AllTell is the WORST cell phone company. They charged us hundreds of dollars in erroneous charges. My husband and I had the hardest time trying to get the unlawful charges off of our account. Their staff was very rude and not military-friendly. My husband was about to deploy, and they would not let him out of his contract (even though they are required to by law). We thought it was taken care of after faxing his orders, but he still received bills in the mail each month while he was gone!!
Wow sorry to hear that. I never have had many problems in CS. Maybe bikebryan (he works in CS) can shed some light.
Sure. First off, military ORDERS do not suffice for these purposes. Only a Commander's Deployment Validation Letter will suffice. That was changed several months ago by request of DoD due to sensitive information that is contained within the actual orders. So if you faxing/bringing in copies of orders, then nothing would have been done. If you really want to know the policy on a DISCONNECT due to deployment, here's the guidelines: Customers in the U.S. Military that reside in or are stationed California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota may disconnect service without an Early Termination Fee (ETF). Military service members under contract from other states that decide not to suspend their service according to Alltel's Military Deployment Policy will be responsible for all applicable early termination fees. Customers that reside in or are stationed in one of the seven states listed above may disconnect without paying an ETF if any of the following conditions are met: · Customer has been activated military service or deployed into military service (including the Reserves, Coast Guard and National Guard), or · Customer has a permanent change of duty station (or temporary change of duty station exceeding 60 days) to an area not serviced by Alltel, or · Customer is released from active duty and moving to an area not serviced by Alltel, or · Customer had service activated while on active duty and is returning to a home area that is not serviced by Alltel. So, unless you are in one of those states listed above, then if you did cancel and are under contract, the ETF is valid as well.
I have a problem with getting a $50 rebate on a UTStarcom 8630 phone I purchased from Alltel in Mountain Home, AR on 10/29/07. After waiting for 8 weeks with communication at all from Alltel, I called. They told me I hadn't sent in a copy of the phone bill. Even though I kept copies of everything, I couldn't prove I didn't send it, so sent them a copy. The website then indicated that the rebate was valid and that the check was posted on Feb 4/08. I never got it. I called again, verified my address, and they said I had to wait 30 days. Still no rebate. I called again and the website again indicated a valid rebate, and another check was posted on March 10, and I'd have to wait 30 more days. I never got the check. I have verified my address 5 times with them--when I sent the original rebate form, when I e-mailed, when I called the first time, and the second, and when the store called for me. I have a locked mailbox, and it is not likely that it was lost in the mail twice. It has be 51/2 months and still no rebate received. If Alltel really wanted me to have that $50, they'd make it in the form of an instant rebate, or stop playing games and just charge a reasonable price for the phone in the first place. In the future, I will buy nothing that has anything other than an instant rebate. Hope this becomes a consumer trend nationwide.
Alltel doesn't process rebates, there is a separate company who does it. The rebate company agrees to process rebates for people because most people: don't bother to send the rebates in or send the rebates in but don't fill out the form correctly and/or send the rebates in but don't include everything they need to include Rebates are made purposely hard to do so the rebate company doesn't have to fulfil them and they make money. Don't blame Alltel, it's how all the wireless carriers do it. Frankly, if we just eliminated contracts and everyone paid full price for the phones, this wouldn't be a problem but since people want cheap or free phones, they're going to have to continue to deal with rebates and rebate companies.
Did you talk to many reps about your situation? If not, try your luck with a different rep. Don't just go and blame the whole company. Different reps know different things and understand things that other reps don't. Alltel CS in general is very knowledgible, and can help with many different issues. Alltel is a very consumer-friendly company, and all my experiences with them are positive, and I would trust them if something was wrong that they would try to make it right.
I have called three representatives, the store where I purchased the phone called an additional time, I have sent three e-mails. It has been 5 1/2 months since I purchased the phone. I do hold Alltel responsible. If it is a different company who is offering the rebate, Alltel cooperates with them by using the rebate as an incentive to buy the phone and contract. To me this is game-playing, and my $50 rebate has bounced away.
Well, he actually did have the deployment verification letter, and it was still like pulling teeth. Believe me, we contacted Alltell on SEVERAL occasions. Noone was friendly. It's just too bad we weren't in touch with you lovely people... My main complaint is the fact that someone thought it was a sly idea to charge $600 to our account, with no just cause. We looked back at other statements later and found similar charges for a substantially less amount (however, still fabricated charges). I have heard similar stories from other people, as well.
Have you visited a store location with your bill and asked them to explain the charges? If the charges truly are invalid, any location (agent or retail) will be able to find out how they happened and how to fix it. I know sometimes an actual person is easier to talk to than someone over the phone. It may take some time to get everything resolved, but Alltel isn't going to stick you with $600.00 in charges that aren't yours.
