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Nextel ripoff Deceptive sales practices company takes no responsibility for sales persons actions! Carol Stream Illinois
Nextel needs to be formally investigated for fradulant sales practices.
1. Be aware that according to the Nextel customer representatives Nextel is absolved from any and all responsibility for statements made by their sales persons prior to signing a contract.
I purchased two cell phones and signed a contract based upon statments by the sales person that cell service was available at my home location in Hope MI. I purchased the phones from the sales office in Midland County Michigan and the sales person should have knowledge of cell phone availability in this county. I specfically stated to the sales rep that I currently had Verizon and they did not work at my home location. He stated that Nextel cell phones would work because they had more cell towers.
After signing the contract based on these statements I found out that the Nextel cell phones do not work at my home location in Hope nor within five miles of my home location. Use of the free phone minutes at night and the paging feature are of no use since there is no cell phone tower at my home location. I would have to drive to an area that can transmit in order to use these minutes or the paging feature.
Upon notification to Nextel of this problem, their answer was "too bad, so sad" if you want to cancel your contract it will cost you $200 per phone. When I stated that the sales person said the Nextel cell phone would work at our home location or we would not have signed the contract the company representative simply stated that Nextel is not responsible for statements or promises made by their sales persons prior to signing a contract. It is not logical that we would purchase cell phones that would not work at our home location when my husband's business is located and operated out of our home.
Thus at this time we are stuck with cell phones that do not work as stated by the Nextel sales representative until the contract expires and we end up paying through the nose until the contract expires or are forced to pay the cancelation fee. Our average monthly bill to Nextel is over $300. Their ad campaign of "$59 per phone" is grossly errored. I would be curious to learn the number of persons who actually pay only this amount per month.
2. According to the Nextel customer representative I spoke to, anyone can add a cell phone to your contract as long as they have your name and account information. These additions do not have to have a signed contract. They can be made over the phone to Nextel or by anyone stopping by a Nextel store and adding the new cell phone. The original contract signer will then be locked into a new two year contract on the new cell phone without any document signed by the original contract holder that they approved such addition.
According to Nextel, whether or not the original contract holder approves these additions is a moot issue. It appears to me that this practice falls outside of contract law. I would be curious if a lawyer would respond to this practice used at Nextel. I am the original contract signer and regardless whether or not I was informed I am still responsibile for the new cell phone additions.
3. According to the Nextel customer representative I spoke to, ff you change your minutes or anything with your cell phone, you have created a new contract. This is a neat trick by Nextel to keep you as a customer or force you to pay the $200 cancelation fee for each phone if you are not satisfied with their service or the sales rep is not clear on helping you with your cell phone needs.
Example: You have a two year contract that expires on 7/05. Upon receiving your billing you notice that you have went over the original minutes and want to increase the minutes from 500 to 1,000. On 1/05 you call Nextel and increase your minutes to 1,000. You cell phone contract date has changed from 7/05 to 1/07. In essence, you have started a new contract. You will not know that your contract time has been extended unless for some reason you want to cancel your contract or do not want to renew when the original expiration date arrives.
I would recommend anyone thinking about contracting with Nextel to think twice. Verizon and others have a good product and offer to help their customers with their problems. Verizon also has a shared minute plan with OnStar. My mistake was listening to a Nextel sales rep and not realizing that he can say anything just to get the contract signed and after the signing is done its "hey lady, just pay the bill ...we have a contract".
Wynne
hope, Michigan
U.S.A.
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