Debra
Galesburg,#2Author of original report
Tue, October 28, 2003
The negative downfall with threads such as this one; can lead to much confusion for the reader. I apologize for the confusion and my defensive attitude; and accept your apology Rob. You said, "One more thing, NEXTEL gives you 100 free incoming text messages per month. Their voice mail system uses text messages to alert your phone that you have new voice mail (so it's included with your voice mail servie). You shouldn't get charged for that message they sent you." I appreciate this information, but if I change my plan it will cost me an entire year. I have until 'August' and once the agreement expires I will discontinue my services with NEXTEL. If I had the funds to discontinue now I would. Have a wonderful day Rob :)
Rob
Providence,#3UPDATE Employee
Mon, October 27, 2003
Sorry, but I got the impression that you thought somebody was out to get you, and that you thought your cell phone got cloned from your posts (in my defense, there's a lot of stuff going on in this thread). There does seem to be a problem, and I didn't mean for you to think I was mocking or making fun of you in any way. One more thing, NEXTEL gives you 100 free incoming text messages per month. Their voice mail system uses text messages to alert your phone that you have new voice mail (so it's included with your voice mail servie). You shouldn't get charged for that message they sent you.
Debra
Galesburg,#4Author of original report
Sun, October 26, 2003
Rob, thank you for taking the time to write. Since I have written my concerns on this board; Nextel has assisted and they did give me a $75.00 credit to my account and did not change my plan. I just want you to know that I did read the entire message that you wrote and would like to elaborate on one (of many) statements you have posted: "It sounds like you've gotten some pretty poor customer service, and didn't have everything explained to you properly from the beginning, but I don't think anybody is out to get you." Most of the service I have received from Nextel was out of professional character. I am not the only one that receives poor service from this company. Furthermore Rob, I am not a paranoid freak to think that NEXTEL is out to "get me". What I do believe is that Nextel needs to reorganize the business and instead of hiring 'untrained individuals' they need to have a training program (since we the customers pay so much money) that will be effective for EVERYONE. Have you ever heard of the word TEAM? A group of horses carrying one cart usually goes down the same trail TOGETHER because the trainer has trained them to carry the same load in the same direction. Now, a group of horses that are not well trained will cause the cart to tip if they are not trained equally. This is a tool I use when training employees. I believe it should be used with Nextel employees; starting from the TOP. ONE more detail: Cloning! I never suggested that my phone was cloned. It was the 'untrained' individual who thought it would be fun to humiliate a customer who was having a genuine problem, and in the background many others thought they would take the time to laugh at his humor as well. So, Rob, enjoy the humor with them. I finally got across to Nextel; and the representative that I spoke with explained many things to me regarding the customer policies. They did send my billing statement history from the time I received my first statement (which is about 2 years of statements). I am researching each one to see if the plan changes really did take place, then I will contact Nextel if there are any questions. Rob, it was very kind of you to take the time to document each situation, but keep in mind that my problem is real and I do not believe that I am a victim of conspiracy. I am a victim of customer abuse due to a company that is only interested in becoming filthy rich! This is not the employees fault; it starts from the top and works its way down to the bottom line. Fortunately, "Rip Off" is a public website and my prayer is that someone will visit and decide it is time to investigate, not for the purpose of seeing Nextel fall, but to realize there is a true problem and begin a strategy to change the way they conduct business. This must begin with Corporate. Once again Rob, thank you for your input and the effort in helping me better understand how Cellular Telephone Companies operate their business. You were absolutely correct when you stated that I needed to ask more questions. I guess the term you learn from your mistakes' comes into play here doesn't it? :) Have a wonderful day Rob
Rob
Providence,#5UPDATE Employee
Sat, October 25, 2003
I just found this site (badbuisinessbureu) by chance, for a topic completely unrelated to NEXTEL. Since I sell NEXTEL, I decided to search for issues and offer some assistance if I could. I appologize for how long this is, but if you can mannage to read the whole thing, it should answer a lot of your questions, as well as questions other people might have about other cell companies. I don't actually work for NEXTEL directly, I work for a NEXTEL dealer. Most cell phone stores you see that offer NEXTEL, aren't NEXTEL, they're dealers just like my employer. There seems to be a lot of confusion on here about who's really who on here, but I'm not going to name the company I work for. You can believe me, or not, but it's not worth possibly getting in trouble for helping a stranger out. Your situation has some pretty common problems, and some pretty hard to believe ones as well. I'm not saying you're making them up, but as far as I know are all but impossible. I'll start by trying to clarify some things for you. Contracts: NEXTEL and other cellular service providers have contracts that typyically range from 1 year to 2 years. If you have service, then you have (or at least started out with) a contract. There is no way around it. If you activated your service over the phone, then it's a verbal agreement. The sales person should have told you, but you should have also asked some questions. The reason they don't have to have your signature somewhere, is that your phone's activation is proof that you agreed to some kind of terms. This is one reason why buying cell phones over the internet or over the phone is usually nothing but a headache. If something does get messed up (which happens quite a bit), who are you going to get to fix it. If you had gone to a store to activate your phone, not only would there be a physical record, but you'd be able to yell at someone in person when you have a problem. Contract renewall: Whenever you change your plan, or get a new phone, your contract starts all over again. This is an industry standard. Every cell company does this, and has been doing this. You should have been told from the begining by the customer care rep you spoke to. Once again, you were the victim of someone who didn't explain enough, but at the same time you should have asked more questions. The reason for extending contracts is quite simple, but most people either don't know why, or refuse to believe the reasons. The plan you, or most anybody else is on is a promotional plan. Promotional plans have things like bonus minutes and or Nigts & weekends added to them. They are not part of the plan. They are promotion that lasts for the length of your contract. When your year ran out, you probably lost something and that's why your bill went up. When you change your plan, you usually get a new promotion, that requires a contract because your getting something extra. If you change to a plan that costs you less, or gives you more for the same price, then of course you have to sign a new contract. You agreed to pay them at the minnimum $X for for a period of no less than $12 months. If you're going to change that agreement, then you have to agree to make it up somehow, like agreeing to pay the new amount for a period of no less than 12 months. Upgrades: Upgrades are a little different. The prices you see cellular phones advertised for, are usually the price with a new activation and a service contract. The phones usually cost the company anywhere from $100 - $200 more than what people pay for them with a new activation. The reason for contracts and early termination fees, are that wireless providers want to be guranteed to make their money back on the phone. So if you upgrade your phone, there are 2 ways of approaching it. Renew your contract, and get the discount on the phone, or find a place that will sell you a phone outright and call customer care to do a serial number change (no contract renewal that way). Minute rounding and incoming calls: To my knowledge, NEXTEL is the only company that has ever offered rounding to the nearest second. It's not even offered anymore, and it wasn't available on all of their plans. Even when they did offer 1 second rounding, it only went into affect after the first minute had been completed. For example, if you made a call for 30 seconds you would be charged for a minute, but if you made a call for 1 minute and 5 seconds, you would be charged for 65 seconds. As for the amount of time you are getting charged for, it's a wireless device, it's not an exact science, and nobody is outright trying to screw you. All companies charge for incoming calls, unless you have NEXTEL, and one of their free incoming call plans. These start off at about $60 a month, and do not include nights & weekends. Verizon used to offer the first incoming minute of a call free, but have long since gotten rid of it. Airtime, long distance, and roaming: There are 3 types of charges a cell phone can incur. Airtime are the minutes you