Pre-paid cell phones.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Does anybody here own a pre-paid cell phone? Arggghh. I hate pre-paid cell phone customers.

I mean, they are very ripe for abuse. People use stolen cards on them all the time, so we are very strict about payment methods. And most of the time, when we do our security procedures on an account that maybe isn't being used by some nefarious criminal, the customer just has a fit.Well I got tired of it today. I gave out a marvellous comeback, and got written up for it. Oh well.

My co-workers, however, have been worshipping me all night.

I get this girl who is trying to get a payment through. She's using a different checking account than she normally uses, so we have to call the bank and verify that's it's a real, open account and such. Well she just has a fit over this. Note: She was about 20 years old, and spoke like a serious valley girl, and during the whole conversation she kept yelling at her coworkers for various inanities.

SC: I mean, like, this is like, totally RIDICULOUS! This is supposed to be like, convenient for me! I have been on the phone for like, 20 minutes with you people!

Me: Well ma'am, we need to call your bank and they are not open right now, so we cannot process an order with this checking account. I'm sorry.

SC: I can't believe this! This is supposed to be easy for me! I've wasted like, 30 minutes on the phone!

Me: I'm sorry, ma'am, if you want to use the other checking account, that would not be a problem, it's already been verified. But we cannot accpet this one at this time.

SC: Well I just don't understand like, why this has to be so difficult! Hello! I've been on the phone with you people for like, 40 minutes now! (Notice how the time keeps going up) I am like, the customer here! You're supposed to be making this convenient for me! Hello! What is your problem! I mean, like, really!

At this point I've had it. This has been going on for 10 minutes now (No, not 40. ) So I says to her in a very sweet tone of voice:

Me: Ma'am, I hate to burst your bubble, but pre-paid cell phones were not developed to make your life more convenient. They were put out on the market so that people with really bad credit could get cell phones too. That is what they were developed for. I'm sorry that you are aggravated about our security process. I'm sorry that your credit is so bad that you can't get a regular cell phone. But that is your problem, not mine. My job is to take your payment. If you can't make a payment right now, please call us back when you can. Thank you for calling T***** and have a nice day!

My coworkers stopped their work and stared at me with their jaws on the floor. My sup had to write me up for it. But I'm a good employee, so they won't can me or anything. And let me tell you, my little speech shut that girl right up. I could hear her gasping for air on the end of the line. You know how when they just get so offended they can't even speak, they just gulp in air like a dying fish? That's what she was doing. It was like music to my ears.

[Casino Jockey]

awesome


i have a pre-paid cell but i have had that for about 6 years from when i was unemployed and i have never gone on a post paid plan.

[friendofjimmyk]

Hell, I have the some of the WORSE credit in the world (okay, not really, but bankers and other creditors seem to think so) that contains not one but two bad cell phone accounts...even though I have a regular cell phone it's a bottom of the barrell provider...that's what I have to deal with and I can accept that. Until my bankruptcy goes through, I can't get a nice provider....I have to take what I can get. I have no sense of entitlement when it comes to services I purchase...I know that I am paying through the nose for connections or set-ups...even my apartment...I had to pay a really high deposit because of my credit. I expect to be incovienced...

Anyway...that's just me.

[Lehk]

I like Pre-Paid plans, the whole idea of buying something BEFORE you use it has become lost on most of america, then people wonder why they always get screwed with late fees and interest.

also the payment system with a prepaid phone is fail-safe. if a payment cannot be made or processed the worst thing that happens is your phone shuts off, with a regular phone you then owe late fees and interest on your bill.

[Crazyredhead]

I have a Cingular go phone and I love it. I don't have all the fees and service charges that you get with post paid and $15.00 will last me more than a month, although with that little amount I have to renew every 30 days, but I don't mind.

I just love the 'you people' comment. I used to get it every day all day long.

[Myra]

As another peon in the cell phone world, I must say, that I worship the ground you walk on. HOW MANY TIMES have I wanted to say something like that to some entitled PITA, I do not know. At LEAST once a day! I applaud you.

[Becks]

I have used Trac-Fone before, and I think their prices are obscene. I'll stick to my current plan, shared with the man of the household, from T-Mobile.

Oh, and PhoneGoddess, !!!!!!!!

[Myra]

TracFone's pre-paid is stupid expensive. If you're gonna do pre-paid, T-Mobile is the way to go. They don't have "connection fees" or anything like that. And there's no "before 7 PM it's this price, and after 7 PM it's another price" business to remember. You buy a card, and there's a certain amount of minutes on it. Only time you have to remember money amounts is if you use the internet or you have the Sidekick.

