Search results for

#USCellular

#1 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/21/2006

We have another screw-up in the works with #USCellular and Ben’s new cell phone. He specifically wanted a camera phone when we bought the darn thing and the salesman assured us we could get the pictures off the phone if we bought the data cable to hook it up to the computer.

Of course U.S. Cellular doesn’t sell the stupid wire and we ordered it from the Kyocera web site 6 weeks ago. It was on back order (nobody stocks anything anymore!)

The wire got here yesterday with a CD full of software for every phone Kyocera makes and no instructions. I guess your computer is supposed to figure out what it needs. It didn’t work.

We fooled with it a while until I called the Kyocera tech support line (all our representative were busy, big surprise) and when we finally got a person to speak to (in English please) he told us that U.S. Cellular had disabled the data cable function of the phone so that we would be forced to use their “picture service”.

We got a Return Authorization Number (have to have permission to get your money back). I called U.S. Cellular and they were surprised to hear what I had been told by Kyocera. The nice lady told me she would call their technical people and get back with me.

It turns out her technical people aren’t too technical after all and she called back to tell me she had passed MY problem up to corporate and would get back to me.

So we wait to see what happens with this insanity. I’m NOT paying 25¢ for each picture to email it to Ben’s computer.

MjL

#2 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/26/2006

We got a little bit of good news yesterday. Cassandra from #USCellular called to tell me we could trade Ben’s Kyocera phone (that we can’t get the photos off) for a Motorola model that is supposed to work as we want it to.

It took me a few calls to finally get this young lady and she has really come through. Sometimes persistence pays.

I mailed back the Kyocera data cable we bought on the Internet and we will wait to see if we get reimbursed for it without an act of Congress. (the Washington D.C. Congress —— not the porno version!)

MjL

#3 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/02/2006

A few things finally turned out for the better yesterday. Cassandra called from #USCellular to let me know Ben’s new phone was in.

Tracey had to work late yesterday and Noah had karate class so Aaron, Ben and I went on a shopping trip after school. We went and traded Ben’s phone and he got a much better deal than I had expected.

We then went to #BestBuy in Peoria to get the data cable and phone software so he can transfer pictures, ring tones, etc.

Aaron bought a two Gig thumb drive. I can’t imagine what he needs with one with so much capacity, but it is his money.

We ate at Home Town buffet to round out the evening. As usual, the boys ate more dessert than wholesome food, but who can expect a teenage boy to resist all that chocolate?

MjL

#4 Click this link to see Blog page --> 04/25/2007

We went to the #USCellular store in the old Pekin Mall parking lot to get Tracey a new phone. She got one of the new Motorola Razr phones that has a camera in it, Bluetooth, removable memory, etc. She also got a new wireless Bluetooth headset to go with it.

So now she is all set for those conference calls at work. She was going to wait until August when the contract on her current work phone expired, but she is really tired of receiving phone calls for the previous owner of her work phone.

She gets more of those on the phone than calls from work. It does get old having the silly thing ring every day with people looking for Bonnie (the previous owner).

MjL

#5 Click this link to see Blog page --> 07/17/2007

I rode with Aaron while he drove the van for the first time yesterday. We went to the #USCellular store in Pekin to get his phone repaired.

Turns out he got it wet and we had to turn in a claim for it on the replacement policy. Once again the flim-flam of marketing reaches out to slap the customer. We were told that for $6 a month we could get the phone replaced if anything ever went wrong with it.

Nothing was said about paying $50 and waiting for them to ship you a new one —— then having to bring it back to the store to get “activated”. I wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t another fee for activation. Always the fine print.

MjL

#6 Click this link to see Blog page --> 05/16/2008

Yesterday morning my email inbox had a message from my #USCellular telling me my bill is ready for this month. So I browsed on over and downloaded the pdf version of my phone bill.

I make a habit of going through it real quick just to make sure I’m not being charged for text messages, roaming, etc. that shouldn’t be on the bill. (Also to keep an eye on where my boys are calling!).

I noticed there are three calls on the bill through a Chicago tower. I checked the dates and they were during the time Tracey and I were in Decatur. In fact it was a business trip she took and I just happened to go along for the fun of it.

So I asked Tracey what she was doing in Chicago during those dates and how I thought she said she was in Decatur and what was she doing in Chicago when she SAID she was in Decatur, etc.

She immediately remembered I was along on that trip and spoiled my fun. Still, I wondered how this could be so I called up the cell phone company and asked the nice young lady. Fortunately there was a call listed as Decatur just two minutes after the call through the Chicago tower so I had evidence we couldn’t be in two places that far apart in two minutes.

