I have been with Alltel for a couple of years now and their service is pretty bad. Back in 2001 I switched to Alltel from Qwest due to billing problems and decided to get a cell phone for my home phone. I then learned how horrible Alltel was. The first year I was with them I had too many dropped calls and as a result my bills were enormously high. When I complained about it several times, Alltel was always less than helpful on the customer service end. If you have a problem they seem to blame the customer or keep asking for money. They finally solved this issue after a year of complaining (I even went to the Better Business Bureau to complain about them). I then discovered that it may have been the equipment that I was using (Qualcomm 2035 by Kyocera. Don't get this model of phone. Too many problems).

Since the dispute was settled, I have recently had the same issue come up when I discovered that my bill was very high (over $300 and I didn;t make too many calls). When I went into an Alltel store to complain they said my usage had doubled. I was pretty upset and was told to call tech support which I did. When trying to make the call the first few times the calls were dropped. I finally reached tech support who told me the phone should be swapped out. Alltel has swapped out my phone several times and discovered at least two of my phones had bad chips in them, one had keys that were hard to push, and they refused to swap out my battery when I was also having problems stating that the battery does not get swapped out with the phone and stays with the model. To make a long story short my next call was to customer service (after calling tech support) and they said they'd take care of the bill and have this resolved. They also informed me to write a letter to Alltel which I did.

After the letter was sent explaining all my problems, financial services called me asking for money and I again had to explain the issue and told them that I had sent a letter to Alltel to complain about the issue. The rep then said to send her the letter via email and she would take it the supervisors at Alltel and also put a stop on my account so my phone would not be shut off. Since then I have not heard from Alltel except to bill me and ask for money. I once again had to complain to Alltel this time via their Web Site and also send them the attached letter I sent this rep. This time another rep has since responded saying Alltel has offered me a $25 credit for the equipment problems and recommended I purchase a new phone. They also said my charges were valid and that I should call financial services to work out payment arrangements. I guess Alltel cares only about the money instead of solving the issue.

After sending the letter via their Web Site I went to Alltel's regional office not far from where I live figuring that I couldn't be so ignored then. I talked with another nice lady who said she was the assistant to the VP of Marketing. I told her my issue and about the letter I sent and she said she'd make a few calls (one of them to tech support) but that the original letter mailed to Alltel could have gone anywhere. She then said that if needed Alltel will even switch me to a different model of phone. I was also told that my phone will not be shut off and this problem investigated and to give her a call if I still had problems.

I have not heard back from anyone at tech support this time. I heard back from one rep via email who said they couldn't do any more issuing of credits and that the charges on my phone were valid. In other words they kept asking for more money. I called and left a message to the VP's assistant who has not yet called me back. I am starting to lose my patience with Alltel and once I am able to switch carriers I may be doing so.

Update:

I finally ralked agin with the Alltel rep who is the assistant to VP of Marketing. She basically sliced my bill in half (it was over $300 because of all the dropped calls, problems with phone, etc). They offered to switch out my phone for free (with either another Kyocera 2135, Motorola V120e or the Nokia 5185 which people normally get for free anyway) but I am still stuck with a high bill which this rep said was about $150. I also originally paid for my phone but now have to be stuck with a lesser priced model but the Motorola V120e doesn't look so bad and seems to have more features than my current phone.

The rep also looked into the place that records every single call a person makes (I think she called it Menza or something like that) on their cell phone I guess on the Alltel network and said my calls were valid even though I disputed the bill and the calls. She said she checked two different sources within Alltel and they stated the calls and bill were valid. In other words put the blame on the customer in order to get more money out of them. I am currently looking at other carriers right now while my phone is being swapped out.

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 65