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Disappointed in Alltel
By -

HIGH POINT, NORTH CAROLINA -- I have been an Alltel customer in good standing for many, many years and had no intention of changing carriers. My son attends college at Western Carolina University in the western North Carolina mountains, for the first 2 years there, his Alltel service worked fine, about a year and a half ago the service became very frustrating, dropping calls, unable to hear conversations clearly, receiving messages late, etc.

After contacting Alltel many times by phone and going into the Alltel store in Greensboro, NC numerous times we were told we should purchase a new phone which of course included a new contract (wasted time and money), nothing changed, phone service was still poor in his college area (by the way, there is no Alltel store in that area, Silva, NC). Finally I was told by your representatives numerous times the connection problems and roaming charges that were often being applied to my account were created by another carriers tower that had been built in that area, by the way my plan included no roaming charges but they were often added to my bill.

A few weeks ago we again went to the Alltel store in Greensboro and had the phone checked for programming, the agent there said the software was up to date but that there had been many complaints about the Alltel service in that area and that were should contact an Alltel supervisor (he provided me with a number) and Alltel would probably release me from the contract (there was just over a month left on the contract).

When I called the number I asked repeatedly to speak to a supervisor, after much discussion I was finally told "I'll get you a supervisor" and he proceeded to hang up, at that point I had had enough. I went to Venison and had the number ported over, the Verizon service works perfectly in the Silva area. After receiving my final bill from Alltel that included an early disconnect fee of $200.00 I once again called Alltel this morning (9/18/07), spent considerable time on the phone explaining the problems to your representative who said she would confer with a supervisor, she never returned to the phone!

Now in short, Alltel has the nerve to charge me an early disconnect fee of $200.00. I had done everything in my power to not change carriers from Alltel to Verizon and received absolutely no help from Alltel to resolve the problems. I feel it was Alltel who failed to fulfill the contract by not at the very least providing me with the amount of service I originally had not less.

I guess I'm the most disappointed in the fact of how I have been treated with this $200.00 disconnect fee after all the money you have received from me over the past 10-14 years (never a late payment), and for Alltel to completely ignore the fact this problem was not created by me the customer but in fact by Alltel.

The facts are these, my son needed dependable service at the college he attends, Alltel no longer supplied these services and I have spent over a year and my money throwing good after bad trying to help Alltel to provide service or resolve this problem. After Alltel was unable to do so I had to take matters into my own hand and find a carrier that could provide the service that we need. Again I will not be paying to $200.00 disconnect fee.

Replies
Sold out to Verizon or is it AT&T???
By -

I would greatly suggest to all who read this to never, ever, ever, sign any contracts for any cell phone company. In fact, we would all be better off if we BOYCOTT the Big Cell companies (Verizon and AT&T) entirely. We have had our cell phone service with Alltel in Rural SD for several years. In general, the phone service itself has been very good. Customer service as other have said has been rude and ridiculous, but the service has been good.

Now however, Alltel has been bought out by Verizon and thanks to the non-monopoly clause of the FCC, Verizon had to sell its SD Alltel assets to AT&T. Of course, we "upgraded our phone in June, and we are still under contract with Alltel/Verizon. Now, unfortunately, despite our wishes, that contract is going to be sold to AT&T. The problem is that I do not want to be part of AT&T. I want absolutely nothing to do with that miserable, worthless company. I have bad blood with them going way back to college. So I have no interest in joining AT&T.

Alltel/Verizon could have done the right thing and released us from our contract, but that would be asking too much. They say, that I am "required to try out AT&T for at least 30 days" and if I decide not to continue using AT&T service then AT&T will let me out of the contract with no strings attached (Yeah right!). They are even giving me (since the phone I picked out will no longer work on their modified towers) a "free" phone as a welcome!!!! Yeehaw. Of course none of my whopping three phone choices are the phone I currently own and purchased at the store via Alltel and I of course... I don't want AT&T!

So... without my consent, input or anything my contract is sold to another company and I am forced to pay for their service for 1 month even though I know I want nothing to do with them. I am to waste my valuable time filling out form after form and getting and returning "free" phones, signing up with them and then dropping a service I have quite clearly stated that I do not want OR I am forced to pay $200.00 to get out of my Alltel contract. The Alltel/Verizon customer service agent actually had the nerve to tell me that this fee was "small". Unbelievable! In what world does one live in, when a $200.00 waste of money for no service is "small".

The icing on the cake... if I refuse to pay them, then they destroy my good credit and harass me with collection agents for the next 20 years. Nice little system they have set up huh? If there are any lawyers trolling in here looking for the next case call me. If you are reading this review, please take my advice and never ever ever sign any contract with any of these crooks. "Free" cell phone or not. Don't be fooled by the illusion of choice. They are all in it together.

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Run Around Fraud And Incompetent Service Reps
By -

NORTH CAROLINA -- My husband has had service/a contract with Alltel since 2002. We have never been fully satisfied with their service, but have continued to renew our contract. I have constantly called to have misc fees removed, I have had someone else's bill printed on my account and had to pay it and it was debited back the next month. All kinds of crazy stuff. When we purchased our new Smartphones we're not advised we would have to pay a whopping $40 extra per line aside from our package price. We have 2 other lines with regular cell phones.

This story takes the cake... We have NEVER had a prepaid phone with them. I do not know anyone that does. I am very dissatisfied with our current experience with this "Company". I have my personal bank account set for mobile alerts when X amount of money is debited from my checking account. At 3:30 yesterday I received a mobile alert that nearly a $100 debit was pending to my checking account. Since I was watching TV I knew I did not make this purchase (my mobile alerts come in right when the debit hits). I immediately looked at my online banking and saw a pending purchase for $X to Alltel Replenishment. I had no clue what this was.

