US Cellular - Lies! Lies! Lies!

Saturday, I ordered two HTC PPC 6800's online from US Cellular. I called just before I placed the order to make sure these phones were in stock. I was put on hold while 'Joe' checked for me. 'Joe' came back and told me that yes, they had those phones in stock.

Five minutes later, I called back and placed my order. 'Bill' took my SS#, etc. and ran my credit, etc. to set me up. Again, he also placed me on hold to check the warehouse inventory. He came back and confirmed that these phones were in stock. He assigned me my two phone numbers.

I made arrangements to have these phones overnighted. I expected them today. They did not arrive, so I called US cellular.

'Brian' was courteous, but had NO CLUE. The poor guy couldn't tell me why my phones didn't ship, in fact, he said that my order from four days ago hadn't even INVOICED yet. He also added that the warehouse was CLOSED and he couldn't find out if they even had any phones.

After getting off the phone with 'Brian', my phone immediately rang and it happened to be 'Bill', my original order taker. 'Bill' confirmed with me that my phones had not shipped yet, they didn't have any, and he had no clue when they might be in stock.

?????

US Cellular is assigning phone numbers and they don't even have any phones? Is this standard practice in this industry?

I probably should have waited before I found a cell phone forum to vent. I am furious. Is the average consumer so stupid that companies like US Cellular purposely lie to their customers about inventory so they don't go somewhere else? Do they figure that by using this method, they might lose 20% of their orders but that's okay because they've still gained the other 80%?

It is so obvious that they lied to me about having these phones in their inventory just so they could get my order. How can this be legal, obtaining my social security number and personal information to run a credit report under false pretenses?

Yes, they charged my card for the full amount.

I canceled my order and was issued a refund later.

I'm sorry, it isn't just bad customer service or 'unprofessional'. I do believe they deliberately lied and it is their practice to do so - just to hook you in and keep your business so you don't go somewhere else.

Where others might not mind waiting a couple of weeks for a phone to be restocked, I had urgent matters and let them know this. I run a business with heavy Internet duties - I was going to travel that weekend and wanted this PDA phone to take along in lieu of my laptop.

I don't believe they simply 'erred' in checking their stock. I spoke with someone later about this - someone who was quite familiar with US Cellular's telemarketing branch (who were the ones who did this to me) and was assured that this is not uncommon with them.

It's over and done with as far as I'm concerned. I'd just like to forget about it. Thanks for you interest, though.