Nextel Billing and Customer Service

We have been a Nextel customer for 5+ years.

Four years ago, I switched to a national plan that had incoming calls
free.

Two and 1/2 years ago, I ordered a new phone, and discovered that the
plan change I had made had not been implemented. I spoke to customer
service and a very helpful fellow appologized all over the place and
suggested a new 1000 minute plan, which I agreed to, and he assured me
he would take care of it and that we had a credit coming for
overcharges.

Two years ago, we added several phones to the plan, but had to
discontinue one ten months into the plan. We were assured it would be
terminated after the twelve month contract period was up.

Last month, the person that pays the bills came to me with the Nextel
bill complaining about how much Nextel was compared to Sprint. I
looked at it and discovered that I was STILL on the original plan, and
the we were STILL being billed for the number we had cancelled.

I have gotten nowhere with customer care.

So I am posting this message to see if anyone has similar experiences,
or to serve notice to others to check your bills with care that they
do not follow through on their comintments.

"nj" <ddi@datadesigninc.com> wrote in message
news:347ee7f2.0401181518.8465e54@posting.google.co m...
> We have been a Nextel customer for 5+ years.
>
> Four years ago, I switched to a national plan that had incoming calls
> free.
>
> Two and 1/2 years ago, I ordered a new phone, and discovered that the
> plan change I had made had not been implemented. I spoke to customer
> service and a very helpful fellow appologized all over the place and
> suggested a new 1000 minute plan, which I agreed to, and he assured me
> he would take care of it and that we had a credit coming for
> overcharges.
>
> Two years ago, we added several phones to the plan, but had to
> discontinue one ten months into the plan. We were assured it would be
> terminated after the twelve month contract period was up.
>
> Last month, the person that pays the bills came to me with the Nextel
> bill complaining about how much Nextel was compared to Sprint. I
> looked at it and discovered that I was STILL on the original plan, and
> the we were STILL being billed for the number we had cancelled.
>
> I have gotten nowhere with customer care.
>
> So I am posting this message to see if anyone has similar experiences,
> or to serve notice to others to check your bills with care that they
> do not follow through on their comintments.

They've certainly dropped the ball on this one. If they do anything for
you, consider yourself lucky. There is a clause in the service agreement
that gives you 45 days (not 18 months or 2 years) to dispute charges on your
account in writing, or otherwise agree to pay them. Now, that being said,
Nextel is usually very good at looking past this clause if you have a
legitimate dispute.

WHen you say you have gotten nowhere with CC, exactly what have you done?

> So I am posting this message to see if anyone has similar experiences, or
to serve notice to others to check your bills with care that they
> do not follow through on their comintments.

As for similar experience, yeah, I have. We have been doing business with
them for about a year or so. When people ask me about Nextel I pretty much
have a standard answer. As for phone coverage and service, overall, based on
my travels across the U.S., they are no better or worse than anyone else. As
for their customer service and billing, it is horrific. We use them because
of the D/C. That said, every month when my admin brings me bills to approve,
as far as the Nextel invoice, I hold my nose and okay it. They are a
TERRIBLE customer service organization. As my company does customer
satisfaction surveys I have been trying to secure their business as I know
that we can help them. Then again, I can't even get past their automated
phone system so I guess that tells the tale in itself!

....Scott

"Scott G." <scott@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:400c2a84$0$4464$61fed72c@news.rcn.com...
> > So I am posting this message to see if anyone has similar experiences,
or
> to serve notice to others to check your bills with care that they
> > do not follow through on their comintments.
>
> As for similar experience, yeah, I have. We have been doing business with
> them for about a year or so. When people ask me about Nextel I pretty much
> have a standard answer. As for phone coverage and service, overall, based
on
> my travels across the U.S., they are no better or worse than anyone else.
As
> for their customer service and billing, it is horrific. We use them
because
> of the D/C. That said, every month when my admin brings me bills to
approve,
> as far as the Nextel invoice, I hold my nose and okay it. They are a
> TERRIBLE customer service organization. As my company does customer
> satisfaction surveys I have been trying to secure their business as I know
> that we can help them. Then again, I can't even get past their automated
> phone system so I guess that tells the tale in itself!
>
> ...Scott
>
>

