Cellular companies apologize for poor service

[Gregg Lengling]

Cellular companies apologize for poor service


In a press conference held yesterday on the steps of the FCC headquarters in Washington DC, four executives from Cingular, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile offered their apologies to their customers for the problems they've all been enduring. Apparently inspired by Jet Blue's CEO, David Neeleman who recently apologized for long flight delays and cancellations, the executives issued a joint statement that went on to say "We are truly sorry for what our valued customers have had to go through, "particularly the excessive number of dropped calls and poor customer service."


The AT&T executive went on to say, with the three others nodding in agreement, that the companies have been deferring improvements to their networks, including erecting new towers, installing new switches, and laying new cable.


"We've been more interested in adding new services to increase revenue than focusing on improving the quality of calls. Our priority for this year will be to eliminate dropped calls rather than adding new entertainment services that serve no purpose other than to increase revenue at the expense of what people really want their phones for, making calls."


The four companies then announced a 10-point customer improvement plan (CIP) that will go into effect the first of next month.


CELLULAR IMPROVEMENT PLAN
A pledge from your cellular companies

1. No longer will customers be subjected to long-tern contracts and cancellation penalties when signing up for service. Subsidies on phones will still be provided, but the amount will be stated up front in the contract and the cancellation fee will be reduced each month by $10 until the subsidy is paid off. Alternatively the customer can pay for the full price of the phone and avoid all contracts and cancellation charges.

2. Customers will no longer need to guess how many minutes they will use when selecting a calling plan. There will be just one plan: Buy minutes on a continuous graduated scale. The more minutes you use, the less per minute you pay. As a result expect your bill to fall by 5% to 18%.

3. Charges for calls will not be rounded up to the nearest minute, but will be charged to the nearest second. It's just not right for us to charge you time you're not using.

4. We will no longer disable features from mobile phones that the manufacturers included and available elsewhere, such as WiFi, Bluetooth file transfer, and VOIP.

5. The cost of calls when traveling in Europe and Asia will drop from today's $2-$3 per minute to 50 cents per minute, similar to the prices those in other countries pay to call the United States.

6. All phones will be unlocked. If you're traveling and can find a lower rate by buying a local SIM card we want you to be able to use it and save money.

7. Detailed street maps will be provided on our Web sites showing the quality of service down to the street level. We've had this information available for years and it's time we share it with you to make a more informed purchasing decision.

8. As in Europe you'll be able to have up to 3 different phones with the same phone number at no extra monthly charge. That means you can leave a phone in the car and have another one with you.

9. All of the Internet specials we offer will be available in our stores as well. No longer will you need to argue with the stores to match the online deals.

10. No longer will you need to spend a long time on hold trying to reach customer support. All calls will be answered within 10 minutes, and customer service representatives will be empowered to solve problems immediately. If the problem can't be solved on the initial call we will call you back with a solution within 4 hours.

Sound too good to be true? You're right - April Fool!!!