After listening to funky hold music for a bit I got this technician who tried to explain it doesn’t mean nothing as how the call routes by computer through different towers. I told him that was nonsense as I happen to know the law uses phone records to establish the location of cell phone calls and the bill clearly states the cell phone tower by number and location. After some discussion I asked him to please pass my request upstream to insure they were properly recording the cell towers and locations because at the least some spouse is going to question what the other spouse was doing in Chicago when they were supposed to be in Decatur —— that example seemed to make more sense to him.

I doubt it will get fixed but I tried. The lesson to remember is not to count on your cell phone for an alibi of where you were because it might get you into more trouble!

MjL

#7 Click this link to see Blog page --> 07/17/2009

Phone Scam Charges

#USCellular #Facebook

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#8 Click this link to see Blog page --> 07/26/2009

We also got a letter from #USCellular. They are changing the voice mail system and we will have to set that up again on all our phone accounts. They have changed the #Password requirements so you can’t use anything easy to remember like 4 numbers all the same (4444), consecutive numbers (1234) or even odd / even combinations.

I guess I’m not that impressed because I’m not as concerned about who can hear my voice mail as I am about what some people say on it. Sometimes I wish there was a password to leave a message.

MjL

#9 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/11/2009

Today is the day #USCellular forces me to “set up” my voice mail. Never mind that I had it “set up” before they started screwing with it.

The recorded message begins “For English, press 1” and goes downhill from there.

Why couldn’t these idiots have simply taken my old settings and applied them to this so-called new and improved system? Probably because the technology of transferring database information is too complicated for them.

On top of that inconvenience they have decided to keep me from using whatever #Password I want —— it can’t be consecutive numbers or number series or anything else easy to remember and use —— they want to protect me from some unknown person who might not even speak English!

MjL

#10 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/15/2009

I got our #USCellular cell phone bill off the Interwebs yesterday and it looks like we got credited for the ridiculous #Facebook charges. I’m happy about that but have to wonder how many people just go ahead and pay without ever questioning the bill? I suppose that is their problem but it would be nice to have an FCC that actually regulated these things and kept people from getting charged ridiculous fees.

MjL

#11 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/30/2009

I fiddled with Tracey’s phone yesterday trying to get it set up so she can connect to her Voice Mail with one button press and not have to enter the corn starch #Password.

I called the local office to ask for help and that was a huge mistake. The young lady who answered the phone was totally clueless. She obviously has no knowledge about anything but selling the darn things.

I called the #USCellular national office and reached a lady who knew immediately what I wanted and how to do it. What a relief. It is amazing how refreshing it is when you do find someone helpful and knowledgeable, it seems to be a rare thing anymore.

MjL

#12 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/07/2009

I still have $70 rebate hanging out there from the purchase of my Blackberry phone. I really hate having to fork over that much extra money for #USCellular to draw interest on for three months or so. I know I’ve done a couple rants on rebates already so I will just say IT SUCKS!

MjL

#13 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/15/2009

I did have one pleasant surprise yesterday. I got a letter from #USCellular and I figured it was just the monthly bill. It turned out to be my $70 rebate on the Blackberry I got six weeks ago. I suspect I have already mentioned how I feel about rebates? Anyway, I was glad to get MY money back. Except now the bill is still coming soon.

MjL

#14 Click this link to see Blog page --> 02/21/2010

I spent part of my afternoon on the phone to #USCellular to see if I could get any information about how to upgrade the operating system on my Blackberry so I could use the Kindle application on it.

As usual, these people know all about how much they cost but absolutely nothing about how they work. But if I do something to mess the phone up they won’t replace it because whatever I did must not have been approved.

I really think if somebody out there really gave technical support to products it would help their sales department an awful lot. I am dreaming though. They make enough money they don’t have to care.

MjL

#15 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/17/2010

#USCellular has another Flavor of the Month Deal going on. I was downloading the PDF version of my bill a couple months ago and I noticed an ad that said I would get 3% off if I set up an “auto payment”. So I did. No discount.

I called them up yesterday and I get some guy who immediately starts trying to sell me the latest marketing scheme —— “The Belief Project”. What The Hell? I have to switch to this new nightmare service plan to get the discount but it costs way more than I would get out of it.

OH! But you get Reward Points you can use on Ring Tones and other worthless junk.

I asked the guy if I sounded like the kind of adolescent moron who used Ring Tones? The phone rings —— I answer it. It is NOT entertainment. These people make me sick.

MjL

#16 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/18/2010

You may recall my comments on Tuesday was partially about the sales and marketing techniques of #USCellular. Yesterday morning, less than 24 hours later, my cell phone was dead. The battery was completely drained and it took over an hour on the charger before the phone would even turn on. Coincidence? I wonder ——

MjL

#17 Click this link to see Blog page --> 06/30/2011

I checked on the rebates for our new phones from #USCellular. Evidently they got my submission but not Tracey’s.

