PlanetFeedback's ShopperCast

Cell Phones: NOW We Get the Service We Deserve?

Now that 85% of the American population owns a cell phone, cell phone service providers are finding that they have to try something to new in order to steal customers away from one another:  Customer service. 

Customers have owned enough phones and been through their own horror stories (contracts automatically extended for two years for adding a family member or changing a battery, $200 termination fees to get out of contracts, surprise charges that appear without explanation, errors on bills that never seem to get fixed despite promises from CSRs) and they've gotten smarter.  This time, the service providers know that. 

The largest wireless carrier in the U.S., ATT, is pushing a newfound emphasis on customer service the hardest, and acknowledges that the industry has a history of having lousy customer service.  Last month, ATT launched a Web site that promotes its new consumer-friendly policies--policies that ATT and all the others strongly opposed until recently, such as pro-rating early termination fees.  This week, Sprint Nextel became the last of the big four carriers to trim its early termination fees, which it will do as soon as December.

A bright spot:  According to a consumer satisfaction survey issued last month, there was a small improvement in the industry in resolving complaints to call centers.

And while customers cite cheap calling plans as their number one issue when it comes to wireless phone service, poor customer service is a close second.  Many customers would gladly pay a little more if they felt like they were being taken care of and treated like valued customers:  27% of cell phone users cited customer service as the reason they changed providers.  "Good customer service goes a long way," one respondent told the surveying group. "I have spoken with incompetent reps, and there is nothing that gets me to switch service ... more than wasting my time with incompetent and uninformed customer service."

Of course, this isn't all about customer service.  There's a little government influence as well.

The wireless industry opposes proposed regulation by the states, preferring national legislation — or none at all. Last year, a lobbying group formed by the wireless carriers (MyWireless.org) spent $151,000 in Minnesota alone last year to successfully oppose proposed state regulations.

The wireless industry now argues that regulation is unnecessary because it has changed.

But Consumers Union, publishers of Consumer Reports, is unimpressed by the industry's newfound love for customer service. The organization's HearUsNow.org blog for consumer complaints still gets complaints about contracts, poor or no service and hassles trying to get problems fixed.

State attorneys general offices share similar views of the nation's wireless providers, citing the providers' resistance to any regulation, and the fact that their offices continue to receive a high volume of complaints about contract issues with service providers, and they believe that the current changes in the wireless industry are being done to avoid regulation altogether.

Regardless of the motives for the changes, we think any improvements will be welcomed by the nation's cell phone users.

~Contributed by Angela Nims~

Your New Purchase Becomes the Display Model?

We've read all kinds of letters at PlanetFeedback about consumers receiving damaged goods from stores -- electronics and furniture, mainly.  But this story takes the cake:  Kelvin put an on-sale plasma television on layaway at Kmart.  When he went to pick up the television, it wasn't in the layaway department.  After some searching, the television was brought to him, in a box that obviously had been opened.

It turns out, his television had been used as a display model and when he got it home, he discovered damage to the television.  Now, granted, he should have/could have inspected the TV prior to leaving the store with it, thereby saving himself quite a lot of aggravation (and money!).  But so long as he was making payments on this item, it shouldn't have been put on the floor as a display model, where it surely was played with and touched by other shoppers, shoppers who weren't necessarily careful as it wasn't their television. 

It's one thing when a consumer knowingly buys a floor/display model and takes a chance on a used product.  But to put someone's layaway purchase onto the floor for others to experiment with seems highly unscrupulous and unfair.  The store obviously wouldn't do that with other layaway items such as clothing and shoes, so why the store made the choice to treat this television any differently is anyone's guess.

Of course, it's a story like this that makes layaway seem like it has one more foot in the grave.  (Like a cat has more than one life, layaway may have more than two feet.)

~Contributed by Angela~

Phishing... With a Twist

We're all familiar with phishing.  But phishing has left your home computer and has moved on to new territory:  Your cell phone. 

Some financial institution members/ customers have received text messages on their cell phones containing the same scare tactic as the phishing emails.  People may trust the message, figuring, "How would someone else know which bank I belong go?"  But scammers send the same email to large groups, knowing that a certain percentage of recipients are customers or members of that financial institution.  And now the same scammers are targeting cell phone users via text messages.

