Sprint Plan Prices Deceptive? (Free & Clear)

Steven J Sobol <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Rick <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Assuming you're also on the $35 flat-rate plan w/no extras, it looks
> > like your total up-charge is 20%. As I mention in a followup to my
> > own post, I think that CS's quote was wrong and that my actual ongoing
> > bill will have about a 15% upcharge instead of 27%. Hard to believe
> > the tax in Cincy would be higher than in suburban Chicago, but again
> > I'm not certain what your monthly base+options is.
>
> Someone's gotta make up for Ohio having some of the lowest telecom
> prices in the known universe.... (Not necessarily referring to cellular
> here, but the landline/data tarriffs the telcos have filed in Ohio tend to
> be ridiculously cheap...)

I live in suburban Chicago but I spend a lot of time in Columbus, and
the predominant local carrier for both areas, SBC, gets more than they
deserve. I don't know about elsewhere, but here in the Midwest they
provide the most godawful service imaginable, they lie, they grease
politcians' palms more than any company on earth, they try to sabotage
other local carriers, and on and on. Believe me, I shed no tears for
them and did somersaults of joy when I was able to switch to a new
local carrier a few years ago (though SBC did all they could to make
the switch as difficult as possible).

And based on thunder's followup post, it looks like the Ohio wireless
tarriffs aren't as high as we thought, anyway.

> Seriously - don't bother asking someone in a call center that probably isn't
> even in the same state as you are, what your taxes are going to be. They
> won't be able to answer accurately.

Maybe...but if the local taxes, etc. are all in the computer, it
doesn't seem like coming up with an estimation program would be hard.
Regardless, at least they could just say "somewhere between 10% and
30% depending on where you live", as Verizon's sales brochure does
(just noticed that this morning). Of course, that's a pretty wide
spread so this wouldn't be too helpful in estimating costs.

---

› See More: Sprint Plan Prices Deceptive? (Free & Clear)

Rick <[email protected]> wrote:

> I live in suburban Chicago but I spend a lot of time in Columbus, and
> the predominant local carrier for both areas, SBC, gets more than they
> deserve. I don't know about elsewhere, but here in the Midwest they
> provide the most godawful service imaginable, they lie, they grease
> politcians' palms more than any company on earth, they try to sabotage
> other local carriers, and on and on.

I spent the first almost 34 years of my life in Cleveland, and I too had
to deal with SBC, so I understand what you're saying.

> And based on thunder's followup post, it looks like the Ohio wireless
> tarriffs aren't as high as we thought, anyway.

Well, the regulatory issue in Ohio is taxes. Wireless carriers don't
file tarriffs there. I was just referring to how Ohio in general is a cheap
place to buy telecomm services and was using tarriffed services to support
my point.

>> Seriously - don't bother asking someone in a call center that probably isn't
>> even in the same state as you are, what your taxes are going to be. They
>> won't be able to answer accurately.
>
> Maybe...but if the local taxes, etc. are all in the computer

You're right, but that's typically not data that a company would give to
its CSRs. (Maybe it should be.)

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / [email protected]
PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED)
Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids.

Rick <[email protected]> wrote:

>> Other than Bennigan's listing Guinness at "Market Price" (!) I don't know
>> of any place that *doesn't* list beer prices.
>
> Wow! Maybe California has a beverage price disclosure law like many
> of the European countries? Except for Chinese restaurants,
> order-at-the-counter places, some small mom-and-pop joints and a
> handful of the national chains, restaurants around here usually don't
> list beer prices unless it's a pitcher or a special.

That is actually true of the Cleveland area, too. I lived in Cleveland from
the time I was born until the end of June of last year.)

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / [email protected]
PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED)
Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids.

I live in Milwaukee which is also served by sbc. I don't think
switching, if it can really be called that, to metrocom or someone else,
is an option, because nobody but sbc has switching equipment and wires
running to homes and businesses. All the "competing" carriers are
leasing line/time from sbc. Sbc would still be making money off of me.
As soon as someone else spends the money and puts up their own network
of wires/switches/co so I can get my dsl without having to have a sbc
line and at a competitive price, then I will switch.