I get thoroughly disgusted with all of this rebate nonsense. I called and was told to re-submit because they know we bought two phones but don’t understand why they “didn’t get” the one. They got it all right I am sure but the minimum wage person who received it probably could care less if we get “registered”.

I am thinking there is not a high level of job satisfaction in opening rebate letters. I suspect we will eventually get the rebate but they are going to make us jump through all the hoops.

MjL

#18 Click this link to see Blog page --> 07/01/2011

It appears the #USCellular rebate system has finally recognized our rebate entries. Now there is a bit of financial wizardry I wish we could get rid of.

MjL

#19 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/25/2011

The long awaited #USCellular rebates finally arrived yesterday. Nice deal for them —— we pay $100 too much for each of our phones which they keep and draw profits from —— then almost three months later they send us back our money. I sure wish there was a law against this crap.

MjL

#20 Click this link to see Blog page --> 01/02/2012

Tracey’s replacement phone arrived Saturday but we didn’t get a chance to work with it until yesterday. We had to charge it first, then I gathered all the files off the digital card and transferred those. Then we had to call #USCellular and get it activated.

We managed to get her email, calendar and contacts set up and a few other applications but it will be a while before we get it all squared away.

MjL

#21 Click this link to see Blog page --> 04/15/2012

#USCellular
Aaron lost his cell phone recently so I guess we will be going to Pekin tomorrow to get him another one. He has had the same phone now for many years so he was about due for another one anyway. I called U.S. Cellular and had them temporarily shut the phone number off just in case somebody found it and tried to use it. They told me it was last used Wednesday and that was about when Aaron thought he had last used it.

MjL

#22 Click this link to see Blog page --> 06/16/2012

I spent about a half-hour on the phone yesterday morning changing our cell phone plan. I hated to do it, but it finally became more cost effective to go to the next flavor of the month plan because we wanted to add text messaging to A&B phones. What a marketing nightmare #USCellular has set up with all the various options and levels of extortion to use cell phone features. Anyway we all have unlimited picture and text messages for all of us for the same price as before and now we get Reward Points. Whatever the hell they are.

I had no sooner complained to the lady that the cell phone company wasn’t very technically capable for a high tech company when she explained a “glitch” in the system. I will have to delete my online auto pay account and make a new one because the “transition to the new plan isn’t seamless”. Guess what I will be doing today?

MjL

#23 Click this link to see Blog page --> 07/04/2012

Happy Fourth of July! I’m hoping today goes better than the last two! It has been a pretty rough week so far for things to go wrong.

One of our phones died after getting doused in soda —— so I made a wasted trip to the #USCellular store in Pekin to get it replaced. They sell phones and phone insurance, but they won’t help you get the phone replaced under the phone insurance.

I had to call it in myself and answer all the stupid questions they already know the answers to. Hopefully the replacement will get here in a week or less.

MjL

#24 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/12/2012

Our cell phone coverage has disappeared again this morning. I called tech support but they seem to be rather clueless. A while back Alan mentioned #USCellular was selling a major part of down state customers to Sprint. If we are in that area we are screwed because Sprint has no towers around here.

MjL

#25 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/12/2012

I just spent another half-hour on the phone (land line) with tech support over this #USCellular issue. Here’s a silly question for you, “About how many calls have you missed?” —— Answer: “I wouldn’t know, I didn’t get them.” So now we have a “ticket number” and they will call back when it is fixed. It will have to be fixed before we can get any calls on our cell phone.

MjL

#26 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/13/2012

Although #USCellular said there was no reason they knew of why our phones weren’t working things started working again about a half-hour after I called.

Much later in the day, late afternoon, I got a call back with the explanation that they had found a problem with a T1 line and it should be fixed.

I have to wonder how a major phone line can have “a problem” that they aren’t aware of until a customer has to convince them of it —— or —— if they knew about it, why would they lie and say they didn’t?

I honestly think we are going in the wrong direction with technology. Too much technology jury rigged together and too few people who understand it.

MjL

#27 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/29/2013

I called our cell phone company, #USCellular, to ask some questions about what it would cost to get wireless Internet for our house. Nobody answered. After two minutes of pressing buttons and listening to advertisements I was told my wait time would be another twelve minutes. I hung up. They are under different management now. The last time I called I talked to a person within a couple minutes. And so it goes.

MjL

#28 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/29/2013

After that last comment I happened to think I hadn’t seen a bill from #USCellular or paid a bill for the last week or so —— and it should be due. So I went to the web site and found these graphics (I mashed two of them together) below —— I guess poor customer service on the phone line isn’t the only problem the new management is having.

MjL

#29 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/05/2013

Tracey spent over a half-hour on the phone trying to get her phone service swapped back now that she has her phone back. There is a definite drop in service with the new owners of #USCellular.