Fraud/security personnel in the banking industry remind people that you would never receive an email or text message about your account, asking for your account information.  If you receive a text message of this type, immediately notify your financial institution so they can warn others.

Build a better mousetrap, and a scammer will figure out a way to steal the cheese.

~Contributed by Angela~

Throwing Bad Money After Good: Cell Phone Replacement Insurance

Before buying replacement insurance for your cell phone, be sure you read your contract and do the math.  Take the monthly insurance into consideration, along with the deductible and the cost of your phone.  Then read the fine print:  You may be surprised to find out that your replacement phone will be of substantially lower quality and with fewer features, and often, it's refurbished. 

Also take into consideration that the "comparable" replacement phone you get may be a different model, so you're stuck having to purchase all new accessories.  You also may not get a phone with the fancy features you fell in love with -- mp3 and picture-taking capabilities, for example.

If you're generally careful with your possessions, insurance probably isn't a good idea.  If you're a bit clumsy, like one of our reporters (we won't mention any names), or you have a high-end mobile device, insurance may be a good idea. 

~Contributed by Angela~

The iPocalypse

We told you so.

It was worse than expected, however, due to Apple's crashing servers.  Not only did people wait in line for hours, and sometimes days, for the new 3g iPhone, but then they couldn't load up the new apps.  Many left Apple stores with a new phone to initialize their phones at home but couldn't do it there either.

The problem was really not with the 3g, but with the Firmware 2.0.  It was available, not only on for the 3g but also for other, older generation iPhones, for free.  The glitch appeared to have happened because Firmware requires first an update and then reauthentication.  With the servers being slammed, there was no available server during many people's reauthentication process which caused the iPhones to hang up and basically leave consumers with a really expensive piece of non-working electronics.

We really do feel for the people who spent all that money for a phone that didn't work.  But... this is sorta what they remind us of:

--Contributed by Deb

It's Almost Time!

It's time for the much-anticipated release of Apple's third-generation iPhone, which goes on sale Friday.  While we haven't yet seen or heard of people in the U.S. standing in line to be the first to purchase one (although we are quite sure it will happen), get a load of the folks in New Zealand. 

Because of the time change, they get to the be the first people in the world to purchase one of these coveted phones.  And they are braving freezing winter temperatures in tents and sleeping bags to be the first. 

But exactly how good are the phones and are they worth risking hypothermia?

Being the marketing master he is, Steve Jobs released advanced copies to his favorite news people (read: those most favorable to Apple products) for review prior to the phone going on sale to the general public Friday. 

But it may have backfired ~ The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today have all reviewed the phone and the results are actually rather mixed. One one reviewer gives the phone and enthusiastic review ~ we guess USA Today will definitely be one of the ones getting a fourth generation phone to review early.  The other two were more mixed. 

According to one, the battery life is lower; the second said the apps are faster, but that consumers won't have to buy a new phone to take advantage of it - apparently the software upgrade is free and can be done on existing iPhones.   It's just simply not enough to make the 2g Apple iPhones obsolete.  Hmmm... we guess this is not quite what Steve Jobs was hoping to hear.

For the crazed consumers out there who simply MUST have the latest in technology, these lukewarm reviews are probably not going to put a damper on their enthusiasm for the 3g.  And we're sure that people are going to be snapping them up just as fast as they possibly can.

But it might just give some consumers pause ~ especially if they don't see the economics of a new phone that isn't apparently all that.  And even though this is Apple we're talking about, in this economy, giving pause might just dent sales.

--Contributed by Deb

Lonely No More

With a nod to the Beatles, money may not buy you love, but  pretty soon it can purchase you a reasonable facsimile thereof (and no, we're not talking about the kind of "love" you can rent by the hour).

Her name is EMA, which stands for Eternal Maiden Actualization and she's going to be hitting the shelves soon for about $175.  Simply put, she's a robot ~ but she is not without her wiles.  She sings, she dances, she kisses.  She's petite AND busty.  How about that, fellas, she's all (well, most) you need in a girlfriend and she comes with batteries. You can ignore her when you feel like it and she'll never nag you about staying out too late with the guys.

