My cell phone story is similar to many, but with a personal twist. It involves a form of hostage-taking that many people are subjected to with virtually no appeal. Is there any wonder people don't trust mega-groups that sell us phones?
According to the
CTIA-Wireless Association, more than 250 million Americans now have cell phones, a number that has more than quadrupled since the figure of 55 million in 1997. This puts the penetration rate at 82.4 percent, reflecting just how widespread and powerful cell phone companies are.
I enrolled with a local cell phone service about 10 weeks ago. The phone I received was swell; it took pictures, did text messages and had a little keyboard. I was really impressed. I was told it was expandable with a mini-SD card that would allow me to save contacts and move them to a computer along with other material inputted into the phone. Besides it was unlimited service, I was told, for only $49/month, as the sign says (and the television commercials as well.) But I learned most of this was wrong, especially the features I was told about the phone.
The phone was $177, including certain activation and special fees, most of it not for service, it seemed. This was the “$49” a month plan, with a month, as the representative explained, that was paid in advance. I got a bill less than two weeks later, making the total to be paid more than $200, which is hardly $49 or the $59 mine was to total with voice mail and all. It was hard to get service much of the time outside of the immediate Natchitoches area. On a trip to Oregon, where I had been told I could get service, the phone showed none wherever I went after I left the airport.
Troubleshooting is hard to get when someone has no phone that gets service. Without an instruction booklet handy at all times, one can search in vain. In my case the contact number for the maker of the phone was available but not the one rendering communication service. In that case I had to call information from some other phone, at cost, then wait for information. I did this several times in Louisiana but was unable to in Oregon because pay phones aren't at all corners. So with no one to talk to, no phone where I stayed, and nowhere to complain, I was trapped with no access at a time when my personal business required it urgently. Does this sound like something you know?
Do you want the rest of my story? You probably have one of your own. If you've read this much so far, you are probably running a comparison because I understand this dismal stuff is fairly commonplace.
Some companies are better than others at holding onto their customers regardless. They will do whatever they can to make the struggling masses suffer, most especially those who try to end a cell phone service because service has been bad. Trying to terminate the cell phone service is very difficult to do. I called the cell phone company to do it and thought a simple no thanks just might work.. After hanging on after dropped calls, being put on hold with no one returning to the phone to ask questions, telling my story several times, more than one hour later I was told that no matter what kind of service I had, as poor as it was, I would have to pay the termination fee. I had signed a contract. Customers have obligations it seems when contracts are signed that cell phone companies don't have. The fact I had been originally sold the wrong phone and had numerous problems with connection had nothing to do with what happened. I was told I would have to pay absolutely, $250, but not right away of course. I had to give 30 days notice, during which time charges would continue for a telephone I couldn't access most of the time without help from the company. Or I could hang around for the next three years, the length of the contract, hoping things might change.
Many customers, when dealing with monolithic companies are held ransom this way. One finds this out when trying to get that refund promised in big letters that describes the price of an object as one thing when it really is another, the higher price the ads say you won't really have to pay. Try to complain to a big corporation and find yourself stuck in phone mail jail with automated messages that give everything except the recipe for dinner. We are hostages, all of us. And no wonder we're mad.
I suggest that the reason we have such great political divides, debates over health insurance, verbal violence, stress in families and all of those sad problems is mostly because of cell phones, since they have become indispensable to modern life. Cell phone company executives are detached from customers, and automation has created even more distance from service. Try finding a telephone number to contact one of them or the particular number on the telephone itself where a customer can find a representative right away when needing to use the phone. By the time the representative is located, the time for making the call has long since passed.
Company errors in the cell phone industry are counted as customer errors not cell phone company ones. Customers are resigned to paying termination fees or try month after month to get good service. Monthly service plans don't work as they promise and often get more expensive than advertised. So people sign up for contracts, and if the phone doesn't work, the customer is held hostage until he or she finally gives up and either pays the termination fee or hangs on until the contract runs out.
UCAN, Consumer Utility Companies Action Network that helps with consumer protection, writes about the cell phone issue in detail. They point out that cell phone companies don't guarantee good service. They have some ideas about what to do if you end up on the proverbial end of the stick but for the most part they post the complaints. And they are many, mostly about ransom.
Lawyers have gotten into the act since there is pending legislation in several locales concerning high fees for terminating services, especially services that haven't been good. The issue is large enough many are jumping on board. I have their form available just in case. It seems virtually all carriers have this same practice of charging large fees for terminating service, even when the customer didn't get the good service they paid for.
Anyone want a cell phone during the next 30 days? You can get all the time you need on it in the next month during the time I have to wait before my account is closed. You may have difficulty getting an outside line, but you'll look smart with a brand new phone with all the bells and whistles. Just take it away from me please. In the meantime I remain hostage to this cell phone company someplace, and I plead for help and safety where no cell phone company can find me and I can't even hear one ring.
