Verizon review: scam charges 92

I have been an Alltel customer for 5 years. I recently moved to an area that is still serviced by Alltel and I am able to get 1 bar (sometimes) at my residence. I have called Alltel and was told they can't guarantee service, yet won't let me out of my contract due to the inability to use my phone. It seems I must pay for a service that I cannot use. The service rep even looked up my address and admitted to poor serivce in my area. I have her admission recorded because I called from work and we have voice recording for quality control purposes.

I am shocked at the poor customer service (or rather NO SERVICE) from Alltel. The "too bad, so sad" attitude I received made me even more angry!

My company has over 4 dozen phones with Alltel and an average monthly bill of over $2300. Today I made an appoitment for a sales rep from Cellular One to meet with me so we can begin the process of changing our carrier. thank God, we don't have a contract for our business phones!

I purchased a prepaid plan and from from ALLTEL on their website. It prompts you for a zip code. When I put in my zip code it had phones and prepaid service available. However when I got my phone the number was not local. They will not give me a local number. My complaint is that NOWHERE and their website did it say it's possible I would not get a local number. If it would have, I would have checked first and gone with something else. I've contacted them, I've submitted a BBB complaint and they still have not changed their website to add a statement saying it's possible you will not get a local number and they will not give me a refund. Alltel stated if I got a different plan a local number would be available. BEWARE that before you get prepaid make sure they have a local number available in your area if that is important to you.

I have had nothing but problems with Alltel after they bought the local cell phone company in southern Illinois. First of all they lost my first payment to them during the buyout. That should have been a clue to go else where. But didn't. Then I bought my niece a cell phone and they had a deal going on... 1000 minutes for 39.99. The constantly got everything wrong... that I was the person paying... they would not let me authorize anything later on when my name was on the bill..

Then in March of this year I switched plans. For almost 2 months now I have been fighting with them. They have everything wrong... and now they suddenly switched my niece's plan from 1000 minutes to 500,,after I signed a contract for 1000.

Now everything is screwed up. I have talked to many many people at customer service with no resolution. It is important that I have a cell phone as I am on a ventilator 24/7.

I am so fed up with this company.

Our service was switched from Midwest Wireless to Alltel much to our dismay. As soon as the change took place, customer service and phone service went down hill. We had dropped calls with most every conversation - even dropped calls to customer service and sometimes no service at all. Every call to customer service received a different answer - none of them correct. Being told to go to an Alltel store to fix the service problem, I drove an hour to the closest store only to find that they could not fix the problem either. Store staff informed me customer service did not know what they were doing.

After switching to a different provider, we can not get Alltel to end service to our old phones. The contract has ended but the phones are still usable. We have made six phones calls and written one letter regarding this. We do not want to be billed for any additional charges.

I would like to report to you the most unsatisfactory help line experience I have ever had: Today (Sept. 15 2007, 10:30-11:20am, Sat.), I called your customer service line [protected], which connected me to someone in India:

1) I waited for more than 20 minutes to get one who answered my phone call;
2) The lady on the line was not knowledgeable and helpful: she told me that the account number was my cell phone number. -- I told her that it was wrong. She said "yes"
3) Then, I said "now please go to www.alltel.com", click on "Register now" link on the home page;
4) then I showed her that on the AllTel website, the account number and cell phone number were different - it was like that I needed to teach her on AllTel website and operation, rather than her to provide help service to me, a Alltel customer;
5) then she said "hold the line" please, and disappeared and held me online for more than 5 minutes;
6) after she came back (maybe asking help from her friends there?), she said "ok, please use your phone number and PIN I give you now to log in". - she gave the PIN: 1279
7) I followed up her instruction to log in using my cell phone number and PIN, and tried 3 times, but rejected by the AllTecl website. So I told her that I tried it according to her instruction 3 times, but failed.
8) She became inpatient and said "Sir, can you keep trying according to my instruction?" (it sounds like "you are so stupid, even cannot key in your cell phone number and PIN number correctly!")
9) I was afraid now, so I asked and tried to get the confirmation from her: "is your given PIN the same as the Password that was asked by the AllTel website?". She replied "of course, it's the same!" (she used her term PIN to replace AllTel's term "Password" to confuse customer, but she put the blame to customer, "are you so stupid not to konw this common knowledge?!").
10) I was so nervous (and also felt in my mind that I was so stupid like many ordinary and kind American customers would think), and carefully followed up her instruction to key in my cell phone number and PIN (must be PIN according to her, AllTel was wrong to call it "password") she gave me, but the website rejected me again - I kept trying it for other 5 times, and again all failed.
11) Then she said "at least I got it through when I tried it" (if I would have the privilege as a system administer as her, I can surely access to any account as well!). Then she said "ok, please hold the online and I'll connect you to our technical help line!"
12) after about 30 minutes, she received my help to teach her the difference between Alltel account number and Alltel cell phone number, and she "successfully put a blame" on me not to know that PIN and password were actually the same thing (only Alltel used password to confuse customer and she used the right one "PIN" to show her rich knowledge to use the right term), and she "forcefully" asked me to try keying in my cell phone number and PIN (or password?) for more than 8 times (my typing sill has been improved substantially as a result, thanks to her, an excellent Alltel Call Center helper!)..., she finally gave up to help me (because a customer like me, so stupid and knowing little about so advanced IT technology like ordinary stupid American customers do - ironically my job is to teach IT for living in US! I felt so shameful that I knew so little when I talked with a young Call center lady who appeared to know so much more!), and wanted to connect me to the technical service line.
12) What a relief to me - at least I have a new chance not to be considered "a stupid customer"! Maybe I could have a chance to report this unusual customer service (or a better name for it to be "customer torturing") experience to AllTel, so other "stupid American customers" like me may not have to experience it again next time.
13) the service line rang for about one minute with beautiful music for me to enjoy (unfortunately, I felt so shamed and guilty myself, no mood to enjoy such superb and high class music provided free by AllTel).
14) Suddenly, the line was cut off and left me with all deadly silence - I was really silenced totally ... I didn't have another chance to talk with another service person of AllTel (maybe she/he will a really good and qualified person providing quality customer service and I could provide feedback to her/him), but no chance was given, unless I wanted to spend another more than 50 minutes to call Alltel customer service helpline again? Will you?... I won't!
15) So I decided to spend time to report this most unusual customer service experience in my while life to the public, so other "stupid American customers" like me may not have to experience it again next time.

Thanks,
an ordinary customer of AllTel.com

Watch out... alltel will probably charge you a fee to disconnect your service.

unauthorized charges

I was signing up fro the rebate from Alltel then had to submit a pass code from the internet on the rebate directions. Next thing I know I started receiving jokes on my cell phone. I texed back put me on the do not call list. a text message came that said subscription renewed @5.99 /weekly or 23.96 a month. I texted back refused. They sent back a text that said sorry ur command is not recognized. This is a bogus way to add charges. It should be told to others that it is a scam! I would appreciate the opportunity to cancel this ASAP.

After coming back from Iraq and finding out that Alltel did not put me there military suspension plan the trouble is over going to be over for me, but not for them my local U.S JAG officer is going to sue the crap out of them and the credit agency who bought my account lucky me.

Your problems are identical to mine, great MWW service, but Alltel was crap, I told them this and they said they were upgrading towers. I gave them a few months to do this while struggling with service, still no decent signal like I had before, even bought a new battery and everything. I was then told it was because I had a MWW phone still not an Alltel, and to go to the store and get it exchanged or re flashed. Upon going to the store when I didnt have time, they dont do exchanges and said if they flashed it, it would kill the phone, the only way to do it would be to have a new phone sent to me and return my still fully functional MWW phone in, but because a water sensor pad was red I would be charged $160, My phone has never been in water, but i did some work at a resort in the pool room thats like 110% humidity.

So i have to either buy a new phone (cannot afford) or just wait out until Feb 09 when my 2-yr MWW contract is up. Thing is I dont have MWW its now Alltel, can they do this? I never agreed to transition over, why do I have to pay a penalty when I am not getting the service they claim I am using, ( have to go outside when I am at home )

All I want to do is have reliable phone service and be able to pay my bill. Their software would not accept my payment, and when I complained to customer service, I was called an "###". There was a note from one employee to another stating that "the ### wants to pay her bill". The second employee sent me a bunch of links that had nothing to do w/ my problem. I have never felt this kind of anger towards a company before and regret ever leaving Cingular / ATT. Alltel has been a problem for me since the very beginning starting w/ the rebate. With alltel, the term "customer service" is a sick joke.

Unfortunately, about a year and a half ago I convinced my family to switch to Alltel... Biggest mistake of my life! The service is obsolete. It really doesn't work to any degree. I don't receive calls, or even get the sign of a missed call, and rarely receive the voicemail sent to me after friends think I'm ignoring them. When people call my phone they either get voicemail or rings, but on my end of the phone, I get absolutely no notification of a call or missed call.

So once in a blue moon when my calls do work, they drop, 95% of the time. It's like too bad At&t doesn't follow me around because those commercials with the awkward moments when the phone drops are the story of my life. My phone promts me by displaying "Signal faded. Call lost." and there goes my conversation.

