My Trouble with Nextel: August
Dear Nextel,
After many months of confusion, frustration, hair-pulling and anger'. After many hours (yes, HOURS!) of time wasted on the phone trying to reach somebody that can obtain even an appearance of competence, I am finally pushed to the edge and forced to write you a letter.
To start, let me say that I have never, ever, EVER dealt with a more incompetent, poorly-run, frustrating, non-caring company in my life. Today, over 3 months since I was unfortunate enough to begin relations with Nextel, I still don't have what I ordered. I do, however have a large box of things I DID NOT order, and have still not received credit for them; indeed, I am being charged for them.
In May 03, I decided to order a telephone package deal from the Nextel web site. I ordered two "i1000 " telephones, 2 "Leather Swivel Belt Clips", 2 "Vehicle Power Cords", and 2 "Jabra Ear-Wraps" (these are capitalized and bolded to help you see what I ordered). Well, the web site purchasing page didn't work; I always received an error message when trying to order. So instead, I followed the instructions and had "Nextel Web Sales Rep" call me. I typed in my number, and a few minutes later one called me up. Cool, I thought to myself. I told the employee exactly what I wanted, she completed the order, and I thought we were done.
Several days later I received a box containing, instead of the two "i1000 " phones, two "i30sx" phones.instead of the 2 "leather swivel belt clips", there were 2 "Plastic Swivel Belt Clips" for the i30sx's. I did, however, get the vehicle power cords I ordered. There were no Jabra EarWraps in the box.
I called up Nextel and spent about 90 minutes with them trying to help them figure out why they sent me the wrong phones and belt clips. They said that this time they would send me the correct phones, belt clips, and EarWraps. They also said they would send me a shipping label to ship the other phones back to them.
The next shipment, which was shipped on May 03, contained the correct phones and 2 leather belt clips, but they were not the rotating 'swivel' kind which I ordered and paid for (you see, I am in the Army, and am always climbing in and out of vehicles full of wires and equipment. I need the phone to be on a swivel belt so it turns easily, not snagging on something). Also, there were still no Jabra EarWraps, nor a shipping label to send back all the wrong items. It was about this time that I began to start having serious doubts about the competence of Nextel's Sales Department. I also noticed that Nextel was charging me for all this stuff. I paid for everything I wanted when I made the first and only order, $87.54.
So I again called up the Web Sales Department, tried to raise some motivation in the troops, told them of my (their?) problem, and they said they would send me the correct belt clips, EarWraps and a shipping label.in the meantime, I tried to activate my phones. I called the "activation" number and after 2 hours of frustration, the guy on the Nextel side realized the phones they sent me were wrong and had been programmed for someone else.
He then had me go through each phone and change all the numbers. He also assigned my wife's phone a number in Atlanta where we lived, and he assigned me a number in Athens, which is quite a distance from Atlanta. Nice. Now my wife would have to dial long distance to call me, even though we lived in the same city. After calling and threatening to cancel the whole contract, they finally gave me an Atlanta number. Finally, we got the phones up and running. End of chapter one.
Anyway, back to the shipment. With much anticipation (and a little bit of hesitancy), I awaited my new box from Nextel. After almost a week, I received an envelope. An envelope containing'1 vehicle power charger! Yes, a vehicle power charger that I did not order, (but of course was charged for), a power charger just like the... Other two that I already had.
Finally, once again called up the Kustomer Service Specialists at Nextel and complained about all this. Once again I told them all I wanted was my Jabra EarWraps (which I had already paid for), my "leather swivel belt clips", and a shipping label to send back all the stuff I didn't order. I also wanted them to reimburse me for all that stuff, too. To be fair, later that day, FedEx did deliver the Jabra EarWraps which were shipped on 18 May 03, but didn't reach me until a week later. 2-day my ass.
About this time I received my first bill from Nextel. I called them about a $10 discrepancy. I was told that the operator could not fix the discrepancy but he would refer the bill to the research department who would contact me in 10 days. Well, that turned out to be another Nextel lie. Nobody ever called back.
At one point they were charging my $253 for equipment they sent me (3 separate orders!) which I did not request, want or use. The $186 above it is an adjustment from an overcharge the month before!
Finally, a full 6 weeks after requesting and not receiving a shipping label, I once again called up Nextel Kustomer Kare. I talked to a woman and told her my story, and she said that Nextel doesn't just 'send' a shipping label; they issues return numbers, etc. She said the guy, who on 2 June said he was printing a return label was B.S.'ing me. Anyway, she issued me two numbers, one for each shipment. (I require 2 shipments because what I am returning came from 2 different orders. You would think I would be able to send them all back in one box, but she said the guys in the warehouse aren't the smartest things, the dears, and it would confuse them and I wouldn't be credited for all I returned. Nice. Great way to run a 'return' department.)
She said she saw the order for the shipping label and the 2 leather swivel belt clips, but because the software at Nextel is programmed by idiots, she couldn't tell if it had ever been shipped or not. She did say that she couldn't send them to me, as that was 'another department'. I have to say, that in my entire life of dealing with companies, I have never seen one with so many 'other departments'. Every time I call I usually talk to about 3 'other departments', and solving nothing in the end.
So I finally boxed up the junk they sent me and am sending it off.
In my entire life, I have never dealt with so many liars and idiots at one company. It is now 3 months to the day that I first called and placed my order, and I still don't have my 2 leather swivel belt clips that I paid for and repeatedly asked for. You people are truly quite amazing.
Jd
PS. Since writing this, I never did receive my belt clips, and ended up buying them in person at a Nextel stand in a mall. I am down $40 now. They say I never sent back the ones I didn't want, when I did. Stay away from this company, please!
PPS. I ordered 2 phones on my contract, one for me and one for my wife. She being in the Army Reserves, she was activated and sent to Kuwait. I called up Nextel and asked them if I could cancel the contract because she is deployed, or what my options were. They said that if the contract were in my wife's name, they would cancel it, but because it is in MY name, I still have to pay for 2 phones. So now here I am, living alone while my wife is deployed, having to pay for 2 phones on a one year contract, and I hardly even use the one that is in my name. Nice patriotic company, Nextel is.
Classic_punk
Atlanta, Georgia
U.S.A.
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