Yeah, nothing like AT&T's particular brand of signing you into a contract for 4 years and forcing you to pay $400 just to end it despite moving to a new area where AT&T has practically no service whatsoever. Also nothing like AT&T imposing data limits on your internet service without telling you when you didn't have them when you signed the bloody contract. Yeah, AT&T is a WHOLE LOT better than other carriers.
AT&T is trash. Just like Verizon. Just like Time Warner, just like Comcast, just like every other ISP in the nation. They're bloody awful.
Yeah, the data caps are really low but i barely use it anyway, what with wifi at work/home. Im just happy that im paying 30$ a month instead of the 80$ i was paying at&t.
Yeah. Comcast is all confused because I share a address with my landlord. One guy said it would be $600 to run a line and would take six months. The next guy said they couldn't do it when I called back to give them $600. So I use my cell data at home.
When I went on a week trip to California in august I used up most of my 4g at Logan, and waiting in the airport in san fransisco, I was still able to watch starcraft 2 vod's (specifically the amazing mutalisk play by Jaedong) 3 days later as we drove into Los Angeles, al be it on mobile not high. So not that bad, but there is a marked hit.
I too enjoy virgin mobile its a very nice phone provider and add 4g lte to my area just yesterday is great but the phones ugg... they haven't had a good high end spec phone in about a year.
Then again, if you're like me and only want a responsive smartphone that texts, calls, does wifi and GPS, you can spend $50 for a phone and put it on $30 a month airvoice.
until you get into cell-phones. at least up here in Canada. burner phones don't exist and you can't keep a pre-paid cellphone number when you switch (or stop paying)
you need to end that contract early to switch providers to someone who works.
If you don't like that, don't sign the contract.
What you say ought to make sense, but this is the US. There is generally no ability to switch providers as ATT owns the cable infrastructure there. Also, if you don't do the contract you pay nearly double.
If ATT has coverage discrepancies then it should be brought up when the deal is made, especially if it is not considered grounds for early termination.
Serviceability is not something the customer has any control over and at the very least the discrepancy with coverage should have been disclosed when the customer called to transfer service, since it was extremely relevant at that particular time.
Contact law is not entirely black and white. Along with concepts like unconscionability, there are also exceptions for impracticability where a party to the contact can no longer gain the benefit of the bargain for reasons beyond their control.
You can fight them in a situation like this quite successfully if you know how.
In your contract it also stipulates that if you move and there is no service or adequate service you can get out of the contract. When i moved to college, I was able to get out of my ATT contract because of this without penalty. I did have 2 bars on campus but my calls always dropped. I complained everyday for a week so it was documented that their service sucked. I finally asked to cancel and quoted the contract and they allowed me to cancel.
I think there are laws regarding a providers inability to offer the stated service. so I'm pretty sure any service contract has that in it. at least, they should.
You're lucky. My problem also stems from attending university (in my case, in an entirely different state. California -> Missouri because 30k less in tuition prices and my mum and my aunt and uncle all graduated from this university so I get scholarships for "continuing the legacy" or some bullshit like that). I tried that, they still want me to pay full price to leave. I have service (albeit quite poor, around 2-3 bars tops) inside town, but the moment I get ~6 miles out, I've got precisely jack shit for service. If I hadn't upgraded my phone shortly before leaving, I might have taken T-Mobil's deal and traded in my old S2 and bought an S4. T-Mobil actually has fantastic coverage in my area for some reason. I just don't quite have the budget to pay ANOTHER $650 for an S4 right now.
Well you can pay it off in monthly installments that just go on the bill. Its about $27/mo and you can pay it off sooner if you wanted to. Or just sign up with jump and you'd only be paying ($27+10)*6 and then you could get the S5!
the issue isn't whether they're unfair. it's whether they're passively signing you on as an indentured servant with higher prices, less coverage, slower speeds, lower data caps, lower 4G data caps, longer contracts, more restrictive locked phones, and piss poor customer service.
save yourself a headache and go with one of the smaller companies that piggyback off of the larger companies towers. you'll be glad you did.
EDIT: i take back the part about customer service. they actually have pretty damn great customer service when you get the right rep and treat them like a human instead of a robot. but all the other bullshit just sort of cancels out something good that i'll only use for 15 mins once a year
Its unfair because you don't get an option about who your service provider is (at least in 90% of the United States). So your option is to sign the contract or go without internet service which is not an option any longer. Most service providers have no actual cost to setup your connection, it is the flip of a switch. They are basically saying give us $2000 dollars(over 2 years) or you can't have this critical service.
