Hood Winked and Bamboozled Yet Again

Dear Blank Cell Phone Company Who Shall Remain Nameless,

I am very disappointed that I must correspond with you under these circumstances. Up until now, I have been a very satisfied customer. Your dealings with me have always been fair. The customer service I have received has been excellent. I find I must question your loyalty towards me, your customer. I have faithfully paid my astronomical cell phone bill every month. I have sent new customers to your company with high recommendations. I have always spread nothing but joy and cheer regarding your company. I have acted on my own as a saleswoman for your company….with NO commission. Your service was such that I felt just a being a customer was reward enough. Now I find I must question your integrity. A couple of months ago, I became eligible for a free new phone under the condition that I sign another two year contract. I did not view this as a hardship given our very satisfactory dealings together. I found just the phone I wanted. I chose this particular phone based on my need desire for a cell phone with a full keyboard. I was very pleased to see this was one of the phones that I could receive for free.

I ordered the phone, feeling very confident that I was receiving a quality, serviceable phone. I received the phone and was very pleased with it. I love the full keyboard, as my children feel the need to communicate with me via text on an almost hourly basis. I love being able to efficiently type text messages without having to deal with the “abc” drama. I am also pleased with your decision to offer unlimited text messaging for a nominal fee every month. This has been a life saver having a teenager on my plan.

I decided that purchasing a cover for my very cool phone would be a wise decision. The phone was getting scratches on it from being in my purse, and I may have dropped it. Once. Yesterday, on my lunch hour, I stopped by one of your convenient locations to purchase the aforementioned cover. I was immensely disappointed to learn that your store did not have any covers for my phone. I was puzzled by this, as I knew the phone had just come out. According to one of your associates, the phone has been out for a year and has been discontinued.

What scam is this that I have been a party to? Pawning off discontinued phones to unsuspecting customers like myself is reprehensible. Before I learned of this misdeed, I ignorantly walked around thinking I had an up-to-date, technologically advanced phone. Now I learn that my phone is just a “has been” in this world of constantly changing technology. Not only is it a “has been”, now I will be unable to find the appropriate accessories. I will be lucky to be able to find a cover at this point. I will most likely be unable to find a car charger that isn’t cheap and doesn’t break within a week. That could be tragic. What if I need to call 911 and I can’t because my cell phone battery dies because I was unable to find a charger? Who will accept responsibility for this travesty of justice?

Is this how my loyalty is repaid? A customer who spends damn darn near two hundred dollars a month in cell phone bills SHOULD NOT be given the discontinued phone when their contract expires. I am sure your company would be most displeased if I “discontinued” making my payments every month or if I “discontinued” using your company and cancelled my contract. I think you are capable of treating your customers better than this. I sincerely hope this episode was merely a poor decision made by one of your upper level managers and not a forecast of what type of business dealings can be expected in the future. I hope you find this letter to be a helpful tool in future decision making. As for me, I fear I am stuck with my “has been” phone for the next friggin’ two years.

Sincerely,



A Top Paying Customer

P.S. Should you feel any compulsion to appease me in any way, I would accept a replacement phone that has not been “discontinued”.