My love affair with Nextel is officially over.I've had the service less than a year. I loved that little walkie-talkie thing, and was convinced that the company needed it for the guys in the field. So I happily marched down to the nearest Sprint/Nextel outlet (authorized dealers, I later found out, and not a bit responsible for anything!) and plunked down over a grand for phones, deposits, and accessories.
For the first six months, all is well. I love my service, my service loves me. I don't even mind paying almost double the standard "family" plans from other companies because I have a prestigious "business" account and all the bells and whistles that go with it.
Or so I thought.
In June, I informed Nextel that I was considering a move and asked about coverage in the new area. "Oh, it's perfect out there," the customer rep proceeded to tell me. I grin and set my moving vans in motion, happy that my service is secure.
Then I moved.
And found out that service here is not only not "perfect" but it is usually non-existent. On a daily basis, my corporate phones (all FIVE of them!!) have dropped calls, spotty calls, line interference and static, and sometimes the dreaded "NO SERVICE AVAILABLE" messages.
This is October. I've waited patiently all these months for the problems to be fixed. I've lived through months of service issues that have cost my business time and money. I've been promised that the outage is "temporary" and that "new towers are being added" even as we speak. Yeah, right.
Now, I've taken to calling Nextel every time we have a problem. I've called customer service, account services, technical support, corporate customer care. I've complained to all and sundry who will listen (or not) and received only conflicting, asinine advice from reps who are usually borderline egomaniacs and sometimes downright rude.
The irony is, they tell me every time that I "have" good service, but they have never sent a technician out here to prove it. (Or they have, and the techie said, "Nope, no service.")
Nextel simply tells us not to call anymore. Apparently my service issues - and my subsequent complaining about them - is causing issues for Nextel. I've actually been told that it is unprofessional for me to call whenever there is an issue, that I shouldn't expect it to be fixed because Nextel doesn't 'guarantee' service to anyone, and that I shouldn't call any more.
Apparently my issues are mine to deal with, and they shouldn't be bothered. That's the message I've gotten.
Let's recap, shall we?
- I have to pay for premium service, whether or not I receive such service. (They will not even switch my plan to a pay as you go, or by the minute. Probably because they know I'd just shut the phones off since they don't work anyway and never pay another dime.)
- I am not guaranteed any service at all. (So what am I paying over $200 a month for?? Pretty phones that don't work?)
- If I want to get out of the contract to find someone who will provide me with service, I have to pay them $1000 for the privilege.
- Their grand solution is that I should buy all new phones, to the tune of $300-$500 each. But, of course, this isn't guaranteed to help me at all and will extend my contract for another two years.
- I'm not to call and complain when my service isn't working. The lack of service really doesn't seem to be an issue for them. (I will anyway. "My problems are your problems," I tell them. Until, of course, they fix the problems. I can hear the customer service reps rolling their eyeballs already.) They apparently don't feel providing me with reliable service is part of the contract I agreed to.
Since filing my BBB report two days ago, I've had absolutely no service at all on my main phone. This is all coincidence, of course.
This phone is less than a year old, by the way. I see no reason why it should have to be "upgraded" at this point.
1 comment:
Wow - that really sucks. I used Nextel and they gave me crap too. Hope you get those things worked out!
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