While I was in Florida last summer, I dropped my cell phone (Cingular service which I loved) into the ocean. Since I only had 1 more month on my contract with Cingular, and was going to have to buy a new phone anyway - the salt water destroyed mine.. I decided to go with Nextel. My whole family had them and they just seemed so neat.
I paid for the phone, signed a 2 year contract and I was "in"!
I really didn't have too much of a problem with it, my mothly bill was just what it was supposed to be, there were a few local places where there was no service, but Cingular was that way to, so I figured it was ok. Bonnie had Joel and would get out in her car and I worried it would quit on her and Sarah was pregnant and her car did break down on her a few times, so I got them "in" too. 3 Nextels on my bill. Still, to me, knowing they could get in touch with me or my folks, or my sister if they had a problem would be worth the money.
My January statement was fine, My February statement was fine, but then in March, Nextel put this Telenav charge on there.. 10 bucks a month on each phone for a phone map that none of us was interested in. I called them to tell them that I didn't want that, and they assured me they'd take it off. Too, I had insured my own phone, but had told them I didn't want insurance on the girl's phones, if something happened to them, the girls could replace them themselves. They also started charging all 3 phones for internet service, which we didn't use and didn't need, so I asked them to take that back off. They assured me they would. They added long distance direct charges to Bonnie's Nextel, and I called them on that. She didn't know anyone to direct connect out of our calling area. Oh yes, they said, they'd take that off too.
The thing was, the lady said.. they could only go back 2 months to remove their extra charges. Okay, fine, just make sure they're off. The bill came for April, again the extra charges were on my bill. Again I called. Oh yes, we'll be sure to take those off, the changes will be reflected on your next statement. The credit will be 119.00.
Got the May statement, the charges were still there, and only 49.00 was credited. So I wrote a letter of complaint and put into the bill, taking off the extra charges myself. I told them, hey, you're not going to fix this but for 2 months back, so if I pay this in full again, that's a month's worth of extra charges that you people aren't going to reimburse me for.
My June statement was for more than a car payment. I called again and asked to speak with a supervisor. The guy I talked to said he could do the same thing a supervisor could do (yes, I got his name) and he began to run down my bill. He said that the Telenav had been removed from 2 phones, for 20 bucks and some change, I think it was.. BUT that the insurance had been removed from 3 phones, at almost 6 bucks each, so that made up the difference. I balked, no, I paid for the telenav thing for 2 months on 3 phones, and I want my money back. He laughed, I swear to God, he laughed out loud and said that I got all the credit that I had coming to me, and that if I wanted to bicker with him that my bill would go even higher.
I hung up, stewed over this for a time, and then talked to Lisa. She said her bill too had gone sky high and since her contract was up she was having hers disconnected. Mom and Dad too thought it had gotten rediculous and they had theirs turned off too.
I talked to the girls and we decided to call and disconnect ours too. So, last week, I called them. It took 3 hours to finally get a representative on the phone. I told her I wanted to have my service shut off.. she replied, ok, but you're under contract, for us to turn them off will cost you 200 bucks per phone. I told her, yes, I realize that, but I still want them disconnected. She said ok, took down my information and then told me that they would be turned off on July 9. Then she asked me to hold while she got a confirmation number for me. I waited, and she hung up. No confirmation number..and she didn't return my call.
When you call Nextel, the first thing they want is your Nextel number, then they ask for you to call them from a landline, not Nextel, so that service isn't interrupted. (I did call from a landline) They then ask for the landline number so that they can call back if service is cut off. (That right there should tell folks a ton about Nextel service) So the woman had my number. She just didn't call back. She's not about to disconnect me. My guess is that they want another car payment for another month...for so long as possible.
It's July 11. The Nextel's are still on, and the lady still hasn't called back with a confirmation number. I'm not wasting 3 more hours to try to reach them to complain again. I'm just not gonna pay this invoice. I bet they call me when they realize it's not being paid. Don't you?
Posted by juel at July 11, 2005 01:26 PM