By Erin Keene
What's up with those rollover minutes that only expire the month you need them?
And what about that phone insurance that you drop $7 a month on, but when your phone actually does break it’s either not covered or you have to pay an extra $50 for repair?
You don’t have to tell me… Living in cell hell is my life story!
After years of frustration with crappy cell phone service from a company who claimed to be "raising the bar" (in which coincidentally I could never get any bars), I finally surrendered, put up the $200 to get out of the never-ending contract and switched providers.
The new service started out ok. The reception was a lot better; I was able to keep my old number; and I was awarded a brand new phone for free! The sales guys even gave me a second phone to keep in my car for emergencies, no strings attached. (I even read all the fine print to make sure.) So everything was finally looking up… or so I thought.
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After getting my first bill, I noticed the taxes jumped from $5 a month to a whooping $30 a month! Florida State communication tax, service tax, 911 tax, Palm Beach county tax, Delray Beach tax for both lines, not to mention the federal taxes! Not only that, but text messages were 25 cents each. I almost died when a 10- page forward circled around from five friends!
Angered that my $65 a month plan quickly turned into $135 a month, I went to the store to find out what the deal was. They explained that with the two phones I was on "a family plan," in which the rate for text messages is higher, taxes double (or triple depending on the number of phones you have), and that their whole "free minutes starting at 7 p.m." are only for individual plans. How can they get away with not clarifying this beforehand?
After explaining the misunderstanding to the store clerk, manager and four phone representatives (along with an attempted phone call to the head of the company), I said that I wanted to simply switch to an individual plan. I was told again and again that the only way out was to wait two years until the contract ended or pay $500 (or lastly, which isn’t an option for me, ignore the bills and ruin my credit.)
So here I am, a year and a half later, with a family plan, no family and a phone melting in my car that I’ve never used. I’m so excited for May – not for Memorial Day weekend but for the month when my contract ends. Can you tell me which provider I should turn to next? Don’t text me (LOL); just send me an e-mail at outloud@outloud.com.. Or, if you have a cell hell story you’d like to share, send it over.
Let us know what you think, email us at: outloud@outloud.com.