Before you order a cell phone from inphonic, celluarchoices.net or wirefly.com read this response.
I was skeptical from the beginning. I should have trusted my gut. Ok, well here goes. Get comfortable as this is a rather lengthy story.
While searching for cell phone deals on the web I ran across Cellular Choices (.net) website. The looked to have great deals and also had a phone number to call. Had this just been an internet offer, I wouldn't have trusted them. I called my order in, which has plenty of options, but the only one that leads to an acutual person is when you want to activate a new account. Always be prepared to wait "due to overwhelming call volumes" for at least 15 min. (if you call between the hours of 1-5 you still have to wait, but they don't tell you you'll be on hold forever.)
11/20/04 (saturday evening) I place an order for a AT&T service with a nokia 6820 phone. I'd be getting money back after rebates! (tja right)
After I answered all the questions regarding my order I asked a question at the end. Can I port my existing AT&T phone number to this new plan? The lady replied, no, we don't port the numbers, we just create new activations. I said, well if I can't port my number, I want to cancel my order. She said she couldn't cancel my order as she had already submitted it. Ok fine, obviously they aren't paying this after hour work from home half-wit enough to afford a whole-wit so I'll deal with that later.
I received an automated email shortly after hanging up the phone regarding that my order had been placed, and how I could check the status and should receive my phone on 11/26. (ok, they seem like a legitimate company. At least that's what I thought)
11/22,11/23 I check my order status at "wheresmyorder.com"
It states "processing" or something to that regard.
11/24 (wednesday) guess what? Yup, still "processing." I reply to the customer service form on the website and pray that someone will respone with me question regarding if my oder status is still processing or if the website hasn't been updated..
11/25 No response from anyone, no email, no phone call. I decided to call and talk to a real person to get some answers. Guess what? You can't reach a real person unless you place a new order. After the third phone call (menu's kept going to a dead end and would hang up) I decided to pretend I was going to activate a new account.
Finally I got a real person!"web coupon number please" she replied. I gave her the number just so I could get a word in edgewise. Before she could ask me the next question, I said "wait! I have a quesion. I orderd a phone a few days ago and I need to know the status of it." "click".. She just hung up on me!!! Remember my half-wit comment from before? She's again reaffimred by suspicions.
I decided, that was rude, and she can't do that. I called back once again she replied "web coupon number please" I told her. "Wait. I just called and you hung up on me. All I need from you is a customer service number where I can talk to a real person." She then replied. 888-378-6509. I said thank you and hung up.
I called that number and had to negotiate through a few menu options and carefully listen to all my choices. At one point it states, contact where's my order dot com to review your order status and also states your order status. Once the message is done being played, there are 2 options, the 3rd is to Exit, and if you wait, the 4th is to hold for an operator.
4 - Due to overwhelming call volumes. Blah blah blah. (get comfortable because you'll be waiting for a while!) 17 minutes pass by..."Hello, may I have your 9 digit order number please"
All I could think of at the time was..."Oh my God!!! A real person! Wooo Hooo!!! I've cracked the secret code! It's all down hill from here."
Well guess what? Nope, not the case. This was yet another fork in the inphonic maze of confusion. I was told the statu of my order. Finally I got to ask a question. I asked why my order was being delayed in "processing" they stated "we are still waiting for a carrier to reply" after explaining my concern the my proposed due dat was the 26th and that it is now the 25th, how would I get my order on time without a carrier even replying. Finally I gave up. I'll call tomorrow.
11/26 (friday) I again get though to a person and ask, where's my order? It's the 26th and my order states processing. The guy on the phone says, yes there was a delay, but for the inconvenience that he would mark down to ship it out next day air.
11/27 (saturday) I see my "wheresmyorder.com" status has not changed. I call again. This time I talk to a lady who states, cingular has replied but not at&t has not. She goes on to explain it's being worked on, but I told her the guy I spoke to the day before refered to it shipping out soon. How would he know if it wans't approved yet? I get frustrated and hang up to call on Monday.
11/29 (monday) I call up customer service again. I'm not on hold for over 45 minutes. Finally I get through and the lady says "we have still not receive a credit approval from AT&T, but we did recieve information from Cingular." I said, what is AT&T waiting for? She replied "they have not responed with credit approval. All we need from them is an application number." I asked the lady for AT&T's phone number. I called AT&T but it was answerd as Cingular. I asked about inphonics request on my behalf and they told me, we sent that back to them. Within 5 minutes I had my applicaiton number and was asked if I'd like to activate the account. No, they didn't tell me to activate it, all they needed was an application number. So I called inphonic back. Whoops, it's now past 10:00pm so they are closed.
11/30 (tuesday) I call early in the morning, I'm on hold for 25 minutes. (why 25 minutes? Overhwelming call volumes of course) Finally I give them the number and they say that's it's not from AT&T. I said, AT&T merged with Cingular! The AT&T number you gave me was Cingular. "Oh, we didn't know that." she replied.
Finally, I get her to understand. "Ok sir, all we need to do now is verify the application." What?!?!? Are you kidding me? You just told me that you knew it was from Cingular, and my credit was good enought to not require a deposit. What else do you have to verify?"Blah blah blah..." Ok, I'll play along. When will my phone be shipped out? I asked. "We will send it to activation as soon as we verify the credit application." Is this a nightmare or what? How long does it take to get activated?"Well sir, that depends on how long it takes to verify the application." Is this really happening? How can any business really operate like this?"Sir, it should ship within 24 to 48 hours of approval." Ok, enought for tonight, I'll call tomorrow.
12/1 (wednesday) I speak to some guy, again after being on hold for 15 minutes. He states, "well, we just receive your application yesterday, please give us till tomorrow to process it." Ok, fine. I'll play along again.
12/2 (thursday) (after my customary 20 mins hold time) I speak to a guy who said, your phone has been sent to the activation department. Again, I asked, how long will that take?"well sir, I can't say for sure, but it should be sent out within 24-48hours upon being activated." And now I ask, ok, after it's activated, how will it be shipped out?"Second day air sir." I said, "excuse me. No, that's not right, It will be shipped out next day air. I spoke to someone on 11/26 and they told me due to the delay they would ship it out next day air. So I should recieve this on Saturday at the lastest correct?"... Now more BS from this guys "well sir, you may get it Saturday, but that depends on the activation process." we talk more, and again, I give up. I'll call back on Friday.
12/3 (friday about 1:15pm) I check wheresmyorder status on line and it says, "waiting customer verification information" I don't believe this! They are waiting on me? I call up this time, and it states that my order status is waiting customer verification.
It then transfers me immediately to the verification department. (wow, no 20 minute wait today)
Now the lady asks me all my information that I must have given them from the previous 7 days of calling. Home addres... Home phone number. Work phone number... Ssn#.. Drivers license number... What state was my drivers license from. My name. Etc. Apparently before they could activate it, they need to ask me a bunch of silly questions.
I had alreay given them this information at the begining of the order process, and how else could they give me a credit approval without first knowing who I was? Again, I asked... When will my phone ship!"Well sir, since it's after 1:00 we don't ship out until the next business day. (today is friday, that means it won't ship out till monday 12/6)
Today 12/4, I decided to do an internet search on inphonic and I saw this website and read all the commments. Looks like I should have done some research first.
If I decide to cancel, I can only imagine what will happen. Now that I've read other peoples reponses to the rebates, I wondering, will I even get my rebates? Will it be worth it? All this agrivation just so I could save $100 on the phone.
It's not that I'm worried about saving $100 now, it's just the principal of the issue.
Joel
South Euclid, Ohio
U.S.A.
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