I immediately picked up the phone and called Alltel. The story gets better, I PROMISE!!! The customer service representative informed this is for prepaid services. I informed her I do not have a prepaid service through Alltel. She transferred me to Financial Services. I went through the whole spew with this representative. She advised me I needed to be transferred to the Replenishment Dept. and transferred me. I am hold until about 3:45 listening to the Alltel lady with the pleasant voice advising me to buy more prepaid minutes on the recording.

A foreign speaking man picks up the phone and wants my prepaid wireless #. I advise him I do not have one. He does not understand and cannot seem to comprehend. I explain the situation to him and he says "Oh, you need contract customer service." I try to tell him, "No, no, no they sent me here." He says, "OK, I transfer you now ma'am." I go through this cycle once more and I am then disconnected in translation.

I go ahead and call my bank and make them aware of this. The representative gives me a series of #s and a 1-800 # and says all the info that was sent from the processing dept and that this was a manual key entry (payment by phone). She advised me the Alltel account # and confirmation # were not provided, and often are left off in the process of a speedy collection. I thank her, ask her to block my account and try to call Alltel back.

When I finally make it back to the Replenishment Dept. an agent laughs at me and says he is going to transfer me back. I hastily replied, "PLEASE, do not transfer me back, I need your supervisor." The man laughs and says, "OK I transfer you now." I am on hold for a little bit listening to that recording again. A lady picks up and says her name is **. I inform ** of my situation and tell her I do not have a prepaid phone. She requests my mobile # and seems to not be able to comprehend the fact that I do not have one either. The foreign lady says, "I no believe you, how do you know it is prepaid if you do not pay for it."

I kindly advised her that the people that transferred me back and forth before told me they were sending me to the prepaid department and the little jingle recording thingy offers you to buy more minutes while you are on hold. She completely acted like she did not believe me. She advised me she could pull up the transaction by my debit card and cancel it if she received a fax from my bank or talked to them on 3-way. I thanked her graciously and tried to dial on 3-way. My brand spanking new Blackberry Curve would not let me do a conference call. Ahhh... I told her and she told me to call from my husband's phone separately.

I did so, I got a bank representative on the phone explained the situation and explained I was on two phones here. My bank representative advises me she needs a faxed release form before 9PM or she cannot release it and we will have to dispute the charges. ** proceeds to tell me this will not work anyway because she has to be on 3-way. I apologize to the bank representative disconnect that call and ask the ** why she asked me to do it then?!? She said "I need a faxed form from your bank showing the transaction and a copy of your most recent bank statement." I told her I will not have that until next month when my statement cuts.

She once again belittled me and asked how did I even know about it if I did not have my statement yet. I advised her once again of my mobile alerts and online banking. I remind her she said earlier she will delete the payment if she can locate the account. She pulls up all transactions processed from my bank account and says, "Mam, I see that you do have a history of buying Prepaid minutes with Alltel. Are you sure this is not yours? I cannot delete this transaction because of your history."

I inquire on how many times this has been done. She advised me once. I inquire when, and she says today!! I said "Ma'am that is the transaction I am talking about. Can you please fax this release form to my bank?" She said "I really would, but we do not have a fax machine in our call center." She advised me to go to the nearest Alltel so they can see this text message and fax the form. I advise her they close at 5 and it is now 4:30. She says to go ahead.

I became very frustrated and advised her I do not appreciate her insulting my intelligence during this conversation and ask her why they do not have a fax machine. She just kept repeating "Mam drive to your local Alltel (Ohhhtal is how she pronounced it) and have them fax it." She would say nothing more than that. Just like a broken record. My husband took the phone and tried to discuss the matter with her and she repeated the same thing over and over. He got so mad and cussed her out. She refused to give the direct 800# to that department, an extension or employee ID #. She just said the same thing over and over.

So we stay on the phone and drive 30 minutes and get there as they are locking the doors, but I shimmy my way in. I told her I was there and would get someone to talk to her. She did not respond. "Hello, hello?" My screen said call disconnected. Great!

I am in limbo once again from customer service to financial services to replenishment several times again while standing in Alltel waiting on a representative in person. This place was packed and it was already closed. I wait... on hold and in person. Transfer, transfer, transfer. I wait. Then a man comes on the line from replenishment. He laughs and says this must be Mrs. **. I never even gave him my name. He advises me all supervisors are busy and places me on hold. Until 5:30 he would pick up and say nothing then hit the hold button again. Finally he just disconnected the call.

Yay! A representative in person is finally available. My husband and I inform him of what is going on. He says, "Ma'am I am so sorry, but there is no reason for you to be here. We cannot do anything for you." I already knew this. He gave me the 1-800 # for the prepaid services department and apologized. He notated my personal account and advised me to use "That black phone." I called from their phone and could never get through. I was finally disconnected again by an agent "looking for a supervisor" at 6PM. I thanked the sales associate for his time and left since all other customers were gone.

In the car I called the replenishment department and was sent back to financial and customer service and back again and the agent on the phone advised me she had to look for a supervisor. Where on earth are these supervisors? She puts me on hold and never comes back. I hear the little recording over and over with a pause in-between and then back on hold. Finally she disconnects my call.

I call back. I call back. A man answers and calls me by my name and says he will look for a supervisor. I hold. Finally he comes back and says "My supervisor said to forward you to financial services. He is standing behind me right now." I advise him not to and he laughs and says "Please hold." This is not a game people. About 10 minutes later he comes back and says "Ma'am there are no supervisors available at this time." I asked him what happened to the one standing behind you and he says, "Oh yeah, I did tell you that didn't I?" I advised him yes and please put him/her or some supervisor on the phone.

