MCI Alpha Numeric Pager
Feb 06 '00
I was searching for a pager that would allow me to receive voice transcript messages so I could eliminate the need for a cell phone and the costly charge of calling my pager to get voice mail. What I ended up with was a headache. MCI offered me unlimited calling to an 800 toll free number for people to call and leave messages with an operator who would then type in the message and send it to me. Sounds good in theory however no one told me the downsides of the service.
In order from someone to reach me they would have to call an 800 number, tell the operator my name or 8 digit personal code (ever see a drunk person trying to remember 8 numbers when they need a ride home?) then leave a message for me. The operators were all extremely nice when I would have to call and get part of a message that didn't come through or was scrambled due to interference. This happened a lot, especially if I was inside a building.
The cost of the service was $49.00 a month plus a free pager (free as long as I kept the service, to be returned to them if I canceled). The pager would hold up to 40 messages with a maximum of 200 characters per message. It had 5 different tones and alerts as well as a very nice indigo backlight. The unit had a daily alarm as well as a weekly feature. It was almost like a SkyTel unit minus the page back buttons.
I was sold on the unit. This is a toy I could not live without. I enrolled over the phone and was told to expect the unit and instructions within two weeks. I contacted my pager service and cell phone provider and told them I was canceling. When the two weeks came and went with no sign of MCI's pager I called them again. They told me that my credit card was declined and that the unit was never mailed. There was no trouble with my credit card but rather they entered the wrong expiration date. Still, this did nothing for me since I had no pager or cell phone and was losing money left and right.
MCI made NO attempt to overnight the pager to me nor did they try in anyway to rush the processing. Three weeks later I received a pager but it was a standard numeric pager. This is five weeks and counting since I officially became a non-connected person in the eyes of my clients and friends.
After waiting and waiting I got what I ordered and tried to be happy. The unit was a bit big and eat batteries about once a week. I would get scrambled messages that would contain nothing but stars and pound signs. I was waiting for an important page and decided to run into a grocery store for a soda and missed the page. It seem that the equipment in the store jammed the transmission from hitting my unit. I never had that with my trusty little numeric pager.
MCI refused to let me out of my contract I moronically signed for 12 months. I threatened to call the BBB but that had no effect on them. I eventually had to contact a lawyer to have a legal notification sent to MCI about their lack of service. When push came to shove I ended up calling American Express and telling them the deal. American Express removed the charge from my credit card until they could further investigate. Four weeks later American Express notified me that MCI withdrew it's billing request and would be sending me a postage paid mailer to return the pager unit to them. I sent it exactly six weeks later, if they made me wait to get it they were going to have to wait to get it back.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.