Us Cellular broken phone, company chagred monthly fee and ETF fee for non payment Internet
I started an account with US cellular for my father and myself about two years ago on a two year contract with a phone for each of us on a family plan. I also purchased insurance from radio shack ( where i bought the plan ) for $40 or $60 a phone. When my phone broke a couple months into the contract I sent it in to be repaired at radio shack and it took 6 weeks to get it back. A loaner phone was available for only two weeks of this time. I paid my whole bill even though I was down to one phone for a month or so.
With only 6 months left on the contract both phones were not charging properly on either house charger or my car charger, apparently a problem with this model. I called us cellular stores in my area and none had a loaner phone available. I called customer care and was told that it was my responsibility to have a working phone on the account, that they weren't obligated to provide a loaner phone, and that it was my fault for choosing a poor insurance program that takes a month and a half to replace a phone.
I offered to purchase a phone from them and they said it would cost over $100 a phone if i did not extend my contract. I told them I would no longer pay my bill if I was unable to use the service. They kept charging me for several months after that conversation and now I'm in collections with close to a $400 bill. I believe that I was treated unfairly, I'm very angry that I was offered a low end phone at over $100 each ( company probably pays teenage girls in china $1 a day to make them ) and most of all I am very ashamed of myself for doing business with this company in the first place.
Also, please research the other party before signing a paper or shaking a hand. What will happen to me now, I believe that paying this bill is morally the wrong thing to do, will I be taken to court? thrown in jail? any info on what will happen next is appreciated. I'm already in stage 2 of collections.
Dennis
Oakland, Maine
U.S.A.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
John
Milwaukee,Wisconsin,
U.S.A.
You dealt with an AGENT of US Cellular
#5UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, June 08, 2007
You bought your phones through Radio Shack which sells US Cellular products and services. However, since they are an agent of US Cellular (ie: the employees at RadioShack work for RadioShack and NOT US Cellular) they are responsible to pay and repair for their own inventory. The procedure would have been FAR different if you had bought service from a US Cellular corporate owned store. Also, you may want to think about purchasing insurance next time as well.
Kc
Oak Harbor,Washington,
U.S.A.
How to deal with US Cellular...
#5Consumer Suggestion
Wed, September 27, 2006
This is not the first time i have heard of bad phones/products by US Cellular, and also their response to their own failings with extreme lack of customer service and/or responsibility.
My dearest friend's house burned down a year and a half ago. She has six children, and although all safe, her husband perished due to injuries resulting from that fire. Her cell phone, and her husband's, both US Cellular products had been completely melted. When she called to ask about receiving new phones as it was imparitive so she could stay in contact with family AND the hospital's burn unit, she was told it was impossible. Her husband was on the account and until HE called, she would be unable to do anything but pay the bill. She would not even be allowed to buy new phones for the plans since her husband didn't order them. It was so bad that the town's mayor actually got involved! Only then did they give her a loaner phone - that worked for three days.
So three days later she's at Cingular with a nice new phone and new plan, and told US Cellular to have a lovely time trying to collect the bill. They continued to hound her until well after her husband died, and of course she told them he had passed on and they would not be able to collect any bills....and good luck attaching it to her, she wasn't paying if they wouldn't help her in the first place. Nobody had used the service in months. Eventually she gave them the address of the cemetary and and also gave them a heartfelt good luck in collecting their money.
My advice is this: Only speak to managers. Write down dates, times, names, and "promises." Put things in writing. You CAN attempt to have the 2months of service where you were out of the loop refunded. You can also try and force them to let you out of your contract with them (although I dont see any real grounds for them to do that with you, if they wont let a dead man out of a contract...) Check the fine print of your contract. How much would it cost to early out? Usually it's about $150 per phone and line of service. Can you drop your plan to pay only $9 per line per month? If so do the math and see how long you would have to pay that way vs. your end of contract. If it's cheaper to get out early, do it, but do so with a refund of your money. YOU CAN make this happen. You can also try to call in the morning when people are still in good moods and are more willing to help you out of kindness. To get money back on your phones: list them on ebay. They go for a fair market price and then you get something back. Research your phone and current prices on your phones before starting the auction.