Rick wrote:
> Steven J Sobol <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
>>Rick <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Assuming you're also on the $35 flat-rate plan w/no extras, it looks
>>>like your total up-charge is 20%. As I mention in a followup to my
>>>own post, I think that CS's quote was wrong and that my actual ongoing
>>>bill will have about a 15% upcharge instead of 27%. Hard to believe
>>>the tax in Cincy would be higher than in suburban Chicago, but again
>>>I'm not certain what your monthly base+options is.
>>
>>Someone's gotta make up for Ohio having some of the lowest telecom
>>prices in the known universe.... (Not necessarily referring to cellular
>>here, but the landline/data tarriffs the telcos have filed in Ohio tend to
>>be ridiculously cheap...)
>
>
> I live in suburban Chicago but I spend a lot of time in Columbus, and
> the predominant local carrier for both areas, SBC, gets more than they
> deserve. I don't know about elsewhere, but here in the Midwest they
> provide the most godawful service imaginable, they lie, they grease
> politcians' palms more than any company on earth, they try to sabotage
> other local carriers, and on and on. Believe me, I shed no tears for
> them and did somersaults of joy when I was able to switch to a new
> local carrier a few years ago (though SBC did all they could to make
> the switch as difficult as possible).
>
> And based on thunder's followup post, it looks like the Ohio wireless
> tarriffs aren't as high as we thought, anyway.
>
>
>>Seriously - don't bother asking someone in a call center that probably isn't
>>even in the same state as you are, what your taxes are going to be. They
>>won't be able to answer accurately.
>
>
> Maybe...but if the local taxes, etc. are all in the computer, it
> doesn't seem like coming up with an estimation program would be hard.
> Regardless, at least they could just say "somewhere between 10% and
> 30% depending on where you live", as Verizon's sales brochure does
> (just noticed that this morning). Of course, that's a pretty wide
> spread so this wouldn't be too helpful in estimating costs.

Jerome Zelinske <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I live in Milwaukee which is also served by sbc. I don't think
> switching, if it can really be called that, to metrocom or someone else,
> is an option, because nobody but sbc has switching equipment and wires
> running to homes and businesses. All the "competing" carriers are
> leasing line/time from sbc. Sbc would still be making money off of me.
> As soon as someone else spends the money and puts up their own network
> of wires/switches/co so I can get my dsl without having to have a sbc
> line and at a competitive price, then I will switch.

But I still get the satisfaction of seeing SBC lose at least some of
their revenue. I keep getting, "we'll give you $100 to switch get
back" cards in the mail from them, and they get tossed. Also, I don't
have to deal with CS reps like the one who started acting very
frustrated because I wouldn't buy an add-on service after I called
with an unrelated question ("Oh, I couldn't LIVE without Linebacker in
MY home!" she exclaimed.) I bought nothing, but then suddenly another
service which I hadn't even discussed with this idiot ("Talking Call
Waiting") magically appeared on my line a few days later, and when I
discovered it and they *finally* removed it, they said they couldn't
give me full credit for the installation or days that I'd that had
service which I NEVER ORDERED AND NEVER WANTED! Another SBC rep later
admitted to me that this kind of thing (someone within the company
adding a service you didn.t request) does happen. But he's the one
who also refused to give me full credit!


I cringed every time I'd have to call SBC about something because
they'd put on an oppressive hard-sell for new service. Truly
obnoxious, even though SOME of their reps at least seemed competent.
MCI, OTOH, NEVER gives me the hard-sell (which isn't to say I haven't
had any problems with them, but many were really SBC-dependent because
of the dependency you cite). Fortunately I got MCI local awhile ago,
because I believe they might require bundling with their long distance
now, which I don't want. No offense intended on the personal level to
*some* good (and even highly skilled) folks who are unfortunate to
have to work for this kind of company, but SBC is corporate scum (and
I am definitely not an anti-capitalist, in case anyone's assuming
that). Even the fact that they moved their headquarters from their
longtime home of St. Louis to San Antonio just because that's where
their new CEO wanted to live is annoying. (Of course, a different
excuse was given for the move).

Also, a year or two ago, Illinois citizens learned that, "in the
stealth of the night" while no one was looking, SBC had managed to get
the state legislature to pass a line-lease price increase that would
have essentially driven other local competitors out of business. It
all happened in a blink of an eye, and with our illustrious governor's
approval. I'm sure many palms were heavily greased on this one.
Fortunately, an honest judge (yes, there ARE at least a few of those
around Chicago) put the kabosh on this travesty and sent poor little
SBC off whining about about they can't make enough money (aw, gee,
sniff, sniff, and a MAJOR lie to boot). BTW, Ameritech, which had
been the main carrier hereabouts, was pretty awful too (though things
have gotten a lot worse since the takeover by SBC, despite pre-merger
assurances to the contrary). But I had appreciated Ameritech's
highly-advertised move to 24-hour customer service. Of course,
shortly after the SBC takeover they were back to even SHORTER hours
than they had had before. I can reach MCI much later in the day if
there's a problem.

"Rick" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> I bought nothing, but then suddenly another
> service which I hadn't even discussed with this idiot ("Talking Call
> Waiting") magically appeared on my line a few days later, and when I
> discovered it and they *finally* removed it, they said they couldn't
> give me full credit for the installation or days that I'd that had
> service which I NEVER ORDERED AND NEVER WANTED! Another SBC rep later
> admitted to me that this kind of thing (someone within the company
> adding a service you didn.t request) does happen. But he's the one
> who also refused to give me full credit!

