And You Thought Your Cell Phone Carrier Sucked
Filed under: Buyer Beware, Technology
Complaints to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) increased by almost 10 percent in 2009, with cell phone carriers leading the pack with 37,477 complaints across North America.
According to a BBB report released this month, complaints about cable/satellite providers (32,616) and banks (29,920) came next. Bank complaints across a range of services that included credit cards, checking accounts and mortgages increased the most dramatically, rising a honking 42.3 percent. That's actually not surprising, considering the data covers all of North America and our cousins south of the border were hit much harder by the recession, when many of their banks failed.
Complaints about cable/satellite companies rose 8.7 percent. In comparison, complaints against cell phone companies rose only 2.1 percent from those filed in 2008 – but this is the second year in a row the cellular phone industry held the top spot.
Cell phone billing, in particular, is so confusing that across the border the Federal Communications Commission is soliciting recommendations on how to get cellular companies to simplify their bills.
Billing in Canada isn't much better, as evidenced by one Toronto family whose bill listed a $187 charge for roaming without any explanation. No dates for the charges were even supplied until a call was made to Bell Mobility to find out how the charges were incurred. As it turned out, if you access Web applications on a smart phone when in the United States, you incur charges from a U.S. carrier. That's not something you're told when you buy your phone.
And woe be to you if that carrier isn't your carrier's U.S. partner, which might get you a slightly more preferential rate, because that $187 was incurred by three failed attempts over 10 minutes to access a Google map. That's right: $187 for 10 minutes of Internet access.
There's one ray of sunshine in the report, however. Cellular companies appear to have a high rate of resolution with people who filed complaints with the BBB.
You can file a complaint through the BBB's website.
According to a BBB report released this month, complaints about cable/satellite providers (32,616) and banks (29,920) came next. Bank complaints across a range of services that included credit cards, checking accounts and mortgages increased the most dramatically, rising a honking 42.3 percent. That's actually not surprising, considering the data covers all of North America and our cousins south of the border were hit much harder by the recession, when many of their banks failed.
Complaints about cable/satellite companies rose 8.7 percent. In comparison, complaints against cell phone companies rose only 2.1 percent from those filed in 2008 – but this is the second year in a row the cellular phone industry held the top spot.
Cell phone billing, in particular, is so confusing that across the border the Federal Communications Commission is soliciting recommendations on how to get cellular companies to simplify their bills.
Billing in Canada isn't much better, as evidenced by one Toronto family whose bill listed a $187 charge for roaming without any explanation. No dates for the charges were even supplied until a call was made to Bell Mobility to find out how the charges were incurred. As it turned out, if you access Web applications on a smart phone when in the United States, you incur charges from a U.S. carrier. That's not something you're told when you buy your phone.
And woe be to you if that carrier isn't your carrier's U.S. partner, which might get you a slightly more preferential rate, because that $187 was incurred by three failed attempts over 10 minutes to access a Google map. That's right: $187 for 10 minutes of Internet access.
There's one ray of sunshine in the report, however. Cellular companies appear to have a high rate of resolution with people who filed complaints with the BBB.
You can file a complaint through the BBB's website.
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