Cellphone provider Helio’s business line is 310-445-7000. Press 4 to reach the company directory and then you can pull up all sorts of people, like the executives found on this page. Good for when Helio’s underwhelming and outsourced customer service droids fail.
telephony
By 3.20.08
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The FCC banned apartment buildings from signing exclusive deals with phone operators, allowing tenants to exercise consumer choice. [NYT]
Verizon Erases, Then Restores, Dead Wife's Lost Voice
By 3.19.08
Verizon snipped one of the few remaining threads connecting Charles Whiting to his dead wife when they upgrade the 80-year-old man’s phone system. The update erased his wife saying, “The Whitings aren’t home,” a message Mr. Whiting listened to every day for the comfort it gave him. When Whiting called to complain, he was left on hold for an hour and was then disconnected. Then he waited on hold for another 90 minutes, only to be told that his wife’s voice was lost forever. Whiting said, “It was like she was still with me when I heard that. Now they took her voice away.” After his story hit the news circuit, Verizon restored the previously “irretrievable” message. Amazing how a little bad press works to get good customer service.
On The Radio, FiOS Free TV Promotion Changed To Free Gift Cards
By 3.17.08
Further distancing itself from its problematic free TV promotion (which for some customer has so far been lacking in free TVs), a reader in the Bronx reports that Verizon FiOS triple-play bundle ads on the radio are now offering $200 gift cards for Circuit City. As previously noted, the TV ads are now touting free Samsung digital cameras.
Man Escapes Verizon ETF Via EECB
By 3.13.08
Talyor was able to leave his Verizon contract without paying an early termination fee by launching an executive email carpet bomb loaded with a polite email. In it, he says that customer service reps have refused to transfer him to a supervisor and now he needs some help. In the ensuing email exchange with the executive customer service rep who helps him, he tells her how he wants to leave because of the raise in text message rates. Frequent readers of The Consumerist will remember that when a cellphone company raises its text message rates, it’s a material change to the contract, meaning that the original contract is void and the other party can walk away from the contract without penalty. Taylor wins because he’s polite, professional, persistent, and acts like he’s conducting a business transactions, which is exactly what he’s doing. Read his blow by blow exchange, inside…
AT&T To Start Charging You For Paying Them Money
By 3.12.08
An AT&T insider tells us that starting March 11th AT&T has begun charging customers in the Southeast an extra $5 if they call in to make their payment over the phone by speaking to a customer service rep. He says this is set to be rolled out nationally starting in May. Please only speak to our robots, otherwise you will be punished, thanks.
Don't Lose Your Cellphone Number When Porting
By 3.12.08
Impatient consumers can shoot themselves in the foot when trying to port their number from their old cellphone provider to their new one, reports the NYT. Instead, make sure you follow these basic steps:
By 3.10.08
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I tried out Jott this weekend and it’s pretty sweet. It’s a free service that lets you call a number, record a message, and then underpaid workers in India and Africa transcribe your message and email it to you, or to others. [Jott]
Reach 5 High-Up Verizon Wireless People
By 3.7.08
Some cellphone problems are like a nagging itch in the middle of your back you can’t reach, if and Tier-1 customer service can’t either, some of the five Verizon Wireless muckety-mucks after the jump might be able to help you scratch it if you call or email them.
Someone Stole Your Tmobile Phone Now You Have To Pay $1500
By 3.7.08
Tricia asks:
Tmobile is not budging regarding $1500 dollars worth of charges on a SIM card that was stolen from my lost phone and put into another device. Its so obvious the phone was stolen, my bill is typically $40 a month, the person took someone out of my “Fave 5” and put in someone named Mostofo. I called Mostofo who said he wants to help “find the criminal” but Tmobile says they don’t really care about the fact that it was stolen, that I owe the total amount regardless. Super annoying! Anything I can do? I get that Tmobile says, until I officially report it stolen I’m responsible for the charges, I just think that’s ridiculous when its SO obvious the charges aren’t mine.
Verizon Cancels Returning Marines' Cellphones, Gives Their Number Away, Charges Them $500
By 3.6.08
Two Marines, a husband and wife, found Verizon had an unpleasant welcome-home gift waiting for them when they got back from serving in Iraq: canceled cellphones, a $500 bill, and their phone numbers were given to other people. Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, when a soldier goes off to war, they’re able to send their deployment letters to their service companies and get their service put on hold. Apparently in the case of Haley Katz and her husband, that letter wasn’t good enough. When they complained a reached a manager, the manager told them it was their fault they owed the money, and then hung up on them. Read their letter as published in Stars and Stripes, inside…
Service Techs Waste 2.3 Hours Per Day When No One Is Watching
By 3.3.08
Probably the number one complaint we get from readers about cable and phone service is how the guys never show up when they’re supposed to, or even they day they’re supposed to. As roving lone tech support cowboys, is it a case of the mice will play when the cat’s away? Look at how much more efficient field agent service techs got when managers did ridealongs in this McKinsey study. The company was able to recover 2.3 hours of lost productivity and increase jobs per day completed from 6.3 to 8.5. Inside, how the company recovered even more lost productivity by implementing a new dispatch system capable of on-they-fly scheduling…
Get Your Free GrandCentral Number
By 2.29.08
Woohoo, you can now get GrandCentral numbers again. GrandCentral is a great, free, service that lets you create a new phone number that you can have forward to other numbers. Possible uses include: making it so you only have to give out one phone number, using the phone number to mask your real phone number, setting up an internet voicemail box, recording incoming customer service calls, and saving big-time on incoming calls on your Tmobile cellphone.
Sprint Loses $29.5 Billion Dollars In A Single Quarter
By 2.29.08
Sprint has announced a fourth quarter loss of $29.5 billion, says the Chicago Tribune. Most of the loss is due to a one-time $29.5 billion writedown of its purchase of Nextel. The wireless carrier says it expects 1.2 million additional customers to leave this quarter, citing dropped calls and poor customer service as their reason for seeking less frustrating pastures.
Chief Executive Dan Hesse, who took over in December, said business is worse than he expected and is deteriorating.
Man Experiences Competent Verizon DSL Tech Support
By 2.27.08
Nick was able to actually get decent Verizon tech support. But to do it, he had to trick the phone system and select “install problems” instead of “tech support” when he called. He writes:
I live in northwest Pennsylvania, an area formerly held by telecom company GTE (GTE North to be specifically I believe?). This has been particularly troublesome to the folks at Verizon when I’d call for tech support. Over the past few years of getting DSL from Verizon when the need would arise to call tech support I would cringe. I *knew* they wouldn’t be able to find my account, it always happens.
Dear Sprint: "Die In A Fire"
By 2.25.08
Sprint. Hilary’s boyfriend wanted one phone. You signed him up for, like, a bazillon and took all of his money, plus an extra $400 from his bank account.
Verizon To Offer Flat-Rate, Unlimited Minutes Cellphone Plan
By 2.18.08
Starting February 19th, Verizon will begin offering a supposedly unlimited cellphone minute plan for a flat $99 per month. It’s only really a deal, though, if you use more than 1000 minutes per month. More important than the actual value is that a brand-name cellphone carrier is offering a flat-rate unlimited minute plan. Notably, Verizon’s move came on the heels of Sprint’s new CEO suggesting last week that Sprint might be headed in that direction. I predict a flurry of plan-matching by the other carriers. The breakdown of the various new Verizon unlimited plans, inside.
Analog Cellphones Are (Mostly) Dead
By 2.18.08
The lovely-sounding “analog sunset” — the day that the government allows phone companies to shut down their analog networks—is today.