All in all, I can't rely on my phone. My employer thinks less of me because I don't receive her calls, my grandma thinks I don't want to talk to her, and my friends and family think I'm ignoring them or mad at them. It's really dampened my social life.

Right before smashing my phone into a million little pieces, I thought Alltel may be able to help me out, so visited the store. They told me the software wasn't updated and then pushed a few buttons and sent me off. No change whatsoever. I returned, and they did the same thing, not listening when i told them they already did it. After about 8 visits, and half my time spent sitting in the Alltel store, they finally decided to send me a refurbished phone, saying my phone must have been defective. (The rest of my family is having the same problems, are all our phones defective, or is the service, hm?) So i get the phone in the mail two weeks later, it was supposed to be 3 to 5 days, and found no improvement. So now I'm on my third phone and they aren't even refurbished, they are half broken, and my service still sucks. Sweeettt. My mom wanted to get another one too when they said that it was just the phones that were defective, but they told her her warranty was up. Which is weird, because we bought our phones on the same day and activated them on the same day... so why is one warranty longer than the other? I'd guess only Alltel would know, but when i asked the customer service agent, he got angry we asked him because 'he doesn't know and it't not his responsibility.'

I'm counting down the days till november when my 2 year contract runs out. ALLTEL IS THE WORST CELL PHONE COMPANY EVER!

I have been with Alltel for years, but you talk about bad Customer Service they have to be #1 on the list. I bought 4 phones in December, as advertised on tv and Internet buy 1 get 1 free so go to the store to purchase these phones the unprofessional Alltel ediot that waited on us was holding his bottom lip while asking me questions and when I couldn't understand him and asked him to repeat what he said he seemed to get perturbed with ME! Stupid Eliot, then he told me the cost of the buy 1 get 1 free deal... NOT WHAT THEY ADVERTISE!ended up costing over 400.00 for the phones up front, but after mail in rebates the phones would end up costing around 140.00. We muddled thru all the setups, he handed me all the forms that had to be sent for the mail in rebates that could take 6 to 12 weeks to receive you checks. I sent everything off checked my email and there it was all but one was REJECTED! Was I surprised heck no I relished the bait! I called ALLTEL and then they give me the rebate phone number. The rebate guy said that one of the problem was that the wrong form was sent,well I don't work at Alltel it wasn't my fault that Mr.Lip gave me the wrong form that went to that phone! He fixed it and said my rebate will soon be mailed,then on problem #2 didn't send a copy of the bill, well you received the bill that went to the other phone it all came in the same envelope.The problem was that the other two phones are on 1 bill family phones you know you get the same bill stupid people. Okay the nice guy fixed that one! The real problem started on the third phone which by the way was my sons phone which he in on my plan using my minutes there for only need my bill. So I called again and the intelligent ALLTEL EMPLOYEE said I need to fax them the bill I said you already have the bill because the other rebates were approved try as I may she just couldn't get! She told me fax another bill and then call them back and tell the Smart Alltel Employee to go to the fax and get the bill! Nope won't do it I did my part I am not an Alltel Employee, I will not call to make sure that they do their JOB! Anyway when I finally ask to talk to supervisor and when I SAYED THAT she fixed the problem!

Go to one of you search engines and contact the Clark Howard Show ,he will review your complaint and beleive it or not,Alltel and all the others have governmental regulations too. The folks at Alltel will have you beleive that there is no gov. regulations. You do this the right way with class and Alltel will be begging you to give you whatever you have been screwed out of. I know I did it . Going with the BBB has a lot of red tape involved and Alltel knows you dont have the time to continue with BBB

My account is being charged for services never requested!

My partner and I decided to switch to a local carrier, Alltel; as soon as our Verizon contract ended. We needed to have 3 phones in our account, so we were advised to have the Family Plan that also had 1000 Text messages included. During the first month of usage I signed up to monitor this new account on their "Official Website". I recognized that this was a fairly brand new account, I gave them time to update customer usage information on the website. Two weeks passed and I used their e-mail feature for customer support. Never got a reply back. I call their 800 number, and after punching numbers to get any type of usage; which at the time my usage totalled "zero" minutes used. I kept pressing button to speak with a live person. When I expressed my concern, that still Zero minutes still shows in my lines. The representative connected back to the automated service. All To my horrible surprise, their website does not monitor any of my usage. All it contains are ways to look at bills and ways to make payments. The only time you are able to see any usage, it's when it;s too late and they want payment. The even sent text messages to notify that the bill is due, they don't even send an alert that the limits to my plan have reached, they just want the customer to be ignorant of the usage, so the bill get higher and higher. The only call I got from them was to inform us and threated us, that the current bill due is over $500 for overages charges, and if it was not paid at that moment the service will be interrupted. I still haven't seen any bill from them and, the website does not have my supposedly current or past usage. How do they expect me to monitor my usage if their system does not allow any customer to monitor any usage whatsover, only after the bill cycle had ended and we are stuck with a huge $$$$ amount bill.