He laughs and places me on hold until around 6:45. Or at least he thought he did. I could hear him laughing and talking the whole time. He eventually transferred me to a lady who answered and said, "Thanks you for call Alltel (No these are not typos) my name is ** how I help you?" I say "yes ma'am," she cuts me off starts yelling in another language and hangs up. Oh my God, I am a little more than furious right now.

My husband decides he will call. I also call on my phone. We both wait. We refuse to be transferred. The agents must have been side by side because we could hear them one another's conversations. His guy finally got a supervisor named ** who was the sweetest person and I explained again this horrible situation!! She apologized and researched the series of #s my bank gave me and turned up nothing. No phone #, no confirmation #, finally at 8PM she asked me to try calling my bank on 3-way.

I did so successfully this time, and they could only give her the same info I already had. It did absolutely no good. I gave her my debit # and she pulled up all transactions. For some reason she could not delete it from there What? This is crazy. She said they do not have the authorization to just delete something. She said she does not know how ** could have done that because there are no notes and no account to put them on. She told me it has to go through the fraud department.

She tried to transfer me and they were closed. She apologized profusely and gave me the fraud dept # and advised me to call at 8AM my time because it is the one nearest my location in the same time zone. I thanked her for not disconnecting my call and actually helping me. It was 8:30 PM my only day off in 7 days, a Sunday.

Today 7:30AM... I get up early and check my bank account. Transaction still pending. I call Alltel customer service on MY account and advise them my account is blocked and the payment I set up 2 weeks ago to come out this past Friday for MY REAL CONTRACT ACCOUNT has not yet debited and is not pending so it may not go through. They lady advises me my services may be disconnected. I advise her of everything from last night. Instead of telling me she cannot help me in the beginning she lets me go on and on for 30 minutes.

When I am finished she tells me she cannot help me I need financial services. With a huge migraine I tell her, "No they cannot help me." She said "yes they can. You have to call and tell them this on your personal account, but they do not open until 7AM." I advised her it is 8am. She tells me it is by my time but they do not open for 3 more hours. End of that call. I call the fraud # I was given immediately. I get a voicemail message for an associate that says he will be out of the office for a week to try his mobile. I try his mobile, no answer. I call the original #. Same message. Dead end.

I call customer service. After 20 minutes of fighting to get a supervisor ** on the phone I am told by the supervisor that he cannot give me a direct fraud dept # because they do not have access to that and they do not accept direct calls from the public anyway. He then tries to transfer me to them. He comes back and says they are not answering to call back later. I advise him to try again that I do not have "later" I have to go to work. He does so and same result. He then advises me I am not calling the right department anyway and transfers me to financial services before I can say anything.

This financial services associate says "Ma'am this here is the fraud dept # I am going to give you. I don't know why he didn't give it to you, and they do accept calls from the public." She then transfers me. During this time I thought nothing of it not even being 7AM "Mountain time". And whoa, what do you know someone is answering in Financial Services. Could have handled one problem right there.

The gentleman from the fraud department advises me I have called the wrong fraud # because he is not in NC. He gives me the correct # and tells me they cannot do anything without a police report anyway. What? This is the first I have heard of filing a police report. He proceeds to speak to me in a demeaning tone, you know, like I am slow. He tells me that all of the information I have been given is incorrect. I ask him if he can pull up all transactions processed through Alltel using my debit card. He advises me yes and requested my card #. I gave it to him and he says he sees the charge.

I ask if he can give me a confirmation # or account # or phone # or something. He says no. I tell him I need the confirmation # because it was authorized on my card. He refuses to give me the information. He says he has to protect his client's information. What? I am your client. I just want the measly confirmation # used on my debit card. He advised me it has to be court ordered for that information to be released. He said to call the other fraud # because he doesn't have time to talk to someone that is not in his area. Okay, what just happened? I was nice.

I call the Sheriff's Dept and wait an hour and a half for an officer to come out. He takes my info and advises me it will be a week or so before a financial crimes investigator gets my case and will be in contact. I call customer service back to be rerouted to financial services. I get the same guy from before that "said" he was a supervisor **. Why is a supervisor answering customer service calls if they can never be found? Anyway, he transfers me to Financial Services after telling me "Oh yeah I remember you" after I went through the story AGAIN.

Financial Services advises me my service may be disconnected since my bank account is blocked due to the fraudulent activity. If they receive a returned payment it will be disconnected regardless of the situation. Thanks lady please notate my account! You have a great day too!

I then call the most recent fraud # I was given. The gentleman was very nice and the conversation lasted all of 2 minutes. He asked the nature of my call. I advised him my debit card was fraudulently used to pay on a prepaid account and I have no clue as to who it belongs to. He asked if a family member has ever used my card for this or if I had voluntarily had done so. I advised him no I do not even know anyone with a prepaid Alltel phone. He said, "Oh, because all we can do is reverse payments to an account that had been accidentally debited because of information stored in the system previously."

He advised me everything has to be done through my bank to call them with my police report and that Alltel can do nothing and refused to give me any information regarding the posted payment. Personal Opinion: What in the world do you need your fraud department for? Fraudulent activity means you have no knowledge of the transaction. Not just reversals for agent mistakes. I am at a loss for words. Yes, I can dispute this with my bank. Yes, the police can investigate. NO ALLTEL IS NOT ON THE SAME PAGE AS A WHOLE.

I work for the bank my accounts are with. If this would have put me in the negative I could have lost my job. It is against the code of ethics. I work in collections and I talk to clients every single day, all day long. If you do not know what you are talking about, you find out the proper course of action and you do not just send a client on to the next person because you don't want to take the time to help them. You take care of them and help find a solution. And you NEVER deny someone to speak with a supervisor or you are putting your job on the line. Yes, you do your all to help the client to avoid getting a supervisor, but you never mock a client or just hang up.