I hear story upon story like this and have to ask myself if I'm just an
exception. I have called them for many things; billing questions, technical
issues, add/subtract services, general questions, etc. They've always known
the answer or spent the time to look it up while being courteous and helpful
to me. I have had no problems with the automated system. Generally if you
hit 0 it will go to an operator. In addition, there is the section of the
website where you can put in your contact number and they call you back,
usually in less than a minute. Am I the exception or is there a silent
majority of satisfied customers.

David

>Am I the exception or is there a silent majority of satisfied customers.
>
> David

I don't doubt your positive experiences nor do I have any scientific data to
dispute them. I guess though I have two thoughts.

1. Maybe, and I stress *MAYBE*, your account is large enough that responding
to you in such a timely, effective and courteous way makes good business
sense to Nextel.

2. I was with Verizon for about 15-17 years back in the day when it was Bell
Atlantic Mobile, Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile, etc. I was NEVER impressed with
their call center people, but, I had a chance to meet two local field tech
people and they were AWESOME. That said, in my area, Verizon is just not a
good service option. We then moved to AT&T and had GREAT customer service.
We only switched to Nextel for D/C. My point is this. I am sure that plenty
of people are unhappy with Verizon and AT&T, much less other carriers
despite my very positive experiences with AT&T. In the end I think that it
comes down to the size of your account, if you are able to work with a local
company sales rep and just plain luck.

We have an enterprise (government like) account with Nextel. Though the 10%
discount is nice, their field sales people, their web CSR's and their phone
people are bottom of the barrel based on my experiences.

As being part of the silent majority of satisfied customers, my company does
research and online web surveys for clients. Typically speaking, outside of
forums like this, the unhappy campers are the ones who take the time to
express themselves the loudest. Then again, that rings true for society in
general.

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 15:08:44 -0500, "Myself" <email@domain.com> wrote:

>
>I hear story upon story like this and have to ask myself if I'm just an
>exception. I have called them for many things; billing questions, technical
>issues, add/subtract services, general questions, etc. They've always known
>the answer or spent the time to look it up while being courteous and helpful
>to me. I have had no problems with the automated system. Generally if you
>hit 0 it will go to an operator. In addition, there is the section of the
>website where you can put in your contact number and they call you back,
>usually in less than a minute. Am I the exception or is there a silent
>majority of satisfied customers.
>
>David
>

I'm with you. I haven't had a problem with customer support, either.
I currently use the Government/Corp number, but even the regular CS is
fine. It certainly beats my experiences with Cingular.

-smf.

>Am I the exception or is there a silentmajority of satisfied customers.
>
> David

I don't doubt your positive experiences nor do I have any scientific data to
dispute them. I guess though I have two thoughts.

1. Maybe, and I stress *MAYBE*, your account is large enough that responding
to you in such a timely, effective and courteous way makes good business
sense to Nextel.

2. I was with Verizon for about 15-17 years back in the day when it was Bell
Atlantic Mobile, Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile, etc. I was NEVER impressed with
their call center people, but, I had a chance to meet two local field tech
people and they were AWESOME. That said, in my area, Verizon is just not a
good service option. We then moved to AT&T and had GREAT customer service.
We only switched to Nextel for D/C. My point is this. I am sure that plenty
of people are unhappy with Verizon and AT&T, much less other carriers
despite my very positive experiences with AT&T. In the end I think that it
comes down to the size of your account, if you are able to work with a local
company sales rep and just plain luck.

We have an enterprise (government like) account with Nextel. Though the 10%
discount is nice, their field sales people, their web CSR's and their phone
people are bottom of the barrel based on my experiences.

As being part of the silent majority of satisfied customers, my company does
research and online web surveys for clients. Typically speaking, outside of
forums like this, the unhappy campers are the ones who take the time to
express themselves the loudest. Then again, that rings true for society in
general.