oh Danny-boy, are one of the “nukes” you have planned for revamping Sprint aimed at customer service?
AT&T Lets You Close Your Account, But Not Stop Paying For It
By 3.31.08
Reader Steaming Pile is waiting, not so patiently, for AT&T to give him back his $160. He had an account set up with automatic bill pay, and when his contract was up in September he canceled the account. This should have been the end of his dealings with AT&T. A few months later, he was perusing his post-holiday credit card bill when he noticed a charge from AT&T. Reviewing his statements more closely, he noticed that while he was successful in terminating his service, he hadn’t convinced AT&T to stop taking his money every month. Thanks to automatic bill pay and (let’s admit it) his own negligence, AT&T had pocketed $160 for a closed account. In fact, when he called to terminate the automatic bill pay, not only did he have to argue for the credit, he’s still waiting for his money three months later. Check out his very angry email below.
By 3.28.08
../../../..//2008/03/28/wanna-cut-down-that-phone/
Wanna cut down that phone bill? Here’s 102 of the best free phone services on the internet. [VOIP-News]
FiOS Is Great, If Verizon Ever Manages To Actually Install It
By 3.25.08
Ben is getting some crappy customer service from Verizon in attempting to get FiOS installed. His phone is disconnected, they made a half-assed install, don’t show up for installs, don’t call, oh, and he still doens’t have FiOS. He writes:
To file amongst other I hate Verizon articles. Typing and summarizing while on hold with Verizon for approximately the 8th time…