are using when you make a call. It's like a fee you pay to use the companies network. It doesn't matter if the call is coming in, going out, or even what time of day you're making the call, you are still using airtime. Almost every cell plan has included airtime (your minutes). You pay a monthly fee for an alloted amount of airtime, and possibly nights & weekends. Even if you have free night's & weekends, you're still using airtime, it's just no limit airtime. So no matter what the case, you're using airtime whenever you use your phone. Long distance is just like it is on your home phone (if free long distance isn't part of your plan). You have a geographicaly defined area that you can call to at no extra charge. If you call from that area, to that area, then all you use is airtime. If you call from that area to another area, then you will incur a per minute long distance charge. Roaming will not matter to you, because NEXTEL doesn't have roaming charges, but I'm going to explain it anyway. Roaming is typicaly per minute fee you incur when you use your phone outside your geographically defined "home area". It's a charge for using another carriers network. Now the things that sound odd in your particular situation, are the random calls, and the "cloning" thing. The reason you basically got laughed at, is that cloning a cell phone these days is all but impossible. I've been selling wireless phones for over 5 years now, and I have never heard of this happening since all of the providers went digital. People used to be able to clone analog phones because of car phones. If you had a car phone (hard wired) and a portable phone (wireless), then cell companies would let you have the same number on both phones so you wouldn't miss a call if you weren't in your car. Now they have what's called a "digital fingerprint". A phone number can only be linked to a single digital wireless device (cell phone). It's impossible to put a number on more than 1 device in the digital age specificaly because of cloning. It's also the reason why you can't get a hard wired car phone anymore, but you can get a hard wired car kit that you put your wireless phone into when you're in your car. If you have a non flip style phone, make sure you take advantage of the keyguard feature. What this does, is locks the keypad of the phone so you can't accidentally hit a button and make a call. If someone calls you, all you have to do is answer the call. The only time you have to unlock it is to make a call. To activate the keyguard on most phones all you have to do is hit the Menu button, and then the * button quickly. To take the keyguard off, just do the same thing again. If you have a NEXTEL i700+, i550+, i500+, i500, i370, i390, or an i600 you have to hit the # and * keys at the same time to activate the keyguard. Another thing you should check to make sure your not making those calls without knowing it, is to chech your call forwarding options. A lot of people turn these on without knowing it when they are adjusting settings on their phones. If you got the phone from somebody else it could be especially strange because the calls could be forwarded to people you don't even know. Now if they see a random number on their caller ID, the might call the number back to find out who called them. If you see Line 1 on the screen where the caller ID should be, that means there is no caller ID available and you're getting an incoming call on line 1 of your phone. It may sound too simple to be true, but I think that's it. NEXTEL's as well as other phones have the abitlity to carry more than one line per phone. It sounds like you've gotten some pretty poor customer service, and didn't have everything explained to you properly from the begining, but I don't think anybody is out to get you. If you buy another cell phone, do yourself a favor and buy it in a cell phone store. Don't go online, don't do it over the phone, and don't do it at a major electronics/department store (unless it's a kiosk style place that isn't a part of the store and is just renting space). Ask for, and save all of your paperwork, receipts, addendums, boxes, and manuals. Ask your friends for recomendations of places to buy a cell phone. When you go to the store, ask a bunch of questions, even ones you know the answers to. That way you can tell if your salesperson knows what they're talking about. Also if they get impatient, or try to rush you, go someplace else. Those are signs that the sales person is looking at you like a walking comission, and not a customer. Try to go during the day, during the week, and at the end of the month. This will insure that the store won't be busy (so you can get the attention you need), you won't get some high school kid helping you who doesn't know anything, and the store may be offering some extra stuff at the end of the month to boost their sales numbers. I hope you read all of this (I've been writing it at work for the past 3 hours), and I hope it will help you with your current situation, and if you decide to purchase another cell phone. P.S. During the course of my 5 years in the wireless industry I've sold Cellular One, Cingular, AT&T, Voicestream, T-Mobile, Sprint, Liberty Wireless, and NEXTEL.
Benny
Piedmont,#6Consumer Comment
Wed, October 08, 2003
Never heard of Pony, Alabama. We do have a Possum Trot, Gnatville, Rabbit Town but Pony, I don't think so, Benny
Peter
Pony,#7Consumer Suggestion
Sun, October 05, 2003
Debra, I am baffled with all your "updates" to your case. What more do you want??!! I have offered many times to help you, but that is not good enough. You declined my offer to get you a copy of your contract ... then act all confused when someone else tells you that there is no contract, when in fact that person is just too lazy to get it for you. I was willing to go above and beyond. But, that was not suitable for you, because then you would have nothing left to gripe about, now would you?! Great Goggly Moggly!!!
Debra
Galesburg,#8Author of original report
Thu, October 02, 2003
I just received a message from the Customer Care Representative at Nextel. Although he was more professional than most of the reps in the past (maybe because it's in writing) he is not willing to acknowledge that I do not have a contract, he continues to stand on the fact that when my service was turned on-that was accepting their terms right then. How can that be if I didn't know at the time what the terms were? He continues to stand on the fact that my phone bill is legitemate and I am responsible for the statement. He did apologize for the poor customer service and said that he was going to forward that onto his Supervisor. Well, I would like to know how Nextel can get away with penalizing a person if there is no signed agreement between the two parties. I guess I will have to eat the cost of the $177.00. I would appreciate legal assistance if there is any out there. Thank you
Debra
Galesburg,#9Author of original report
Wed, October 01, 2003
Nextel emailed me and apologized for the problems I am going through, and informed me that at this time they are unable to find out whether Peter is actually employed with Nextel. Great advice was given to "turn your cheek on ignorance". GOOD ADVICE!! I am going to assume that Peter does not work for Nextel. I read Tom's posting again on the "Peter is Shawangunk! ..a boil on the a*s of society." and searched the leads and concluded that Peter is that boil that Tom described. Thank you once again Tom. The Nextel Representative asked that I send him a complete list of my problems and he would see what he could do to assist. So, I took all of my postings and edited and corrected the spelling (man, I never knew my spelling was that bad whew)and emailed them to him. Hopefully I will hear back from him today on a more positive note. My prayer is that Nextel will look into the matter and begin to trouble shoot the weak areas of the business and gain respect and a good name for the company. I will keep you posted.
Krista
Wichita,#10Consumer Suggestion
Mon, September 29, 2003
I'm sorry you misunderstood my response. I am not an employee of Nextel (as the editor probably knows by now), I stated that I work in a large call center. I also stated that in my company, we do not give the addresses to our call centers. I do not work for Nextel, but I did submit a complaint online to Nextel advising them of this website and of the "employee" Peter. Sorry for the confusion. Rest assured, if I DID work for Nextel, I would certainly do what I could to help you. GOOD LUCK!!!
Peter
Pony,#11UPDATE Employee
Mon, September 29, 2003
I don't understand what your problem is. We have offered to help you with your situation on more than one occasion. You not only turn down our offers to help, but also continue complaining. What do you hope to achieve with your relentless complaining? You cannot discuss your problems calmly and rationally, stating only the facts, so that myself or anyone else can help you. You simply fly off the handle, emailing some unknown corporate address, instructing us to "re-evaluate 98% of our staff." Do you really expect to get any help after throwing your insulting and demeaning comments around? Emails like yours end up in our circular file. (aka... trash bin!) My suggestion to you is this. Next time when you are offered help, either take the person up on the offer, or quit your complaining! In case you haven't noticed, if you decline the offer to help, and then continue your whining, you will continue to get NOWHERE! Try to think of what is important here ... being a perpetual WINO or resolving an issue that is supposedly all-so-important to you.
