After seeing adds on the TV for unlimited text, web browsing, and phone service for $45.00 a month from this company I decided it may be worth looking into. This phone service and phones are sold EXCLUSIVLEY through Wal-Mart. I took a trip to Wal-Mart to look at the phones, and they had 3 in stock. A base model flip phone, a mediocre slider phone, and the top of the line Samsung SCH-R810C Touch screen phone. I decided to purchase the top of the line model, and the "unlimited" $45.00 top up card. This initial purchase of one phone was mainly to test the service out, and if all went well I would purchase 2 more phones for my family.
I activated the phone fairly easily, and it had good service in our rural area. It would seem the coverage was better than our previous phone carrier, and was cheaper to boot. I decided the service was much better and less expensive than our current National named provider, and decided to make the switch for the whole family. This is where the problems start...
Another trip to Wal-Mart 3 days after my inital purchase, and the touch screen phones are now out of stock. The gent in the electronics dept. Stated that they did not order but a handful of these phones due to the high cost of them. Completely understandable. He mentioned also that I could wait 10 or so days for a stock shipment to come in, or just order the phones online. Taking his advice and not wanting to wait 10 days to switch, i decided to order them online.
I went to their web site on 02/03 (www.straighttalk.com) and found the phones and $45.00 "unlimited" cards could be purchased in a package deal for $373.99 each. I ordered two of the phones with over night Fed-Ex shipping at an additional 14.95. With tax my grand total was $800.33, so I enter my CC information and submit the order. The next day I recieve a confirmation e-mail from [email protected] with my order details, and instructions on how to reply for more customer assitance if needed.
I checked on my order at there web address 2 days later (02/05) and the order still showed "In progress". I waited until after 5 P.M. Eastern time to call their customer assitance line, and the person that answered the phone spoke broken Engilsh at best. It was very hard to understand this Woman, but what I was told was there was a slight delay in shipping, and that the phones would be shipped out within 24 hours. I told her that in 24 hours it will have been 3 days since I ordered my phones, how can they consider that "OVERNIGHT" shipping? She then told me to wait for the phones and call corporate AFTER they arrive to ask for a refund of the 14.95 shipping.
So I waited until Saturday 02/06 for a package to arrive from Fed-Ex with my phones as the rep had told me... As of 5 P.M. Nothing. Another call to customer service produced the sme broken English, and scripted "Wait 24 hours" dialog. I asked to speak to their supervisor, and after a 5 minute wait I was connected to a person identifying themselves as the "Supervisor". After explaining the whole situation AGAIN, giving my order number AGAIN, name AGAIN, address AGAIN, I was given the exact same scripted 24/48 hour wait time. The supervisor stated they would "escelate" the problem to the shipping department, and also told me that they "ship" their orders to Fed-Ex, who then ships the order to the consumer. With still no solid answer, and frustrated beyond belief I ended the call.
So I wait until Monday 02/08. I check the web site in the morning for my order status, and it STILL shows "In progress". Another call to customer service and guess what. I got the same scripted "24 hour wait" as all previous phone calls. After 45 minutes of trying to decipher the broken English the rep was speaking, I was told that a supervisor would call me back; the supervisor was busy. At 2:00 P.M. I called Fed-Ex on my own to see if possibly they had a package due to be delivered to me. "No, we show nothing coming to your address Sir", as I had figured I would hear. Another call to Straighttalk customer service yeilded the same broken English, and the same scirpted chat as all previous phone calls.
So I wait until Tuesday 02/09. Www.straighttalk.com still shows my order "In progress". I do some digging around on the internet to find out their corporate phone number in Miami Fla. 800-876-5753. I call the number and speak with a rep whose English is still broken but much easier to understand than the rest of the previous phone calls. He tells me that "All the orders from this date have not been shipped due to a system problem". I ask him don't you see my order? You see that it's been payed for? You have a verification of it in your system, and an order number correct? He says "yes I do", to witch I promptly ask him to call the shipping dept. And get my phones coming then. I am told by him that he can only e-mail to that dept. I asked for his supervisor at this point. He tells me that he IS the supervisor. I tell him then I want to speak to YOUR supervisor. After being placed on hold for 3 minutes a man Identifying himself as "Mark", the Manager comes on the line. I explain to him that it has been 6 DAYS since I placed my order, and I have NO PHONES, NO SHIPPING INFO, etc. I am told by MArk that he can only e-mail "That department to have it escelated", and that as soon as he has a response someone would contact me back.
I am BEYOND frustrated at this point. The customer service is BEYOND horrible. Their inter-departmental communication is NON-existent. I am sitting here 6 days later and have NO PHONE, NO SHIPMENT, and nothing but a reciept showing that they took $800.33 from me.
I have contacted the Fla. Better Buisness Burea, and am looking at how I can get my money back from this scamming company.
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