[chainedbarista]

for slapping a sc in the face with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, phonegoddess wins the biggest huzzah in retail history.

i wish i could have been there to witness that!

[MystyGlyttyr]

I have a TracFone, and I adore it. Granted, it's not that expensive for me, though. My phone is a VERY basic $20 model that has monochrome graphics (green and black, huzzah) and no Internet, camera, bells, whistles, etc. I buy a $20 card for 60 minutes, and it lasts me the whole three months, because the only thing I use a cell phone for is

Me: "Hey, I've got a flat/out of gas/smoking engine, I'm at *location*."
Mother: "Okay, I'm sending your daddy."

or

Mother: "Could you run to the store and pick up my medicine?"
Me: "Okay."

or

*calls boss at paper* "Hey, there's an 18-wheeler flipped over and smoking on *street*. Send the photographer!"

Or, very rarely to text message my sister "Call me on work fone".

Each conversation takes about a minute. So I don't mind paying $20 every three months just for little bits like that. And, if I'm REALLY bored somewhere, it has Snake and Space Impact on it, heh.

But then again, I'm one of a very tiny minority of people who actually buy a cell phone just for emergencies or very quick transactions when I don't have a phone at hand.

[powerboy]

My dad has pre-paid, and he loves it. I have had it before, and it was crap, if anyone called and left a message, there was those minutes gone. Back at that time, I was just working not, and not having a GF. But I like my cell phone plan, that I have now. I just need to get a really basic phone. But they all have cameras and whatnot. Hell I don't need a camera on my phone. I have a Digital Camera/Video if I need or want to take a picture of something. One thing I do not understand, is Why people have to have everything with all the bells and whistles on it?

[Mighty Girl]

Excellent! Self centered little snot never knew what hit her.

My mom got my dad a prepaid phone, mainly because it's a useless effort to get him a regular one. He's prone to losing phones, but he's gotten better, and he never uses it. In the two or three years he's had it, I think she's only had to put money on the account maybe twice. She wants to make sure he always has access to a working phone, and they used to have VOIP, which is very new around here and as a communication device- about as reliable as smoke signals. He can throw it in his pocket and if he falls down somewhere in the house, he can just call me or my mom. (In case you haven't guessed, my dad is quite a bit older than my mom).

[Seanette]

My life is not yet settled enough for a service plan, so pre-paid meets my needs just fine. I have Virgin Mobile and like them quite well (excellent customer service and straightforward pricing, as opposed to TracFone's abysmal excuse for customer service and their "your price per minute depends on how much you buy at once" byzantine pricing structure). I have a very basic phone, which is all I need. I can make and receive calls, send and receive text messages, and my voicemail works (unlike when I had TracFone). For games, I've got my PDA (I also usually have a book on me when I'm out and around, and do have reading material on said PDA), and I don't WANT a camera or MP3 player in my phone (I have stand-alone devices for both purposes).

Maybe I'm just weird , but I dislike combining too many features into one device, because I don't want to lose that many functions if one device barfs. With my current setup, if my phone chokes, I still have my appointment calendar, games, pictures, MP3, etc., on other devices that are very likely to still be working.

[Lehk]

it's funny how tracphone owns net10, but net10 is so much cheaper and simpler, though i think tracphone gives you free off-peak minutes. I switched because i got sick of worrying about what time it was before i could make a call, since all the other discount prepaid companies run about .10/min as well it seems that is the actual market cost for airtime.

prepaid might have been invented for deadbeats, but i like not having to deal with yet another contract will bull$%!& terms (I refuse to deal with any company who will charge me a few hundred bucks to not be their customer anymore)

I have nothing but respect/sympathy for the people working customer service for those companies though, I get enough abuse telling people they won't get to save $0.65 on bread this week. I can't imagine the abuse from SC's who don't bother to read their contract then find out they have to pay a few hundred bucks to cancel.

[TNT]

Where I live, all the kids have Boost Mobile (from Nextel)... it costs a $1 a day for unlimited walkie-talkie use. It also seems that the kids have to prove to everyone they actually have a Boost... they turn the phone volume up to maximum, and scream into it. That way, I can lie in bed behind closed windows and still hear both sides of the conversation without having to strain. "Wow, those kids are cool," I'm apparently supposed to think. "They obviously have Boost."

All of which makes it embarrassing for anyone over the age of 18 to own a Boost in these parts. I actually wanted one for their hybrid plan... but somehow when I got to the store, "I'm interested in Boost" came out as, "Sign me up for an overpriced Nextel plan... and make sure it's a two year contract." (Which really sucks because nobody's talking to me anymore and I'm on a pace to use an entire 8 minutes of airtime this month. But that's another story.)