I agree that you are mislead or lied to directly by the customer service reps at Alltel. For Christmas I decided to give my two children the all access pass for their phones for $20/line. They like to text message. At the time the rep told me there was a package for just unlimited texting without internet access or picture messaging that was $12. In January I called back to switch t0 that plan I was told that plan wasn't $12 it was actually $14.99. I said ok to that. Then at bill time this month I see they didn't take me off the All access plan so I call to have it fixed and am told that there is no $14.99 text only plan that it was a mistake they only have the $20 all access. At this point I am angry and ask why I was lied to by not one but at least 2 people who told me there was a text only plan and am told they didn't lie that they made a mistake. I was never mailed a letter to let me know they made an error to see if I wanted to keep the plan or not and they offered no compensation for my inconvenience . I am very mad. I wish I hadn't just renewed my contract in december because I would switch companies.

Alltel has got to be one of the WORST companies I have ever dealt with. It is dificult to tell if their horrible service and dishonesty is merely severe incompetence or outright theivery. I have been their customer for 2.5 years, and am no longer in a contract. First of all, they do their billing really screwy. you pay your monthly service fee for the upcoming billing period that you haven't used yet. While you pay overages and fees and minutes in arears for the past billing period. Purposely misleading perhaps but not illegal. However, four out the last five months they have made errors on my bill, all in their favor of course. It has become routine, every month i call them to fix my bill. The usual overage they try to charge me is around 100$. So I have to waste an hour of my day to call them up and get them to correct a mistake they never should have made. Here's an example of their latest funny math on my bill:
included in my plan: 500
Used: 1,446
Overage: 269
charge: 107.76$
Now I never used anywhere near that many minute, and they did correct it, but I shouldn't have to keep calling them to have it corrected. Also they overcharged me on my service charge. It's supposed to be 39.99$ per month, instead they charged me 59.99$ I asked them to correct this and they said it would be added as a credit on my next bill but I would have to pay it now to avoid damage to my credit. So let me get this straight, they admit the charge is bogus, but they refuse to remove it and demand i pay it, and they will refund me later. So apparently now Alltel has the right to use me as their personal bank! able to extort loans whenever they want, only to say "oh, we'll credit you later". ###! I don't want them collecting a cent of interst on my money. I have no problem paying for a service that I've used. However I refuse to be robbed. Alltel you are an example of what is ruining America.

i am beening charged 5.99 for something i know nothing about it has happen 3 times already and i want the money put back on my phone.

I checked my bill on the phone today and it says it was 420 dollars. My bill has never been that high so i called to ask why. The only explanation was I had been using the internet on my phone a lot but guess what according to my phone I DON'T HAVE INTERNET! It ask me to do a one day pass which is like 5.99 i think. The woman at Customer Service said i did it and i never did but still how is that going to run my bill up to 420 dollars. GOOD QUESTION HUH. But after she said i bought a one day pass then she says i have unlimited internet because i have unlimited text messaging. What kind of sense does that make? Then what beats it all is if i had unlimited internet (which i don't cause i don't have internet period) How could my bill go up cause its unlimited? She says its cause it would take it away from your minute plan. Ok so how is that actually unlimited? Your guess is probably as good as mine. It doesn't make any sense at all. All it is is a big scam. They think people out here in the world cant figure out what kind of a business they are running. Thats why everybody i know is going to Cricket now. The customer service people just kept trying to find a reason for why it was so high but never could find a good one. She just wanted to keep blaming it on some internet that I DON'T HAVE! Please if you don't have service with them already chose someone else cause they are no good.

I changed from a regular plan to a Pay as you go. I asked what I would lose in service. I was told I would lose nothing but on rare occasions I would have to dial the number twice. This rare occasion lasted for 734 miles between Louisville, Ky and the Florida state line. I was also told the number of minutes I purchased in advance would, based on my previous usage would last me 8-9 Months. Today I discovered my minutes expire every 2 months. Since I am now retired and not on the road very much, I won't need the service as much. I was not told the truth by a service rep. in your Invernace Fl. office.

