Posted on 06/04/2004 5:01:34 PM PDT by El Conservador
NEW YORK - Your cell phone company knows you hate it.
Mobile phone service was the second-lowest ranked industry — beating only cable providers among the 40 rated — in the University of Michigan's newest customer satisfaction index.
And there's more: mobile companies were the No. 2 sector in complaints last year to Better Business Bureaus, dropping from first place in 2002. Only auto dealers did worse.
"The industry claims that people love their cell phones and they're very happy with the service," said Carl Wood, a commissioner on the California Public Utilities commission who fought the industry for four years to establish state wireless regulatory power. "That's half right."
Consumers complain of frequently dropped calls, lousy customer service and exorbitant penalties for exiting a contract. Then there are the fees — Verizon Wireless plans to collectively charge customers more than $173 million a year in fees for number portability alone.
The complaints range from mundane to dramatic.
After Julie McMurry's husband died last summer, Verizon Wireless told the Enumclaw, Wash. woman that she would have to pay an early termination fee on his cell phone contract. "I said, 'This isn't an arbitrary thing, I'd be glad to fax you a copy of the death certificate. The man's dead.'"
The Verizon rep said McMurry could either pay the fee or give the phone to another family member.
She called Carl Hilliard, president of the Wireless Consumers Alliance. "I just happened to be in a meeting with Verizon Wireless's attorney and mentioned it to him," Hilliard said. "It was reversed."
California last week adopted a Telecommunications Bill of Rights that requires companies to inform customers about rate increases, bill customers only for services that they request and allow customers to drop a service, without penalty, within 30 days.
A tougher measure failed to pass. "In the last year or so, the industry has just gone all out on every front to stop this," said Wood, the utilities commissioner. The industry has promised to challenge the new regulations in court.
The new rules offer fewer safeguards against deceptive marketing and advertising than Wood proposal, which also would have blocked companies from changing the terms of an existing contract.
Eric Rabe, a spokesman for Verizon Communications Corp. said the company thought even the watered-down rules unnecessary.
"We do the majority of this stuff already," he claimed. "This is an attempt by a regulatory body to exercise regulatory authority where they have not heretofore had it."
But many consumers are frustrated.
Claire Smith, 21, of San Diego, set up automatic payments for her Cingular Wireless bill. Cingular charged her credit card, then sent paper bills. When she didn't pay the duplicate bill, they cut off her service, saying she was delinquent. "They tried to double bill me," she said.
Neil Coleman, 34, of Jersey City, N.J., asked for a national plan when he signed up with AT&T Wireless. He worked inside his local calling area for months, then was sent to Dallas. His next mobile bill was $600, most of it roaming charges.
Calls to AT&T Wireless's customer service ended with a representative telling him it was his responsibility to review his bill. There, on page four, in the left-hand corner, in small print, the bill said "local plan."
Even simple things, like making a call, aren't always possible.
"Wireless carriers have been the victims of people believing their advertising," said Roger Entner, director of the wireless mobile services practice at The Yankee Group. "The carriers have been able to position it as a utility in the eyes of the customers, but it can't live up to that."
Companies insist they're working on improvements, that they're investing in their networks, simplifying billing and tying bonuses to customer satisfaction.
But they've got some ways to go.
Sprint PCS ads even acknowledge consumer's frustration. A four-page ad in USA Today asked, "What if the rest of the world were like the wireless industry?"
It showed a group of children outside a fenced playground, reading the rules, which included, "You have to guess how many minutes you're going to use your ball — for the next two years. Don't guess too high or too low, or you'll be sorry."
The final rule: "If you don't like the rules, try another playground. It'll be exactly the same."
To improve service, the company has increased training for customer service employees to 10 days a year, introduced a new plan it said addresses common complaints and tied executive compensation to customer satisfaction, said Cindy Rock, senior vice president for customer solutions at Sprint PCS.
Cingular Wireless's chief operating officer, Ralph de la Vega, claims the company's service is also improving.
In April, it started giving new customers a summary of contract terms and costs. It also gives them a sample copy of what their first bill will look like.
AT&T Wireless, which has led the industry in complaints, according to Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) statistics made public by Consumers Union, was bought by Cingular for $41 billion in February. Cingular is in the process of merging the two companies.
Verizon Wireless said it added 1,600 customer service employees last year.
The company has led customer satisfaction surveys, although the Michigan survey, a quarterly index which this past week included wireless for the first time, said it was tops in "a lackluster field."
Asked about the ranking, Verizon's Rabe said, "Compared to what? Lands' End? You have to compare apples to apples. I wouldn't compare the customer experience of dealing with a complicated technology with buying a shirt. It's just a whole different challenge."
Cell phone troubles even dogged the reporting of this story.
Twice spokespeople for different wireless companies called on cell phones whose signals faded to silence.