This is ridiculous and I am disgusted. I had to take a day off just to handle this bull. I hate Alltel. Yes, I know we have to wait out our contract we just renewed. Otherwise Alltel will Win and we will have to pay over $800 to end our contracts early and pay for a new contract elsewhere. I am fully aware Alltel did not steal my identity, but they did nothing to help me gain it back or feel like a valued client.

Replies
Terrible Defective Phone Exchange Program
By -

I recently purchased a new phone from Alltel, the LG Scoop, in July. For some unexplained reason one night (in early September) after it had been sitting in my purse for a few hours I took it out and most of the screen had gone white. The phone still worked for dialing numbers and such, but I could not see who was calling me or do anything else on it really. Naturally I thought that the phone must be defective since I had never dropped it or gotten it wet or anything (it looks brand new still), so I call up Alltel to ask for a replacement phone since I was still under my one-year warranty.

Soon enough I got my replacement phone and sent my defective phone back and thought it was all behind me. About a week or two later my defective phone got sent back to me with a crude diagnosis report along with it saying that my warranty did not cover the replacement of my phone since there had been "physical damage beyond normal wear and tear". Again my phone looked brand new since I didn't even take the protective coverings off of it until I sent it in.

Of course I was baffled about how their tech. department came to this conclusion and I read their cute little explanation about how sometimes damage can only be seen when examining the inside of the phone and can be caused by sitting with the phone in your pocket for example. It seems to me like they could get almost anyone with this little scapegoat since I obviously can't look at the inside of my phone and tell that it's not damaged.

I had my parents call up Alltel since I wasn't in the mood to deal with them and it's hard enough to get them to talk to me since no one seems to understand that I'm authorized under their plan and they told me that Alltel told them that they had never gotten the phone and that LG was the one who did the report. So they had them call LG and LG said that they had never seen it either. On the next try they finally got Alltel to say that they did indeed look at the phone (the diagnosis report had their logo right on it) and that they would call us back in a couple of days to explain the situation.

I just got a call back today saying that I have to go to the nearest Alltel store (which is an hour and a half away from me -- I'm away at college) to go get a new phone since I can't get one via exchange by mail, and that I have to send my working phone back asap. Further, my dad explained that they told him if I brought my defective phone in and it was indeed like new that they would probably give me a new one for free... but I still have to drive an hour and a half to get a new phone because they want this one back or they'll charge me $165.00.

For some reason I can't just keep this phone and save myself the outrageous gas money and the time because apparently this one is worth more than $100 more than one I could get in a store. They make a whole lot of sense don't they? So I have to go to this Alltel store tomorrow and see what happens, but given my previous experiences I doubt they even know that I'm coming (they're supposed to know). I'll probably have to pay $60 or so that I don't have for a brand new phone that I shouldn't have had to replace in the first place. I'm sick of dealing with Alltel.

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Advertisement
My Experience With Alltel: An Essay
By -

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA -- Hello, my name is Brianna **. I have been with your company for 20 something days and I will now go day by day minute by minute with you about my experiences over the last 25 days and allow you to make up your mind whether this is a customer experience situation you would like for your company. I ordered my phone via the internet on Friday June 6, 2008. I received the phone on Monday June 9th. On the 4th day of having the phone I called in about my phone not receiving or sending picture messages.

They then transferred me to your technical department. The first time they said they fixed it (on the phone 32 minutes). I waited a few days hoping it was... but alas, it was not. I called back waited 43 minutes (I have a phone that keeps tabs of times of my calls) to speak to a woman that told me she would have to put out a trouble ticket. In her words, this would take 24hrs and a tech would text or call me in regards to the trouble ticket.

A week later a gentleman called me and let me know that it was my phone. He said that I could exchange the phone through my warranty but he suggested in his "professional and personal" opinion that the LG scoop was a troublesome phone and I should just exchange it for another brand. Thus started the battle with Alltel. A day or so later I called in asking to exchange my phone. they told me to go to an Alltel store to do the exchange. I explained to them at that time that I have a heart condition (I am only 27 so it's pretty serious) and that it would be hard for me to go to the closest store which was 45 minutes away from my home due to the heat and my heart.

Yet, they insisted this was the ONLY way to exchange my phone. I got out of the house and drove all the way to your Alltel store in Oklahoma City on N. Penn Ave. to be greeted by two busy men and a woman who clearly worked there but was too busy on her phone to even acknowledge me. That's when the gentleman came from the back to ask "what do you want" not "how can I help you". I first asked him if there were any chairs in the back or if I could possibly trouble the texting woman for her chair because standing is hard and he explained "we do not have any what can do". I realized I just needed to explain the situation and get out of there.

After explaining it to him he told me that since I didn't have the box (no one told me that I needed it) there was nothing he could do then started to just walk off. I called out to him and he sighed, actually sighed when he turned around to "help" me. I asked him what would be exchangeable with my phone for no added cost and he just said "I don't know you'll probably just need to buy a new one."

As the conversation went on he then figured out that I had indeed ordered online and then stopped the conversation dead, actually interrupting me to do so, and informed me that he cannot help nor would he because I ordered online and I needed to exchange over the phone. He then walked in the back never to be seen again. So I got back in my car and drove the 45 minutes back to my house empty handed. Not done yet.

After a couple of days I felt calm enough to call in yet again to try to exchange my phone that is when I got 9 different 800,866,877 numbers all of which were wrong. I spent yet another 49 minutes on the phone this time with an additional 54 minutes on the wrong numbers.

