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Will of Burtonsville MD (1/28/03):
My company has been a loyal customer of Nextel for a year and a half now. The first year I did not have many problems with the account. However over the last six months we have had problems every month with service, billing and customer service.

August of last year we had two new phone added to this account. I personally ordered the phones from Nextel via telephone and purchased by VISA check card. My check card was charged three times for the new phones. Which depleted the funds in the account and cause other transactions to be insufficient. After talking to Nextel customer service several times (several hours) and finally asking for a manager, the balance charged was credited to my Nextel account. It was not credited back to my check card account.

In the next billing cycle I discover the same two phones were added twice to the hard copy billing statement. Within the same customer service call I discovered all of them were not on the same plan. When the order was placed for the two new phones I asked that they be placed under the same plan as the original phone’s plan. The plan had full coverage for lost, damage and thief and had free incoming calls and 3,000 minutes per month. The customer service representative assured me the plans were the same.

One of the new phones was a market transfer to area code 803. The CSR informed me in the beginning of the order that the market transfer took 15 – 20 business days. Also the CSR inform me the phone would just start working after that time period. Needless to say, I called customer service in 15 days to find out when the market transfer would take place and discover the transfer order had not been placed. Which added an additional 15 business days to be up and running. My sales consultant in the 803 area code would not have cell phone communication for over a month.

The customer service representatives (CSRs) were not helpful at all. The CSRs did not know the information. They could not reference previous notations to the account, nor could they communicate with other departments (such as the department the order had been placed with). The CSRs were telling me there weren’t the same options on the two new phones as the original account. Repeatedly the CSRs constantly disagreed with me. Each time it seems they recommended an investigation through another department in Nextel and that someone would get in touch with me after 7-10 working days. This total disaster customer service nightmare (4 months) was not completed until November of 2002. Customer service completed issues after approx. 8 – 10 calls to customer service each call averaging about one hour in length (10 hours on the phone with customer service).

In November 2002 we opted for the full phone service (free unlimited outgoing calls, free unlimited incoming calls, free national wide long distance, no roaming and full coverage on all phone under this account). The new contact period started in December 2002 for all three phones should have been the same as the original contract (with the exception of the free unlimited outgoing calls). In December 2002, I reported a phone stolen, the CSR said they could not replace it. So, I opted to place the service on hold to see if the phone would turn up. I did this because the CSR told me I could not just replace the phone. I tried to order a new phone and they were going to charge me $80.00. I informed the CSR that I have the full coverage insurance and the CSR said it was going to cost $80.00.

Again in January 2003, I called to report the phone stolen and the CSR told me I had to go through Signal Insurance. I informed the CSR that I did not have to call a three party the last time a phone was stolen. The CSR said I needed to call Signal Insurance. I called Signal Insurance and placed the report and they informed me that I needed to file a police report in order to replace the phone. I did not learn that the full coverage insurance was not on the new contract until the Service Representative in the Nextel office in Bethesda, MD checked the account (January 24, 2003). She told me the account only had Signal Insurance which was not full coverage of all of the phones.

When I agreed to another contract in December 2002 after having opted for the higher priced plan, I personally asked to have the same full coverage as I had previous on the same account with Nextel. The CSR assured me that ready thing was the same on all the account including full insurance coverage. My Sales Consultant has been without a cell phone for 2 months, and sales have decreased because this.

Secondly, I have complained of dropped calls both incoming and outgoing for the last two months and nothing has been done about it. When Clients call on our cell phone the phone rings, but when we answer the call no one is there. After talking to clients that have called right back. They would say the phone did not even ring the first time. On the dropped calls, the call would end in the middle of a conversation and the LCD would read system busy. I called customer service to complain and the CSRs told me they check there network for any problems and there weren’t any. Again after several customer service calls the problem has not been resolved to this date. We have been told to take the phones to an authorized Nextel service centers because Nextel said it was an equipment problem.

We have taken the phones to authorized Nextel service centers and they said the phones were operating correctly (after taking down time out of our work day). Still the problems persisted. Once again I called customer service and told them the authorized service center said the phones were fine. I also told them we have a contract with Nextel and Nextel was not living up to their end of the contact. I said we should be compensated for our lost time due to dropped calls and for the time we have spent away from our workday to service and correct the Nextel phones. The CSR replied she could only give me information and to hold. The CSR returned to the call to tell me to call Motorola directly and they would replace the phone and gave me an 800 number to call.

I called and explain the problem with the phones and they said it was a Nextel service issue. Motorola said they did not exchange or replace the cell phones. Motorola said they would service the phone if I would send the phone to them. It would take 2-3 business days to repair and/or service. I asked if they would provide a loader phone and they replied they did not give out loader phones. We could not be without phone for 3 business days because we all work in the field and the cell phone numbers are on our business cards. I took my phone to the Nextel Corporate service center in Bethesda, MD (Nextel owned and operated). The service person there informed me there was nothing wrong with my phone, but exchanged the phone for me anyway. That was Friday, January 24, 2002 at 3:30pm. By Saturday, January 25, 2002, 4:00pm (24 hours), I dropped over 10 documented calls to the new phone.

In addition, the phone in the 803 area code has had the same experiences and the problem for over a month and is still gone unresolved. Nextel has not lived up to there end of the Service Agreement. Through inconsistencies in Nextel’s Customer Service Representatives, Managers, The CSRs training, CSRs knowledge for there service agreements, CSRs knowledge of their equipment and wiliness to help, complete and resolve the service issues of Office Enhancements, CO., LLC. (OEC), we have lost invaluable time, money and clientele related to complete service problems with our Nextel cellular phones. We have tried to be fair and to resolve these issues and problems stated about on all levels recommended by the Nextel’s customer service representative and managers.