Did you complain to your state PUC? I would have.

--

John Richards

Rick <[email protected]> wrote:
> service which I NEVER ORDERED AND NEVER WANTED! Another SBC rep later
> admitted to me that this kind of thing (someone within the company
> adding a service you didn.t request) does happen. But he's the one
> who also refused to give me full credit!

That's when you call the state PUC and file a complaint, or in Ohio's case,
you can file online and they'll contact you back in a week or so (Ohio's
cool that way), and you complain to the FCC because they're cramming you.
(Slamming is the switching of your service without your consent. Cramming is
the adding of services without your consent.)

> I cringed every time I'd have to call SBC about something because
> they'd put on an oppressive hard-sell for new service. Truly
> obnoxious, even though SOME of their reps at least seemed competent.

To bring this partially back on-topic, I get upsold every time I call Sprint
PCS. Usually it's Sprint 50 at Home (the long distance plan I already have
on my line), but lately it's been the $15 unlimited long-distance plan
(which I don't need - the only reason we were up to $17 last month on our
Sprint LD bill is because I didn't have a cell phone to use to make LD calls).

I wish they had some kind of record that I already HAVE Sprint Long Distance,
but they only ask once, and when I say no, they don't push the issue.

> MCI

Yuck.

> Also, a year or two ago, Illinois citizens learned that, "in the
> stealth of the night" while no one was looking, SBC had managed to get
> the state legislature to pass a line-lease price increase that would
> have essentially driven other local competitors out of business. It
> all happened in a blink of an eye, and with our illustrious governor's
> approval. I'm sure many palms were heavily greased on this one.

This comes as no surprise...

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / [email protected]
PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED)
Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids.

"John Richards" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> "Rick" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > I bought nothing, but then suddenly another
> > service which I hadn't even discussed with this idiot ("Talking Call
> > Waiting") magically appeared on my line a few days later, and when I
> > discovered it and they *finally* removed it, they said they couldn't
> > give me full credit for the installation or days that I'd that had
> > service which I NEVER ORDERED AND NEVER WANTED! Another SBC rep later
> > admitted to me that this kind of thing (someone within the company
> > adding a service you didn.t request) does happen. But he's the one
> > who also refused to give me full credit!
>
> Did you complain to your state PUC? I would have.

Nope. I probably should have, but that was just about the time
alternate local service became available, so I just switched and let
them savor their ill-gotten $3.47.

Fyi, I *did* file a complaint with the Illinois Commerce Commission
against MCI a few months ago, but I believe that problem was borne of
incompetence, not SBC-type purposeful dishonesty or overcharging.
Besides, I think they were probably partly dependent on SBC for
getting this fixed. About five weeks after the claim was filed, I got
a call from someone at MCI saying he had just received the complaint
(guess they're a lot slower than Ohio's PUCO), but the problem had
already been fixed awhile before that.

Steven J Sobol <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Rick <[email protected]> wrote:
> > service which I NEVER ORDERED AND NEVER WANTED! Another SBC rep later
> > admitted to me that this kind of thing (someone within the company
> > adding a service you didn.t request) does happen. But he's the one
> > who also refused to give me full credit!
>
> That's when you call the state PUC and file a complaint, or in Ohio's case,
> you can file online and they'll contact you back in a week or so (Ohio's
> cool that way), and you complain to the FCC because they're cramming you.
> (Slamming is the switching of your service without your consent. Cramming is
> the adding of services without your consent.)

Sounds like Ohio acts quicker than Illinois. I do know Ohio's levied
some big fines against SBC for poor service over the past few years
(despite continued promises that they'll improve), and I seem to
recall (not positive) that Ohio was about the last state to approve
the Ameritech-SBC merger a few years ago.
>
> > I cringed every time I'd have to call SBC about something because
> > they'd put on an oppressive hard-sell for new service. Truly
> > obnoxious, even though SOME of their reps at least seemed competent.
>
> To bring this partially back on-topic, I get upsold every time I call Sprint
> PCS. Usually it's Sprint 50 at Home (the long distance plan I already have
> on my line), but lately it's been the $15 unlimited long-distance plan
> (which I don't need - the only reason we were up to $17 last month on our
> Sprint LD bill is because I didn't have a cell phone to use to make LD calls).
>
> I wish they had some kind of record that I already HAVE Sprint Long Distance,
> but they only ask once, and when I say no, they don't push the issue.

Yeah, that last part is the big difference.

> > MCI
>
> Yuck.

Yeah, I was not historically a fan of MCI (I have stories), but even
*their* local service seems stellar compared to SBC. And they *never*
tried to upsell me until recently -- and that's in a very gentle,
non-pushy manner.