MjL

#30 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/10/2013

Tracey has been very interested in getting a new gadget —— it is the Note 3 by Samsung. Sort of a cross between a cell phone and a tablet —— a phablet.

I ran across a review that said the thing would be available at #USCellular and it was supposed to be out yesterday so I called the local store in Pekin.

The first time I called I got shunted off to the corporate number and put on hold. I called back later and finally got through to the local office and the guy who answered immediately put me on hold. So I cancelled the call.

Tracey and I had gone to Texas Roadhouse for supper so we thought we would stop by the U.S. Cellular store in E. Peoria. The sign said they were open but the door was locked.

So we went to the store in Pekin and after standing around waiting for almost 20 minutes we left. The sales people (there were only two) were unbelievably slow!

I called the Pekin store after we got home and finally got somebody to talk to but the guy was clueless. He knew they were getting some of the gadgets in but they didn’t have any yet and he had no idea when they would get any. I asked the price and I could literally hear him turning pages and clicking keys on the computer. It seemed like forever (probably all of two minutes) before he told me how much he “thought” it would be. Couldn’t be sure though.

Once again I am disappointed in the way this once reliable business has gone completely downhill since being bought out by Sprint. We are seriously thinking about buying out our contracts and moving to Verizon. I’m afraid they won’t be any better though.

MjL

#31 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/10/2013

I called #USCellular again a moment ago and when the woman answered the phone she immediately asked to put me on hold —— I said no —— and she hung up on me. I think this may help me decide #Verizon might be the better place to do business.

MjL

#32 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/10/2013

HA! I just called the local Verizon office and in the middle of me explaining I was thinking of switching from #USCellular to #Verizon —— she put me on hold. I hung up. I guess horrendous customer service is the norm in the cellular phone industry?

Update: 10/10/17
We finally bought a pair of the Note 3 smartphones online. That went through without any hassle. Getting them to work, however, is another story.

MjL

#33 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/11/2013

Tracey wants us to go get her a Note 3 this evening after she gets off work. We have decided to stay with #USCellular because we still have contracts on our other phones and it would cost too much to pay those off early and switch to some other phone company. Besides, there is no guarantee customer service would be any better any place else. I am still flustered that when I called #Verizon and told them I was thinking of switching to them —— they put me on hold too. Irony.

MjL

#34 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/12/2013

I called the #USCellular store in Pekin shortly after they opened and was surprised somebody answered the phone on the first ring and didn’t put me on hold. Little did I know that may have been the last thing that went smoothly.

They had the new Note 3 in so a bit before 10:30 a.m. I went there to buy one for Tracey and one for me. What the heck I haven’t bought any expensive tech stuff for a while. (NO! The new trackball and the new Ford car don’t count!)

I told the salesman, Jeff, that I had to pick Tracey up at 12:15 p.m. and he said it would be no problem. It should only take a few minutes. Right?

So he looks at my driver license and asks all the questions excluding my shoe size and the paper work is done.

Then he starts setting up the phones —— and —— nothing. He can’t get the phones activated. He clatters at the keyboard, makes faces, starts mumbling to himself, etc. At around 11:30 he gets completely disgusted and calls somebody. It is clear he can’t hear them very well on the phone and they are not telling him what he wants to hear.

He finally tells whomever is on the phone that he is NOT going to cancel the order and very gently hangs up the phone because it is clear he wants to slam it down. He says, “Excuse me.”, gets up and walks away. I think because he wants to go punch a wall or maybe his boss.

Longer story short — I leave with two new phones that don’t work with effusive promises he will get them working. Our old phones still work and he tells me some time during the day the old one will quit working and the new one will start working. Right?

I get to the clinic just in time to pick Tracey up and she is delighted to have her new gadget and disappointed it doesn’t work. Of course. We were able to connect them to the wifi at home so I got a few things like the calendar and email sharing set up etc. And when Tracey got home from work we got her new phone on the network and started loading stuff on her phone too. So it wasn’t a total loss —— just no phone calling, text messages, etc.

We get phone calls from Jeff throughout the afternoon and evening with progress reports that were increasingly dismal. Finally around 8:30 p.m. Jeff calls and tells us they have completely hosed their computer system trying to get this to work and he again apologizes profusely and tells me he will get right back on it when he gets to work at 10 a.m. this morning.

I am amazed that not once did I lose my temper or say anything nasty. Probably because Jeff has been so genuinely distraught and apologetic. My opinion is that we got the first Note 3 in the area and their system isn’t set up for them yet. A major problem with adopting new technology early —— you get to be the beta tester and guinea pig.

MjL

#35 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/13/2013

And now —— the continued saga of the NEW PHONES THAT DIDN’T WORK!