So I calmed down and tried again. This time I am FINALLY told that all online orders are through a different company called "Let's Talk". There is no mention of this on the website, I thought I was doing business with ALLTEL not some other defunct cell phone company. I finally get that number call them and guess what? Instead of the usual 30 days (I have had with every other cell phone provider in the world) to cancel I only had 15 and the same with an exchange. This is the first time in all the HOURS I have spoken to Alltel that anyone has said this. Granted I should have read that. I understand that but I just thought it was abnormal to shorten that time so drastically.

They agreed but said to exchange my phone I would have to be without it for up to 2 weeks. As I said before I am extremely ill (died once already) I need my phone. No matter what. This is the reason I got the phone in the first place (actually why my boyfriend of 9 years got it for me) so this was not acceptable (phone call lasting 1hr 23 min). I then call Alltel and prepare to cancel and cut my loses. I call your cancellation department the first time and I spoke to the most amazing gentleman.

He convinced me that this was not the norm and he offered me 40 dollars off of my bill and I stayed. He assured me that he had spoken to Let's Talk and I would be able to go ahead and do the exchange (hold time 17 minutes total call time 52 mins). A day or so later (my heart can only handle so much) I tried the exchange again only they had no notes explaining anything that gentleman had told me (phone call total 1hr 16 mins). Again frustrated with your company as a whole and dealing yet again with misinformation I decided to cut my losses and cancel. That is when I got a hold of the best person yet. She was attentive she was understanding and she promised me help.

She understood that we weren't in a financial spot to purchase yet another phone without the refund of the broken one first and she understood that I had been treated awful across the board by your reps (I left out most of those facts because this is long enough as is). I was severely emotional crying most of the time and just wanted to cancel or fix the issue.

She promised me the ability to get a full refund on my phone and a contract through Alltel itself not the other company, new working phone free (she quoted the Motorola Rokr specifically), and she promised 1 month free service since I had been through so much. While on hold waiting for the confirmation of everything I was somehow disconnected (phone call lasting 1hr 49 mins).

A couple hours later I call back in (hold time 46 mins) and get a hold of a woman that was not very happy to be at work. In the first seconds I tell her to read the previous woman's notes hoping to avoid telling my story again and getting yet another answer. She rudely put me on mute without explaining she was even going to put me on hold. Upon asking for a supervisor she just sat silently for 5 minutes (5 minutes 12 secs exactly) while I was complaining about it to my boyfriend she starts yelling at me that "I was committed to harassing her and she would let me go now".

I then asked for the supervisor again, she again went silent for 3 minutes (19 secs) while I yelled that I wanted a supervisor. That is when ** the supervisor came into my life. He explained that he had been listening to the conversation for over 7 minutes and he saw nothing wrong with how she was handling the call (this is the first thing he says to me) and that I was obviously overreacting and needed to just hang up and call back later. I then BEG him to hear me out and read the notes. All I wanted was what the previous girl should have left notes about.

He told me that I "wasn't getting anything free out of him and to move on". I hung up (phone call lasting 1hr 12 mins). Thirty minutes after talking to your "supervisor" I had a mild heart attack induced by stress. I hadn't so much as walked that day you tell me what caused it. I was released the next morning and decided since they had put me on some pills to lower my stress (Xanax not that you should know but hey it's an essay) I called back in.

Now this girl explains that I cannot get a free phone but I can get a refund on the messed up phone so I decide to cut my losses and just buy another phone after another 1 hr 38 min phone call. She told me that there were some computer issues there and she was unable to confirm my order but that she would call me on Monday (the next day) I was very uneasy about this given all the misinformation and lies and I told her that. She then promised she would call me on Monday not to worry that "she was here to fix this".

Now it's Tuesday she hadn't called so I called in (41 min hold), got a hold of another individual that read the notes and was wanting to transfer me to the previous girl. I just wanted the order put through (and it should have already gone through on Sunday). That is when I found out that ** was this girl's manager too and he wanted to personally handle the situation. I refused explaining to the gentleman that I was not wanting to deal with a defunct supervisor and he hung up on me with someone (a male) in the background close enough for me to hear telling him to do so. I do believe I heard ** voice. This call lasted 38 mins.

Now I still have a broken phone. I still have to pay for service I haven't been able to fully use and I am not done. Today I call Let's Talk and I don't get to get a refund for the phone. It's been too long. So I am out the 100 on that phone and the 90 I owe on my bill what else? You didn't track my 10 favs and I am going to be overcharged on my bill since I went over my minutes this month.. not my fault but I am sure I'll pay for that too.

What has the first 30 days of my Alltel plan cost me? 190 in defunct phone charges, 13 hrs in frustrating phone calls, 47 minutes writing this email, 19 calls about my bill being late, 0 calls to resolve this issue. And however much you decide it's going to cost me to cancel on top of all of that, and for what? Nothing. A horrible horrible experience that only cost me money I didn't have to begin with. I really hope you don't have too many more people out there like me, but I am afraid you do.

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Alltel Sucks
By -

RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA -- When I started my service 2 years ago I had 2 phones, one worked OK the other was sent back at least 5 or 6 times (I forget) never have the situation resolved. They told me the best thing to do was to buy a new phone at my cost. Well I wasn't going to do that. I felt like they should have stood behind their product and gave me a phone that worked. I paid the 200.00 to get out of that phone. I continued to use the other until it finally died. At this point I decided to wait out my jail sentence with Alltel and then just move on with another company. I did go to Verizon and start a plan with them.

Feb 9 or so WAS MY release date for Alltel. I went to the local office to pay my bill, which was late (I would forget about easily considering I hadn't had a phone that worked for a few months) so I had a late fee that was fine I paid and had my bill up-to-date. I think this was in Jan. At the local office they could not input on my account that I wanted to discontinue my service. I had to wait until my end date and call an 800 number I had to do this in Feb.

