Today's lesson, boys and girls, is all about the wisdom of leaving important public services to the discretionary self-regulation of private companies. The moral learned, for those of you in a rush, is that it's not a good idea.
First, the Saga of the Cell Phone. Elsewhere I've alluded to my dissatisfaction with AT&T Wireless (or whoever they are these days) whom I've had service with (or, should I say, to whom I've been paying money monthly) since 2001. Initially I was satisfied. Their coverage in the Bay Area was excellent. But in Boston I noticed, to my horror and inconvenience, that it was not very good at all. In fact, it was barely present. Calls frequently failed to go through, despite 4 bars on my phone for signal strength. Similarly voicemails took eons to be delivered, and calls were often dropped midway through. That was annoying enough when I visited Boston. It was absurdly useless when I moved there. And in case it wasn't bad enough upon arrival, it got worse as the months have passed. My cell phone plan is now a really expensive voice mailbox, and nothing more. In case of emergency I couldn't even reach 911.
So number portability is a wonderful thing. Time to research new companies/phones/plans is also a wonderful thing, or so I hear because it's not like I've had any. I should have switched as soon as the opportunity became available but I had a pesky little thing called "law school" to take care of. But this week, now that I'm living in a place with no landline to use instead, I've had to make some time. I finally settled on the phone I wanted, the plan I wanted, and the carrier: Verizon.
There are a couple of complications. I'm trying to port a Bay Area number and I can only do that with CA-based telesales or a Bay Area store. Yesterday I talked to a sales rep on the phone who said he'd have no problem overnighting a phone to me. That was good, because I'll be traveling beginning Friday and I needed it before I left. But I wanted a chance to see the phones in a store one more time so today I did so and then called back, and that's where the trouble began.
In a sense I should have seen the trouble coming. The rep I talked to yesterday gave me several bits of nice, but ultimately incorrect information. Then today when I walked into the store I asked to see "tri-band" phones. "We don't have tri-band here," was the response. "You don't have the 8600?" I asked incredulously. "Oh we have that. But we don't have a tri-band phone." "I thought the 8600 was a tri-band phone." "Oh no." "So how do you distinguish the phones from the all-digital ones?" "Well we have tri-MODE phones." It was my mistake for getting the term mixed up, but they were ready to send me out the door before it dawned on them that I, the customer and NOT the expert, might have meant the other. Apparently critical thinking skills are not required on a Verizon employment application.
So when I called back later I discovered a credit check was involved. That was ok, or so I thought, because my credit is good. I gave them permission to pull my report. Then they put on this credit review counselor to ask me questions about my report that only I would know. They said that this was to make sure I was really myself. I answered her questions, but I admit my answers were a little unusual. "What is your address?" for me is not so simple and I have no idea what the report says. I lived at one, moved to another, but am living at another one still. But if she was confused she never asked for clarification. Of course, I can't see what business it was of theirs. If the report said I wasn't a credit risk, and I could identify the information as mine, it should have ended there. But that's where the nightmare began. Because she wasn't satisfied apparently and instructed the sales rep that I'd need to fax in supporting documentation. What? I knew all my addresses, I knew my credit cards (although she didn't want me to give just one or two apparently but every single credit card I've ever had). She asked if I had a private loan and I told her about the school loans, but apparently she couldn't find them on the report. It was all very strange, because I had no idea what report she was even looking at, let alone what it said, but they said the only point of the call was to verify I was me so I don't see what the problem was.
Worse, after she transferred me back, with no indication she had concerns, I was now heretofore banned from Ever. Speaking. To. The. Credit. Department. Again. Ever. I have no idea what the problem was, and they refused to tell me or let me clarify. No amount of pleading would get me transferred back to the credit people. Apparently my file had been suddenly passed off to the shadowy people in the Review Department. Meanwhile, I'm not even a customer yet so there's no transactional record to follow up on and there's no one who's going to take charge and make sure this works out right. Even if I can find the stuff they want me to fax I have no idea if it will solve the problem. And I need it solved, and I need it solved NOW. Thanks to AT&T not bothering to provide service to my phone (and I do believe it to be service-related and not phone-related because it does work reasonably in California) I'm dead in the water. No telephony access. So I could try another vendor, but that's not the point. The government regulates the cell phone industry because it provides a valuable communications service to the public. It regulates the airwaves, which are a finite public asset, by doling it out to private entities. Who seem to be under no obligation to return any service to the public in exchange for the lifeblood of their business. Citizens are still at the mercy of private companies in order to get access to an increasingly indispensable mode of communication.
