I hate cell phone companies.
I’ve had a Sprint/Nextel account since 2001. When the thrill of direct connect died and became more of an embarrassment to have my name yelled out of my pocketbook while running a meeting at my desk, I went back to my roots and got an AT&T phone.
Most of my family was (and still is) using the Nextel direct connect so I hung on to the Nextel phone and dumbed down my plan to make it easier for them to communicate with me. I upgraded my phone and was nice enough to give my stepmother my old one so that she could also direct connect with Dad and other family members.
Last year I got my brother a Nextel phone for his 16th birthday and added him to my plan. About a month later, my phone wouldn’t charge and kept turning off on it’s own. Since I had my AT&T phone, I just started leaving my Nextel at home thinking I was being nice by continuing to pay for my stepmother and brother.
That kind of got old after a year.
So for Christmas, I got my brother a new AT&T phone as his phone was due for a replacement anyway after 18 months with a teenager, and added him to my AT&T account which is netting out MUCH cheaper than the Nextel bill of $165. Today I called Nextel to cancel the accounts.
Do you see where this is going?
Cancellation fees. $200 per phone. That’s $600 total.
I had a heart attack.
Apparently, when I added my brother to my account in July of ’06, that automatically “contracted” me for another two years. This, I did not know. Since I was barely using the phone then, I find it hard to believe that I would’ve agreed to a two year contract.
The service representative was a complete and total prick and wouldn’t give me a supervisor saying that there was no one authorized to waive the fee and if I would just listen and stop interrupting him, he would tell me what else I could do.
????
Dumbfounded, I shut up as he explained that I could change the plan to put all three phones on family talk for $70 per month and then cancel without charge in July. The math works out to about $500 to continue to pay that fee from now until July and I find it REALLY difficult to believe that they won’t come up with another $100 or so in taxes, franchise fees and whatever else we stupid American’s pay for unknowingly. So nice pitch, Buddy, but I still think you’re screwing me.
I hung up on him.
I’m sure now my account has a little red flag next to it for when I call back with my decision which I’m still not sure what that decision will be.
See where being a nice person gets you? Hindsight is 20/20, but I never should’ve been paying all this money for as long as I have for phones that suck and a service provider that’s notorious for their overpriced billing and shitty customer service.
What would you do? Should I pay the $600 up front, cancel the service and be rid of these pricks for good? Should I continue paying them and cave to their bullshit until July even after replacing and activating my brother’s cell phone on AT&T? I’m relying on you people since I’m so pissed off I can’t see straight never mind make an educated decision.
Tweet This Post