This has started us thinking ~ since Sega Toys is replacing us females with robots, shouldn't we, as women, have a robotic boyfriend?  He doesn't need sing, dance or kiss.  He does, however, need to open pickle jars, squash spiders and pick up his own dirty clothes off the floor. 

Or perhaps they could design a robotic parent.  We'd never need baby sitters again.  Just put the robot in "Mom" or "Dad" mode and go out for the evening.  RoboMom can make kids eat their vegetables and go to bed on time.  RoboDad can read bedtime stories.  How very familial.

The best possible use for this type of robot technology would be in the workplace.  If we don't feel like going to work, send the robot.  We're sure they can type and take dictation as well as any of us.  Plus you don't have to worry about them telling off your boss.  Go fishing, go to the beach, or just sleep in ~ you can do it all with a robotic version of yourself.

The possibilities are endless.  Ain't technology great?

--Contributed by Deb

N/T = No Text....For A Cell Phone

So out we went this past weekend to select a new cell phone for a recently-graduated middle-schooler.  As we stood talking to the sales representative, we couldn't help but eavesdrop overhear a conversation between another customer and a Verizon associate.

Apparently the family had just received their cell phone bill and their teenaged daughter went a little text-messaging happy.  Their cell phone bill for that one month was $1,600.  Over $500 of this bill was for text messages. 

Ouch.  Not ever wanting to ever receive THAT bill, we spoke to our Verizon associate about blocking certain features on the cell phone ~ namely text messaging and downloading music or games.  Not a problem, he said.  And it was true; we checked it out at home and if you try to send a text message from that particular phone, it says that this function is not enabled.

We see a lot of letters on PlanetFeedback about cell phones and bills and how many companies (including Verizon) don't let users disable a feature, like text messaging, without eliminating other ones, like voice mail.  But apparently it can be done.

The difference may be in that we went to a brick-and-mortar Verizon store instead of relying on a telephone service representative or their website.  We had a very nice, helpful associate who was also very knowledgeable about his job.  Finally.  Tech support which provides actual support.

Verizon may receive a lot of complaints via PlanetFeedback (perhaps, in part, due to their large market share), but they've never been anything but good to us.  Thanks Verizon. 

--Contributed by Deb

Let's Hear It For Cable

By now we're sure most of us have seen the commercials that bode ominous for people who don't have cable or a digital tv ~ come February 17, 2009, your television set may not work without a digital converter box. 

Of course the government is here to "help" you.  It established a coupon program, overseen by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (who knew there was such an agency?) to help households purchase the converter boxes.  Under this program, each household is entitled to receive a two $40 coupons to pay for the converter boxes at various retail stores, such as Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and Radio Shack.

The problem?

The coupons expire in 90 days and consumers are having a tough time finding the converter boxes.  Demand > Supply and some stores are completely sold out of them.  (There are a score of them available on eBay.  Imagine that.)  Nationwide, 16 million coupons have been issued, but only 3 million have been redeemed.  With a 90 day expiration window, what happens when consumers can't get the converter boxes? 

As of right now, they cannot reapply for new coupons. 

The NTIA says that only 42% of the 840,000 coupons recently issued were redeemed.  As for the other 58%?  Maybe some good news is on the horizon - the agency is "looking into" whether the expired coupons can be traded in for unexpired ones. 

It's all likely going to turn on how much extra $$$ it costs to fix this particular snag.

Makes us glad we have cable.

--Contributed by Deb

Does The 3G iPhone Live Up To The Hype?

"Just trust us to know what we are doing."   Uh sure not.  Apple announced yesterday the release of the 3G iPhone, and it has already come under scrutiny.  The hype and expectations surrounded this phone are so high it would have been impossible for them to live up to it.  The phone is cheaper than iPhones that have come before, this particular one is available in 3 colors (so far). 

Are these naysayers people who jut want to see Apple fail or are they on to something?  We will have to wait until July 11, 2008, to see what the actual intended end users think.

--Contributed by Renee