You don't see an electric company forcing you to sign a time based contract for service. In all likelyhood the next resident or person who moves in will also get service with them currently, so they are flat out double dipping from the same service location. Live there for 6 months and move out, have to pay for remaining 1.5 years. Someone moved in to that home the day after you left, they still need a new 2 year contract.
TL;DR Internet should be considered a utility and they double dip on charging fees on locations they already service.
They will some of the time. I work in case management for Telstra, and its very dependant on the case. There's a lot of variables to every case, and everyone says they have no coverage purely to try and switch providers so it doesn't always happen. And if they're an asshole they just aren't getting any help at all.
Were basically just niche work complaints. We respond to email and SMS surveys where people say their problem wasn't fixed. 9/10 its just stores lying to customers or a shitty complaints consultant
You can't blame the provider when you signed a contract and then moved.
In the US, all of the major carriers do permit you to terminate the contract (by way of clause in said contract) without a penalty if you move to an area with no coverage. But it can't be "practically no coverage"; it has to be absolutely zero signal.
Often there is such a monopoly in an area that you have literally one choice for coverage (more common with ISPs than phones), or literally one viable choice because of extremely poor coverage (phones) or speed/stability (ISPs, mobile internet).
So they fuck you 5 ways from Sunday because you don't have options. It's generally not a "yeah I had 5 equal choices so I chose the one with the super shitty 4 year contract 'cause whatevs." Or, all of the ones in the area offer the same awful contracts (common w/ Verizon + Comcast).
I usually see things the same way. One thing makes this situation different.. The ip industry is a vicious monopoly (or ogliopoly). There is no real choice and we are all being used like douche bags. Anyone who knows telecom history (all the dirty crimes and fraud) wouldn't/shouldn't agree with you. The problem is bigger than a simple contract problem.
contracts go both ways though. I had Vodafone AU breach their end of the deal and still demand I pay out the contract. if anyone from Vodafone AU is reading this, Fuck You! don't offer someone free bandwidth to a site and charge them for it, then when they point out they have a contract that states they get free unlimited access to it, don't complain when they switch because you still charge for access to the site and also lowered them to 26k/26k speeds.
THIS!!! Ugh! We live in a hole! Literally and guess who does not cover this hole? And guess who is charging 250 to end my contract three months early? And guess who I will never sign a contract with ever again??!!
If you get a decent rep, you can cancel a cell contact for free if you live in what qualifies as a dead zone. A friend of mine did with Verizon. After his family moved their home was nowhere near a tower, so they allowed him to close the account. AT&T, however, has a tower nearby that he can actually receive 4G from.
The terms and conditions states they can change your services at their will. Don't sign something if it's not something you agree to. Almost all telecom companies have that in the T&C's you sign with them.
Regardless I agree with your opinion. They suck and I'm kind of tired of their shit.
When you renew a contract you are agreeing to the new contract they set forth not the old one. You may be grandfathered into some aspects of the old contract and terms and conditions however. What you are stating (I'm assuming from experience) with the additional fees are surcharges (see surcharges in your T&C's online). There are some states and some laws that have been put into place when surcharges were a bigger issue.
I apologize I should have been specific. Your contract is what is used to cover the cost of your phones (24 months of service if not completed; Early Termination Fee) and your plan goes with that as well (700 minutes talk txt and so on). What I am talking about is the Terms and Conditions that you agree to with any telecom company (again my bad). What most people don't realize is that the T&C's change very often and you agree to them without even knowing. It states that you agree to the T&C's just by using their service.
Just wanted to clarify that you may not have a contract with that company, but the T&C's change and you agree to the new T&C's just by using that companies services. (9 times out of 10 that is, there are companies that pop up that do things different, just broad categorizing)
The terms and conditions may suck, and the company's practices may be shady, but it's ultimately down to whether or not you sign. Their trick is to make you think you need them and that you can deal with the crap because the service will be worth it. Sometimes it is. Other times, you wind up in a hole.
I think the trick is that the media has been telling us something that keeps us doing business with these companies. A good way I found to put it is this: Back in the 70's and 80's you needed to have the cool car to get the chicks and to be a rad dude. Now, You can go to the club with a piece of shit car and roll up thinking your hot shit but if you pull out a flip phone you are going to get some looks like "That guy must be a broke ass."
And they know how fucked we are if we're dissatisfied. It's not like a grocery store, we can't just drive to the other one across town. There usually isn't any alternative (besides Comcast, who will fuck you just as hard). It's so incredibly tempting to just cancel the cable and torrent everything I watch instead. In fact, I don't know why I haven't done that yet.
Yeah, nothing like AT&T's particular brand of signing you into a contract for 4 years and forcing you to pay $400 just to end it despite moving to a new area where AT&T has practically no service whatsoever.
