Cellular one, A deceptive company!!!!!!!!

[mjstef]

I started Cellular One service in Wisconsin in July last year. It was a 2 year contract. I had to go with them as Verizon had no coverage where i lived in Wisconsin. I had NO OTHER CHOICES! Well 3 weeks ago i moved to Montana. I wanted to do a market transfer and get a local # but when i called i found out that Cell One is not Cell One nationwide!! There is more than 1 Cell One as they are franchised and most do not transfer between each other!!

Now i am stuck with a GSM phone in a state with only Analog and Digital coverage and was forced into a nationwide plan which is 2X the $$ i was paying before with 2/3'ds the minutes i had on a local plan in Wisconsin!!!!!! My friend with Cell One out here has service where i don't even though were both with Cell One!! The only way out of the contract is to pay $20 per phone for the 16 months i have left in it!!!! That is $640!!!!!!!!!! I have transfered with Verizon 3 different times and never had this issue!!!

I think it is VERY deceptive for a company that uses the same logo nationwide to do this!! Just thought EVERYONE should know about there deceptive practices!! I am posting this on no less than 20 web boards with over 500,000 members between them. I hope it takes a bite out of Cell One's pocket as there sure taking a bite out of mine!!!

[mjstef]

I started Cellular One service in Wisconsin in July last year. It was a 2 year contract. I had to go with them as Verizon had no coverage where i lived in Wisconsin. I had NO OTHER CHOICES! Well 3 weeks ago i moved to Montana. I wanted to do a market transfer and get a local # but when i called i found out that Cell One is not Cell One nationwide!! There is more than 1 Cell One as they are franchised and most do not transfer between each other!!

Now i am stuck with a GSM phone in a state with only Analog and Digital coverage and was forced into a nationwide plan which is 2X the $$ i was paying before with 2/3'ds the minutes i had on a local plan in Wisconsin!!!!!! My friend with Cell One out here has service where i don't even though were both with Cell One!! The only way out of the contract is to pay $20 per phone for the 16 months i have left in it!!!! That is $640!!!!!!!!!! I have transfered with Verizon 3 different times and never had this issue!!!

I think it is VERY deceptive for a company that uses the same logo nationwide to do this!! Just thought EVERYONE should know about there deceptive practices!! I am posting this on no less than 20 web boards with over 500,000 members between them. I hope it takes a bite out of Cell One's pocket as there sure taking a bite out of mine!!!

[TXiceman]

I feel for you. My wife had U.S. Cellular when we lived in Houston and when we moved to NE Oklahoma, we had no and ranging to poor service. After about a week of them telling us how to reprogram the phone I had a heart to heart talk to some of the higher ups in the organization. I kept insisting that they were in breech of the contract since they could not provide the service where we were living. I could drive 20 miles toward Tulsa and get a signal. They insisted that I had to fulfill the contract. After going up several levels in customer service and getting a bit of inside info from my daughter on how the cellular companies worked (she had worked customer service for one of the major providers), they do have the latitude to cancel the contract if you move to an area that they cannot provide service. I do not remember what she call it, there was an industry buzz word), but they finally cancelled the contract at the end of the full month.

It was not easy, so do not give up and hammer them daily. Be polite, do not resort to name calling, even if they deserve it. Just keep after them and keep telling them that "That is not an acceptable answer. Obviously you do not understand my problem, so let me speak to your supervisor!" You will get stories that the supervisor is not available, so ask for a voice mail and get a name. Leave a message and call back if you do not get a return call. If that person is not available after a couple of trys, call back and ask for their supervisor and explain that they are not reurning calls. You will eventually get to some one that will listen.

Ken

[Dave Fernandez]

Hello mjstef:

I kind know what you are going through and I hope you are able to cancel the contract without penalty. I have the old AT&T service and since Cingular has taken over AT&T, Cingular no longer maintains the old TDMA towers and the service has gotten real bad. I can no longer use the phone at my residence in Southern California. I am now complaining daily and have requested they let me out of my contact. I just mailed a letter to customer service and requested they improve there service or let me out of the contract. I indicated that they have not upheld there end of the contract and I should not be held libel for there poor service. I do not want to go with GSM because of the poor coverage in the rural areas.

If they let me out my contract I will switch to Verizon.

Dave

[JudyandJim]

I sympathize.

Today, I called Verizon to request a replacement phone. My current phone (1yr old) has a broken antenna and gets limited reception. I pay the $5 per month for insurance. In the past, I have had to replace a phone and it was sent free of charge the next day.

Now, I am told that in addition to the $60 I have paid on insurance the past 12 months, I have to pay a $50 deductible.

The terms change without notification, the price goes up, but the service decreases... seems to be the problem with a lot of things these days...

[TXiceman]

You know the "no" commerical? Well it is true. Customer service reps are being taught to just tell most everyone "no" for anything over the most minor of problems. A lot of people will just gripe a bit and go away. The trick to getting what you want is to be persistent, but polite and still be firm while working your way up the management ladder.

Ken

[diandtom]

We have Alltel and I use to work for Sprint. Sprint has no service where I live. We have two old cell phones because evertime I go down for a new free phone it ends up costing me around $150. I do get good service with Alltel most of the time I got service where ever we go.
Tom

[Tom Holberton]

We moved to Hot Springs Village last fall. We were with Verizon at the time. They do not cover Arkansas. I called them and they immediately cancelled our contract...no questions asked! I then signed with Alltel and have had no problems. I like both companies!

[GHBiker]

We dropped all land line service and went with Verizon, preparatory to going on the road upon my wife's retirement in June of 2006.

You can go 1 blk in any direction from our home and have 5 bars, but our blk has 1 bar, maybe 2 sometimes, and alot of dropped calls. Verizon offered to allow us out of our contract for two phones, ($350). When I explained that was not what we wanted, they worked with us, sending different phones to try and when that did not work, they reduced our bills for the dropped calls and aborted attempts to dial out.

What "cured" the problem was a Wilson Truckers cell phone antenna mounted at the top of an old TV antenna post on the side of the hse, with a line run into the hse. Get 5 bars consistently now.

[Ron1247]

Good Luck and don't give up but don't count on getting to someone that will listen or cares. My problems were with Cingular but could have been any of the providers. Stores have many large sign "No Roaming or Long Distance Fees" but fail to mention allowed slow billing. When out of you home area, they have an extra 90 days to get the mintues on your statement. Allowing mintues from upto 4 months appearing on one statement. No mention when signing up for service and there own employees couldn't beleive it could be allowed. Internet use messed me up so swithed to T-Mobile and air card for a flat fee $29.99 for 24/7 use. Switch card between desktop and laptops, allowing use going down interstate. I couldn't get calls returned even when Cingular employee sent main ofc. an email with a copy to me, requesting I be called.