I am now stuck with a service I would never have accepted and locked into buying minutes I don't need. Why are your people so poorly trained and why wasn't I told everything when I changed from one plan to another. I had the previous plan for over 4 years.

I took a friend's son to Altell to purchase an upgraded phone as a birthday present. The kid saved his own cash to do this and when we got to the store we were told that it would be 15 more days before we could get any of the deals on the phones. Ok, we miss the birthday but we save 2-3 hundred.
The kid returns on a Monday 2 days before the 20 days to make sure he has enough cash. The clerk confirms that in 2 days he can purchase the phone. He returns with his father on the 20th day and is told, sorry the data was wrong your dad has another year on his contract. Crushed little boy.
I logged on to their site to tell the story. First - they shoudl fix the data, second they should give this kid some discount for ruining his surprise.
They sent me a reply that I wasnt' the authorized user on the account so they couldn't talk to me about the experience. I said, okay, how do I log a complaint against your store customer service? they said, you are not an authorized user on this account so we cannot help you. I started laughting then...thinking how many of these very politely written emails can I get them to send stating they can't do anything. So far I am up to 15.
My friend is stuck in his contract and really can't aford to cancel and leave these chumps. - I'm sure the fees for that would equal 5 new phones.
So, I'm off to ebay to find the exact same phone for pennies on the dollar compared to what they charge.

The store in my area has sold me many items which were defective, take forever to wait on me, are rude and lie to make sales, if there were any competion I would take my business elsewhere, does anyone know how to use my alltel phones with another carrier?

I paid for my pre paid acct. with a gift card and they never applied it to my account and it was taken out of my card ...
I called billing they put me on hold for forty minutes and then transferred me to tech support this all happened on [protected] thru [protected] . they say now that it was not recieved and my bank says it was I told billing that they might have put it in a different acct. and they said they would do an investigation.
Well they have my money and I dont look to see it anytime soon
SO I HOPE THEY CHOKE ON IT ... THE WORD OF GOD THAT I
HAVE THE POWER TO CONDEMN SO THIS SHOULD GIVE THEM A WARNING THAT THEY DONT WANT TO KEEP THIS UP

So this is the only way to make an complaint agaisnt Alltel?

I had been a customer with Alltel for many years. In 2007 I took a trip to Las Vegas, NV and also made a stop in Arizona to visit some family. Before I went I spoke with someone at the 800# as well as someone in the store. Both of them advised me that I did not need to change my plan or add anything on and I would not be roaming in the locations that I would be traveling to. Well when I got back and received my next phone bill...hundreds of dollars in roaming charges. And best of all... I appearantly made a call in Sacramento, CA and then another call in Seattle, WA three (3) minutes later. So I called Alltel and they told me that I should have known I was roaming there due to some light on my phone. Well I never saw a light on my phone for that or even knew one was on there. And when questioned about the charges for calls made 3 minutes apart that Superman himself couldn't pull off, they said I made those calls and they could not do anything about them. I tried explaining to the representative as well as a supervisor that it is not possible to make those calls 3 minutes apart and especially if you have never been to either of those places. I told them I no longer wish to do business with a company that is going to give me false charges. They then canceled my contract and charged me $200 some odd dollars for that. When I received the next months bill they had also charged me for another month. When I called and confronted them again they refused to do anything about it. They have the worst customer service and horrible judgement. Alltel is the WORST company I have ever dealt with! They need to learn to rectify situations when they are in the wrong!

I have been an Alltel customer for many years, having paid my monthly bill on time and had no issues with Alltel, other than despising the waiting line inside the store. But in July, 2008 I experienced a very dissatisfying encounter at the Alltel store. Having been a victim of robbery, the evening previous to my store visit, I had my purse stolen, including my checkbook, driver's license, and cell phone. I visited the Alltel store, to have my phone replaced, as I am one of those folks who gave up their home phone and depend on my cell phone service.

Once finally getting to a representative, I explained I had been robbed and wanted to replace my cell phone. I was asked for ID, which of course, I didn't have. After working through that issue by answering a series of questions, I was able to get set up with a new phone. As I got ready to leave, the rep asked me for $50 to pay for the phone. Of course, with no cash, checkbook, credit card, etc. I did not have one single thing in which to pay for the phone. My credit card accts were closed, my checkbook was closed, my debit card gone, and of course, my cash. The rep asked the store manager if an exception could be made by charging the phone to my account and she was told it could not.