Debra
Galesburg,#12Author of original report
Mon, September 29, 2003
Please accept my apology Krista and everyone else. I have had a very busy and dramatic week. I guess with all that has been going on I have not been taking the time to read your posts. I see Krista that you are a representative of "a" large corporation, not necessarily Nextel. I appreciate what you are doing here, and would like to thank you. ONE MORE Crow to eat!! Peter, I am sorry for calling you a JERK. Although you are full of P..... I wouldn't want anyone calling me that name; so, please forgive me. I seem to be back to a somewhat normal pace and will take more time reading your posts. Once again, thank you in advance for your support everyone Have a wonderful day
Debra
Galesburg,#13Author of original report
Mon, September 29, 2003
Please accept my apology Krista and everyone else. I have had a very busy and dramatic week. I guess with all that has been going on I have not been taking the time to read your posts. I see Krista that you are a representative of "a" large corporation, not necessarily Nextel. I appreciate what you are doing here, and would like to thank you. ONE MORE Crow to eat!! Peter, I am sorry for calling you a JERK. Although you are full of P..... I wouldn't want anyone calling me that name; so, please forgive me. I seem to be back to a somewhat normal pace and will take more time reading your posts. Once again, thank you in advance for your support everyone Have a wonderful day
Debra
Galesburg,#14Author of original report
Mon, September 29, 2003
Please accept my apology Krista and everyone else. I have had a very busy and dramatic week. I guess with all that has been going on I have not been taking the time to read your posts. I see Krista that you are a representative of "a" large corporation, not necessarily Nextel. I appreciate what you are doing here, and would like to thank you. ONE MORE Crow to eat!! Peter, I am sorry for calling you a JERK. Although you are full of P..... I wouldn't want anyone calling me that name; so, please forgive me. I seem to be back to a somewhat normal pace and will take more time reading your posts. Once again, thank you in advance for your support everyone Have a wonderful day
Debra
Galesburg,#15Author of original report
Mon, September 29, 2003
Please accept my apology Krista and everyone else. I have had a very busy and dramatic week. I guess with all that has been going on I have not been taking the time to read your posts. I see Krista that you are a representative of "a" large corporation, not necessarily Nextel. I appreciate what you are doing here, and would like to thank you. ONE MORE Crow to eat!! Peter, I am sorry for calling you a JERK. Although you are full of P..... I wouldn't want anyone calling me that name; so, please forgive me. I seem to be back to a somewhat normal pace and will take more time reading your posts. Once again, thank you in advance for your support everyone Have a wonderful day
Debra
Galesburg,#16Author of original report
Mon, September 29, 2003
Here are a couple updates: I emailed an attorney and invited her to come research my situation and asked her to contact me if she thought there was a case. I emailed customer relations at Nextel and invited them here to observe my situation; and I certainly want them to meet Peter, and if he is truly an employee of Nextel, they may want to re-evaluate to see if he is psycologically capable of being a customer relations representative for Nextel. And while they are at it, they may want to evaluate about 98.5% of the staff. Robin, thank you for the web address to Nextel, I hope they will come here and see that there is a real problem. Then I can get on with my life. I will not stop until this is resolved. Have a wonderful day.
Debra
Galesburg,#17Author of original report
Sun, September 28, 2003
Hi Robin, Thank you for the information. I will go to that link and direct Nextel to this site. I am really hoping that Peter is a fake. But, with all the emotional abuse that I have experienced from that company; it would not surprise me if he was an employee. Peter will be caught up with for all the crap he is doing. It's just a matter of time. I have decided to ignore him from this point forward. I will keep you informed. And thank you for your support Robin. Have a wonderful day.
Debra
Galesburg,#18Author of original report
Sun, September 28, 2003
OK Peter!! First of all you need to go find a job that will keep you busy and HONEST!! From this point forward you are going to be ignored by me. I will not respond to anything from you. I am not on this forum or in this web site to play games or argue with you. I see what you are doing here. You cannot divert me from what I am doing. GET A LIFE JERK!!
Debra
Galesburg,#19Author of original report
Sun, September 28, 2003
Greetings Krista - Wichita, Kansas So your a Nextel Representative? Are you visiting for enjoyment or are you going to actually assist in resolving this issue? Since a representative has come on board, I guess this can be taken care of publicly. Let's see just what Nextel would do for their customers. I have been abused more by this business than any personal individual. I believe Nextel needs to re-educate their staff and re-organize the business. Let's begin by re-writing contracts and term/conditions. Let's look at each customer individually rather than as a whole. For instance, the individual that never received a contract nor has the individual ever read any terms/conditions. That person should not be bound to your penalties. Let's look at the calculated times on the cell phone; I never made that many phone calls to bring a balance of $177.00 to my statement. Now, I was in an auto accident on the highway last week and I was forced to use my cell phone. By the time I was finished contacting the insurance company and 911, I still didn't use up my time limit, and I was on the highway for over an hour. Nextel has a definate problem. All I ask is that you become professional, develope integrity and honesty with your customers. Look at this; Nextel is sucking millions of dollars out of people for disconnecting their services. The customers are disconnecting service due to the lack of professionalism. Many customers complain of the same things I am complaining of such as adding minutes to their phones eroneously, poor customer service and changing contract dates without customers being aware of it, in which by the way, this is another complaint that I would like to add to this list, several times since my first year of service with Nextel I have had at least 4 "contract" change dates and the representatives have told me each time that I was bound without choice, I would ask for this in writing and they would refuse each time (which legally means I am not bound). People return my calls because my cell number is on their caller ID and I never called them. Now, I just learned something. If I receive a phone call I get charged as well. So, this is telling me that maybe someone at Nextel is taking numbers that I call regularly and make those phone calls for me. I have also received phone calls from strangers wanting to know what I wanted as my number was displayed on their phone(at those times I had not used my phone all day) I called information to get a local police number and information informed me that phone number that I was calling from was from over 150 miles away. I have received phone calls from people that would not speak on the other line but the display unit reads, "LINE 1" Then when I review the call history there is nothing there. One of the most disturbing issues is when coming home from work one day I receive a strange beep on my cell phone (one of which I have never heard before) I look to see there is an envelope displayed on my screen. I find out that I have text messaging. Well, the text message was an advertisement from Nextel. So! I call Nextel to find out that we are charged .15 cents for the advertisements that Nextel spits into our phones. She said there would be a credit. I am not sure if the credit actually occurred. So, I call Nextel (More times than I should) and all I ever get are (98.5% of the time)rude representatives that have absolutely no training in customer relations. The ultimate dissapointment was the other day when I called the Corporate Office and spoke with Jessica and Shannon Lovell (Jessica could not give me a last name or employee number because it was unauthorized, but rudely she stated that she was a CONTRACTOR) I could not believe what I was hearing in the background from the "professionals" This just confirms that Nextel is a huge organization with only one goal and that goal is to suck money out of people. Somehow Nextel is performing some form of illegal act (which I hope will be found out soon). I hope I am wrong, but I doubt it very much. Krista, I would like to believe that you have come here to resolve this issue, otherwise I will be forced to sue Nextel and that is something I have absolutely no desire to do. This whole situation is not my fault, rather Nextel has placed me in a position to broadcast everything that has and is going on. It won't stop until I receive restitutuion. Thank you for taking the time to read this posting and have a wonderful day.
Robin
Waldron,#20Consumer Comment
Sun, September 28, 2003
Debra, Peter is a humungous TROLL! Do not tell him anything! Read this post: http://www.ripoffreport.com/report67508.htm In this post Peter rants about a grocery store in Alston, AL. If that is a real town (I have not checked), I would start looking there for this moron. He also exhorts everyone to boycott this store to the fullest extent of the law. That should show anyone this guy is bogus. A REAL consumer advocate would know that the law does not care if one boycotts an establishment forever! You will also understand my reference to collard greens etc. in the Where are you? post above. Peter seems to be besotted with you in particular these days. I find that sinister and sick. I dont know if Peter really works for Nextel. If he does he is keeping this sad saga front and center. Here is what I would do: Go here (this is Nextels service center on the web): https://nextelonline.nextel.com/NASApp/care/WCCustomerCareServlet/ Fill out the appropriate information and email Nextel a link to this report. (Just copy and paste it into their form). It is unfortunate that all the troll stuff cannot be removed, but perhaps Nextel will be able to find Peter Jones from Alston/Pony, AL and deal with him. Tell Nextel that you want immediate resolution to your problem and get back to us if and when you hear anything. Tell them to put a leash on Peter if they can find him! Good luck!
Peter
Pony,#21Consumer Suggestion
Sun, September 28, 2003
Apparently my offer to go above-and-beyond and see how I can help you is NOT good enough. You will still find something, anything, to gripe about. First of all, I never asked you for your account information and phone number. Perhaps you should READ what I did write before jumping to conclusions. I specifically stated that this is not the appropriate forum for revealing such information. Yes, the person you spoke with in Pony, Alabama did state that there is no way you can review the contract. It is silly of you to believe them. It is YOUR RIGHT to see the contract. I was offering to go above and beyond to get that contract for you. Unfortunately, that is not good enough either, and just another thing for you to gripe about. You honestly believe that there is no way to get that contract? Then fine! I won't bother looking for it or finding any other information for you. It seems like nothing will ever be good enough for you. All you want is to complain - incessantly - about anything that will get anyone's attention. I honestly do not believe that you have any problem at all with your cell phone, but rather have made up this whole scenario in order to gain attention for yourself.
