I used to have cell service with Cricket. 35 bucks a month for unlimited talk and text seemed a good deal. Then I upped it another 5 a month for the data plan. Things were ok but the phone was not made for internet use. A friend was moving and gave me a box of stuff he didn’t want. One item was a VM Kyocera Loft phone. I called VM for pricing and found it was 40 bucks for unlimited data, text and mms with 1200 anytime minutes. This was fine as I don’t talk much. In fact, for the past few months I’ve been on the $25 plan with 300 minutes and not close to going over. Anyway.
I upgraded the Loft to the Rumor Touch. The phone was fine until I found for an extra 50 bucks I could get the new Optimus V. Folks, I love this phone. I’ve quit looking for a new computer because this does everything I need and then some. Things were going well and I was happy. For a month. Then 2 weeks ago today, at 5am, the internet service died. At first I figures it was one of those things. I’ve been working with computers for 26 years now. I know there’re a million things that can go wrong at any moment. By noon I decided to call and see what was up.
Now, I’m going to first say this. All CSRs I’ve spoken to have been polite and generally gave me the feeling they did want to resolve the issue for me, with the exception of the second one.
The first one I talked to told me it was likely just a glitch as it wasn’t something they’ve been getting a lot if calls about. We reset the phone and she told me to allow up to 4 hours for provisioning. Cool. Whatever it takes. If it worked, of course, I wouldn’t be posting here.
So I called the next day (19th) and was told by the guy it was because I hadn’t paid my bill. Great, now I’m being called a deadbeat. I asked why the data was down and more texting or calls if that was the issue. He told me the way they do it us to start shutting shit down one by one to get your attention. I asked why don’t they just send a text? I’m getting 2 a day for Japanese aid on each phone. (Oh yeah, I have 2 lines with them.) He couldn’t answer. I already knew it was a bullshit excuse but it was Saturday and i had nothing better to do. Let’s play the game. I asked why, if the bill was due on Friday, was the service cut at 5 in the morning of the day it’s due. No answer given, no answer expected. So I specially asked, if I pay it now will it come back online? Yup. Just give it 4 hours to reset. Fine. Paid in full. 6 hours and 2 hard reboots later (recommended by them) still nothing. I called back on Sunday and was told it would be escalated. 1-3 days. Now, keep in mind I was told it would be expected to lose service if I didn’t pay up a day early. I’m 5 days into the plan with no service. Again, this is the only reason I bought the Goddamn phone. I’m given 75 minutes. Useless to me.
Long story short (too late), 14 days and 11 calls and 5 terse emails from them for politely inquiring why they can’t just tell me what’s going on even if they can’t fix it yet, I’m posting only because I’m lucky enough to live near enough to the Marquette University to connect to their wi-fi. I’ve asked to get new set up with a whole new account and I’ll deal with the headache of a new number. No can do. How about a refund and I’ll part again when it’s working. Nope. The problem is they can’t do any of that (yeah, I know it’s bullshit) until the ticket is closed, which won’t happen until the issue is fixed. I told her I refused to believe that they gravelly successfully added new customers with this same phone in 2 weeks. They’re on the Sprint network. If a major carrier had a major service istye it would make the news. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say it wouldn’t surprise me if this goes on for weeks.
To wrap it up, here’s the latest. I called yesterday morning (3 days after being told 1-3 days yet again) I was told it was being sent for the 4th time to engineering. Wait 4 hours and call back if still an issue. 4 hours later I was told since it was escalated again it would be another 1-3 days. Sunday assuming they count weekends, Tuesday otherwise.
Not sure what else to do at this point, but I feel a little better having typed it all out. Thanks for listening.