End of the day: you are going to have to do something about this. It's going to take time and effort, and unfortunately it's going to cost you no matter which way it goes. I guess you can chalk it up to lesson's learned and from here on out go with only a reputable cell phone service.
For the BEST in customer service and friendliness (where something like this would NEVER HAPPEN) try Sprint. They are AWESOME! When I moved to my current home there were no towers on my island. I could get very spotty reception at best. I asked Sprint to look at my calling history, and since the proof was right there -- they refunded the previous three months of service AND let me out of my renewed contracts. For free. They apologized for not being able to do anythign about the phone I just upgraded to, so I sold it on ebay and got more than I paid! Who cares? They saved me $500 they could have legally charged me!
I am with Cingular now. While they are no Sprint and will make you pay all charges, they have EXCELLENT coverage nation-wide AND excellent phones at good prices. They are partnered with T-Mobile and they each use the other's towers with no cost to consumers. This is a huge bonus.
Get away from US Cellular, and while working on a resolution ask them to REMOVE the collections from your credit report while you work it out. At the same time go to the big three CRA's and challenge the debts. They will most likely do this in order to collect something from you.
I wish you good luck...
Kc
Oak Harbor,Washington,
U.S.A.
How to deal with US Cellular...
#5Consumer Suggestion
Wed, September 27, 2006
This is not the first time i have heard of bad phones/products by US Cellular, and also their response to their own failings with extreme lack of customer service and/or responsibility.
My dearest friend's house burned down a year and a half ago. She has six children, and although all safe, her husband perished due to injuries resulting from that fire. Her cell phone, and her husband's, both US Cellular products had been completely melted. When she called to ask about receiving new phones as it was imparitive so she could stay in contact with family AND the hospital's burn unit, she was told it was impossible. Her husband was on the account and until HE called, she would be unable to do anything but pay the bill. She would not even be allowed to buy new phones for the plans since her husband didn't order them. It was so bad that the town's mayor actually got involved! Only then did they give her a loaner phone - that worked for three days.
So three days later she's at Cingular with a nice new phone and new plan, and told US Cellular to have a lovely time trying to collect the bill. They continued to hound her until well after her husband died, and of course she told them he had passed on and they would not be able to collect any bills....and good luck attaching it to her, she wasn't paying if they wouldn't help her in the first place. Nobody had used the service in months. Eventually she gave them the address of the cemetary and and also gave them a heartfelt good luck in collecting their money.
My advice is this: Only speak to managers. Write down dates, times, names, and "promises." Put things in writing. You CAN attempt to have the 2months of service where you were out of the loop refunded. You can also try and force them to let you out of your contract with them (although I dont see any real grounds for them to do that with you, if they wont let a dead man out of a contract...) Check the fine print of your contract. How much would it cost to early out? Usually it's about $150 per phone and line of service. Can you drop your plan to pay only $9 per line per month? If so do the math and see how long you would have to pay that way vs. your end of contract. If it's cheaper to get out early, do it, but do so with a refund of your money. YOU CAN make this happen. You can also try to call in the morning when people are still in good moods and are more willing to help you out of kindness. To get money back on your phones: list them on ebay. They go for a fair market price and then you get something back. Research your phone and current prices on your phones before starting the auction.
End of the day: you are going to have to do something about this. It's going to take time and effort, and unfortunately it's going to cost you no matter which way it goes. I guess you can chalk it up to lesson's learned and from here on out go with only a reputable cell phone service.
For the BEST in customer service and friendliness (where something like this would NEVER HAPPEN) try Sprint. They are AWESOME! When I moved to my current home there were no towers on my island. I could get very spotty reception at best. I asked Sprint to look at my calling history, and since the proof was right there -- they refunded the previous three months of service AND let me out of my renewed contracts. For free. They apologized for not being able to do anythign about the phone I just upgraded to, so I sold it on ebay and got more than I paid! Who cares? They saved me $500 they could have legally charged me!