"Calls to AT&T Wireless's customer service ended with a representative telling him it was his responsibility to review his bill. There, on page four, in the left-hand corner, in small print, the bill said "local plan."
Reading this story was like reading my life. The only company I hate more than my satellite company (DirectTV) is my wireless. (I left DTV asap).
And AT&T did the exact same "local plan" bit to me, leaving me with over $400 worth of charges they never reversed. Finally I paid it, promising them that I not only would never use them again, but tell everyone I know about their lousy service.
...Sound waves travel pretty far from those hills. When above the hollow, Howl!!!
ATT is horrible. They scammed me on a free phone...that wasn't. The BBB helps, but they just drag you through so many damn hoops.
They are all bad when it comes to dealing with billing issues. None of them respond to written notice.
Fortunately I had over 170 lawyers behind me who really didn't have anything useful to do ..............
When they send me those "free" $70 checks to sign up, I laugh and tear them up. I took advantage of them a couple of times - each time I was scammed out of more money than I was promised.
And when I say scammed, I mean scammed. Not a misunderstanding, or an error, or anything else. A scam.
They could send me a $500 check and I would NEVER get involved with them again.
When above the "holler" Howl
I love T-Mobile - great coverage, and the only problem I have is occasionally getting echo on a call. My old provider, Qwest, offered good quality too, but only when I was within sight of Interstate 17. If I happened to visit LA, I was already roaming.
...Holler, Got it. Just wern sure how ta spell it...
A couple of years ago, my wife went to a verizon store in February and got a new phone, a new plan for 39/mo.
March - bill came, $500.00 plus fees and taxes. She was well within her minutes. We called customer (no)service and they said they would take care of it. (We sent in $39.00)
April - bill came, $500.00 plus fees and taxes. She was well within her minutes. We called customer (no)service and they said they would take care of it. (We sent in $39.00) We now have an outstanding balance of $1000.
May - Yep, another $500 bill. Now owe em 1500. Called customer service, called the Verizon store. They all said it would be handled immediately. We called and checked the balance every day for a week. No change.
Saturday rolls around. I typed a letter detailing all of this, plus a reciept for the phone and we went back to the Verizon store, which was packed. I asked for the manager, gave him the letter, the phone and the reciept and asked him to sign the reciept. He refused.
I left the phone on the counter and we left. He screamed at us to come into his office. We refused. He then ordered us out of his store. Fine, we headed for the door. Then he screamed for us to come to his office again. We kept moving for the door.
Once in the parking lot, he ran after us and wrote down our tag number, threatening to call the police if we returned.
When we got home, he had left a message on our land line. Ten minutes later, I'm on the deck and he's calling me from our front porch, telling me he's returning our phone. The SOB had looked up our address and followed us home. I told him if he wasn't off our property by the time I ran around the house, I would shoot him. He left.
Monday I called a different Verizon store, found out that Doug was not well liked and got a number for a district manager. Told her the story and advised her to get Doug a straight jacket and to kill our account before I called a lawyer.
Never got another bill, never saw Doug again.
The last time was a few years ago when they were turning on their Cincinnati network -- when I got there there was no signal. A couple days later I noticed there was (and immediately phoned home); by the end of the week's stay they were pretty much up the whole time. I always wondered if they noticed the calls that started almost the instant they went live...
(The wife tried ATT for a year, a few years back -- and hated it.)
Rural coverage? Last July, I made a T-Mobile call from a Mississippi riverboat. When I was with Qwest, I was off the map in urban California.
Verizon, "Can you hear me now?"
Me, "No, your signal sucks. I can only get reception in isolated spots."
Verizon, "Thats ok you owe me $59 a month for the next 2 years anyway."
I've had a few issues with 'em, like their being careless about bills and trying to jack me on when night-time minutes start, but I called 'em up and b!tched until somebody fixed it. Sprint ain't too bad. I hate calling 'em because it takes forever to get somebody on the line, but they ain't too bad...
And Comcast, I just hate 'em because they're so d@mn expensive. This is the 21st century. You would think that some entreprenurial (sp?) soul would've risen up and offered the masses something with decent price and selection. No, I do not want 472 music channels with my HBO so that you can pretend that your outrageous costs are justified...
Actually, I'm an ATT Wireless user myself, and my service hasn't been anything out of the ordinary... except when I went over my minutes and got royally screwed, but that was because both me and my mom used the phone rather liberally (you know no good comes out of doing things "liberally" ;)).
Finally had a chance when I got fed up of my old cellphone running out of batteries, so I bought a new one, GSM one. Changed my plan, and now that I'm GSM, I'm quite happy, except that sometimes reception is really crappy.
Now I'm trying to get my mom to buy a GSM cellphone and share my minutes with her. I'm sick and tired of her borrowing the phone constantly. IT'S MINE, DAMMIT!!! :P
Do you live with your mother?
If you had to pick the best of the bad bunch, which company would you choose?
T- Mobile is great.
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