And now they do! We waited all morning to hear about getting our phones activated and I received one voice mail message from salesman Jeff saying he was still waiting for IT to fix things. He didn’t call me, the phone didn’t ring, he just sent a voice mail. Tells me he was too afraid to actually speak to me. Tracey had a coupon for Bob Evan’s so we went for lunch (and then forgot to use the coupon darn it!). We stopped at the phone store and talked to Jeff and his manager. They both said all we could do was wait. The manager seemed to think this was just OK because, after all, it wasn’t like our OLD phones didn’t work. Grrrr.

I called Jeff again around 6 p.m. Still waiting on IT. So I called the national #USCellular customer service line and generally made a pest of myself telling each person I wanted to get this expedited NOW! I finally ended up with a very cheerful lady who spent about an hour talking us through the process and VOILA! She got them working. I knew it wasn’t rocket science! So our phones finally work properly and I have retired the old phones to the electronic morgue in my filing cabinet. I don’t even want to think about how long we would have waited for this problem to fix itself.

MjL

#36 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/17/2013

The UPS truck arrived yesterday with a package from #USCellular. It is a new SIM phone card? I have no idea why they sent that to us unless they thought it was somehow needed to get one of our phones working. I’m not even going to call and ask. Crazy.

MjL

#37 Click this link to see Blog page --> 12/06/2013

Tracey sent me a text that she is getting automated calls from #USCellular that she should call them immediately. She was at work so she wants me to check into it.

I called and got the usual phone menu run-around and then was told wait time would be over 15 minutes —— so I scheduled a “call-back”.

I called the local Pekin number but they know anything about that but started lecturing me about my “past due” amount. I don’t have a past due amount.

I finally hung up on the bozo because he wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise and kept saying I had to come to their office to straighten out their mess. Not going to happen.

After about a half-hour the phone rings and I get put on hold by the call back and after twenty minutes of that I hung up again.

I don’t know what the hell their problem is but I’m not going to waste my evening worrying about it. I thought perhaps there would be something on the web site but nothing there.

In fact all I discovered there is that they can’t do simple mathematics. Here is a screen shot from the web site —— do the math.

MjL

#38 Click this link to see Blog page --> 12/07/2013

Tracey worked late yesterday and altogether she received four automated calls from #USCellular telling her to call their national number immediately.

She finally got through after an hour of waiting at work for their “call back” and then when she finally got a person to talk to they wouldn’t talk to her.

She didn’t know the pin number. And they wouldn’t call me. This has become so ridiculous it is no longer funny. We called again at 9:30 when I picked Tracey up from work and the phone was still playing hold music when we went to bed a half-hour later.

Tracey took her phone with her when she went to get ready for bed so I don’t know if she talked to anyone or not. She wrote the pin number down just in case. The bureaucracy of business is a royal pain in the ass.

MjL

#39 Click this link to see Blog page --> 12/07/2013

And I forgot to mention that just as Tracey was going to hang up on #USCellular last night and climb in bed —— some guy came on the line to ask what she needed.

It turns out we were getting the “your bill is past due” phone call. The problem is our bill is NOT past due because we didn’t pay it but because they shut off the automatic pay system and didn’t collect the money.

He assured Tracey we had nothing to worry about and that they wouldn’t shut our service off because they knew we weren’t slackers who hadn’t paid our bill. They will turn the autopay service back on soon and collect the money.

You would think some genius in the corporation would realize the thousands of people calling because they were irate about this phone message would have clued them in that they could stop sending the automated phone message to the people who were on the autopay system and U.S. Cellular hadn’t collected their money.

It is this very type of corporate incompetence that grows by leaps and bounds. I can almost forgive overlooking the mayhem that would be caused by this automated computer message being sent to literally thousands of customer phones —— but it makes no sense that they made no effort to put a stop to the nonsense.

They let all those people clog up the customer service lines for no good reason. I guess that is why they demand those multi-year service contracts to keep people from leaving them in disgust when they pull idiot moves like this one.

MjL

#40 Click this link to see Blog page --> 01/23/2014

I got an email from Aaron last night just before I went to bed. He has lost his cellular phone. I called up the #USCellular corporate customer service and had them deactivate his missing phone and then set them up with authorization so Aaron can get a new phone without having to come back home to do it. There is a phone store in Clinton, IA so Aaron should be able to just go there and get another phone now.

MjL

#41 Click this link to see Blog page --> 02/22/2014

I received an email from #USCellular saying my auto-payment had been processed. The amount was about $80 too high.

So I got on the phone and the first option the automated voice gave me was to have a “call-back” in fifteen minutes. It took some cussing and button pushing to convince the stupid machine I would hold until I could talk to a person.

