Hi, I'm a Nextel customer since july/ august. I was pleased w / Nextel, until I had the misfortune of losing my Nextel i60c phone on 11/21/03. I was also pleased when they replaced the phone in two days. Turned on the phone, it worked, tried to make a call, displayed msg was failure when used the walkie talkie, dialed a regular phone number, displayed msg was restricted. I figured that was just part of the restriction that was put on the lost phone.
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, I called on 11/26 but because of the time zones, I was not able to speak to a customer care rep. On 11/27 was thanksgiving, so I didn't bother. 11/28 I thought at that time, my phone should be working. No it didn't. 11/29 I thought I'd wait till Monday, Dec. 1. What a mistake that was.
I called customer care at 1-800-639-6111 (I have memorized by now since I've called it more than 7 times), and spoke to 4 different individuals. The last of the reps I spoke to, put me on hold for at least 45 minutes. Within the 45 minutes, she did not get back to me at all just as a courtesy to let me know she was working on it. On my display phone, I was on holding and total minutes w/customer care was 56 minutes. I had to hang up at this juncture.
Below is a partial account of a letter dated 12/2/03, sent to Nextel Communications - Attention: Customer Relations/Complaint
2001 Edmund Halley Drive
Reston, Virginia 20191:
November 21, cell phone lost
November 24, reported cell phone lost
Representative informed me that I should receive replacement in 2 days; there will be restrictions to the old phone depicted by serial number
November 26, received replacement phone
November 26 turned on phone to dial and connect, message on display, failure or service restricted
November 28 tried again same message failure or service restricted
December 1 spoke to 4 customer service representative, all told me that there is a restriction and do not know which department has put on the restriction. I was not asked to give the serial number, which was what I thought would differentiate the lost from the new phone. I was also given two numbers to call which were part of the 4 that I called (866) 203-0952 and 866-450-1708 both of which did not resolve activating my phone.
December 2 spoke to Lisa she was going through the same process as Dec. 1st. She spoke to her supervisor to gather information as to why my phone was on restriction. Supervisor told her that because it is a lost phone, order desk probably has not lifted restriction indicative of order shipped. She said to hold while she contact the order desk department. I was put on hold for 45 minutes. She did not get back w/me during the 45 minutes and let me know that she was still working on it. Then I was cut off the line.
I had to redial 800-639-6111, and wanting to speak to a live person, I went into Technical Support. I spoke to Gilbert and also to his supervisor, Bobby. I explained the whole ordeal again and Gilbert succumbed my anger. He was polite, patient, and attentive. He told me that there was a 2-minute hold policy and that he will not put me on hold for 45 minutes and that he will get back w/me after 5 minutes, which he did. He put me on hold again and said he'll be back w / me and let me know what's going on. Gilbert got back on and said that he is having a hard time getting through the order department. That there must be an overflow of calls and they are not picking up. He even called an internal line and still no answer. Gilbert reassured me that he will do everything possible to activate my phone.
I was so overwhelmed by the lack of resolution that I was so close to canceling my account even if my contract is not expired till 2005. This is very frustrating and all the red tape that I have to go through. Especially being on the phone for a full 56 minutes and nothing has been resolved.
12/2 Gilbert from Technical Support, actually called me at work, left me a msg that there was an order ticket and it's pending, his supervisor was not able to help and I am to wait 2 days and see what happens. If nothing happens, call customer care. (Remember Gilbert is in Virginia. He used his own personal line to call me.)
12/4 I waited the 2 days I called and spoke to a rep named Laurie who was somewhere in the northern part of the U.S., she said there was a pending restriction and it looks like its at the order department, she transferred me to the Order department, Rema was here name. I explained my situation and Rema sounded like she knew what was happening, she claimed that she had just canceled the pending order and transferred me back to a customer care rep with the assurance that the rep will be able to activate.
His name was Coby. It was more than an hour now. I told him that I was transferred to him by the order desk. He said I was just transferred from activation. I made a suggestion to Coby, what would happen if I was issued a new number. He said to deactivate and issued a new number was going to cost me $200.00. Anyways, after I told him I was not going to pay $200. For a task that internally they could not resolve and find the reason for my phone to be activated. I told him to let me speak to his supervisor or manager. He put me on hold and came back and said his supervisor was not able to come to the phone. And that all he can do at this juncture, was for me to turn off my phone and turn it back on. I gave up at this point.
12/5 spoke to Christie she was very helpful. She told me that after speaking to her supervisor, she had to include in the history of my account that she has to escalate the ticket (whatever that was). She was putting in an order ticket to probably offset the first order that is pending in the system. She told me to turn off my phone and wait 24 hours and turn it on. She even reassured me that she will make a note on the system that I will not be billed from 11/24 till my phone is activated.
12/6 I hesitated to turn on the phone cause I didn't want to be disappointment. But at 12 noon, pacific standard time, I turned it on. Still could not walkie-talkie or connect to regularly dialed number. So I turned it off during the day and turned it back on in about 2 hours and still no service, restricted or failure. I was also told that because the old phone number had the restrictions, it carried over the restrictions to the new phone, cause I kept the old number.
12/8 8-9 am called and spoke to Julie, customer care rep. I was told that they were updating the system and to turn the phone on after 3 hours. She will notate on my file that I am to be given 1 month free billing. I turned off phone, waited 3 hours, 12 noon, no such luck. Phone still has restrictions.
If their calls are this call is monitored and recorded for quality assurance, I hope that when and if I have to file a lawsuit, I hope all those times that I have called is recorded and monitored cause I would sure like to use that tracing of all my phone calls that I have made to Nextel.
What is the solution here? They can't issue a new number cause it will cost me $200.00. If I cancel, it'll cost me about the same. What do I do?
Please help/advise.
Frustrated Nextel customer.
Cee
Long Beach, California
U.S.A.
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