I left the store, embarrassed and insulted. I understand the ID issue, but I could answer all the privacy questions I was asked. I offered to call the bank to verify my situation or whatever was needed to please allow me to charge the phone. In the end, I left as a very insulted customer who felt violated once again. It may seem petty to you but being assaulted and robbed is a very violent offense and I felt the one time I needed the security of my cell phone, I was let down. The robber had the keys to my home and car, and I was now left without a phone in the event I needed it. It may seem petty to the store manager but it would have felt different if were her.

What I would like to see happen, is for future events be managed differently. As a customer in good standing with Alltel, I would expect to be treated in a more understanding and respectful manner. There is always an exception. Don't treat me as a criminal and send me out of the store to come back with $50 in cash, after being traumatized the night before. Most women carry most of their credit cards and ID, inside their purse. I have certainly learned a lesson regarding that, but it didn't help me feel better at Alltel. If not for a current contract penalties, I would remove all 3 of my phone lines and convert to another service.

As for a positive remark, I had a very pleasant Alltel experience a week or two after the above one. Once paying the $50 and getting a "used" phone, I found no one could hear me talk on it so I had to again return to Alltel for a replacement. A young lady named, Nicki, waited on me. Pleasant, understanding, courteous and efficient. My praises to her.

Thank you for listening to my story. I hope it will help other customers in the future.

Denise Buckner.

I have had service with Altel for over two years with no complaint. Now after upgrading to a so called better phone the service sucks. I can not have a simple conversation with out it cutting out, also they do not keep very good records. I was required to pay a deposit of $500 and now after over two years they claim no deposit was made and cannot find any record of one ever being paid. The phone would not have been turned on with out it.

I know what she is talking about! My son had never had a phone, no credit, and had to put down a large deposit. A year and a half later, he needed the money...ask for his deposit back (deposit is held for 1 year) THEY said no deposit had been made! Investigations department said with out his rec. that we had no claim. I remember because I yelled and yelled because he had paid CASH! There is one person in the store that remembers it, but I am afraid that person will loose their job if they defend us. I did find a couple rec. but havent taken them to the store yet. YOU GOT TO WATCH ALLTEL all the time, and go over your bill EACH and EVERY month! They are slick!

I know what you are talking about! I have my son on my account. My bill is basic and pretty simple and usually everything is ok. ON HIS! EVERY month for over a year, there is something wrong with his bill! He has unlimited texting (cheaper in the long run). He has been charged for texting, week-end min. which are free, been charged for roaming, and he isnt...IT is something constantly! AND this runs into hundred's of $s sometimes! I am sick and tired of having to go into the store or call the company to get this stuff cleared up. THEN its "that person shouldnt of done it that way" it "should of been done this way"...I mean its like talking to a totally different company each time you call them. I have been reading the c/o on this site, and I can ID with almost all of them...and that is sad! I am wondering if when Verizon steps in it will get any better? I use to have them too, but when they started messing with my payments (not made...according to them, and I lost money) I dropped them. I think they need to start doing some back ground checks on the ppl they hire! I think some ppl have sticky fingers myself. I am honest, up front, and dont believe in lieing, cheating, stealing...and it makes me highly up set when I am basicly called a liar to my face! I am beginning to think "wireless" is just one large problem, and landlines might just be simpler!

As background, I am a Media Relations practitioner in Ohio, and a former employee of Alltel (Writer for Alltel Publishing, Hudson, Ohio). I am representing my daughter and son in law in a matter involving a non-working one-month-old phone that they purchased and subsequently returned to Alltel only to be told that it had “water damage” and they would have to buy new phones. They are honest, forthright adults, progressive citizens and truthful people to a fault. My son in law is a war veteran and as upright a person as you would ever want to meet. I trust them implicitly when they tell me that their month-old phone was not damaged by any activity or action on their end. They are 100% positive that the phone was flawed upon receipt.

We are seeking a new phone at no charge immediately. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the recently purchased phone was either damaged at the store where purchased or is a factory flaw. Here are the facts, stated for the record and for future pursuit:

Chad and Leah Smith renewed their contracts and bought 2 new phones on July 13, 2008. About a month later Leah called a customer service representative when the screen on her phone began to disappear and a symbol began appearing stating that she had voicemail when she did not have a message. The service rep at that time informed Leah that Alltel would place her name on a ticket and that there were multiple tickets from the region expressing this very same complaint. The rep very clearly indicated that it was some sort of regional problem experienced by many others in the area who had purchased those phones. The rep indicated that she would call Leah back in 24-48 hours. The rep never returned that call.