Aaron and Ben got new phones a couple weeks ago and they both paid the upgrade and “activation” fees while at their respective stores; I had a pretty good idea that this is where the $80 overcharge originated.

After about fifteen minutes a nice young lady answered the phone and after the usual preliminary dance while she asked me everything but my name (we are all numbers now) I explained that I thought they were overcharging me (again) but I didn’t give any details. #NotANumber

Sure enough, after a couple minutes, she came back from the empty void of “on hold” to explain the “activation” fees. I let her run her course because she wouldn’t initially let me interrupt her obviously rehearsed speech. Then I explained I had receipts for those charges.

She finally had to ask me which dates these transactions took place and it took far longer to find that we had paid than it did for her to find what she thought we owed.

In the end we agreed on some numbers and I hope she can follow through with the proper credits. She closed the conversation by praising me for my cooperation and that “by working together we solved YOUR problem.”

Many thoughts raced through my mind but I remained speechless. It was never MY problem. It was caused by negligence at U.S. Cellular. It seems I have too many “MY problems” lately.

MjL

#42 Click this link to see Blog page --> 02/27/2014

#USCellular decided it was time to “upgrade” my cell phone software. I should have backed up the contents of my SD card because the upgrade toasted it as well as changing a lot of settings on the phone. I will never know the reason for the “upgrade” I suppose but I’m pretty sure it didn’t do a damn thing for me and was for their convenience and not mine. And here I thought I owned my phone, but I guess they do really. Pretty much like my computer. Bill Gates decides to turn it off every now and then for “updates”.

MjL

#43 Click this link to see Blog page --> 05/01/2015

#USCellular decided my smart phone needed an upgrade yesterday and wouldn’t let me be until I agreed. Kind of like extortion if you can’t use your phone without knuckling under to their demands.

So now my phone has lotsa new artsy fartsy colors, bigger icons and buttons that take up way more screen real estate than is necessary, and —— of course —— several more annoying applications I don’t want or need. Especially since this garbage clogs up the speed and memory which slows down the device.

I can’t see any new function that I would want and don’t appreciate them rearranging the look and location of the same old stuff. I used to know how to find almost everything on the stupid phone and now I’m back to hunting and pecking to find things.

I would say all in all this was just another downgrade to my phone’s function and again I find myself wondering if I shouldn’t just go back to the old flip phone and do without all the pretty junk they have foisted on me.

MjL

#44 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/21/2015

I spent some time on the phone with #USCellular trying to figure out how to use the bogus 30,700 *Bonus* points we have managed to accrue. They disappear on Sept. 1st so I thought I would try to get some things like phone batteries, docking station, whatever. No deal. You can’t even get a phone battery from a business that you have to buy phones from exclusively. The thing I hate the most about talking to those people is the constant push to *upgrade* or *renew* our cell phone “plan”. I kept telling the guy I was ONLY interested in sorting out the bonus points and he eventually got the message. I think my tone was probably getting a little stern. Ben says he needs a new phone so I tried to set it up so he could go to the store in Jacksonville and get a phone without any new contracts, new plans, activation fees, etc. We shall see. Ever since Sprint bought them out U.S. Cellular has headed straight to the dumpster when it comes to coverage and service. I used to recommend them to everybody. Not any more.

MjL

#45 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/27/2015

I also made a couple calls to #USCellular yesterday. I wanted to see what their rates are for wireless home Internet. Way too expensive.

I also talked quite a bit with them about what the options are to upgrade our existing account, termination fees, etc. Aaron and Ben are still on our cell phone plan and they have talked about breaking away to get their own service. The customer service people were all friendly and helpful but cell phone plans and pricing are such a mess with contracts and termination fees, etc.

I don’t know what we will be doing yet because I don’t want to make any changes until I know what A&B are going to do. I suspect all the rules will change again soon because cell phone plans are as fickle as IL weather.

MjL

#46 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/02/2015

We are making progress on getting our #USCellular phone plan sorted out.

We need to upgrade to a new plan because our old plan is costing too much. But we don’t want to make the switch until we get Aaron & Ben sorted out.

So it looks like in a couple weeks Ben is going to get a new plan while Aaron stays on our plan. They both also want to upgrade to smart phones. So we shall see how this progresses when the time comes to actually do it.

MjL

#47 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/22/2015

Aaron came over to do laundry and we all made a trip to #USCellular to get him a new smart phone and upgrade our phone plan. That seemed to take forever.

MjL

#48 Click this link to see Blog page --> 01/21/2016

We recently made some changes to our #USCellular cell phone plan. The web site immediately went dark concerning our data usage. We had to wait until the next billing cycle to see the information again. It happened again recently. I sent an email to the web manager department.

I find it disconcerting that a technology company can’t accurately provide information about a customer account just because a change is made to the account.

