I have used and been loyal to a major cell service provider for a long long time (around 20 years). I knew they were not the best rates, but I felt they were reliable in their service and coverage. I got into a huge disagreement with them a few years back, when they unilaterally changed the 3 year contract I signed and started to charge me for things that were clearly stated as free in the contract. Even though it was not a huge amount, but over the duration of the contract and cumulatively, it would have added up. More importantly, it was the principle of an agreement and it was so unethically done that I felt I had to stand up to them.
I filed a complaint against them with the Better Business Bureau after getting no where with their customer service, who repeatedly said I should have read the fine print on the contract where it said they could change the terms at will. Still with no satisfactory response, I took it to the media, I got results then. After several months of back and forth, they finally relented and refunded me.
But why does any customer have to go through all that when they breached a signed contract? Why bother having a contract if it meant nothing to them? It was so wrong. The sad thing is that many people don’t bother complaining about such horrible service or bad business practices or may be they don’t know how to get results. Their silence allows big companies such as this one to rip people off. Even if it were only for $1 / customer / month, and I don’t know how many cell customers they have, say 2 million (I think it’s more) … they will make $24 million a year.
Yesterday, the contracts were up after 3 long years … we are out of there!!! I was able to get some no-contract plans for all the kids … AWESOME!!!!
forawesomemoms
for awesome moms 