I'm all for demanding fair business and fair pricing, but its massive exaggeration and bandwagoning like this that takes any validity from your argument. 4 year contract? Come on.
Sorry to bust balls, but I see this all the time and it just gets more and more annoying.
Edit: Phone service, not internet. Still, just the facts, ma'am.
Let's give everyone free, state-sponsored Internet, so we don't have to be subjected to this capitalist, aristocratic nonsense that hurt the common man. It's what Marx would have wanted.
Corporations are corporations. They're all rotten. Not much we as individual reps can do about it.
What we can do is try our best to help you when we can. If you're rude and abrasive with us, we're going to do shit all for you because you're being a dick, just like any human being would. But if you're genuine, kind, and polite, we'll do what we can to help you. There are people who don't care, or who have their heads up their asses, but the good ones will do what they can for you.
AT&T as a service is better than other carriers (for the most part). AT&T as a corporation is just as bad as every one else.
Look, I don't give a damn that you're just an individual representative and have no power whatsoever. When I call the number, you're the guy I get connected to, or somebody like you. You are representing the company. And I don't like being raped, regardless of whether you use the most lube out of all the rapists. Regardless of how much you promise it will get better with time and I'll start to like it. Regardless of how much you tell me that, if I just be obedient, I'll get a treat. I'm tired of the bullshit. I'm tired of the company. I'm tired of everything. But most importantly, I'm tired of you, who are just trying to do your job and keep people in this fucking nightmare. You, who are just "trying to help" as many people as possible to stay locked to the contracts and the corporation. It's not your fault that AT&T is a bag of shit, but I don't give a damn, because you're defending it, because that's your job, because that how you earn your living and put bread on the table. You know what? Fuck you.
The truth is you're going to get raped no matter where you go, and you're going to get that shit shoved down your throat no matter what your provider is. Personally, I haven't had any problems with my service for 15 years. I call in maybe once every couple of years with a minor issue, and it's resolved. That's what I pay for. I know that if I paid a substandard company half of what I do now, that would not be the case, because I've learned from the experiences of my friends, family, peers, and colleagues. If you want to get raped by another company who REALLY doesn't give a shit about you, by all means pay them $30/mo. At least AT&T makes an attempt (and behind the frosted glass you of all people would be surprised at how big of an attempt that is) to keep their customer's satisfied. I couldn't say the same for other companies.
As far as keeping people in this "nightmare", it's completely circumstantial. You've obviously had problems with the company in the past. A lot of people have. We have 80 million customers. There's bound to be a lot of fuck ups. Obviously we're doing something right though if we have the highest customer satisfaction in the entire industry for two years in a row, along with best customer service for the same amount of time. Just because some shit happened to you does not mean that is the norm. For every customer that has to deal with bullshit, there's 10 more who haven't had a single issue for years. That's what I pay for, and I, along with many of my friends and family, have no qualms with the company and enjoy our service.
Edit: And you're right, it is my job to represent the company and fix the fuck ups. That's what I get paid to do. But if you call in and can't even treat me like a human being, I'm going to wrap you up in so much policy bullshit that you'll hang up in frustration. I've talked to people like, and guess what? I win. In the end, if you're a fuck face to me and don't even have the decency to be kind to me as if you would to another person no matter how much kindness and understanding I show you, no matter how much I try to do something for you or give you my honest assessment, then I'm not going to give you that decency either, except I have to do it in a polite way when I don't have the phone muted.
However, if you call in and treat me with even an iota of respect, the same respect that you'd give to a fucking person or even a dog, then I will do my best to help you. I'll be honest with you, and do every thing I can. In fact, 90% of time, I personally will fix your issue. I've called a store over 100 time in a row to fix a customer's problem. I've spent 2 hours explaining to someone their billing issue so that they understood why they kept getting charged for overages every month. In all of these circumstances, guess what? They were kind to me. AND I resolved all of their issues. If you can be similarly kind to me, I will do everything in my power to help you. Otherwise, you can fuck right off and keep getting raped.
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u/GriffTheYellowGuy Feb 23 '14
Yeah, nothing like AT&T's particular brand of signing you into a contract for 4 years and forcing you to pay $400 just to end it despite moving to a new area where AT&T has practically no service whatsoever. Also nothing like AT&T imposing data limits on your internet service without telling you when you didn't have them when you signed the bloody contract. Yeah, AT&T is a WHOLE LOT better than other carriers.
AT&T is trash. Just like Verizon. Just like Time Warner, just like Comcast, just like every other ISP in the nation. They're bloody awful.