Cell Phone Hell

[Kevin]

As a dealer of both Sprint PCS and Cingular I've noticed several things about most cell phone customers...

1. You expect it to work everywhere.... Well in fact it does not. No cell phone does. They work off of towers that are placed in ways that ***SHOULD*** cover a given geographical area. There are also areas they are not licensed to be in or place towers because of local restrictions. Cell phone signals or any other type of Radio Frequency device is NOT something that can be relied upon 100%. If you get a crappy signal or dropped call from time to time or always in a certain place just adapt or switch carriers.

2. The lowest rate plan is always the best... I suggest to customers that they estimate what their usage PER DAY would be... 15 minutes for example. Multiply that by 30 and then choose the plan that is ABOVE that one. It's a lot cheaper to pay $10 more one month than $100 because your plan was too small.

3. You expect great customer service directly from the company... Customer service for these companies is done in HUGE call centers. The people who take your calls work a VERY monotonous job and are paid very low wages. There is high turnover so training is ALWAYS an issue. Note that they are now hiring many people that have inadquate skills with english to work these call centers.


These are just 3 things... Now if you want good customer service go back to where you bought the phone OR log on to the internet and fix it yourself. Your best bet is always face to face. That's where all of these companies have their best people -- usually these people are more experienced, they're ALWAYS better trained. They sell phones most of the day so their attitude is generally better..

Read the fine print and be patient with your service. Your expectations may be too high and you need to allow these carriers some leeway. No cell phone product is perfect.

[poodleNtraining]

Originally posted by ktsnake
As a dealer of both Sprint PCS and Cingular I've noticed several things about most cell phone customers...

1. You expect it to work everywhere.... Well in fact it does not. No cell phone does. They work off of towers that are placed in ways that ***SHOULD*** cover a given geographical area. There are also areas they are not licensed to be in or place towers because of local restrictions. Cell phone signals or any other type of Radio Frequency device is NOT something that can be relied upon 100%. If you get a crappy signal or dropped call from time to time or always in a certain place just adapt or switch carriers.

2. The lowest rate plan is always the best... I suggest to customers that they estimate what their usage PER DAY would be... 15 minutes for example. Multiply that by 30 and then choose the plan that is ABOVE that one. It's a lot cheaper to pay $10 more one month than $100 because your plan was too small.

3. You expect great customer service directly from the company... Customer service for these companies is done in HUGE call centers. The people who take your calls work a VERY monotonous job and are paid very low wages. There is high turnover so training is ALWAYS an issue. Note that they are now hiring many people that have inadquate skills with english to work these call centers.


These are just 3 things... Now if you want good customer service go back to where you bought the phone OR log on to the internet and fix it yourself. Your best bet is always face to face. That's where all of these companies have their best people -- usually these people are more experienced, they're ALWAYS better trained. They sell phones most of the day so their attitude is generally better..

Read the fine print and be patient with your service. Your expectations may be too high and you need to allow these carriers some leeway. No cell phone product is perfect.

True. But I've noticed that different phones and different services work differently. My brother had MCI, and using the phone in the house was horrible. He had some kind of Nokia flip phone. When I had Voice stream and a Nokia 3390, it worked ok, sometime. Now I have verizon, and first I had an audiovox, and it would cut a call for no apparent reason in my room or the living room. Now I have the Mototola T720, and it works just fine everywhere (it better for how much I payed for it!!) So I guess it just depends.

[aprilxo]

Originally posted by juniorgrrl
I got a free Nokia 3285, which is the bastard child of the 3300 and the 5100 series. Its just plain ugly.

LMAO!

My 3360 was free and I haven't ever had any problems with it like others have had before. After reading through this, it's interesting how things are seemingly different everywhere.

Originally posted by PM_Mama00
Lemme guess... Nokia 3360

Wow, I didn't know that that was actually a problem with the model... I just had to have mine replaced a while back, for that exact same problem....

[SSS1365]

Well said, ktsnake! People are so clueless when it comes to cell phones, and then they go and think that the company sucks just because they're ignorant! And for the record, I've never heard of a service provider that DIDN'T charge for EVERY time you use your phone, even if someone calls YOU. They charge you for airtime, not just the calls that you make.

Here are some things that are true for just about every service provider:

-They charge for airtime. ANY time your phone is used, whether you called someone or someone called you.

-Night and weekend minutes generally start after 9 pm. If you place a call at 8:59 pm, it counts off of your anytime minutes. If you want it to count off your night minutes, you must wait till after 9 to make the call.

-No service is going to work everywhere you go. You have to choose what is best for your area. If you live in the middle of nowhere, Sprint PCS for example is NOT going to work for you. LOOK at coverage maps before you buy, that way you know where it works and where it doesn't. In my experience, Verizon Wireless is the only thing that has worked for me almost everywhere I go.

I thought this stuff was common knowledge, but apparently not...