Debra
Galesburg,#22Author of original report
Sat, September 27, 2003
I'm sorry, I misread your message and responded according to how I read it first. Ok! First of all you are a pretty pathetic individual to call me your dear and also tell me not to get testy with you. Tell me, how are you or any other person trying to do your job? Secondly, you said you would try to help me by getting my signed contract by driving to the document warehouse yourself. How is that possible Pea if the corporate office is unable to get to it, and furthermore, the local office in my town says they do not remove any records from their office and mail them anywhere. So, what kind of contract are you attempting to get for me if I give you information; and is it legal? So, you need some additional information regarding my account. You want me to give first and last names of the reps I have been dealing with? Haven't you been reading my posts? There are many reps with first and last names. Once you contact them regarding my situation; what then? How will I receive restitution for all I have gone through? I'm not sure if you really are a representative for Nextel. I do know that as I read your messages here and in other places, I am beginning to feel a little threatened. Are you a hit man wanting to bump me off to shut me up? Maybe I am starting to sound a little paranoid but to read between your lines in your last posting seems a little fishy to me. Especially if I know first hand that documents are not removed from local offices. I may have to have your postings investigated to find out who you are for my protection. Have a wonderful day on your Pony
Krista
Wichita,#23Consumer Suggestion
Sat, September 27, 2003
I tried to research Pony, but the closest I came was Toney, AL;Then it occured to me, I work in a call center for a large company, and we NEVER give out the address because all mail should go to our administrative offices or to our payment center. If this person really is a representative for this company, why would they risk losing a job over an address? Of course, like the post office says, the official city name may be different than what the locals know it as. At any rate... I forwarded this information to Nextel through their website we'll see what comes out!
Debra
Galesburg,#24Author of original report
Sat, September 27, 2003
"Dear Debra, It would be my utmost pleasure to help you resolve your situation, but please, my dear, do not get testy with me or any other person who is just trying to do one's job. I will try to help to get a signed contract for you, even if it means riding over to the document warehouse myself and retrieving it for you. But... I will need some additional information regarding your account. Since it is inappropriate to request identification via this forum, rather than identify yourself or your mobile phone information, please provide the first and last names of the Nextel representatives you've been dealing with, and I will look them up in my computer and contact them regarding your situation. It is my true desire to provide quality, consistent customer care to all of my valued customers, regardless of any past issues customer-driven problems. As a valued Consumer Advocate Volunteer in the fine town of Pony, Alabamama, it is my firm goal and aspiration in life to have happy customers everywhere, regardless of locale." MY RESOPNSE TO THIS STRING LAUGHTER!! When will the humor end and the serious help begin? First of all, " Mr. Full of Peas", you have received many helpful leads in my postings which is enough to get customer assistance. You are too funny. Now, if you would please step aside and allow someone with honesty and true professionalism take over; the quicker I can get on with my life. To let you know, I did not fall off the turnip truck yesterday. Actually, I fell off the day I had service turned on with Nextel. But, forunately I am now back on my feet and will not get back on that stupid turnip truck again. You are so funny to ask me for my account number and phone number. That would be like me giving my credit card number to a complete stranger over the internet trusting that he will make me rich and it won't cost me anything. Too much humor. If your goal is to make me a happy customer no matter what, then you give me your phone number and employee number and I will call you, but you must make a promise to me that you will disconnect my service at no cost to me and discount my eronious bill. I mean sir, to give out the Nextel phone number to public and your employee number would prove to us that you are legitimate and we can work together. Otherwise, spare us of your ignorance please. Have a wonderful day in Pony.
Debra
Galesburg,#25Author of original report
Sat, September 27, 2003
The following three paragraphs are direct quotes from BT. The following is a breakdown. "So if you tell the truth to your self, you will find that you probably have a cell phone because everyone else does and you use it just like a phone because you grew up with a phone and you just want to get the thing going so you sign the small print and off you go until you get hit with big bills that seem totally outrageous. Then you cry. In the long run you can complain all you want to but you will lose. Just to pick a point. If a person can type the word "noone" four times when the term is "no one" and not see the mistake, I am having a hard time believing this person is reading all terms of contract. Also there is the fallacy of making laws to suit the situation. I mean saying things like, "unless they can produce a signed contract and so forth." The fact that a person is legally talking on a cell phone is prima facie evidence he or she has agreed to some sort of terms." So in reality, having the wireless phone is often too much for busy young person to handle and maybe she or he needs the use pay-phone, or pager or prepaid. The only other choice would be to convert business to a buyers market by refusing to sign restrictive and expensive agreements. The sadness here is that as long as a technology appeals to people of a certain income level who feel they need a product for reasons other than what its initial intentions were, you will continue to see this kind of sleazy activity from the providers. Thank you, BT" Let me say something to you BT (or is it Casserole) I received a phone from a friend; then I simply called a local rep and they had service turned on for me (kinda like SBC, Ameritech and other land-line phones). Which means if I called my local telephone company to have my phone disconnected; there would be no problem, as there is no signed contract stating any penalty for doing so. Furthermore, when you judge someone by observing a typographical error and assume they are young and ignorant; reveals to me that you are of little or no integrity or honesty yourself, especially if you can't give a real name or location. Thank you BT for showing me that the proper way of saying noone is "no one". I have learned something today. By the way that does not make me young and ignorant. Nor does it make me a wanna-bee. I purchased the cell phone service because it was convenient for me to have. What more can a person ask for when they receive a free phone? Isn't the correct saying for "your self" suppose to be yourself? (read the first paragraph above) I would like to break something else down for you, "unless they can produce a signed contract and so forth." First of all, quotation marks are direct quotes from a person making the statement. If you go through all of my notes you will never see a direct quote as you have stated above. This makes your statement false because you added to my statement. "The fact that a person is legally talking on a cell phone is prima facie evidence he or she has agreed to some sort of terms." Now, with this statement, I would have to agree to a degree. Just as we have land-line service turned on there is an agreement that we will pay our bills in the time frame of our statement. If we have service turned off there would be no penalty. With the cell phone companies, there are certain guidlines and terms/conditions and even contracts (with some companies) BUT!! I never received a contract or at least "no one" can find one. Which makes me free from any obligations other than the obvious PAY THE BILL (if the bill wasn't eronious) but can I prove that my bill is erounious without an investigator looking into it? $%!%#$%!#@ NO!! "So in reality, having the wireless phone is often too much for busy young person to handle and maybe she or he needs the use pay-phone, or pager or prepaid." This would be true if I really was busy on the phone and (I am not sure what age has to do with this) since I am not qualified to be in the "young" bracket any longer which means that statement is not for ME. If you would have read any of my reports you would have seen that my phone mysteriously calculated more minutes than actual time. Isn't that something for an investigator to look into? "The only other choice would be to convert business to a buyers market by refusing to sign restrictive and expensive agreements." Amen! But! I didn't sign anything!! I would break down more of your posting, but! Why waste the time? I am not here to defend myself but to get legal help as Nextel has obviously broken a few laws. Have a wonderful day BT
Boz
Nashville,#26Consumer Comment
Sat, September 27, 2003
Hi, it is Texino. Very few people like me because I tell them things that they do not want to hear. I don't care, as my opinions are meant to help; I am also a foreigner so my words are some times mistaken. Now about these cell phones. Do you know who the number one business for complaints in the U.S. is? The wireless phone industry is the answer. Why is this? Well it is that they are not so highly regulated. This was supposed be so regular people could get a cell when they first set the deal up in the late 70s. Of course, big companies got a lot off the contracts and some companies who are big now grew up entirely from collecting cell licenses. So why is the wireless industry so sleazy? Answer, not enough business clients. If you look around, you will see that technology designed for the business user is expensive by default. Take laptop and hand held computers. Digital projectors, cell phones. Cell Phones! Yes, cell phones are as common for business people as neckties and shiny shoes. Go to some airport. You will see any number of persons, women and men, talking and talking. Are they worried about rollover cost? No because the billing is done on the corporate level and some is written off. This goes on for a few years until some important business people start thinking; if I am so important, someone should answer the phone for me! Business phone use drops a bit. Then the companies start targeting a surefire gold mine. Young persons who think that having cell phones is the coolest thing. Of course, being young, maybe the responsibility issue is poorly handled. This makes credit checks, deposits and contracts necessary because the companies must improve coverage. So now maybe we should start to see that wireless phone usage is being driven by a seller's market. Persons are falling all over just have have the status and so on. There is much more to this, but for brevity's sake we will look at the big picture. Why do you need a cell phone? For emergency? No, 911 is not reliable with wireless due to id issues. Also, any pay phone or charged cell phone for that matter will allow you to call emergency for no cost. Need for work? If you do, your work should pay. So if you tell the truth to your self, you will find that you probably have a cell phone because everyone else does and you use it just like a phone because you grew up with a phone and you just want to get the thing going so you sign the small print and off you go until you get hit with big bills that seem totally outrageous. Then you cry. In the long run you can complain all you want to but you will lose. Just to pick a point. If a person can type the word "noone" four times when the term is "no one" and not see the mistake, I am having a hard time believing this person is reading all terms of contract. Also there is the fallacy of making laws to suit the situation. I mean saying things like, "unless they can produce a signed contract and so forth." The fact that a person is legally talking on a cell phone is prima facie evidence he or she has agreed to some sort of terms. So in reality, having the wireless phone is often too much for busy young person to handle and maybe she or he needs the use pay-phone, or pager or prepaid. The only other choice would be to convert business to a buyers market by refusing to sign restrictive and expensive agreements. The sadness here is that as long as a technology appeals to people of a certain income level who feel they need a product for reasons other than what its initial intentions were, you will continue to see this kind of sleazy activity from the providers. Thank you, BT
Nicole
Madison,#27Consumer Comment
Sat, September 27, 2003
There is no such town as PONY,Alabama. There is a Pony,Ohio, Pony,Montana, and a Pony,Indiana. Now, you are obviously upsetting this woman more than Nextell has already. Please, find something constructive to do.
