Subject: [NEXTEL-1] A Consumer Reports (was: escape from Nexthell)

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 14:47:49 -0500

------- Original Message --------
   From: "billwithpinz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: [ A Consumer Reports (was: escape from Nexthell)

Well, I've been traveling and unsubscribed from most of the lists for
a while. Apparently there's still a [Nextel] group, as opposed to
[Nextel-1] and I posted the text below at the former... so I'll cross
post it myself this time!

The gist of it is, if you don't want to read about little piddly
stuff like this, I've (almost) completely cancelled 12 Nextel phones
and have jumped to some other bunch of (probable) dweebs. Just a
small skirmish at the user/provider interface. My opinion....
Nextel's loss:

> Dear colleagues at the Nextel Group,
> Would you be so kind as to share with me why, in your opinions, as
users
> and interested parties, users in the States are using Nextel's
service
> over and above that of other wireless carriers.
>

Bill responds:
Direct Connect. That which we could buy from an 800 MHz trunking
supplier
before the era of Nextel. Works pretty good and if you're not needing
a
great coverage area can be a real boon to people who are on the go.
Add to
that the advantages of a cell phone which will work in most urban
areas.

So, that's why we used it. Note: USED. We've now dropped Nextel and
gone to
AT&T... the attraction is the free minutes between group members and
the 5
land line numbers, also free, when used by group members.... and not
to
mention spouses and girlfriends and boyfriends can get on the group
plan and
be billed separately by AT&T. By my calculations we will save about
$500 a
month by going to this plan and we will save the pure aggravation of
dealing
with Nextel. I'm quite sure AT&T will try our patience.... but at
least
we'll be getting screwed by a company with a different flavor.

More notes on our parting with Nextel:

Our aggravation reached boiling point when they turned us off two
months in
a row over unpaid invoices: Each time, we were current with Nextel.
It was
Nextel's error. No apologies were offered by Nextel.

When we called to cancel our phones we were told we had two phones
still
under contract. Later on this changed to four phones under contract.
When we
presented evidence to the contrary they hit us with a bunch of
bull... so we
ended up agreeing to three phones, still under contract for another 3
or 4
months. It appears we can change the monthly service for these
phones, so we
changed them to the lowest possible, $19.95 a month, turned them off
and
stuck them in a drawer.

I'll let you know when they screw this up and try and charge us more,
or
discover "more phones under contract" or some other outrage. I'm
betting on
it, and we are ready for battle.

We used to pay between $1200 and $1500 a month... sometimes more when
our
employees were on the road. To date, nobody has called us to ask why
we
quit, to try and repair our irritation, to offer ammends or rebates
for our
down time. Nothing. Nada, And may they roast in the 800 MHz hell the
cellphone market is becoming.

Bill L.

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