more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: steven cherry <steven () panix com>
Date: October 16, 2005 10:56:47 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early  
Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers


Dave,

Nowhere in Mr Mills' whiny little rant does he acknowledge that all  
the nationwide carriers let you "test drive" your phone for at least  
two weeks before locking you into your contract. If the carrier you  
picked doesn't have good coverage in your home, around your  
neighborhood, at work, and other key (for you) locations, it  
shouldn't take you more than two weeks to figure that out.

Mills asks, "If I buy a car and then return it because it doesn't  
work, should the dealer be able to charge me a fee for selling it to  
me?" as if his family's phones don't work at all. But the problem is  
they don't work in a way that meets his not-necessarily-reasonable  
expectations. Mills is buying a Miata and then complaining it doesn't  
hold a family of five. If he then bought a mini-van, he'd complain  
about its gas consumption and how long it takes to get up to highway  
speed.

Every phone store I've ever walked into has a big map for each of the  
services that are sold there, with huge disclaimers that the maps are  
only approximations and not guarantees of coverage. How much more of  
a clue does Mills need that not every phone sold by each carrier  
works in every location?

I don't mind that Mills doesn't look at maps, doesn't listen to  
salespeople, and doesn't read his contract. But he might want to do  
at least one of those things before publishing articles on a subject,  
or at least before cluttering up the IP list with them.

--
   Steven Cherry, +1 212-419-7566
   Senior Associate Editor
   IEEE Spectrum, 3 Park Ave,  New York, NY 10016
   <s.cherry () ieee org>  <http://www.spectrum.ieee.org>


On Oct 16, 2005, at 9:53 AM, David Farber wrote:


> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Mike Mills <MMills () cq com>
> Date: October 16, 2005 9:38:11 AM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati  
> on Fees Hurt Consumers
>
> CQ WEEKLY
> Oct. 17, 2005 - Page 2766
>
> Give Me a Cell Break
> By Mike Mills, CQ Columnist
>
> I am not happy with my family's cell phone service. My wife and  
> teenage daughter complain all the time about spotty coverage and  
> dropped calls. I've stopped using my mobile phone completely,  
> relying instead on my employer's Blackberry, which uses a more  
> dependable network. If only I could fire my family's cellular phone  
> provider and get a new one.
>
> But I can't. Doing so would cost me an early termination fee of  
> $150 per phone, or $450. So unless I want to pay their ransom, I'm  
> stuck with this lemon of a carrier until November 2006, when my  
> three two-year contracts expire.
>
> But don't feel sorry for me. Feel sorry for a guy named Jerome in  
> Riverside, Calif., who posted his story on ConsumerAffairs.com: He  
> signed a two-year deal with his carrier, only to quickly find there  
> was no coverage within two miles of his home. "In this situation I  
> will pay for not receiving service, no matter what," he wrote.
>
> [....]
>
> I'm all for this free-market thing: I'm a consumer, after all, and  
> I want as many companies as possible beating each other's brains  
> out to win me as a customer. But since when, in a free-market, does  
> any company have a guaranteed right to recoup its costs - even when  
> an unsatisfied customer wants to leave early because of shoddy  
> service? If I buy a car and then return it because it doesn't work,  
> should the dealer be able to charge me a fee for selling it to me?



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