Peter
Pony,#28Consumer Suggestion
Fri, September 26, 2003
Dear Debra, It would be my utmost pleasure to help you resolve your situation, but please, my dear, do not get testy with me or any other person who is just trying to do one's job. I will try to help to get a signed contract for you, even if it means riding over to the document warehouse myself and retrieving it for you. But... I will need some additional information regarding your account. Since it is inappropriate to request identification via this forum, rather than identify yourself or your mobile phone information, please provide the first and last names of the Nextel representatives you've been dealing with, and I will look them up in my computer and contact them regarding your situation. It is my true desire to provide quality, consistent customer care to all of my valued customers, regardless of any past issues customer-driven problems. As a valued Consumer Advocate Volunteer in the fine town of Pony, Alabamama, it is my firm goal and aspiration in life to have happy customers everywhere, regardless of locale. Signed, Peter Jones
Robin
Waldron,#29Consumer Suggestion
Fri, September 26, 2003
MapQuest cannot find you. An Internet search did not find you. My atlas does not list a Pony, AL. Fine, we will assume you exist somewhere and it is a bigger secret than Area 51/Groom Lake because the rotten, bad-business-practicing Nextel is there. They are afraid that someone may find them. Someone might want to return a phone or something. Can't have that! Not only is Nextel rotten to the core in the way they do business, they hire rotten employees with bad attitudes if you are indicative of the overall work force. Why don't you tell your employers that they need to help Debra with this problem? Why don't YOU help her, since you are hanging around this board so much? Evidently Debra has had the "pleasure" of speaking to you in the past. She is still here, Peter; nothing resolved! What Nextel is practicing in this case is tantamount to extortion. I have seen your pseudo-advocate rebuttals and your fake posts. Tell me where you are and I'll come weigh your collard greens heavy then pee in your hair myself!
Debra
Galesburg,#30Author of original report
Fri, September 26, 2003
Your attitude is exactly what I have been attempting to get across to the Nation regarding Integrity, Honestry AND professionalism. You obviously have more time to spend being in "Pony riding on a pea pulling feathers out of your Casserole" condemning the truth of what is happening with your "so called valued customers" than being at work IN YOUR GREAT BIG OFFICE resolving serious issues that could cause Nextel to fall. OH WAIT I FORGOT! Nextel can't fall YET because the corporation is sucking literally millions of dollars out of poor folk like me. BUT!! You need to come up with a signed contract for me MR. full of PEAS. If you can do that then we can get on with business, otherwise me and my attorney will be riding into Alabama with those feathers on our hats as your corporate office is challenging me to do. Have a wonderful day in PONY.
Peter
Pony,#31Consumer Suggestion
Thu, September 25, 2003
Pony, Alabama IS indeed a real town. Obviously, Robin is not the al-mighty expert on towns as she thinks she is. Not only is Pony, Alabama a real town, it is also the site of one of the largest call centers for Nextel. I should know ... I work there! Robin, next time please do a little research before spewing incorrect info out of your trap.
Debra
Galesburg,#32Author of original report
Thu, September 25, 2003
I forgot to add: In addition to 09-24-2003 conversation... When speaking with Shannon I continued pursuing an answer regarding my rights to a signed contract. She asked me if I wanted her personal oppinion, and my reply was, "I have had nothing but a personal treatment since I called and spoke to the first rep, let's try a little professionalism, can you give me your professional answer?" She replied, "personally, yes! you do have rights; but professionally, I cannot answer that question."
Debra
Galesburg,#33Author of original report
Thu, September 25, 2003
I forgot to add: In addition to 09-24-2003 conversation... When speaking with Shannon I continued pursuing an answer regarding my rights to a signed contract. She asked me if I wanted her personal oppinion, and my reply was, "I have had nothing but a personal treatment since I called and spoke to the first rep, let's try a little professionalism, can you give me your professional answer?" She replied, "personally, yes! you do have rights; but professionally, I cannot answer that question."
Debra
Galesburg,#34Author of original report
Thu, September 25, 2003
I forgot to add: In addition to 09-24-2003 conversation... When speaking with Shannon I continued pursuing an answer regarding my rights to a signed contract. She asked me if I wanted her personal oppinion, and my reply was, "I have had nothing but a personal treatment since I called and spoke to the first rep, let's try a little professionalism, can you give me your professional answer?" She replied, "personally, yes! you do have rights; but professionally, I cannot answer that question."
Debra
Galesburg,#35Author of original report
Thu, September 25, 2003
I forgot to add: In addition to 09-24-2003 conversation... When speaking with Shannon I continued pursuing an answer regarding my rights to a signed contract. She asked me if I wanted her personal oppinion, and my reply was, "I have had nothing but a personal treatment since I called and spoke to the first rep, let's try a little professionalism, can you give me your professional answer?" She replied, "personally, yes! you do have rights; but professionally, I cannot answer that question."
Debra
Galesburg,#36Author of original report
Wed, September 24, 2003
Today, 9-24-2003 I contacted the local rep to see if she found a copy of my written contract. The response was that they could not locate any records at all.
I called Nextel and asked Jason (who could not give an employee number because they were not authorized) and he said that he could not locate the copy but he would give me the number to corporate which is 703-433-4000. I spoke with Jessica; she is a contractor from Weston Virginia and very un-professional. She, being very rude told me that there was no way she could locate my written contract as it is probably in a warehouse that noone can get to. When I questioned her about this being my legal right to have a produced copy of a signed contract, she insisted that it was in this warehouse that NOONE is able to get to, therefore, there was NOTHING SHE COULD DO FOR ME.
