SAer's latest opinions of local cell phone providers (Howe, Vega: insurance, loan)

[wCat]

Quick summary. We (several members of the fam) have been long time customers of a certain cell phone provider (over 10 years)....and recently have had some unbelievably horrible customer service. My "contract" has expired and I'm about to pull the plug on them for my personal service.

One offspring just purchased a new phone 37 days ago and it began to malfunction last weekend and is now totally inoperable. He took it in and they would not allow him to exchange the phone since it was over "30" days. He has insurance, but they said it would take 5-7 days to fix and they did not have any loaners in the store. He was then told to try another location. Same story....5-7 days to repair and no loaners. He told them that he would willingly purchase a more expensive phone because he needs his phone at work daily. They said since it was more than 30 days that he could not get the "in store" rebate which would make the phone over $400 instead of $150!

I am just a little bit more than angry at how these cell phone providers have evolved into holding us ransom with these insane restrictions and contracts. He wants to GIVE them more money, but they are refusing because their phone malfunctioned. He did not run over it, drop it in the toilet or wash it in the laundry. It was defective....PERIOD. And he gets to pay $7.50 insurance a month to ALLOW them to repair a POS.

So.....as a show of support (NOT), I'm shopping other providers for my own service. I would really like some objective thoughts on the majors.....At&t, Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile only. Thanks in advance. (ok ...sorry...not so quick of a summary.)

[quest51210]

i have the sprint SERO plan, i like it. $49.99 a month+insurance+tax=about $65

i get 1500 anytime, unlimited nights and weekends starting at 6pm, unlimited text, and unlimited internet/data. i have the treo phone

[SsnTktHldr]

To be fair, I have dealt with Verizon, ATT(when it was cingular), Sprint, and T-Moblie and have NEVER had good customer service. It truly is a hostage situation. Anyone can learn this by simply threatening to leave for another company, you can almost hear the smile as they immediatly let you know all the fees you will run into for breaking your contract.
I have settled on t-mobile as the cheaper and lesser of evils. I had a situation where I was in Las Vegas and broke my phone, totally my fault, and they actually did find me a store with a loaner. However, not having a car it would have been a $60 round trip cab ride. I declined but at least they tried...

[rd2007]

I'm counting down the days until my sprint contract is over. I've had them since the PCS (CDMA) phone was invented and they have slowly become one of my most hated companies in the world. I'm hoping they go out of business before my contract is up and I can see how they're losing so many customers Sprint still losing customers but at a slower rate: CommsUpdate : TeleGeography Research. only reason it isn't still a million per month is they're running out of customers to leave them

[KY Filly]

Wcat, I've been a Sprint customer for well over 10 years. With one exception I have been very satisfied with them. And the one exception I experienced was corrected with my complete satisfacation....after threatening to go to another carrier. When you threaten to leave they put you in contact with a "supervisor" who has the authority to correct your problem. I only go into a local Sprint store when I need to purchase something (charger, phone etc.) My last phone lasted me about 4 years and it was used and abused, the only reason I had to get a new one was I dropped it on concrete and it broke into two "halves". Anyway, the one I have now is already 2-3 years old (not one of the real fancy ones, but it's got internet, gps etc., etc., just a flip phone) and I use and abuse it regularly! It takes a licking and keeps on ticking

So - my Sprint experience has been very positive....course, I've been with them for so long that I'm one of their "preferred" customers. LOL

My suggestion is that instead of going into your carrier's store that you call the 1-800 number and ask to speak to a supervisor etc....demand that you've been a loyal customer for xx years and you expect them to satisfy you or you will drop them like a hot potatoe!

[luckygreeniii]

My husband and I use AT&T and have had excellent customer service. Husband is very hard on his phone and never had a problem with them.

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by rd2007

I'm counting down the days until my sprint contract is over. I've had them since the PCS (CDMA) phone was invented and they have slowly become one of my most hated companies in the world. I'm hoping they go out of business before my contract is up and I can see how they're losing so many customers Sprint still losing customers but at a slower rate: CommsUpdate : TeleGeography Research. only reason it isn't still a million per month is they're running out of customers to leave them

Have to concur with RD here...had terrible terrible service with Sprint/Nextel. So much so..that I had to open a ticket and have a tech come out to verify that I indeed had "weak to no" service at my home. Once they documented that...they were forced to let me out of the contract sans early termination fee.
Have since switched to Verizon (Both for my Blackberry and my wife's phone) and have had no problem. Good luck. Sprint/Nextel sux.

[scuba steve]

AT&T + unlocked European phone = happy Scuba.

I still have the one they gave me when I signed up as a backup / smaller phone to carry around when I go out so that's cool too. There's no way I'd go with a CDMA carrier.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by KY Filly

My suggestion is that instead of going into your carrier's store that you call the 1-800 number and ask to speak to a supervisor etc....demand that you've been a loyal customer for xx years and you expect them to satisfy you or you will drop them like a hot potatoe!

We actually did this a third time and got THEM to get a supervisor on the phone for us at the store. He was "escalated" and then allowed to WAIT 40 minutes on hold in the store to get a recording that said "Please leave your name and cell number and we will call you back between 9am - 6:15 MOUNTAIN TIME." Yes....it actually said 6:15 MT!! Ummmm.... The phone doesn't WORK! He couldn't leave his number....plus he works during those hours and can't hassle with this stuff during work hours! It was convenient that he couldn't negotiate with voice mail. The response from the techie at the store was to give them MY number and have them call me. Second guess? They have yet to call back!

Of course this XYZ Company says that the phone he purchased was their BEST selling model....yet three stores didn't have ONE available. One could argue that they are so popular that they are flying out the door....however none of the stores were busy at all. DS did some research and this particular model showed that about 1 in every 4 reviews were negative and experienced the exact same problem he is having within 1-6 months of use. Best selling model is total BS.

Can you tell I'm frustrated?

[catriona]

We started with Cingular, which is now AT&T. I never experienced any bad customer service with Cingular. AT&T's customer service experience has been marginal to pretty good.

When my son's brand new phone started to malfunction, I called and the store told us to take it to the AT&T service center and they would get us a new phone. Trouble was that at the service center, they told us that since the phone was out of the 30 day warranty (by about 2 weeks), his replacement would probably be refurbished. It griped me to no end that the salesperson told me one thing and the SS told me something else. Not to mention the fact that they had sold us a defective phone! My son even told them so! We decided to just keep the old phone and he would deal with the issue. It involved the front display and the ability to text, so it was actually a minor problem. He just doesn't use the front display. Still...

On the other hand, my daughter's phone was stolen -- the insurance we pay each month is $4.99. I reported the phone stolen on a Wednesday afternoon, and by Friday afternoon, she had a brand new phone, but it did cost us $50. If you didn't have insurance and were still under contract, you would have to buy a new phone, so $50 didn't seem so bad. New phone arrived and everything was good...or so we thought. The phone developed this weird yellow blob on the front display within a week. I checked online and found that this was a common problem with her model. I was back on the phone to AT&T and complained. Customer service transferred me to the insurance section, who apologized and said they would send me out a new phone within 2-3 business days. The cost for the this phone, zero.

One other thing, when we purchased the phones, you have to mail off the cut off part of the box plus the form and receipt copy in order to get your rebate. For some reason, the rebate center sent letters saying that neither of the rebate envelopes we sent in had the box part. The first time we figured it was just an oversight. A quick phone call to the rebate center fixed the problem. But the second time sent steam coming out of my ears!
Another quick phone call fixed things, but I made sure to inform them that this was the second time this had happened. Just be wary of the A&T rebate center if you decide to switch!

Overall, we are satisfied with AT&T.