I called but must have called a day or two late plus also had a bill of 140.00 this is for one phone 39.99 a month I was told I had a reconnection of 35.00 I don't recall asking to be reconnected ever. She said she could not adjust the bill but I could have a credit on my next bill. I told her there would not be another bill I was done with this plan. She said she was sorry that was the only way. I figured just pay it and move on. WELL this month I get another bill for 49.00 for the month of March. I call the 800 number they tell me there is nothing they can do they do not prorate. If I recall I told them Jan. at local office then in Feb. on the phone.

If that were the case the lady I talked to about the reconnect fee should have still giving me the credit on my next bill if I was getting one, she didn't bring that up. So if I would have stayed with them they would have adjusted the bill but not if I was leaving. I'm going to write them a letter put the bill back in the envelope and send it back. Maybe I should bill for those first few months when my original phone didn't work and I still had to pay the bill for that phone even though I rarely had it in my possession to use for the first couple months.

I don't think Alltel cares about customer service, their only mission is to look for new ways to swindle money out of you. I would never go with Alltel again I tried it when it was cell phone and never had good luck tried again when they were Alltel guess the only thing they changed was their name. Thanks for letting me vent.

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Alltel is greedy, incompetent, and should be avoided at all costs
By -

ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- I am active duty Air Force, and I purchased my cell phone in March of 2006 in Phoenix after returning from the Middle East. I had orders to Atlanta, and the representative assured me that it would work in Atlanta, otherwise I could return it. Alltel, when they work, work impeccably. Rates were reasonable, reception was never lacking, I traveled all over the United States, and their website is easy to navigate and understand.

In December of 2007, my cell phone got wet, and the battery went bad, my fault, absolutely. I found out I was eligible for a new phone on December 13th. I was able to keep my cell phone working on one of those ridiculously weak $1 batteries off of eBay until January 14th, when I visited family and celebrated a late Christmas in Arizona where I renewed my contract and got a new phone. This new phone was scratched on the plexiglass on the front cover, but because I am hard on cell phones, I didn't mind one scratch because I figured there would be many more, soon. I should have looked deeper into this.

I instantly noticed the battery only lasted about 11 hours per charge when I wasn't speaking on it. I chalked it up to a weak battery, but 11 hours isn't terrible. I returned to Atlanta after a few days and the battery life kept declining. I noticed I also didn't have reception where I used to have reception. At 6-hours of battery life, I called Alltel to see how they would help me. This was on the 25th of January, 11 days after I took receipt of the phone, well within the 15-day return policy.

I was informed that I had several options, I could take it to a local store, of which there are none in Atlanta, or they might be able to do a mail replacement. My best bet, they said was to take the phone to a store 64 miles away, about two hours with traffic. For some reason, I expected a call-back, I can't remember if I was told to expect this or not, I'll assume I was in the wrong, and after a week, I called back. At this point the battery lasted about 5 hours off the charger.

I was given the number for the store 64 miles away and told to call them. This is where I started to get frustrated with Alltel, no one works together in their customer service departments. Whoever heard of customer service telling a customer to call someone to work on the phone? What is customer service's job if they are merely to tell you whom to call for customer service? I called the retail store, and they said they would replace the battery and/or phone if I brought it in, but they understood my frustration at driving so far, and recommended I try a replacement by mail.

So I called customer service again. They informed me that they could send me a new phone, but it wouldn't come with a battery. How worthless is that? They said the problem probably was that I had an Arizona number in Georgia, a problem I never had with my last phone. They offered me a new number, but I didn't need a new number, I needed a new battery, which they couldn't arrange. I told the girl that I would drive to the store and they would replace my battery. She said, "The note here only says they'll look at the phone." There is no way I was going to drive four hours round trip for them to look at my phone, which only needed a battery.

She recommended I call the store that I bought the phone from. Here is the worst part about Alltel. I was informed that I did not get my phone at an Alltel store, despite the great big Alltel sign hanging on the store and the Alltel logos on the employee's shirts. Because I did not get the phone from Alltel, I should contact the store, and see what they could do. Alltel is incompetent when it comes to intercompany communication. She gave me the number.

I called the store, and the phone was hooked to a fax machine. I gave the store and the customer service girl the benefit of the doubt, we all make mistakes and maybe the phone wasn't hooked to a fax machine, but that she's accidentally given me the wrong number. I looked it up on Alltel's website, and indeed, their only number listed is hooked to a fax machine.

At this point I wanted to have my ducks in a row, so I compiled the list of reps I had talked to, both with happy faces and frowny faces based on their level of helpfulness, and I flipped through my phone to see my call history of when I had called "Customer Service". At this point I noticed that there were calls from the 12th of January, two days before I got the phone. There were about two dozen calls from the 5th of January to the 12th, and also a dozen text messages. It was a used phone. Probably returned for the exact same problems I was now having.

I called and explained what I had just found, and that if the problem could not be resolved, I was leaving Alltel. At this point, my battery was dying at 4-hours without use, and with the calling into Alltel, it was dead. I work part-time in ministry and cannot go without a cell phone. It can literally be the difference between life and death. February 5th, I signed a new contract with a different cell-phone company, got a new (actually new) phone, and canceled my service with Alltel.

I called to find out what we were going to do about the cancellation fee of $200, since their incompetent representatives were unable to resolve my issues. I got bounced around the company again, talked to a customer service rep, a billing agent, a customer service rep, and finally got the third rep to transfer me to a supervisor. He told me to call the store I bought my phone at. So here I am, happily rid of Alltel for the cost of $200, and in possession of a dead used "new" cell phone that is less than four weeks old, but happily with a new company with a new non-Alltel/non-Alltel affiliate cell phone.