I asked Jessica if there was another person I could speak with. After a couple of deep breaths and a few final rude comments such as I don't know what anyone els can do for you! Then I heard a woman in the back ground say very loudly "OH MY GOD TELL HER...(I couldn't hear anymore)! She placed me on hold, finally this voice came over the phone saying "OH I AM PREPARED FOR HER" I asked her if she was "referring to being prepared for me" and she stated "MY NAME IS SHANNON LOVELL AND (with a preschool teachers voice)I am here to give you the up most care possible to assist you with whatever it is you need" Then I heard a loud voice in the back ground state "get prepared for that...." then I heard more than one person laughing. I proceeded to ask her if there was any possible way for me to obtain my contract. And once again she said that the contracts are held in local offices for up to one year then they are mailed to the corporate headquarters in Virginia and from there they are placed in a warehouse that noone can get to. Then Shannon proceeded to inform me that all contracts are good for one year, then there are terms and conditions from there that keep the contracts active. I asked her if there were copies of the general contracts from the time frame in which I joined with Nextel and she said there were not. I informed her that I did not purchase my phone through Nextel rather a friend gave the phone to me and from there I had service turned on through a local vendor. She became quite calm at this point and said, "you didn't purchase the phone from us?" Then I asked her how I can obtain a copy of my contract, she stated "you need to contact your lawyer and have him process the subpena. I asked her why I needed to go through an attorney for this "isn't this my legal right"? She said no because we can't get to the warehouse. I informed her if I had to get an attorney that her and Jessica would be pulled into a legal suit as they both were extremely unprofessional and denying me my legal rights (kinda like harrassment). She appologized for Jessica's behavior. I did ask her to fax a copy of the terms and conditions to me and she said that she would. Furthermore, I asked her if there were signatures to the conditions and she said no this is based on verbal agreements. I informed her that I do not recall any verbal agreements with Nextel. Then I finally asked her if I was still legally bound to Nextels Terms and conditions if I wasn't aware of any. This is when she informed me that these forms are sent out with our new phones, and this is when I reminded her that earlier in our conversation I had mentioned that I did not purchase my phone through Nextel, rather it was given to me by a friend. She all of a sudden had a complete change in attitude when I told her that it really would not benefit Nextel if I had to contact an attorney. After not getting anywhere, I finally told Shannon to have a wonderful day.
I contacted the local Nextel Rep, and asked her how the files in their office are handled. She informed me that they keep all records tightly secured in an office of the store. I asked her if they are shipped to a warehouse in Virginia and stored after a year. She told me that all records stay on the company premise and do not ever leave nor do they ever throw records away.
SO! Nextel LIED to me! They do not have a warehouse that they store contracts in. Furthermore, there is absolutely no contract with my signature AT ALL! NOW WHAT? Am I still bound to their Terms and Conditions?
I am praying that an attorney will read this and help me out. Time is running out for me. I still owe $100.00 of the $177.00. If I can at least pay that bill and have Nextel disconnect my services without a shut off fee; because I never read any of their Terms and Conditions (and they still have not faxed me a copy) and I do not have a written contract as far as I know. Nextel is refusing to produce something that I have legal rights to unless I contact an attorney first.
HELP!!!PLEASE!!!!
UPDATE!! I just heard the fax machine, and Nextel finally faxed a copy of the terms and conditions. I have never read anything like this before today. This is completely illegal to expect a customer of a company to adhere to Terms and Conditions without a signature. Without customer acknowledgement this is void isn't it?
Debra
Galesburg,#37Author of original report
Tue, September 23, 2003
Ok! I was talking to the owner of the company that I work for letting him know that about three days ago I called my local Nextel Rep and asked her to fax over a copy of my original and current signed contract, and she 'continues' to inform me that they are re-arranging their office and can't seem to locate it right now, and they continue to give me ONE more day to find it. She said that she would have an answer by tomarrow at the latest (that was this morning when I called AGAIN).
Well, the owner said that about a year ago he was looking at his statement and on page 4 in very small print; in the middle of other 'junk topics' it stated that effective that month all unlimited night calls will go from 8:00pm to 9:00pm. He called the company and told them if they had one ounce of integrity they would have placed that change in the very front of the statement in bold words for the world to see. Instead they placed it in an area that noone would read. Consequently, Nextel collected literally millions of $$$$'s for this.
More to come.......
Debra
Galesburg,#38Author of original report
Mon, September 22, 2003
But! I don't know cities from other states, so I just chuckled.
Actually Robin, this is how the whole problem began. At the end of my first year contract; the eronious phone bills began. So, I called and they corrected the problem (so I thought) then the next month I had the same problem; which they corrected as well, but it was then they told me about the contract date change and as we were talking they informed me that my contract date changed the month prior without my acknowledgement.
Now, if you called Nextel to investigate my file, you will find that they only have me changed in the system one time, so they say!
They do not keep record of their borderline legal/illegal activity.
I have thought about paying the $200.00 and continue fighting to get them stopped. I haven't decided yet. I hate the thought of having added debt.
This is kind of strange to know that there really is no such place as Pony Alabama. The person I spoke with told me that he was from Pony Alabama after I expressed to him the problems that I was going through with Nextel. This explains why he treated me unprofessionally. You know, there are times I will call and ask the rep. to give me their employee number and depending on who it is he/she will tell me they are not at "liberty" to give their number, and yet I had spoken to a supervisor quite some time ago regarding the unprofessional behavior of some reps. and she informed me that it is company policy that all employees are to give their number if asked by a customer. I will tell the rep. what she said if they refuse, and they continue to refuse, this is when I know that I am in for more unprofessional assistance. The employees that I do get a number from do assist but their come back is without fail "I understand your frustraction but unfortunately Ms. Debra, I can't do anything to change what has happened although Ms. Debra, I can give you this plan and give you a discount, and this will change your contract date to ....." Or they may say I do understand what your going through Ms. Debra and I will give you the credit to your account and change your plan to something that will work for you, now you do understand Ms. Debra, this will change your contract date."
Anyway, I will have to think about this for a minute.
Debra
Galesburg,#39Author of original report
Mon, September 22, 2003
But! I don't know cities from other states, so I just chuckled.
Actually Robin, this is how the whole problem began. At the end of my first year contract; the eronious phone bills began. So, I called and they corrected the problem (so I thought) then the next month I had the same problem; which they corrected as well, but it was then they told me about the contract date change and as we were talking they informed me that my contract date changed the month prior without my acknowledgement.
Now, if you called Nextel to investigate my file, you will find that they only have me changed in the system one time, so they say!
They do not keep record of their borderline legal/illegal activity.
I have thought about paying the $200.00 and continue fighting to get them stopped. I haven't decided yet. I hate the thought of having added debt.
This is kind of strange to know that there really is no such place as Pony Alabama. The person I spoke with told me that he was from Pony Alabama after I expressed to him the problems that I was going through with Nextel. This explains why he treated me unprofessionally. You know, there are times I will call and ask the rep. to give me their employee number and depending on who it is he/she will tell me they are not at "liberty" to give their number, and yet I had spoken to a supervisor quite some time ago regarding the unprofessional behavior of some reps. and she informed me that it is company policy that all employees are to give their number if asked by a customer. I will tell the rep. what she said if they refuse, and they continue to refuse, this is when I know that I am in for more unprofessional assistance. The employees that I do get a number from do assist but their come back is without fail "I understand your frustraction but unfortunately Ms. Debra, I can't do anything to change what has happened although Ms. Debra, I can give you this plan and give you a discount, and this will change your contract date to ....." Or they may say I do understand what your going through Ms. Debra and I will give you the credit to your account and change your plan to something that will work for you, now you do understand Ms. Debra, this will change your contract date."
Anyway, I will have to think about this for a minute.
Debra
Galesburg,#40Author of original report
Mon, September 22, 2003
But! I don't know cities from other states, so I just chuckled.
Actually Robin, this is how the whole problem began. At the end of my first year contract; the eronious phone bills began. So, I called and they corrected the problem (so I thought) then the next month I had the same problem; which they corrected as well, but it was then they told me about the contract date change and as we were talking they informed me that my contract date changed the month prior without my acknowledgement.
Now, if you called Nextel to investigate my file, you will find that they only have me changed in the system one time, so they say!
They do not keep record of their borderline legal/illegal activity.
I have thought about paying the $200.00 and continue fighting to get them stopped. I haven't decided yet. I hate the thought of having added debt.
This is kind of strange to know that there really is no such place as Pony Alabama. The person I spoke with told me that he was from Pony Alabama after I expressed to him the problems that I was going through with Nextel. This explains why he treated me unprofessionally. You know, there are times I will call and ask the rep. to give me their employee number and depending on who it is he/she will tell me they are not at "liberty" to give their number, and yet I had spoken to a supervisor quite some time ago regarding the unprofessional behavior of some reps. and she informed me that it is company policy that all employees are to give their number if asked by a customer. I will tell the rep. what she said if they refuse, and they continue to refuse, this is when I know that I am in for more unprofessional assistance. The employees that I do get a number from do assist but their come back is without fail "I understand your frustraction but unfortunately Ms. Debra, I can't do anything to change what has happened although Ms. Debra, I can give you this plan and give you a discount, and this will change your contract date to ....." Or they may say I do understand what your going through Ms. Debra and I will give you the credit to your account and change your plan to something that will work for you, now you do understand Ms. Debra, this will change your contract date."