[KappaTarzan]

SPRINT PCS SUCKS

i worked for them for a year, and they trained us not in how to deal with customer service issues, but how to dodge them and send the customer elsewhere, only to get dodged again.. they charge for EVERYTHING including calling customer care (which you have to do cuz we won't help you in the store- if we do, we get in trouble). the new 3g network is very unreliable.. and the phones break very easily unless they are Sanyo or some Samsungs. it it was rare i didn't see problems with new customers...

www.sprintpcs-sucks.org

don't go to pcs.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by KappaTarzan
SPRINT PCS SUCKS

i worked for them for a year, and they trained us not in how to deal with customer service issues, but how to dodge them and send the customer elsewhere, only to get dodged again.. they charge for EVERYTHING including calling customer care (which you have to do cuz we won't help you in the store- if we do, we get in trouble). the new 3g network is very unreliable.. and the phones break very easily unless they are Sanyo or some Samsungs. it it was rare i didn't see problems with new customers...

www.sprintpcs-sucks.org

don't go to pcs.

That's actually the way most of these companies work. I'll tell you that I've actually never had a problem with customer care on Sprint. They have always been fairly professional. They *do* sometimes give people a bit of the 'ol run around but it usually gets handled when I send them into the actual Sprint Service Center.

Personally I had a problem a few weeks ago with Sprint. I have a web service that sends me the scores to certain football games. The service went haywire and started sending me about 50 pages every time one of the teams scored. Sprint credited my bill for something that wasn't even their fault!

I'm not calling you a liar but I don't think that your story is ENTIRELY accurate.

[texas*princess]

Originally posted by KillarneyRose
While we're on the subject of cell phones, let me tell you about a neat li'l trick Cingular slipped into the "small print" on the back of the contract.

Night minutes start at 9 pm so I think most people would assume if you make a call at 8:55 pm and talk for an hour that Cingular will deduct five daytime and 55 nighttime minutes from your balance, right? Wrong!!!

If you start your call at 8:55 pm, you will be using day minutes for the entire duration of the call, even the time you're talking after 9 pm.

Legal? Yes, well, it's in the contract. Shady? Definitely. Do I plan to re-up when my contract expires? Not a chance in he**!

Sprint made it pretty clear to me about how that works when I got my cell phone. Only problem I have with Sprint is their phones are expensive and don't even last a year.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by texas*princess


Sprint made it pretty clear to me about how that works when I got my cell phone. Only problem I have with Sprint is their phones are expensive and don't even last a year.

So go with another carrier

Actually they're comparable. If you look at the features that Sprint phones have vs the free phones you get elsewhere you're getting a decent deal. Sprint usually gives their new customers a pretty big break with tons of rebates and incentives. If you sign a 2 year contract you get a $100 credit with which to purchase a new phone.. It's called the "technology assurance program".

If you go with Cingular and want a phone in the middle of your contract period just add $200 to the posted price of the phone and it's yours. For example a $.01 phone becomes $200.01. Or at least until you have gone 1 1/2 years and are able to upgrade by signing away 2 more years.

Quality on cell phones is a tough thing to have. They take a beating that most devices would never withstand. We carry them around in our pocket all day bumping them into things. We drop them on hard surfaces.. splash them, etc... Not many electronic devices are able to withstand that. Besides their technologically obsolete in a year or two...

They're all very similar when things balance out. You just have to be careful to choose what's right for you.

[KappaTarzan]

ktsnake - that is the honest truth of it.. i hated working at sprint... maybe it was just my store and the management of it, but it was hell. he was only 23, and the oldest one in the store.. the manager was super sexist too, i was the only female in the store and he treated me like the store maid. i eventually left for better employment, at verizon. i'm still training but it seems like a much better atmosphere and company to work for.. in the last quarter sprint actually net LOST customers.. which is super bad.

[SATX*APhi]

Originally posted by Hootie
I have CRICKET now and I love it! I get UNLIMITED calls ALL DAY AND NIGHT! Basically, it's my home phone! I do have to pay to have caller ID, call waiting, and something else (I forget) but you get a discount if you get all three. And my phone bill is never over $50...and I can talk ALL I WANT!

Ya can't beat that!

This definitely sounds like a good plan, especially for people who love to talk! I visited their web site and they don't have service in Texas.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by SATX*APhi

This definitely sounds like a good plan, especially for people who love to talk! I visited their web site and they don't have service in Texas.

Cricket is great if you never leave home... If you leave home with it the service just doesn't work (at all).

[texas*princess]

Originally posted by ktsnake


So go with another carrier

Actually they're comparable. If you look at the features that Sprint phones have vs the free phones you get elsewhere you're getting a decent deal. Sprint usually gives their new customers a pretty big break with tons of rebates and incentives. If you sign a 2 year contract you get a $100 credit with which to purchase a new phone.. It's called the "technology assurance program".

LoL .. yea that's true ... I don't think I would ever switch though, Sprint PCS has been good to me! I've never had problems getting a signal (except maybe that one I was randomly driving around a wooded area in Missouri ) My cell phone bills are generally less than $35/month too

[Kevin]

In 2 or 3 years you'll be able to switch carriers and keep your phone number. I may be switching at that point depending on what's available. I've been with Sprint now for about 5 years.

[SATX*APhi]

I was with Sprint for about 5 years and had to give up my cell phone to save some money. When I do get another cell phone, I will probably go with Sprint. There aren't many carriers to choose from down here and in the 5 years I was with Sprint, the only problem I had was when I was cancelling my phone.