Not once during my calls with Alltel did they offer me a new battery, assurance that if I drove four hours, they would replace my phone, or any sort of monetary discount. When I first started service with my first cell phone company in 2000, I had a cell phone self-destruct under warranty, and it took me three days to get an opportunity to replace it, they gave me a brand new cell phone and my money back for those three days. What's so hard about that for Alltel to understand? Alltel is greedy, incompetent, and should be avoided at all costs.

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A "Painful" Customer Service Experience at Alltel
By -

OHIO -- I would like to report to you the most unsatisfactory help line experience I have ever had. Today (Sept. 15 2007, 10:30-11:20am, Sat.), I called your customer service line 1800-255-8351, which connected me to someone in India. I waited for more than 20 minutes to get one who answered my phone call. The lady on the line was not knowledgeable and helpful. She told me that the account number was my cell phone number. I told her that it was wrong. She said "yes". Then, I said "now please go to www.alltel.com", click on "Register now" link on the home page.

Then I showed her that on the Alltel website, the account number and cell phone number were different - it was like that I needed to teach her on Alltel website and operation, rather than her to provide help service to me, an Alltel customer. Then she said "hold the line please," and disappeared and held me online for more than 5 minutes. After she came back (maybe asking help from her friends there?), she said "OK, please use your phone number and PIN I give you now to log in". She gave the PIN: 1279.

I followed up her instruction to log in using my cell phone number and PIN, and tried 3 times, but rejected by the Alltel website. So I told her that I tried it according to her instruction 3 times, but failed. She became impatient and said "Sir, can you keep trying according to my instruction?" (it sounds like "you are so stupid, even cannot key in your cell phone number and PIN number correctly!")

I was afraid now, so I asked and tried to get the confirmation from her: "is your given PIN the same as the Password that was asked by the Alltel website?" She replied "of course, it's the same!" (she used her term PIN to replace Alltel's term "Password" to confuse customer, but she put the blame to customer, "are you so stupid not to know this common knowledge?!").

I was so nervous (and also felt in my mind that I was so stupid like many ordinary and kind American customers would think), and carefully followed up her instruction to key in my cell phone number and PIN (must be PIN according to her, Alltel was wrong to call it "password") she gave me, but the website rejected me again - I kept trying it for other 5 times, and again all failed. Then she said "at least I got it through when I tried it" (if I would have the privilege as a system administer as her, I can surely access to any account as well!). Then she said "OK, please hold the online and I'll connect you to our technical helpline!"

After about 30 minutes, she received my help to teach her the difference between Alltel account number and Alltel cell phone number, and she "successfully put a blame" on me not to know that PIN and password were actually the same thing (only Alltel used password to confuse customer and she used the right one "PIN" to show her rich knowledge to use the right term), and she "forcefully" asked me to try keying in my cell phone number and PIN (or password?) for more than 8 times (my typing skill has been improved substantially as a result, thanks to her, an excellent Alltel Call Center helper!).

She finally gave up to help me (because a customer like me, so stupid and knowing little about so advanced IT technology like ordinary stupid American customers do - ironically my job is to teach IT for living in US! I felt so shameful that I knew so little when I talked with a young Call center lady who appeared to know so much more!), and wanted to connect me to the technical service line.

What a relief to me - at least I have a new chance not to be considered "a stupid customer"! Maybe I could have a chance to report this unusual customer service (or a better name for it to be "customer torturing") experience to Alltel, so other "stupid American customers" like me may not have to experience it again next time. The service line rang for about one minute with beautiful music for me to enjoy (unfortunately, I felt so ashamed and guilty myself, no mood to enjoy such superb and high-class music provided free by Alltel).

Suddenly, the line was cut off and left me with all deadly silence - I was really silenced totally. I didn't have another chance to talk with another service person of Alltel (maybe she/he will a really good and qualified person providing quality customer service and I could provide feedback to her/him), but no chance was given, unless I wanted to spend another more than 50 minutes to call Alltel customer service helpline again? Will you? I won't!

So I decided to spend time to report this most unusual customer service experience in my whole life to the public, so other "stupid American customers" like me may not have to experience it again next time. Thanks. An ordinary customer of AllTel.com.

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Read before posting!
By -

000000, MISSOURI -- I have recently looked online for some of the Consumer Reports about Alltel. I have worked for Alltel for about 8 months and wanted to see what exactly everyone thought about us around the US. I deal with people on the phone all day and I work in the sales department for Alltel. I talk to around 100 customer a day giving the kind of day I am having. I am actually very confused by some of the things people are writing in their "3 cents".

I work for Alltel. Alltel is a business. They are out to make money like every other business in the world, so why if it that people bad mouth us for doing just that. I think Alltel is a great company to work for and has their mind set on the customers. Now do you run into a customer service rep who doesn't know what they are talking about... of course! Do you run into a sales rep that might have given wrong information to you... of course! We are all humans and make mistakes. And by all means we try to correct them as best we can.

Alltel, like any other company, has rules and policies in place for their employees so they are on the same page during all calls and you don't receive different information from different people. I am not saying our training is perfect, that depends on the rep you get on the other line, but I will say we are ALL trained very well and take our jobs very seriously. I have not worked for Alltel very long but it hurts me to see so many people talking about how bad we are.

As far as some of the complaints when it comes to my circle... yes you do have to be on a rate plan $59.99 or higher to get it, but does it stop you from using ALL your anytime minutes and lets you call ANYONE on that list for free regardless the network, YES! So how do you expect to call grandma and grandpa on Verizon's network during the day without using your minutes? I think it's a great idea and a lot of people are coming to Alltel to just get that promotion.