For two months in a row I have made changes to my account and then can’t monitor those changes because the web site can’t handle changes in the middle of a billing cycle. It must make people wonder how our bills can be accurate if the data can’t be displayed.

And providing a disclaimer in red font doesn’t really help either. Please upgrade the site to be more than an advertising tool.

The reply was basically that I should call them on the phone to ask anytime I want to know. Again, what is the point of the web site?

MjL

#49 Click this link to see Blog page --> 05/27/2016

We went to the #USCellular store in Pekin after Tracey got off work yesterday. It was surprising to see we were the only customers in the store when we got there.

After a little discussion about options and plans Tracey had the salesman begin the process of purchasing a new #iPad Pro. True to our usual bad luck things went haywire from there. The ordering system got locked up and after an hour of phone calls and keyboard pounding the salesman told us we should just leave and he would eventually get it ordered for us.

I actually think the sales guy was more upset than we were —— we have grown accustomed to these things since they seem to happen so frequently. We must have our own personal gremlin that jumps in to screw things up.

A couple hours after we got home I got an email that we should expect a shipment from UPS today. This was from UPS, not U.S. Cellular, so we can only hope we get what was actually ordered. And only one of them.

We will have to go back to the store after we receive the iPad in order to get the cell service activated, sign papers, pay the bill, etc. That will hopefully be today. And hopefully the gremlin will give us a break.

MjL

#50 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/28/2016

Tracey has been using her personal cell phone for work for many years. She got a stipend from work to help pay the costs. Now she has changed payrolls and is required to get a company phone. One option is for her to port her personal phone number to her work phone and then she will have a free phone and won’t have to haul around two phones. One personal, one for work.

I called #USCellular yesterday morning and after a bit of a run-around I was told we would have to pay a $177 fee to break our “contract”. When we got Aaron’s new phone last year I was quite positive I was told we wouldn’t have to worry about such fees. After some discussion I asked the lady how much it would cost us to simply drop all four of our personal lines and take ALL of our business elsewhere.

After a slight pause she explained I would get a refund of the entire charge if I called back when the fee arrived on our next bill. I don’t know whether to believe that or not. Sounds like “the check is in the mail” sorta thing. I asked her several times to repeat this and Tracey was listening on the speaker phone too. We shall see. Tracey ordered her new company phone yesterday afternoon.

MjL

#51 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/11/2016

#USCellular
Tracey dropped her cell phone coverage with our home account since she got a new company phone. I went to the web site of our provider only to be greeted with a message proclaiming in bright red font that a recent change in our account would mean we wouldn’t be able to get any information until the next billing cycle. Our billing cycle began yesterday.

So I called the customer support number and waited through the numerous prompts and choices until I was greeted by the machine voice telling —— again —— I would have to wait until December 10 to get any information about my account.

I don’t know about you but the only time I need this information is when something has changed out of the ordinary. I am absolutely disappointed that a national multi-billion dollar TECHNOLOGY corporation can’t update a web change in a couple of days? That is something out of last century. Big on advertising, very short on customer service and —— TECHNOLOGY.

MjL

#52 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/17/2016

Early yesterday morning I called #USCellular to get another update on how much data I have left.

After beeping and booping my way thru the redundant phone tree options I finally got a person. After answering umpteen questions I ask for the information and before I can finish she launches into the canned routine of how to get that information on the web site.

I eventually interrupt her to tell I can’t do that because the web site won’t be updated until Dec. 10th because a change was made on our account.

She then starts telling me how I can get the answer from the 1-800 phone number and again I interrupt her to tell her, no, that won’t work either. Same message. Wait two weeks. She sighs, gets me the info, I thank her and we are done.

Right in the middle of my nap I get a text message from U.S. Cellular wanting me to do a survey on the results of that phone call. It is safe to say I lost it.

Since my nap was shot I spent some time on their defective web site to find the “web response form” and give them several paragraphs about what I really think about a technology company that can’t update an information system in less than a month and how much I really hate the marketing dept. waking me up with foolish text messages. And also explaining how foolish I think it is to have to fill out a dozen blanks on a web form instead of just giving me an email address.

I’m surprised my cell phone still works.

MjL

#53 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/19/2016

#USCellular
I received an email reply to my complaint about getting unwanted text messages for surveys. I was assured I would no longer receive those text message requests even though she did her best to convince me they were important to my customer “experience”.

I received two more text messages shortly after the email. So much for their assurances. No. Why bother to reply again, again.

MjL

#54 Click this link to see Blog page --> 12/24/2016

I finally called tech support at #USCellular to discuss my smart phone problems. The technician talked me through how to re-boot the phone in Safe Mode.

I messed with it a bit then asked Aaron & Tracey to see what they thought. They both agree the touch screen is not as responsive as it should be. The phone is still under warranty for another month so I should get it fixed or replaced. It is always something.

