I purchased a simplefreedom cell phone (at WalMart) and added 400 prepaid minutes at a cost of $100. I purchsed a prepaid plan for the purpose of using it while traveling and for emergency use.
Last week while on the way to Honolulu, I tried several calls from the San Francisco Bay area to reach our hotel and a transportation company in Oakland. I was unable to make a connection. When I purchased the phone, I found on simplefreedom's web site and on literature provided with the phone a coverage map clearly indicating coverage in the Bay area, all islands in Hawaii, and in Cincinnati OH.
I tried to place calls from each of the Hawaiian islands and from Cincinnati OH. I was unable to make a connection. I would first get a voice message to dial 1 the ten digit number followed by the # sign. I would either get no response or a message from Verizon that my call could not be placed as dialed. This even happened at the Cincinnati airport when I tried to call Canton OH and when I tried to access my voice messages.
I called simplefreedom's customer care center to find out why I could not place calls from the above locations while their coverage map clearly indicates that coverage is available. (Still currently on their web site)
I talked to customer service representative Vanessa and supervisor Miranda and expressed that my phone was useless if I could not place outgoing calls. They told me that simplefreedom had recently dropped their service in these areas. I requested a refund for my unused minutes ($100 worth) and was simply told that their policy did not allow for refunds period. I asked how I could get what I paid for and was told I could place local calls from my area and could receive calls in the areas where I could not place outgoing calls. I said that was unacceptable as I purchased the phone and the minutes for the purpose of making out going calls while traveling.
Miranda would not offer any solution to my delemma and even refused to give me a corporate number to complain.
In a nut shell, this company has falsly advertised a product and refuses to make any attempt at customer satifaction. I am out the $70 cost of the phone and $100 cost of prepaid minutes. So, If you are thinking of make an "Alltel simplefreedom" purchase be aware that you will not be able to use it for outgoing calls in many areas of the country and their customer care center will only apologise for the "inconvenience.
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