i was having a perfectly lovely day today, until one of their reps called me, informing me that i'm paying the absolute highest rate for a biz.

my bill is 115 bucks a month, but i have unlimited long distance.

THIS REALLY HACKED ME OFF.

the he proceeded to tell me if i got this bundle...that i neither want or need, my phone bill will GO DOWN to 49.99 a month.

why can't they just give me the 49.99?

i don't want to buy their dang cable modem and garb...i don't even have a computer to take to work.

then he tells me that they'll give me 100.00 visa gift card to put towards a computer i neither want or need at the shop.

i guess just knowing i'm being screwed because i don't take all the extra bundle crap REALLY HACKS ME OFF....it doesn't make sense.

now i'm on a quest to find a different phone co....why oh why can't this be simple....i'm old and don't require all this extra stuff...and i like keeping as much of my hard earned money as i can.

PAY MORE FOR LESS SERVICES...what the heck is up with that?....maybe i should charge wedding cake prices for a 1/4 sheet....wonder how long i'd stay in business doing that?

RANT OVER
but still hacked off

I feel the same way about Sprint. I have to call them every single month because there is problems on my bill. I just don't get it.
Good luck.
Faye

They keep calling me to take a customer survey. I haven't been a customer of theirs in over 10 years! After 4 years, I'm still trying to get them to take my phone number out of their computer.

Theresa

Another phone company??? Please let me know if there is one because we are having problems too and as far as we can tell there is only at&t. The only other company I know of is Vonage and we won't use them because of how they do 911.

Michelle, what about WOW? They have cable, phone, and internet. You can get any of the services or bundle together. We have them in Strongsville. Akron's not that far away.

AT&T did the same thing to us and we took the bundle price. However, the bundle price was only a special sign on price for so many months before it jumped back up, higher than ever. They had forgotten to tell us that part. However trying to get an acutal human to talk to at AT&T is impossible so it took us forever to straighten it out. They were also constantly adding different fees to our bill and we would have to call and duke it out. My husband hates this company.

I apologize if I sound like a commercial, but for my money, I have stuck with Verizon.

Yes, it costs a bit more, but I am never without service, and any service issues I do have (voicemail not working right, etc), are addressed ASAP. They offer several calling plans, some of which offer substantial discounts (they have a few with unlimited long distance, if that's what you need most).

The Consumer Service (residential/business) division of Verizon is one of few telecommunications companies which still have offices and hire within the US - the operators and customer service reps are domestic - the jobs are not outsourced to another nation.

So, if for no other reason than to keep good jobs in the US, I will stay with Verizon.

I'll step down now -

Theresa

They ropped us in to the bundle thing for our home phone, same thing paying too much blah blah, suposed to lower our bill. Well we get the bill and it's ridiculous charging us a fee to help with calls to SPAIN???? I've never made an overseas call in my life, they totally blow.

well i hate them so much...i've decided to buy anothe puter on ebay....

and switch to cox cable...like i got at home....and get a vonage phone...it'll cost about the same....but i'll have internet access...it will come in handy...for looking up picture to go by when i'm doing a drawing....and maybe i'll jump into the 21st century and get one of those thing a ma jigs that print on fondant...

(can ya tell i've had a LONG DAY? DUH can barely talk)

Oh man, having customer service in the U.S. is enough for me to switch companies. My job with a "large Clinic in Cleveland" was outsourced to a company in India and I'm still bitter. Can ya tell?!?!

I switched to IDT. I got so tired of AT&T it wasn't funny. I have unlimited long distance and regional and pay around $70. a month. I love them.

I have Verizon's version of VOIP called Voicewing (same as Vonage) and as long as my DSL is working, I have phone service for an awesome price. What I liked about Voicewing (vice Vonage) is that Verizon offers a 500 minute per month plan with all the added features of a landline (voicemail, call waiting, etc.) I can call anywhere in North America for about $20/month and talk for 500 minutes. I don't do a lot of calling on my home phone, since I have a cellphone too, so the 500 minute plan works out great!! I'm not put off with the 911 service either, as long as they have the service address on file (where you have the VOIP hooked up) then emergency services can find you, but since VOIP is portable, the dispatchers will ask if the emergency is at the service location; not a big deal.
As for Verizon only having Residential/Business customer support in the US, well, I'm not so sure about that. I had to call the other day and got a customer service rep in the Phillippines. I know for sure that was his location since we talked about the weather. Maybe the Voicewing portion of Verizon's customer service is contracted out overseas...maybe everyone with regular landlines in the US gets to talk to customer service reps in the US, I don't know! Either way, I'm not particularly enamored with Verizon's customer service, whether stateside or not. I'm also not happy with their fee structure if you choose not to have a regular landline set-up. I have to pay more for "dry-loop" DSL (which is what they call DSL when you don't have a landline phone) than I would if I paid for a traditional DSL set-up; however, even with the extra dry-loop DSL cost and Voicewing, I still pay less than I would for a landline, with half the comparable features, and DSL!! But it's like they're trying to squeeze the same amount of cash out of you either way!! So, all that said, although I wish I had more choices where I live, Verizon hasn't been horrible, and with Voicewing, I've been pretty happy.

I think you'll be pleased with Vonage, littlecake! The convenience and portability of it is absolutely wonderful!! Having all the features is great too! OH and being able to control both the phone features and listen to your voicemails from any computer anywhere is absolutely AWESOME!! You'll never miss another message again!! You can even have it send an email/txt msg to your cellphone notifying you of a voicemail!! Really, I think you'll like it!

Good luck!

We have a magicjack (www.magicjack.com). I have my basic basic Verizon service (that keeps the phone on, no services) to run my DSL and then we plug our Magicjack into the usb port on any computer, then plug in our phone and we call EVERYWHERE for 19.95...a year.

Have had this for about 4 months now and we love it.

dessertdiva -

I am glad that you mentioned Magic Jack, and that you like it so much.

I told a friend who is facing a financial hardship about it. She is currently paying $100 per month for her phone bundle, which includes unlimited long distance, which she needs because most of her family is in NY. Now I can tell her that I know someone who has it and can vouch for it's quality.

Theresa

We love it. It lets you use any phone (as long as its a landline phone) and any high speed computer connection anywhere in the world, so its great for travel and business.

We really thought that it was a joke when we first got it, so we got it on a 30 day trial and within the first month we saved $75.00!! Our basic ohone service is $25.00 a month, our DSL is about $45.00. $70.00 seems high, but our phone bill was always around $180.00 or more with long distance and all the wiz bang features on the phone. I didnt loose my voice mail or even call waiting, its all done through the PC. Pretty cool, huh?

i saw the magic jack on an infomerical....what a deal...my problem with them is....you can't keep your old phone number...i went to their site online...i am thinking of it at home though...i had skype at home for the last 6 months...the sound quality was ok at first...but later it was so bad it was maddening, so i let it go, how's the sound quality on magic jack?....i seached online....there was mixed reviews.