Anyway, I will have to think about this for a minute.
Debra
Galesburg,#41Author of original report
Mon, September 22, 2003
But! I don't know cities from other states, so I just chuckled.
Actually Robin, this is how the whole problem began. At the end of my first year contract; the eronious phone bills began. So, I called and they corrected the problem (so I thought) then the next month I had the same problem; which they corrected as well, but it was then they told me about the contract date change and as we were talking they informed me that my contract date changed the month prior without my acknowledgement.
Now, if you called Nextel to investigate my file, you will find that they only have me changed in the system one time, so they say!
They do not keep record of their borderline legal/illegal activity.
I have thought about paying the $200.00 and continue fighting to get them stopped. I haven't decided yet. I hate the thought of having added debt.
This is kind of strange to know that there really is no such place as Pony Alabama. The person I spoke with told me that he was from Pony Alabama after I expressed to him the problems that I was going through with Nextel. This explains why he treated me unprofessionally. You know, there are times I will call and ask the rep. to give me their employee number and depending on who it is he/she will tell me they are not at "liberty" to give their number, and yet I had spoken to a supervisor quite some time ago regarding the unprofessional behavior of some reps. and she informed me that it is company policy that all employees are to give their number if asked by a customer. I will tell the rep. what she said if they refuse, and they continue to refuse, this is when I know that I am in for more unprofessional assistance. The employees that I do get a number from do assist but their come back is without fail "I understand your frustraction but unfortunately Ms. Debra, I can't do anything to change what has happened although Ms. Debra, I can give you this plan and give you a discount, and this will change your contract date to ....." Or they may say I do understand what your going through Ms. Debra and I will give you the credit to your account and change your plan to something that will work for you, now you do understand Ms. Debra, this will change your contract date."
Anyway, I will have to think about this for a minute.
Robin - Consumer Advocate
Waldron,#42Consumer Comment
Sat, September 20, 2003
This is too weird! You spoke to a Nextel employee claiming to be from Pony, AL?
There is no such place!
Did you initiate the call or did he call you?
Coincidence? Maybe, but doubtful. The odds are greatly against two people unknown to each other coming up with exactly the same ficticious town.
Let us know.
I'm glad to hear that you are making some progress with your phone dilemma, but this Nextel company sounds like a real loser.
Their equipment screws up and then you are locked into another year of service with them? They are rewriting your contract date every time you call with a problem? Am I understanding this correctly?
That is bad business, but they will have you for life at this rate. All they have to do is screw up a bill or something when you get near your renewal date, and voila, you are their hostage for another year after you call to attempt to fix it. Sounds borderline legal to me. If even that.
I'm not too sure you wouldn't have been better off disabling the phone (so they couldn't creep in their text messaging ads during billable hours) and letting the contract run out.
Maybe next time the amount will be something more reasonable (because I feel like "something" will happen near the end of your contract; call it intuition)and you can do just that.
Shake these scammers ASAP. Thanks. I was looking for a cellular phone provider. It WON'T be Nextel!
Debra
Galesburg,#43Author of original report
Thu, September 18, 2003
I just figured that Mr. Casserole "Full of Peas" was another ignorant employee taking me as a joke; as most of the employees that I have spoken with in the last year have done. You know? there was a gentleman from Nextel that I spoke with about a month ago and he told me he was from Pony Alabama, and I kinda chuckled (I enjoy humor), maybe just a coincidence.
Tom, thank you for your advise and I will take it. But, as far as having any 'changes' done to my phone (which I have-since; had a new phone because they did find problems with it and I have had several changes) and with the changes came unauthorized contract date changes, or contract changes that I had no choice in the matter otherwise the invoice amounts would have remained incorrect and I would have been responsible for eating the bill. I truly believe that this $177.00 is a charge for the cost of working with me and they some how (don't ask me how)need to make up the loss.
What ticks me off is the fact that all of this crap is going on and I can't convince one soul AT NEXTEL that they have a problem and we are held "hostage" to their game--If you don't pay the bill you go to collection--If you disconnect the service you are slapped with a disconnection fee--You have to pay for their advertisement through text messaging (which I was unaware of any 'text messaging feature' until the other day when I received that message). Why can't/won't anyone stop Nextel from what they are doing to us?
WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO BE MADE TO DO SOMETHING WE DON'T WANT TO DO-AND PAY A PENALTY FOR IT. Isn't it like RAPE!???!!!
Once again Robin and Tom...THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE GREAT HUMOR, SUPPORT AND WONDERFUL ADVICE...
Robin
Waldron,#44Consumer Comment
Thu, September 18, 2003
Dear Debra,
You have just been introduced to RipOffReport.com's very own resident troll, Peter Shawangunk Cozylee. Or it might be Shawangunk Cozylee Peter.
We had kind of chased him off for a little bit, but I guess he is back. We try to overlook him until he gets outrageous and really mean to victims, then we are forced to get all over him. A couple of us have noticed him again lately, but tried to act like we didn't. We hoped his sojourn here would be more pleasant this time. (New meds or something).
We have determined that this troll had a hard life because his Mama gave him that awful name and the schoolyard beatings took their toll over the years. (Little bit of brain damage, you know.)
The poor thing is forced to live in towns that don't exist and he moves often from one nonexistent town to another. Due to the constant moving, his vocabulary is very limited. Sometimes he manages to live in several nonexistent towns simultaneously. He is either magic or very confused. When he really gets bad, we find his first name living in one fictitious town and his middle name in another; in two separate states!I believe that to be indicative of a psychotic break.
He says Hogwash a lot, and Waaah, waaah, cry me a river and he must love peas because he speaks quite often of pea casserole. He thinks no one ever has enough peas for their casseroles. He also likes to offer folks some whine with their cheese.
We basically try to ignore him until he gets really ugly as he is beginning to do again. There for a little bit he was almost making sense. Alas, he just cannot stick with the program; too much brain damage! Not enough medication.
Please take him with a grain of salt. He evidently cannot help himself; those schoolyard beatings must have really brought out his mean streak! We almost pity him sometimes, but then that old meanness comes outwell, then we have to take steps.
I would like to apologize for your exposure to this creature and hope that it will not interfere with your enjoyment of this site. I cannot help you with your phone dilemma as I do not know what one does with scammy cell phone companies.
It sounds as though you are on top of it and there are some intelligent people who read this site who probably CAN help you. Almost sounds to me like your phone is being hijacked somehow.
Since I cannot help you, I can only encourage you to stick with it and give them the dickens! (Just ignore the idiot above; he really cannot help himself).
Tom
Vernon,#45Consumer Comment
Wed, September 17, 2003
Got a chain email warning me of a scam last month. If someone calls you saying they need to check your line, or phone, they'll ask you to hit a three digit number and #. What this does is give that person your number, and the can make unlimited calls. This is commen for guys that are in prison. Get any calls like that? Call your phone conpany to get details, and if this is really true.
Tom
Vernon,#46Consumer Comment
Wed, September 17, 2003
"Peter" lives in a made up town (again). His past identities have been Shawangunk, Shawonga, Cozylee, Pegleg, Gretchelle, and others. After many denials, he had to finally admit he was all the same guy/woman. He has claimed to live in Florida, New York, Socksville - NY, and the ever-famous Socksville, Nebraska. (Doesn't exist)
1) Do a search for Carnival Cruise Lines. In the heading it will say "Shame on you Peter".
2) Do another search for Jack La Lanne (9/15) In there he now claims to be a Consumer Advocate and says,... "It is my prurient intention to strive toward total and complete customer satisfaction, as I am a Consumer Advocate Volunteer, dedicated toward achieving outcomes to all consumers nationwide". Horse Pucky! Debra, does this sound like the kind of help he offered you??
3) Do a search for "PEAS". You will
see he's used that catchy line before under different names.
4) Do a search for SHAWANGUNK, to find out just how many people he has pissed off. I urge you to plow through them all. You will recognize the tone in his posts.
He's been doing this since 4/03. He ducked below the radar for awhile, but I knew it wouldn't take him long to start up again with a new identity. He just gets a charge by mouthing off, and has never offered any help, with the exception of two early post about Circut City in April - where he worked. Since then he has been nothing but trouble. For a long time he would begin his rebutals with, "Waah, Waaah, Waaaah! Cry me a river!" Does this sound like a consumer advocate?