After having a hard time using the phone, and frustrated with no action on Alltel’s part, two weeks ago Chad and Leah made a special drive in to the Alltel office to explain this problem live to a representative. Unfortunately they had received no return phone call from Alltel to correct the problem. The customer service representative stated that they should mail the damaged phone into Alltel’s customer service department and that they would then receive a replacement phone in the mail for free. She did not say this was a possibility -- she said that this is what they would do. Yesterday, Sept. 22, Leah received a letter from Alltel stating that the phone contains liquid damage and there is a corroded component specified by the display lens. She was informed that this alleged “water damage” could be from water submersion, exposure to rainwater, exposure to high humidity, or liquid intrusion.

Leah is 100% sure that she never got this phone even slightly wet. It went from her purse to a DRY counter daily…with no rain, no water ever exposed to it. She called the customer service support service supervisor (for the record she spoke to ID rep number [protected]) and was informed that there was “nothing that she can do about it”and that she would have to purchase another phone for an additional $100-plus dollars. Chad then made yet another special drive to the ALLTEL store where he was also told “so sorry…pay for another phone.” He was advised to call Motorola and did so on Sept. 22. Motorola said they would call back between 24-48 hours. Of course, there has been no return call.

It is time for the utility companies to stop dumping on the lower middle class. This young married couple – a war veteran and both struggling to make a living in a marginal at best economy in a depressed area of the country – paid good, hard-won money for their phones. They have been responsible in paying their bills. But it appears that Alltel, has rewarded their diligence with a flawed telephone, endless customer rep conversations that go nowhere, more bills for a phone they cannot use, and finally a notice that they must buy a NEW phone after only one month. This is unacceptable.

We have no idea where this alleged “water damage” came from or when it occurred. But this we know…it did not happen as a result of this young couple’s negligence. This phone did not get dropped into water at any time nor was it kept in a bathroom or any other place where water would accumulate. If the phone is so cheaply made that “humidity damage” is an issue, then I would maintain that it is incumbent upon ALLTEL to improve the quality of their phones to withstand moisture -- not put the burden on the buyer. Humidity is not a factor the buyer can control.

For the record, my husband and I are both Alltel customers. We switched from Cingular (AT&T) last winter and after switching from Cingular phones to the Alltel phone, noticed right away the inferiority of our Alltel phones. We purchased the lower priced ($100 or more if I recall) phone that came with a refund, but never did get our refund as we missed the deadline date. We’ve only had them a few months and already my husband’s phone does not open easily and the audio flares very loud periodically. What…moisture damage there too? I certainly would not return my phone for another one, as most assuredly I would expect the same abysmal treatment as my daughter received…you keep my phone and expect me to buy a new one. This smacks of racketeering.

No one should be forced by a corporate utility to pay $100 for a phone, then pay it again a month later because of a malfunction that was not caused by the customer. This young couple made two frustrating and costly trips into Alltel and have been on the phone with customer service representatives for hours to resolve this. They’ve asked my assistance, and I’m glad to help, because I believe businesses (yes, even my business as a media relations practitioner) are responsible for delivering QUALITY service and products. And when they do not, it is their responsibility and privilege to make it right. Responsible is the key word. Please forward a new phone to this young couple to replace the flawed phone. We believe somewhere a mistake was made, and it was NOT on the part of the customers, Leah or Chad Smith.

I would hope that Alltel has not devolved into a corporation that pads its own pocketbooks with substandard technology then would ask a struggling customer to repurchase when the technology fails to deliver. The Alltel I remember from working there 10 years ago would send this young couple a new phone. I would appreciate your response and attention. This is the kind of unfairness and persecution from corporate America to its customers that gives utility companies an increasingly bad reputation. We will pursue a fair ending, I promise you, and are prepared to advance this issue to media, utility regulatory channels and business avenues. You also stand to lose six customers right off the bat if this is not resolved fairly. We are small, but we will fight for right.

Sincerely,
BH

Altell unlawfully did a credit report lookup on my account in August of 2008, I had been their costomer for 2 years prior to that and they checked it for unligitimate purposes. This is illegal and you can find out who's been looking at your credit report by calling Equifax, TransUnion and Experian to request your credit report.

It sounds like you downloaded a premium service. These happen when you text to an outside service to get ringtones, wallpapers, or games. It takes a double oppt in to get the service and the charges. You would have gotten a text saying something like "If you want to receive this ____ please text yes to #" So you requested the service once then you responded to the text. That's the 2 requests to get the stuff. ***Always read the fine print***

You should also report them to the FTC

Saying the customer services Alltel provides is horrific is an understatement. Their in-store service and customer service from headquarters leaves EVERYTHING to be desired. I wrote a letter to headquarters complaining about the lack of service and they called me promising to get back after verifying the facts. I've tried calling 3 times in the past 2 months to follow-up and no one returns my calls. They overcharge on the bill; don't honor their warranties; and headquarters, billing and the stores all have different ways of interpreting their service contract. As soon as my contract is over I'm out of there!