For me, I've been at least delayed by a small-minded, irresponsible, misrepresentative, apathetic, disconnected corporate policy and process. It might work out, or it very well might not since there's no one at Verizon who is going to ensure that this gets worked out properly. (As it is I have to do all the work.) But this is just a cell phone where I'm at the mercy of a private company providing a public communications service. Imagine if it was a lifesaving drug.
Edit 6/8/04: Well, I'm now all set up with Verizon. It ended up being somewhat painless once I got to the California store. Interestingly, once I was in the Bay Area my AT&T phone started working just fine. I was so tempted to give it a second chance but I slapped myself back into reality. The Verizon phone is ok, but not spectacular. The new phone has poor volume controls, only asinine ring tones, and the reception is not all I hoped for. Dammit.
Comments (9)
The problem here is probably that you are trying to open a California account when you aren't really a California resident.
Check the service agreement-- the carriers typically reserve the right to drop you (or transfer you to a plan from the correct locality) if most of your use originates outside of the home territory.
The carriers do this for a couple of reasons: (i) some of them don't really own a nationwide network, so they lease access for the use of their customers when they are roaming-- this is expensive for them, so some of them don't try to offer service to customers in areas they don't own infrastructure in and (ii)all of the carriers market different plans (and different rate structures) in diffeernt parts of the country. As a consequence, they don't want you signing up for a plan in a territory that is different from your home.
More importantly, no business with which you are going to have an ongoing relationship (or which is going to mail you an expensive piece of merchandise at essentially no cost) wants to deal with a customer who they can't locate or is being misleading about their address. Combine the situtation with your multiple addresses with the fact that you are trying to get a plan outside of your home territory and you are raising all sorts of red flags.
My advice... get an east coast phone.
Posted by Mark | May 26, 2004 11:47 AM
Posted on May 26, 2004 11:47
I wasn't being evasive about my address. And they could see from the report that I pay my bills. I would have been happy to explain the situation if I'd been asked. But they didn't ask. Instead they wanted chapter and verse on every word that was on the damn report. How should I know? I don't even know which one they pulled.
And number porting is number porting. I'm entitled to keep a CA number. They need to quit whining and do it. I should not have to risk losing touch with all sorts of people and make new stationary because they are idiots.
Posted by Cathy | May 26, 2004 12:36 PM
Posted on May 26, 2004 12:36
You're entitled to take your number to any provider who's willing to provide you service on the number. That's a very different right from the right to compel a carrier to give you service.
Its not that you were being evasive or fraudulent. Its that you were openly trying to do something (i) that they don't want you to do and (ii) in a manner that somewhat matches the profile of someone who is trying to be evasive or fraudulent. And remember, Verizon isn't canceling your existing service or creating and consequential problems for you-- they're resisting forming a new relationshsip with you (a new customer). Frustrating for you-- Yes. Bad business decision for them -- yes (though possible not, if the hard stance causes them to open less fradulent accounts and only loose a few good accounts). A result of poor customer service-- you bet (though poor customer service is sometimes an economically sensible business decision, at least in the short run). But infringing on some right of yours-- Nope.
Posted by Mark | May 26, 2004 3:09 PM
Posted on May 26, 2004 15:09
Oy, Mark. What do you mean I was trying to do what "they don't want you to do?" They were perfectly happy to sell me the phone and give me service. They were perfectly happy to port the number. So if their poor behavior in the credit review area was part of some sort of master plan to not let me keep my California number, it was NEVER represented as such. In fact it would mean they completely MISrepresented themselves since they clearly indicated that it was not their intent in doing the review, plus they repeatedly expressed the willingness to take me on as a customer on those terms.
