Hi all, I wanted to relate a saga I've had today and a frustrating experience searching for a replacement cell phone. My wife's "feature" phone is getting flaky after 7 years of service, so I decided to work on replacing it. I need to stick to Verizon since they have the best network in the places we travel to. I've gotten burned by ATT before and don't wish to deal with them. I don't want any contracts, and I don't want additional monthly payments, so I'm willing to pay for the phone directly. I don't need a smart phone, and prefer to use the phone for phoning and something like a tablet for computing. So, another feature phone is fine. I also prefer a new, under warranty, phone.
So, after lunch, I went to the local Verizon store. I ask about troubleshooting the phone, but they don't have tech support in the local store any more. I discuss my options. There aren't many, with "feature" phones. They have one slide sideways phone for $ 150, one flip phone for $ 150, and a couple of flip phones for $ 200. I don't like it price wise, since they probably manufacture these things for $ 25, but I eventually decide on the $ 150 flip phone. I ask about transferring data from my old LG Chocolate phone. The rep hunts for about 20 minutes for the cable to connect the LG phone to their data transfer device. He eventually finds it and does a preliminary test and finds out the device probably can talk to my phone. We let my old phone charge a while and he starts ringing up my new phone on his tablet with their point of sale system. I get to see bits and pieces of what he's doing. This takes quite a while, and I reiterate to him that I don't want any contracts and I don't want any new payments. (I should point out that the rep was very friendly and as helpful as he could be with the systems and policies he's given, so I'm not trying to slam him.) He says, oh, you don't want payments? I say no, I want to pay for the phone up front and I don't want any contracts. He goes back and starts entering data again. Eventually he gets to the end, scans the new phone's bar code, and hands me the tablet to do a signature with my finger. The fine print says I'm agreeing to an early termination agreement. I question him on that. He assures me that I'm not under contract so it's not relevant. I sign it. He starts doing some other things to process the order and gets to a summary screen. Finally, I see something about a $ 30 monthly charge and ask what that is. It looks like the system wants to change my plans and raise my rates (I thought). He rummages through the menus some more and eventually comes to the conclusion that system did change my plan somehow and (erroneously) says that my rates will go up. I say that's not acceptable. He clears the order and starts over. A while later, he gets to the end and the same thing happens. I ask him to ask someone else what's going on. He goes and chats with the manager. He comes back and tells me that I (a customer for more than a decade) cannot get my old plan there at the store, but that I might be able to get it through phone support. At this point, I've been there two hours, I can't get the phone I wanted and the plan I had and I'm getting angry, but (hopefully) not too rude. I thank the rep, tell him to cancel everything, and call the manager over. I proceed to tell him that I'm pissed and that this process should have taken place in 20 minutes. 1) pick out a new phone, 2) process order, 3) pay for phone, 4) transfer data to new phone, 5) leave with new phone and old plan. I tell him to tell his superiors they're doing a good job of driving customers away. I leave with my old flaky phone and thinking that I have my old plan. I start thinking about other alternatives. I go to Best Buy. They want $ 250 for the same phone. I said forget it. I go to Radio Shack. They want $ 300 for the same phone. I said you've got to be kidding. We start talking about prepaid phones. I can get a similar prepaid phone for just $ 40 or less. Verizon has a prepaid plan for $ 35 per month with 500 minutes and unlimited texts and unlimited web (on a very limited phone). Doesn't sound too bad, and the $ 40 phone sounds much better than $ 150. The Radio Shack guy says the prepaid phones are not as feature rich, but it still sounds good. I ask about keeping my old phone numbers. He says I'll have to go to the Verizon store for that. I meet my wife for supper and discuss things. The new phone will be hers anyway. We go back to the Verizon store together. We talk about prepaid plans with one (different) rep. Every prepaid phone you pick up has a sticker that says new lower pricing. Nobody seems to know what that pricing is. Nevertheless, we decide on a (different type) of phone, and decide to get a side slider prepaid phone for about $ 40 - $ 50. He wasn't sure of the price. I ask about keeping my number. He says ... wait for it ... he can't do that! But, I can call customer service on the phone. Also, this rep only has two prepaid phones to show me. I say why not buy it now and call customer service later. He says he cannot sell the phone without activating a new number for it. He advises converting my account to prepaid status then buying the phone. We leave and go to Walmart. We talk to them about prepaid Verizon phones. They have two more phones to show us, as it turns out. We buy one (for only $38), without assigning it a phone number, as far as I know. However, the cash register did say something about activating when they scanned the bar code. I don't know what that did. I go home and call Verizon tech support to find out how to get this phone working. I tell him most of this spiel. He says, get this, my plan DID get changed at the store, but you're better off. I listen. He says I'm still sharing 700 minutes. Now I have unlimited texts on both phones where I didn't before. And, it's $ 10 cheaper per month at $ 65 / month. I say I'm fine with that. I say still no contract on either phone, right. He says right. OK, I say, I have this prepaid phone from WalMart and I want to use it on my new and improved non prepaid plan. ER, can't do that until it's been on prepaid for 6 months. I say, OK, what would be the advantages and disadvantages of moving both my phones to a prepaid plan so I can go ahead and activate this phone? He says, I could do that, but, (news flash coming here) the prepaid phones only have access to 75% of the towers so it might not work in the boonies. Also, he says, customer service for prepaid is a different department and is crummy. So, I say, you're telling me that in order to get access to all the towers and good (or at least better) customer service, I have to pony up $ 150 for the phone and use a different phone and use a non prepaid plan. He says yes. And, I say, or I could use this $ 40 prepaid phone on a prepaid plan and get only 75% of the towers and crummy customer service. He says yes. I thank him for the help and hang up. By this time, my head is reeling. What a total circus. I can't believe how insane and obtuse this industry is. So, when it's all said and done, I want the better customer service and I want all the towers. I'm going to go tomorrow, return the $ 40 prepaid phone to Walmart, and get a mostly identical normal billing phone from the Verizon store for $ 150, and attach it to my new and improved billing plan that I never asked for and that the reps didn't understand. What a way to waste a whole day. Wish me luck. Ron -- Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail. Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen. (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.) Ron Frazier 770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message. linuxdude AT techstarship.com _______________________________________________ tech-chat mailing list [email protected] http://lists.linuxmoose.com/mailman/listinfo/tech-chat