Recently purchased Razr VE20 to replace broken Razr V3 that was used as modem for laptop. Now trying to get download for driver for VE20 and they don't have it available, don't know when it will be available but should be "soon"... very frustrating that they cannot even have software available to support equipment they are selling. Had to work thru rep that handles company's account - she is no help and has no interest in offering customer service. Any advise to get access to this info for download?

I have altell prepaid and i make the check your balance call everyday,
well one night i had $15.00 and the next morning i had $2.00 so im
wondering where 13.00 went while i was sleeping and by the way i
pay for free nights and weekends and unlimited texting, my phone
just magically connected to the internet while i was asleep and keep
in mind after 9 pm its free, but they charged me all night for internet.
They had every kind of excuse for me and they are rude and they were
so generous they give me 30 bonus minutes. (wow 3 bucks worth)
Me and my circle of 10 friends have the same plan same phone
and we are all going to crush these phones with hammers and go
AT & T!

On December 27th I stopped by my local Alltel Company and inquired about changing my service. The gentlemen ask me what I was looking to do. I told him I wanted to purchase a Iphone on this same day and wanted to know if it was ok and would there be any additional charges other than the monthly fee. He looked on his system and told me no, I was eligible for making changes as of December 8th. He gave me the information that I need to get new service and I left. Then about 4 days later I receive a bill for $433.00 $400 for early termination. When I called the company and spoke with 1 employee then 2 different supervisors and tell them what had happened. The second supervisor almost called me a liar that there was no record showing I had stopped by any Alltel location. I then ask for another higher up supervisor. First of all had they given me the correct information I would have this problem. The supervisor told me I could actually make changes until March 2009. But that I could upgrade in Decemember of 2008. I told her if he had told me that in the beginning I would have waited until March. No one would fork out $400 for termination if they knew it.

Oct 2008-Jan 09 I too had almost the same issue, I kept getting disconnected from my motorola. I finally got my phone back and they said it was my fault- I cracked the brain in it. My phone is scratch free and the service dept said I would have to buy a new one and to return my phone within 10 days. Nobody cared about my problem. I tried for 2.5 months and to no avail. I called and asked if I cancelled my service what would they charge and they told me $200.00. I got billed $439.00 $400 for the 2 phones which they did not tell me I would be charged for and TAX on a early termination fee! That has to be illegal. I'm working on a plan and getting my ducks in a row. What is fair is fair! Anyone have these problems should comment. Lets get as much ammo as possible.

When you use Alltel.com to order new service, phones, etc. You should know that all the promotional items are actually being offered by Let's Talk. Alltel.com showed a promotion that showed free activation. I ordered two phones and a $59 plan. When I received the first bill from Alltel, it showed a $50 activation fee for the two phones. I called Alltel and I was told that the free activation was actually provided by Let's Talk and that I would have to pay the fee and after a couple of billing cycles the $50 fee would be refunded. I did manage to get the fee removed from my bill but I felt it necessary to advise everyone that Alltel.com is actually being controlled by Let's Talk and free on the website is not necessarily free when you get your bill.

IMHO this is deceptive advertising and I intend to contact my state attorney general to advice them of the misleading sales practices. If phones are purchased through the Alltel website, they cannot be returned to an Alltel store. They must be shipped to Let's Talk in Texas.

I do not advise using Alltel.com to purchase phones or plans, if you need to return them within 15 days to nullify the contract, it can be a hassle to return the phones clear to Texas and you will be charged for service even while the phones are enroute to Texas. Buyer Beware!

Went to a corporate Alltel Store in Tifton, GA. Bought 400.00 worth of phones. (one blackberry, two motorola hint's). One of the Hints died after 4 days. Had to drive to Tifton, then to Valdosta to get a new replacement. 25 days later, the replacement Hint also died. Called Alltel, and was told, that a refurbished phone would be provided as a replacement.

Now, I signed a two year contract for this phone, paid full retail price, and 29 days in, I don't have a new phone, I have a used, refurbished phone. Alltel refuses to discuss the issue. My past experience with alltel and their refurb phones is that they last for 30 to 45 days and fail. My contract is for 24 months, and now I'm stuck with a used phone that I paid full, new price for. And Alltel doesn't see any problem with this.

This is a phone that retails (without a contract) for 300.00, and the warranty is 30 days? My coffee maker has a better warranty than Alltel provides!