Plus I don't see why they'd really have a problem. with it. The big nationwide companies have no problem with mixed-area phone accounts. If they did they'd lose out on a lot of business clientele.
I don't know all the rules about porting, but I'm inclined to believe there may be some affirmative duties in that regard. Interstate commerce and all that. Right to travel. Treating all people from all parts of the country equally. True some numbers can't be ported (at least not yet, and more based on the technical infrastructure involved), but I've been told (by them) numerous times that mine can and they'd be happy to do it.
If you think otherwise YOU go find me the law.
Posted by Cathy | May 26, 2004 3:39 PM
Posted on May 26, 2004 15:39
I think you are confusing two they's: (i) the "they" who is the actual source of policy and decisionmaking at Verizon and (ii) the "they" who is a commissioned salesperson who doesn't really know policy and doesn't much care what they tell you as long as they make the sale. While there should be a unity between the they's, there typically isn't in these sorts of organizations.
Ultimately, only the folks in the review department probably have any idea what should actually be going on.
As for your constitutional right to nationwide portability-- I don't think so. But I'm not about to take the time to research it.
Posted by Mark | May 27, 2004 4:31 PM
Posted on May 27, 2004 16:31
I got bored and looked it up... Check out the answer to FAQ No. 4 on this link.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/dispatcher?action=DISPLAY&item=_FAQ_TOPIC&topicID=95#807
Mark
Posted by Mark | May 28, 2004 12:08 PM
Posted on May 28, 2004 12:08
It reads, by the way...
How do I know if my current number is eligible to be ported?
All phone numbers are assigned to a local geographic area. To port your number:
- it must remain associated with the same local geographic area where it is currently assigned
- the local geographic area with which your number is associated must be an area where Verizon Wireless currently provides service
Initially, numbers that are assigned to local geographic areas outside the 100 largest markets may not be eligible to be ported.
You are able to check your number's eligibility online, at any Verizon Wireless store, authorized agent location or by calling us at 1.800 2 JOIN IN.
Posted by Mark | May 28, 2004 12:11 PM
Posted on May 28, 2004 12:11
I've had VZW for a while now (more than two years), and I'm very happy. Especially since I don't get charged roaming even when the roaming indicator on my light pops up (or, if you're the glass half-empty sort of person, the roaming indicator lights up if I'm not in my home area, creating all sorts of worries as to whether I'm going to get charged for roaming). It doesn't get that good reception back at my parents', but that's mostly because it should be forest there, except that there's a house instead. Well, occasionally the phone doesn't pick up, and I get voicemail instead, but I've long since decided there are things worth stressing out about, and things not, and perfect cell phone reception, like the kids blasting the radio downstairs, are things I've decided I could live with.
As for the credit card thing, I much like Japan's system, where you pay with cash or bank transfer. No one should be allowed to carry a credit card, since no one knows exactly how a credit rating works, or why certain organizations need to look at your credit report (like potential employers - what are they going to find out??). Talk about private companies self-regulating semi-public services - this is scary.
Posted by Koichi | June 3, 2004 6:04 PM
Posted on June 3, 2004 18:04
Mark: while I think I could make (but I'm not in the mood) a Constitutional argument for why I should be able to port the number no matter where I lived, the fact of the matter is that I was willing to play their little game and do what I needed to keep it associated with the same geographical area. That is controlled by the sales mechanisms available for that area, either stores or telesales, because they are the only ones who can do that provisioning. As long as I was talking to the South Bay provisioning people it wasn't going to be a problem, at least once they stopped screwing around with the credit nonsense. I don't know why you saw this as a porting issue in the first place. It never was.
Koichi - You are absolutely right about the scary thing re: credit agencies. Although I do like using credit cards. I'd be uncomfortable with there being a direct tap onto my checking account. I'd rather have a chance to review the charges before having the money come out. But I think that's a separate issue from the Credit Review Cartel who controls so much of our financial destiny with no transparency whatsoever.
Posted by Cathy | June 8, 2004 5:47 PM
Posted on June 8, 2004 17:47