MjL

#55 Click this link to see Blog page --> 12/24/2016

I talked with another #USCellular technician about my phone and he agrees it is not right. A new phone will be sent out next Tuesday and I will have to return the old phone to them. I like that just fine because I won’t have to go several days without a phone. Happy Ending.

MjL

#56 Click this link to see Blog page --> 05/04/2017

I noticed a few days ago that #USCellular had some new cell phone plans but they were long on brag and very short on details. I wanted to know what restrictions there were to the “unlimited” data plans and if the rules were different for tethering or using the phone as a data hot spot.

I got an earful of marketing bullshit about how the drastic reduction of speed from 4G to 2G really wasn’t a limit on data. And yes you can tether but the data “limit” before they throttle the speed is half that of your cell phone. High speed for you phone is 20G, but for you tethered device it is 10G. But the data is unlimited. Right?

Really. Suppose you rented a car that was advertised as unlimited miles but you couldn’t go any faster than 30 mph? Seems like quite a limit to me.

Bottom line. No.

On top of all that nonsense I got a text message from them fishing for compliments in a “satisfaction” survey. Like they really care.

MjL

#57 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/07/2017

I spent a half-hour on the phone with #USCellular trying to straighten out the bill for Aaron’s phone. They have been screwing it up consistently for months and I finally convinced somebody they owed us some money. Now I will wait to see if the next bill reflects what we agreed upon on the phone.

MjL

#58 Click this link to see Blog page --> 02/28/2018

I upgraded our #USCellular cell phone plan to the latest flavor of the day. They advertise “unlimited data”. That actually means you might get 4G speeds for the first 22 Gig of data, then you get slowed down to 2G speed. And if you use your cell phone as a mobile tether to another device you only get 10 Gig of high speed data for that and they throttle you. Marketing speak at its worst. But we get more data for a bit more money. Baby steps.

MjL

#59 Click this link to see Blog page --> 04/09/2018

I’ve been using my #USCellular cell phone data by tethering to it with my computer. I was told when sold this cell phone plan that I would have unlimited data on the phone with a cap of 22G and unlimited tethering with a cap of 10G with 4G data connections. After reaching those caps (limits on my unlimited service) it would slow down to half the speed but would still work. (Actually 2G is about a tenth of 4G speed, but that is marketing speak for you)

I just reached the 10G being tethered and it didn’t just slow down. It was cut off completely. So much for that marketing lie. Or perhaps they don’t train the sales people.

I’m not too concerned because it starts over again at midnight tonight and I have been rationing my use, but it stinks that you can never count on anything they tell you to be true.

MjL

#60 Click this link to see Blog page --> 03/06/2020

#USCellular
I will (hopefully) be going to pick up my new cell phone and Tracey’s new iPad mini this morning. The phone I have now was a refurbished one and the battery isn’t holding a charge anymore. It spends more time on the charger than in my pocket.

Tracey has had the same big iPad for years and wants the smaller version but waited until the fifth generation to get a better price.

MjL

#61 Click this link to see Blog page --> 03/07/2020

Even though I had an appointment I ended up waiting at the cell phone store for a while. I spent almost 1½ hours there. I was a bit aggravated but I also understood there was only one person working and several customers. I blame the #USCellular store owner for not having enough people.

I spent most of the afternoon playing with my new gadget and Tracey was very pleased after she got her new iPad set up.

We both love our toys so much.

MjL

#62 Click this link to see Blog page --> 04/14/2026

I said goodbye to #USCellular yesterday. My phone popped up a notification that said I had an “invalid SIM card”. I can’t call or text on my phone. I went online with my computer browser and began a customer support chat. After four tries to verify a pin number I’ve never used in over 20 years, I asked for a supervisor. Waited five more minutes for that.

We danced around the pin number bullshit a few times before the supervisor decided my name and phone number would work after all. She told me to shut off the phone, remove the SIM card, make sure it was clean and put it back in, then reboot. Nothing.

After some back and forth she suddenly announces the SIM card has to be replaced because of the merger with T-Mobile and equipment issues. I would have to take the phone to a store and get a new SIM card. I lost it.

I told her to cancel my account and I would go elsewhere. She said I would have to call Customer Service to do that. I asked her how in the effing hell I was supposed to call them when they had bricked my phone!?

After some frustrated profanity on my part and useless excuses online —— I disconnected the chat and used Tracey’s phone to call. Again I got the pin number crap only to be transferred to somebody else and start all over again.

I finally got a code number to transfer my phone number to #Verizon. After almost two hours messing with those idiots, I went online and ordered a new free phone from Verizon in less than 15 minutes. It’s supposed to be here by Friday and I hope there are no issues in keeping my same phone number. Grrrr.

MjL