Cell Phone Plan Insanity
We have had a little BootsnAll cell phone plan for about 18 months. Since Ant and Chris have gone, and I am travelling more, we (my pops and I) decided to look for another plan that doesn’t kill me with roaming charges…
This looking at of other plans via both AttWireless and Tmobile is a complete waste of time and is quickly driving my pops and I crazy. Every person we talk to over at these places is telling us a different story. The websites have plans linked up with service that in actuality are not offered. We call, get cut off. We call, are on hold forever.
Everytime we call - a different person who has no idea what the scenario is, is trying to help us.
Sometimes, I feel like throwing something that will shatter loudly against the wall like Mark Prior throws a slider. It is insane.
The companies
They are freakin’ huge and the right hand has no idea that there is even a left hand, let alone know what it is doing.
They have so many promotions and plans for personal, family, business, friends, data, pictures, handhelds etc…it is difficult for the reps to keep track of.
I hope BootsnAll never gives a customer an experience like this…if it ever does, please let me know and I will make sure I resolve it.
A few more notes:
Pops and I were going for a walk for coffee the other day before we decided to change. He asked me which company I think is the best. I said, “They all suck, none of them know what they are doing and we can expect the same level of crap from all of them”
I didn’t realize how true it was.
Last note: I don’t blame the customer service reps…they are trying there best, but the beast is so big…
Comments
All these mobile phone companies know exactly what they’re doing, blinding customers with a thousand different packages, hoping you’ll give up and go with what the rep suggests.
Screwing as much as they can out of you is the bottom line.
Why would any company want to confuse their reps and customers for the long term? I know money is the bottom line but .. is the future not part of their scenario?
I’m a customer service rep for a prepaid cellular phone that’s bursting at the seams. As a result, information reaches the reps at the same time it reaches our customers, sometimes later. Things are changing so rapidly, even management doesn’t have the answers.
Simplicity, customer perspective and excellent training are sometimes lacking. Overall, though, the individual rep can provide information required at any specific time with a bit of research and asking until answers are forthcoming. Sure, call times lengthen, however, there are always the short ones that make up for the long ones.
Lack of time, information overload and fast-forward changes are affecting our culture profoundly.
I have had t-mobile for years (when they were voicestream) and have had very few problems with them. If you just want a phone for the US they are fine. No roaming charges, and you can call from anywhere. If you go out of the country, the phone will work since it is GSM but then t hey have high raoming charges. it is good for an emergency. I have always found their customer service to be good. I have never had to wait long to be connected, and they took mistaken charges off right away. I like them.
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I called today and Dave answered. I pretended to be Stephanie Kettleman from Sprint PCS. He fell for it. We had already started talking about the blog and I thought he knew it was me, but he didn’t. “Oh, you read our site?” is what I think he said. Too fun.
Sean, a woman from Nextel should also be calling you with a plan that’s supposed to be good for roaming. ( I I got her on a nighttime sales call but thought you might like to have a listen) Maybe she can beat whatever your current best potential plan has to offer. It never hurts to ask. And I think she was offering lots of miles if you signed up.
Good luck.