Better Living through Software

 Sprint is now refusing service to customers who make too many support calls.  Verizon recently started shutting off people who use too much of the “unlimited” data plan. 

In both cases, the phone company unilaterally changed the service policy without informing customers.  I would love to be able to unilaterally change the amount of money I agree to pay, but apparently it doesn’t work that way.

I don’t use Verizon or Sprint, but since they seem so business-savvy, I am now considering plans with both.  Here is my advice when signing up for a new plan:

Above all, be patient and meticulous.  it is very important to get all of the details of your phone plan correct before you give your name, and activate your service.  Researching the plans can be a very time-consuming process.  For example, I had to call Verizon three times yesterday.  They are advertising a “5 cents plan” for long distance, which doesn’t really cost 5 cents.  I don’t mind that they lie about the cost, but I need to know how much it really costs.  It says 7 cents on the web page, but when you click the link for details, it says 11 cents.

Since 11 cents is more than 100% more expensive than the advertised rate, it’s important to know these things.  You wont find this out without spending a lot of time interrogating the representatives on the phone, and a verbal commitment from a phone representative is essentially worthless anyway.  You need to obtain their commitment in writing before establishing a billing relationship.

It is not always possible to get every service commitment documented in writing.  For example, “unlimited” usually doesn’t mean unlimited, it just means undocumented.  For Sprint, you will need to verify things such as “how many service calls per month can I make without having my service terminated?”  For these ambiguous service commitments, you will need patience and diligence.  Follow this procedure:

1. Prepare a list of all ambiguous service terms (”unlimited”, service calls, roaming, etc.)
2. Call the sales line, make it clear that you are eager to purchase an expensive plan so long as your final minor questions are answered
3. Ask the representative’s name, and keep a record of this along with time and date, for your notes
4. Enumerate the resources which you’ve already consulted, to show that you are prepared
5. Ask for clarification on the ambiguous terms.  Make it clear that you will not make a service commitment without clear commitment on their side.
6. If the clarifications are made, say thank you and ask for these policies to be provided in written form that you can keep for your records.
7. If the representative cannot clarify any of these items, politely request to be transferred to a representative who can (this often results in disconnected calls)
8. Write down everything that is said
9. At this point, you probably have a verbal commitment on some items, which is relatively worthless.  If verbal commitment is all you can obtain, you will need to re-confirm this
10. Wait a couple of days and repeat steps 2-8, repeat at least two more times, so that you have commitment from three different representatives recorded and documented

You should do this with all phone companies advertising ambiguous commitments.  When you are satisfied, you can go ahead and establish a billing relationship and activate your service.

Now, even after you have established service, we have seen that the phone companies can unilaterally change the service terms without notifying you.  For these high-risk areas, it is advisable to call once per month and repeat steps 2-8 above (just once) to make sure that nothing has changed.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 7th, 2007 at 8:22 am and is filed under Doctor of Deception. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.