Some of you complain about all the rate plans we have and there is a new one every week. OK so if you didn't have as many choices you know you would complain about that. NOT everyone's talking habits are the same so we want as many options as possible.

I also think half of you are liars! Some of the things you say that the Alltel reps tell you I don't think would ever happen! Unless you are blatantly lied to, I don't see someone just making information up to get money off of you for the good of the company. I love Alltel and I think they are the BEST cell phone company out there right now, but to say they lie to you straight up, I don't see that happening. If they did lie to you, they won't have their job very long because Alltel is all about the customers and it pains me to see that so many people dislike the service.

About our phones/pricing/2 year agreements... NO matter where you go, you will sign some type of agreement for a new phone unless you are on a prepaid service to get a discount. And the price of that phone is made up by you staying with the company that long. Remember, Alltel is a business and trying to make money just like you are! As far as the FCC making it mandatory for all the phones to be E911 compliant, how is that a complaint!?!?! All that means is that when you call 911 from your home phone, because that phone is linked to an address, they can find you. Wireless is just that, wireless, so how can 911 find you if you are in a cornfield out in the middle of nowhere?

The phones have to be E911 compliant meaning if you call 911, they can find you within a small specific radius rather than driving all over the place and getting there when it's too late. It's for your safety and I think it's a great thing they are trying to do. Alltel offers discounts to people who need the new compliant phones so why the worries. Do you want to send off your kids without an E911 compliant phones!?!? I didn't think SO! As many complaints as I have read about Alltel, I can still read so many more about the other carriers. We have so many things about Alltel that no other carrier can touch.

Anytime rate plan changes (backdated if need be), the latest and coolest phones, great customer service and knowledgeable staff, supervisors and managers that truly care about the customer and a CEO that will do anything for the sake of a customer. Like I said, Alltel is a business and they are trying to stay afloat just like any other business. I do hope you really reconsider Alltel service after reading this and I truly hope you get me on the phone, that way I can make sure you are getting the best service Alltel can offer you and you can really see what a great company they are.

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Ripped Off
By -

HELENA, MONTANTA -- About July 25, 2005 I stopped into the Alltel store in Helena Montana. My sales person was **. I told him I might not be staying in Helena and might be relocating back to Everett WA. I asked ** that if I did move out of Montana if I could get a local number. He told me yes. Thus I purchased a phone and had to enter into a two-year contract. When my home sold and was closing at the end of July 2006 my cell phone would not hook up to the car charger. Since I was going to be traveling through seven states for 4 weeks on vacation and would be leaving Montana on July 28, 2006, I stopped back into the store to see about getting a new car charger.

I took the phone in with me and ** pointed out the piece that holds the charger in was missing from the phone. The good news was that I had a one year warranty on the phone. Beau told me they would give me a loaner phone. I asked if it came with a car charger and was told no I would have to buy one. He asked where I wanted the repaired phone mailed to. I told him my address in Everett WA and again asked about getting a local number when I was through with my travels. He told me to just call when I needed the new number.

** told me I would have to return the loaner phone back to the Helena office when my phone was repaired. I told him this could leave me without a phone for part of my trip. That was not acceptable to me. I asked him about purchasing a new phone and he told me I would have to pay the rack rate. I felt like I was in between a rock and a hard spot. I did not want to travel without a phone and according to ** I would have to mail the phone back when mine was fixed. So I purchased a new phone for just under $200.00. I figured I would still be able to use it when I got to Washington State.

When I returned to Washington I called Alltel customer service for my local number. I was informed that they did not have local numbers for Washington State and basically was called a liar. Your customer service rep told me I was promised coverage not a local number. I don't recall her being with me when I purchased the first phone. She also said if I terminated the contract I would have to buy my way out for $200.00. I sell real estate in WA and needed the phone for business. I even called a second time and tried to this resolved and was told the same thing.

Had I had a properly trained rep I would have been told when I stopped in the store to get the phone repaired in July 2006 not to purchase a new phone as it would be useless to me in a month and I should have been released from the contract period. This was the first time to right a wrong. I was told to call the local store in Helena. Well I did call that number over and over and over. No answer.

I had to make a trip back to Helena to get my belongings out of a storage unit. I arrived in Helena on the 27 of September. Since I could not get this store to answer the phone. I was told from the rep at the store that that they don't answer the phone. I stopped into the store and walked up to the first available sales agent and said "I was told that I could get a local number for Washington State". The sales rep said “you can, when you get there just call for a local number". I said no "I can't" and he said for a second time that I could. At that point I saw another sales rep start shaking his head no.

I then said thank you for telling me twice that I could because that makes four times I was told by two reps that I could get a local number in Everett WA. Long story short the manager said they would release me from the contract and I would not have to pay the additional $200.00 to buy my way out. I asked about getting reimbursed for the phone I purchased at the store before my trip. I was told no. At this point the reps in the store were now aware of what was said to me and I'm sure it was discussed. This was the second time to right a wrong.

When I returned home I called Alltel and asked about getting my money back on the phone. The customer service rep was very nice and said that she would try and get my money back for a phone that was useless to me and one I never would have purchased in the first place had I known that I could not use it in a month. She came back on the line and said that the final word was that since I had the phone for over 14 days that I could not return it.

This is so asinine that it is almost funny. How would I know that I could not get a local number until I called back four weeks later when I returned to WA. This was the third time to right a wrong. It appears that Alltel will never admit to a mistake and will go to the end of the earth to avoid doing the right thing.

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1.0 out of 5, based on 2 ratings and
87 reviews & complaints.
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