Farmer H went to get a new phone on Monday. WENT to get one. Didn't.
"I was in the store and there was four people ahead of me. It looked like they were waiting on two of them, but the other workers was just standin' around talkin' to each other. I was gettin' kind of mad, but then my phone rang, and it was one of my old buddies who was passin' through. So I left and went to talk to him."
On Tuesday, Farmer H was busy with insulation and Pony House. But he made time to go over to Bill-Paying Town to get a new phone. GO OVER to get one. Didn't.
I got a call from him at 2:45. Thinking it was him trying out his new phone.
"I went to get a phone. Them idiots said I couldn't buy one, because I'm not on the account."
[Not the first time we've had this problem. Way back when Genius was not yet driving, I drove him halfway to the city one summer to get a phone. SPRINT wouldn't let us, because I was not on the account. So then Farmer H changed it so I WAS on the account. Apparently they put just me on there. The bill comes in my name. We had to add The Pony when he broke his phone at work, and Farmer H was driving him around trying to get it fixed to make a trade-on for a large discount. Anyhoo... I thought Farmer H was on this account all along. But T-MOBILE, who took over SPRINT, says not.]
"You can't even BUY a phone without being on the account? Like, buy it outright, not with payments on the bill?"
"Yeah. Can't do anything. Even though they switched out my sim card in that same store a while back, and didn't say nothin' about me not being on the account. I was gettin' mad. The lady in front of me couldn't buy a phone because she wasn't on the account. She said her husband was out in the car, and the guy said to have him come in, that all they needed to see was his driver's license. He came in, and the guy said it was expired. So the old man said he knew, because he just renewed it, and showed him the paper copy you get before the new one comes in the mail. And then the guy told the old man he couldn't use that, because he couldn't scan it. It was crazy!"
"So you don't have a new phone..."
"Nope. It might be just as easy to drive up to the city to that store we like. But I'll still have to be on the account. The guy said all you have to do is call customer service and it will take 10 minutes. I told him it's never that easy, and that you weren't about to do that right now!"
"That's right."
"Maybe you can look online and see if you can add me. Then I'll try again. But I ain't gettin' no new phone today! The guy kept tellin' me that he was tryin' to help me. That he would like nothing better than to sell me a phone, because he gets a commission. He probably ain't makin' much, since he turns everybody away!"
So... I tried online. First I had to set up an account with T-MOBILE, even though the site said they were importing my SPRINT information. I needed a new password. Several texted and emailed codes later, I was into my account. Went in to the section that said ADD A DEVICE OR PERSON TO YOUR ACCOUNT. And of course it would only let me add a device! Nothing there to add a person. Oh, and I couldn't add a phone without calling customer service. Not that I wanted to add a phone. It's just odd that it's what I couldn't do online. I could have added a tablet or several other devices, but not a phone.
I called customer service. Automated. Finally it put me through to what it said was a person who could help me. Crickets. No. Not actual crickets. There was no sound at all. Not even Muzak. So after three minutes, I hung up. As I was punching in the number to call again, my phone rang. It was T-MOBILE.
"Hello? I'm calling because your phone recently called our customer service department. We were cut off. The call must have dropped..."
That's when I think she realized what she was saying! Their service is so crappy that my call to customer service could not stay connected, heh, heh! Anyhoo... the IRONY of this was probably lost on her. She was too busy concentrating on her English. Obviously not her first language. Possibly not her second. I'm guessing she was on a different continent. She was a very polite Asian-sounding woman who said I had a beautiful name. They don't do that when the call center is in India.
Anyhoo... she SAID she added Farmer H to the account. Then tried to sell me several items, and upgrade my service. Not interested. By the time I hung up, I had been on the line 8 minutes and 35 seconds of actual talk time. Might have been less if we were able to speak each other's language and didn't have to concentrate with long pauses.
We'll see if Farmer H can get a phone on Wednesday. He says the guy he talked to probably won't want to wait on him again...
What a monumental stuff up! I swear they make things more and more difficult on purpose just so people will give in and buy new phones on new plans.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteExactly! They want to hook you into a 2 or 3 year contract, which they do by selling you the phone on payments. They make it as hard as possible to buy one outright. This local store only recently started offering that option, which is why we used to drive to the city to get one. Even though we've kept the same provider for 20 years, it still rubs me the wrong way that they try to hold us captive.
Phones are a headache! When we bought the campround the business line was a pay phone. A bulky mammouth hanging on the wall in the store, but not in sight of the check-in counter. The service was AT&T, so we changed to a cell phone with the same number as soon as that technology was available. I could use a wireless phone, but the range was about 10 feet outside the store. Getting the cell phpne set-up and the credit card line was a weeks long endeavor. When we sold the phone I was more than happy to hand that cell phone off! Problem is that the new owner did not change the name on the account. They changed the name of the campground, but did not chnage the billboard! But who cares about the signage? We were still being billed for the AT&T line no matter how many times we explained the situation or called the new owner to change it. This was three months of agravation before one of them finally went to the AT&T store in person to chnage the billing. They have yet to pay for the three months service and we refuse to pay it, but it did hit our credit score. Not a big problem since we don't charge things, we wait until we have the cash on hand to buy big items. It is the principal of the issue and I will NEVER pay that bill!
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteFrom your previous tales of the new owner, I doubt they will ever pay that AT&T bill! Is it wrong of me to hope they are having major headaches with their campground clientele???
Of course it is not wrong of you to wish for them to fail, I do it all the time. They are thriving and adding new sites this season. My hope is that he is hit with a pang of guilt everytime he thinks of us and raping us of 100 grand. I think he realized HeWho was the soft touch and did a behind my back deal, playing on the fears of my husband who was afraid the deal would fall through. You might recall the post I did about it while the sale was in the works and I described how he approached us and told us money was no issue and offered 700, I wanted 800, know the valus of my property, but accepted the offer since we would not be paying commission to a realtor. They read my blog. I knew they did and HeWho was horrified that I had angered them. The guy's wife was humiliated and backed out of the deal, forcing her husband to find a new partner. She, at least, felt so bad about his actions that she bought a set of Wilton layer cake pans as an offer of her apology. If she is anything like I think I judged her character to be, she will strategically remind him of his wrong doing. The property was worth 1.2 million, so 700 would have been the deal of the century. His new partner, Bev, the bitch is the driving force behind all the petty little things like the phone bill and not paying for the store stock I left. I take comfort in know that she is a bully and he is her target. He has very little say in the entire operation and he does most of the work. We drove through on our way to Minnesota and she has put her mark on the place. She is not a garden person and the many lovely gardens are overcome with weeds and look shabby, they cut down the peach tree that produced the best peaches and even though they have changed the sign at the front of the property, the billboard still has our old signage on it. Priorities?
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteOkay. I will keep them in my wishes, heh, heh! Just out of loyalty to you. I hope you're enjoying your $100,000 Wilton layer cake pans! At least she acknowledged the wrong-doing.