I am with Cingular now. While they are no Sprint and will make you pay all charges, they have EXCELLENT coverage nation-wide AND excellent phones at good prices. They are partnered with T-Mobile and they each use the other's towers with no cost to consumers. This is a huge bonus.
Get away from US Cellular, and while working on a resolution ask them to REMOVE the collections from your credit report while you work it out. At the same time go to the big three CRA's and challenge the debts. They will most likely do this in order to collect something from you.
I wish you good luck...
Kc
Oak Harbor,Washington,
U.S.A.
How to deal with US Cellular...
#5Consumer Suggestion
Wed, September 27, 2006
This is not the first time i have heard of bad phones/products by US Cellular, and also their response to their own failings with extreme lack of customer service and/or responsibility.
My dearest friend's house burned down a year and a half ago. She has six children, and although all safe, her husband perished due to injuries resulting from that fire. Her cell phone, and her husband's, both US Cellular products had been completely melted. When she called to ask about receiving new phones as it was imparitive so she could stay in contact with family AND the hospital's burn unit, she was told it was impossible. Her husband was on the account and until HE called, she would be unable to do anything but pay the bill. She would not even be allowed to buy new phones for the plans since her husband didn't order them. It was so bad that the town's mayor actually got involved! Only then did they give her a loaner phone - that worked for three days.
So three days later she's at Cingular with a nice new phone and new plan, and told US Cellular to have a lovely time trying to collect the bill. They continued to hound her until well after her husband died, and of course she told them he had passed on and they would not be able to collect any bills....and good luck attaching it to her, she wasn't paying if they wouldn't help her in the first place. Nobody had used the service in months. Eventually she gave them the address of the cemetary and and also gave them a heartfelt good luck in collecting their money.
My advice is this: Only speak to managers. Write down dates, times, names, and "promises." Put things in writing. You CAN attempt to have the 2months of service where you were out of the loop refunded. You can also try and force them to let you out of your contract with them (although I dont see any real grounds for them to do that with you, if they wont let a dead man out of a contract...) Check the fine print of your contract. How much would it cost to early out? Usually it's about $150 per phone and line of service. Can you drop your plan to pay only $9 per line per month? If so do the math and see how long you would have to pay that way vs. your end of contract. If it's cheaper to get out early, do it, but do so with a refund of your money. YOU CAN make this happen. You can also try to call in the morning when people are still in good moods and are more willing to help you out of kindness. To get money back on your phones: list them on ebay. They go for a fair market price and then you get something back. Research your phone and current prices on your phones before starting the auction.
End of the day: you are going to have to do something about this. It's going to take time and effort, and unfortunately it's going to cost you no matter which way it goes. I guess you can chalk it up to lesson's learned and from here on out go with only a reputable cell phone service.
For the BEST in customer service and friendliness (where something like this would NEVER HAPPEN) try Sprint. They are AWESOME! When I moved to my current home there were no towers on my island. I could get very spotty reception at best. I asked Sprint to look at my calling history, and since the proof was right there -- they refunded the previous three months of service AND let me out of my renewed contracts. For free. They apologized for not being able to do anythign about the phone I just upgraded to, so I sold it on ebay and got more than I paid! Who cares? They saved me $500 they could have legally charged me!
I am with Cingular now. While they are no Sprint and will make you pay all charges, they have EXCELLENT coverage nation-wide AND excellent phones at good prices. They are partnered with T-Mobile and they each use the other's towers with no cost to consumers. This is a huge bonus.
Get away from US Cellular, and while working on a resolution ask them to REMOVE the collections from your credit report while you work it out. At the same time go to the big three CRA's and challenge the debts. They will most likely do this in order to collect something from you.
I wish you good luck...