Tom was woken up at 6:48 in the morning by an automated call from his telephone company. They wanted him to take a “how was our service?” survey. [More]
telephony
Phone Co. Wakes You Up At 6:48 In The Morning To Ask How Their Botched Service Call Went
By 10.22.10
Verizon To Charge You $3.50 To Pay Your Bill
By 10.13.10
Starting October 16, all Verizon Communications landline, FiOS, and DSL customers will have to pay a $3.50 fee if they pay their bills by credit or debit card. (Currently there are no plans to apply to same to wireless customers). The only way to get around it is to sign up for auto-billing. Verizon says the new fee is because they have a new vendor for processing credit and debit transactions, and they’re passing on the lack of savings to you. [More]
Why U.S. Broadband Sucks
By 10.6.10
The US is falling way behind other countries in the speed and cost of broadband access because of a lack of competition. Elsewhere in the world, the company that owns the physical internet backbone must sell access to a range of independent ISPs on the wholesale market. The result is a panoply of companies competing on service, quality, and price. But, a recent Scientific American article argues, back in 2002, the FCC reclassified broadband as “information service” instead of “telecommunications service,” and Mr. Local Monopoly has been partying it up ever since. [More]
Worst Company In America Trophy Mailed To Comcast
By 10.5.10
We are super-duper late in mailing out Comcast’s Worst Company In America trophy so we decided to spice it up with a disco lightshow for the award and a nice congratulatory letter. [More]
Tell The FCC To Nix The NBC Comcast Deal
By 9.28.10
If you don’t want Comcast to own NBC, you can use this handy dandy online petition Consumers Union put together for you to tell the FCC. As the agency continue to mull over the deal, perhaps your opinion may help sway theirs. But why might Kabletown owning the peacock be bad for consumers? [More]
Got Until 9/27 To Cancel Sprint Without Fee
By 9.23.10
You have until September 27th to cancel your Sprint contract without early termination fee. Sprint recently made it so employer discounts don’t apply beyond the first two lines on the account. Because this is a material change in the service contract, you can cancel the contract without penalty. [More]
Verizon Talks Elderly Parents Into Pricey Phones They Can't Use
By 9.22.10
A fast-talking Verizon rep talked Joanna’s septuagenarian parents into buying expensive Blackberry Storm 2’s, but after they got them, they found that when it came to using the devices, they were all thumbs. Her dad has large fingers and rheumatoid arthritis, and the gadgets were overall too complex for her parents. [More]
AT&T Thinks 0 Kbps Counts As DSL Service
By 9.8.10
AT&T wants to charge Derek a $100 early termination fee even though the DSL they’re giving barely even works. His downtime is almost 12 hours a day, and on the rare occasions it does work, it’s only 100kbps. It’s like watching taffy grill on a Georgia sidewalk. AT&T says they’ve lived up to their part of the bargain, with one customer service rep telling him, “If AT&T were to provide a constant speed of 0 Kbps this still qualifies as service within our contract,” and so now he must pay his contractually stipulated ETF. Also, he must have imagined that a technician came and visited his house. [More]
Man Gets Time Warner Bill Lowered More Than He Even Thought He Could
By 9.7.10
Nathan was paying $48.99 for Time Warner Cable internet and saw they were advertising the same service at $43.99. It wasn’t very hard to find, they put it right on his bill! When he called up to ask to get the same rate, they told him he could only get it if he bundled it with cable TV. So he hung up and called back again, using a different Time Warner Cable number. [More]
Mom Threw Away Blackberry, T-Mobile Charges For $6,000 In Fraudulent Calls
By 9.3.10
Before leaving the country, Fermin left his Blackberry on his table along with some junk mail. His mother came over while he was gone to clean up, and swept up the phone along with the junk mail and tossed it. Someone found it in the garbage and used it to make $6,000 in fraudulent calls. Fermin negotiated with T-Mobile to pay $2,000, then they changed their minds without notice and decide to hold him on the hook for $4,000. What’s a consumer to do? [More]
Transfer Calls To Your Gmail Chat To Save Minutes
By 8.26.10
One cool way to use the new Google Voice integrated with Gmail is to transfer cellphone calls to your computer and save on minutes. [More]
Call Phones For Free Through Gmail
By 8.25.10
Gmail is rolling out a new service that will let you call phones in the US and Canada for free right from your email. [More]
What Apps Do You Use To Be A Smarter Consumer?
By 8.19.10
What apps do you use to manage your personal finances and be a savvier shopper on your smartphone? [More]
Reader Gets $40 Per Month Knocked Off FiOS Bill
By 8.19.10
Reader Shelve says he was able to get Verizon to give him $40 per month off his FiOS bill. How? [More]
Gunslinging Cell Phone Store Employee Foils Armed Robbers
By 8.18.10
A gun-packing cell phone store employee in Cali thwarted an attempted armed robbery last weekend, firing multiple rounds as the suspects fled. I guess Dirty Harry had to pick up some part-time work. Would you like to add unlimited messaging to your plan, punk? Well, would ya? [More]
Get Hard-To-Find Customer Service Numbers With PhoneTell
By 8.13.10
PhoneTell is adding hundreds of difficult to find customer service numbers to its free call-management app for Android. The new feature goes live next Monday, August 16th. [More]
