I've had my "pay as you go" Boost service since 2002. I started using Boost because it was the cheapest way to still have my Nextel services, without paying the $90 a month that I had been paying for years.
The first trouble I had with them was when I canceled my internet. I was billed for it for a month, even though it was canceled. When I called to inquire about the charges, I was offered half of the fees credited back. HALF? The internet was not working because I checked it the day after I canceled it to make sure it had been done.
The next problem I had with them was durring the 2004 hurricanes. Service was shut off to all Boost/Nextel related phones to allow Emergency Personel use of the system since all power was out, and not expected to be working for upwards of 3 weeks. I called Boost from my landline and asked them to turn my phone back on, that I was Emergency Personel. I was told that because my phone is registered to me personally, and not an agency, they couldn't do it. I told them that a lot of us pay for our own phones here because it's a small town and they won't pay for ANY cellphones. I also offered to put my Chief on the phone if they wanted to verify any info. Finally, Boost agreed to turn it back on. I guess it helped that several others were on the phone with them too from this area with the same problem.
Next was that Boost started charging $1 if someone just clicked the two way. I checked the time it consumed to do this (0.08 seconds). First let me tell you, that it is a common courtesy to only click the two way to a Law Enforcement Officer. That way if they are in the middle of something that might get them killed, it lets them know they're being paged without being distracting, as an alert would be. That being said, I don't ever use the alert unless 3 attempts have been made with no response. When I first got my service, you were charged only if you actually engaged in a locking contact with another phone. Suddenly, I was being charged almost every day. I inquired by phone why this was being done and was informed that they had always done it this way. I told them no it hadn't or I would have ditched their service long ago because I would have been broke from all the drug traffic that the former holder of my number had conducted. I was told that if you alert someone, it won't charge until contact was made between both parties. I explained that we don't do that, and why. I was then told that the reason just clicking the two way cost money was because someone could be talking to me even if I don't answer, therefore relaying info. I told them that they needed to start charging me everytime someone leaves a message on the voice mail then, because thats the same thing since I didn't answer the phone then either. Lol They hung up on me. I sent an email voicing my same protest to the charges and the fact that a notice wasn't sent out when they changed the rules. It took several days for a response, and then it was only a form letter. I sent a reply asking for a better reason than a simple form letter and voiced my complaint again. I never got a reply back.
The final straw that will end my service with Boost is todays complaint. I checked my account activity, as I regularly do. I see that they've charged me. 20 for a call that they say I've made. I call to tell them that they've charged me for a call I didn't make. The call was an incoming call (the only activity on the phone for the whole day), not an out going, and I shouldn't be charged for it, that they're records are wrong. The man tells me that I'm wrong, and that if it says it was an out going call, then it was. I informed him it was an incoming call that I didn't answer because the phone was in the truck while I was in the store, therefore I missed the call, and did not return the call on the cell, but returned the call on a landline where it doesn't cost me anything. He told me pretty much I was a liar and that I was out the money. I told him that. 20 just cost that company my service. I was told "Have A Good Day" and hung up on.
Why would. 20 be so important to me? In a world with so many phone plans to choose from, my. 20 should have been important to them! If they charge 5,000 customers. 20, that equals $1,000 of money they gained wrongfully. Now, if they do that a month... A week... Or even a day, thats a lot of $. I've had nothing but bad customer service reps everytime I've called. It's ridiculous that you can't get anything accomplished through customer service, no info to be able to go up the chain of command, and the phone reps are rude most of the time.
In my line of work, I see hundreds of people a week. I inform everyone I know against using Boost! Boost is only here to suck every penny they can out of you, with no recourse to the consumer other than to lose their money and go someplace else for sevice. Well congradulations to them! They've successfully ticked off another good customer who is now getting a better deal with another company! ;)
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