So Debra, one way around your $177.00 phone bill is to pay it with a credit card, then dispute the charge. This will buy you some time until you figure out the problem. If they disconnect you, eventually a collection agency will be writing. You might also try getting them to reprogram it with a new number for the reasons you stated.
Don't waste your time respoding to "Peter", or whatever his name is this month. He's just a boil on the a*s of society.
Debra
Galesburg,#47Author of original report
Wed, September 17, 2003
Yesterday on the way home from work I got a strange beep on my cell phone and I stopped my car to see there was an envelope displayed on my screen. I finally found the way into retrieving the message; I WAS SURPRISED (I guess I shouldn't have been) to find that Nextel sent me a text message during chargeable hours. It was a sales pitch...I was furious.
Today I called Nextel and spoke with Jennifer-Employee #71270 and informed her of what I just stated above, and asked if there is a charge for text messaging. Her response was there is a .15 cent charge per recieved and sent message.
I let her know that I never knew there was a feature for text messaging on my phone until yesterday. Finally, I TOLD her to take me off their list of calls and Leave me alone!
SO PEOPLE! Now they know I have caught up with their sneaky games; they are trying other avenues.
Jenifer is suppose to credit the 15 cent charge. WE WILL SEE!!
HELP SOMEONE!!
Debra
Galesburg,#48Author of original report
Wed, September 17, 2003
Yesterday on the way home from work I got a strange beep on my cell phone and I stopped my car to see there was an envelope displayed on my screen. I finally found the way into retrieving the message; I WAS SURPRISED (I guess I shouldn't have been) to find that Nextel sent me a text message during chargeable hours. It was a sales pitch...I was furious.
Today I called Nextel and spoke with Jennifer-Employee #71270 and informed her of what I just stated above, and asked if there is a charge for text messaging. Her response was there is a .15 cent charge per recieved and sent message.
I let her know that I never knew there was a feature for text messaging on my phone until yesterday. Finally, I TOLD her to take me off their list of calls and Leave me alone!
SO PEOPLE! Now they know I have caught up with their sneaky games; they are trying other avenues.
Jenifer is suppose to credit the 15 cent charge. WE WILL SEE!!
HELP SOMEONE!!
Debra
Galesburg,#49Author of original report
Wed, September 17, 2003
Yesterday on the way home from work I got a strange beep on my cell phone and I stopped my car to see there was an envelope displayed on my screen. I finally found the way into retrieving the message; I WAS SURPRISED (I guess I shouldn't have been) to find that Nextel sent me a text message during chargeable hours. It was a sales pitch...I was furious.
Today I called Nextel and spoke with Jennifer-Employee #71270 and informed her of what I just stated above, and asked if there is a charge for text messaging. Her response was there is a .15 cent charge per recieved and sent message.
I let her know that I never knew there was a feature for text messaging on my phone until yesterday. Finally, I TOLD her to take me off their list of calls and Leave me alone!
SO PEOPLE! Now they know I have caught up with their sneaky games; they are trying other avenues.
Jenifer is suppose to credit the 15 cent charge. WE WILL SEE!!
HELP SOMEONE!!
Debra
Galesburg,#50Author of original report
Wed, September 17, 2003
Yesterday on the way home from work I got a strange beep on my cell phone and I stopped my car to see there was an envelope displayed on my screen. I finally found the way into retrieving the message; I WAS SURPRISED (I guess I shouldn't have been) to find that Nextel sent me a text message during chargeable hours. It was a sales pitch...I was furious.
Today I called Nextel and spoke with Jennifer-Employee #71270 and informed her of what I just stated above, and asked if there is a charge for text messaging. Her response was there is a .15 cent charge per recieved and sent message.
I let her know that I never knew there was a feature for text messaging on my phone until yesterday. Finally, I TOLD her to take me off their list of calls and Leave me alone!
SO PEOPLE! Now they know I have caught up with their sneaky games; they are trying other avenues.
Jenifer is suppose to credit the 15 cent charge. WE WILL SEE!!
HELP SOMEONE!!
Debra
Galesburg,#51Author of original report
Wed, September 17, 2003
First of all...Not all phone companies round up to the nearest minute, I could name a few, but you can do that research yourself. I am not here to debate with you which company does a better job than another...
Second of all, maybe I forgot to add this to my report, MY PHONE IS ALWAYS WITH ME, EXCEPT WHEN IT IS PLUGGED IN THEN IT SITS ON MY KITCHEN TABLE FROM 10pm until 7:30am (during unlimited call times; so if anyone wanted to ring up my phone HEY not a problem)! futhermore, noone else uses my phone but me. And if you read my report through out, you would have read that my 'recent caller id' does not indicate the caller on the screen when these strange incidents happen. But sometimes the screen will disply "Line 1"
I WORK 8-5 MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY-THE PHONE BILL INDICATES MOST OF MY CALLS AND OVERAGES ARE DURING THOSE HOURS. I WORK DIRECTLY UNDER THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY AND HE IS FIRST HAND WITNESS THAT MY PHONE SITS NEXT TO ME OR IN MY PURSE AT LUNCH TIME AND I DO NOT USE IT AS MUCH AS NEXTEL STATEMENTS INDICATE. FOR $177.00 WORTH OF BILL, DON'T YOU THINK I SHOULD BE FIRED FROM MY JOB BY NOW?
I will not let up on this EVER!! I have used phones all of my life and never had the problems I am having now. I also have witnesses to say there is a problem with Nextel Communications.
Have a wonderful day Mr. Alabama
Peter
Pony,#52Consumer Suggestion
Tue, September 16, 2003
Quit whining about your so-called "faulty timer" and get with the program!
EVERY cell phone company rounds all calls UP to the nearest minute. This means that if your call is only 2 seconds long, you will get charged for 1 minute! If it is 1 minute and 3 seconds long, you will get charged for 2 minutes.
See how quickly your bill can add up? It is not rocket science!
As for your number appearing on other people's phones when you supposedly did not call .... perhaps you should take better care of where you leave your phone, so that unauthorized users cannot make calls with it.
Debra
Galesburg,#53Author of original report
Mon, September 15, 2003
I am speaking with Shandra Futrell-extention 3688 from Nextel- I just received a phone call on my cell while speaking with Shandra and I answered the phone, the person calling would not speak. I looked at the recent call and found that there were no recent calls made or received, the only curious thing was on caller ID it said "line 1". I just informed Shandra the call timer stated :35 on the phone but, no recent call information. This is another problem I get; people calling then after 30 to 40 seconds they hang up. The recent call area of the phone does not display who it is. Furthermore, just before that call came in Shandra offered to call my cell to see if her timer is the same as my cell timer. Before making a desicion whether I wanted Nextel calling my cell phone, that call came in. When I mentioned to her that this happens all the time and asked if she just called my phone the only response I received was, "I am documenting everything you are saying."
I told Shandra that my assumption has it that maybe Nextel is calling to ring up my phone bill.
More shocking news. Shadra informed me that my cell phone is rounding up per minute cycles. I asked her if my contract stated this would happen. She informed me that it was not in my contract. I let her know that Nextel breached my contract then. I have absolutely no idea this was happening. She came back to me and said the April billing states verbatim "Effective with your next billing statement, Nextel rate plans and Nextel Worldwide Service will round cellular calls to the next full minute..." I let her know that I never read that before. She did send a copy of that statement to me.
I never read that on my statement before. I still say that something fraudulant is happening here with my call timer and Nextel, I will continue to believe this. I was also informed today that if I am disconnected due to not paying a bill they WILL NOT charge the $200.00 disconnection fee because they disconnected without customer authorization.
Debra
Galesburg,#54Author of original report
Fri, September 12, 2003
I made a quick phone call yesterday and just left a message. The call only lasted 33 seconds, and my phone's call timer recorded 1:04. Today I called home just to test the phone timer and the call only lasted :18. The call timer recorded :58.
This is part of the RIP OFF!!
HELP!! This can't be legal. I am about to pay a $177.00 bill and I don't owe it.
Can someone please refer me to the right place without it costing me alot of money? I am a single parent and only have one income and Nextel is sucking it out of me.
Thank you!