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Customer service sucks
May 29, 2010
7:09 am
iamdrumming
Niagara Falls
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I know I am a moderator here, but I have to vent my HUGE displeasure with SpeakOut customer service, and I hope the people from the official site are reading this.

My balance was over $13, (I checked it just this past Thursday) and in less than 2 days it dropped to just over $5. A $8 dollar drop!! I called SpeakOut customer service, and her only reply was that I made 8 minutes of calls on May 21. She had no other reason why my balance was so depleted. 8 minutes of calls only adds up to $2!! I don't have any data hooked up to my account. My phone is always turned off as well at home.

I hope this online account management that SpeakOut have rumoured to have is brought online quick, because I want to see how my minutes/balance just evaporate. This is absolute BS!!!

May 29, 2010
11:48 am
Lalah
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As a potential customer, I am very interesting in what happens. Losing minutes is frustrating enough, but customer service should be able to straighten this out ASAP.

May 29, 2010
12:32 pm
iamdrumming
Niagara Falls
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I do recommend the service, but I would keep a close eye on your balance, and make sure it doesn't deplete for no reason.

May 31, 2010
6:08 am
jktan99
Mississauga
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If this can happen to you, this can happen to anybody and I don't think people will check their balance all the time (well...I don't. I check my balance every two months or so). I don't know how many times this has happened to other people (who are not aware of it because they don't check their balance often enough).

If you have to keep a close eye on the balance all the time, it would be tiring, wouldn't it? We need a provider that we can trust, not the one who looks good on the "surface" but plays lots of tricks under the surface.

I do hope they can give you satisfactory explanation on your missing minutes. If they can't, well may be they have rabbits under their sleeves.

May 31, 2010
12:21 pm
iamdrumming
Niagara Falls
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Here's an update,

I received a great email from SpeakOut Wireless who looked into my account. All is well now. I'm sure it was just a glitch. I want to thank them for the prompt response.

I still consider SpeakOut the best value in wireless 🙂

May 31, 2010
1:35 pm
andreww
Toronto
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Interesting. I wonder if they would have noticed if you didn't? Wonder how many others this has happened to as well? I could have sworn my account was about $10 light the other month, although I had no evidence to back anything up.

Don't expect the online self service function to be any good either. I've used it on virgin, and it did little more than allow you to add services (couldn't remove them though), and gave no options for tracking call history or monitoring anything but your current balance.

May 31, 2010
6:37 pm
Anne
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I also thought I was overcharged $3 over the last 2weeks but it turned out my call log was missing a few calls I had made & received. Cust Svc went through them with me & 4 calls didn't register on my phone's call log & I definitely did make/receive those. I'm the only user of the phone so it wasn't a situation where they were manually deleted from my phone's call log. Possibly a phone glitch; first time it's happened. Personally I've always had very good experiences with cust svc.

June 15, 2010
6:24 am
tlfc
Etobicoke
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I have sometimes wondered where my money has gone too, but with the 911 charge and data plan charge along with occasional calling it's nearly impossible for me to track my usage accurately. Jotting down my balance every morning isn't doing it for me.

I, too, am patiently waiting for an online account management system to be put in place. Topping up will be easier and more reliable then also, like the recent oops on the 25% bonus.

Also, and a bit off topic, I have a 416 number and called my family in the 519 area code from Bolton in 905 and was told it would be billed Long Distance and it was. According to SO's local coverage map/table, this should not be so. I can't go and call SO every time I detect a billing problem either. Has anyone else found this to be true in the 519 area? Has 519 been excluded from the local calling area for 416/905?

September 1, 2010
8:16 pm
muser
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* customer service is terrible - good reason to use another provider *

I'm a new customer to speakout and I just activated my phone today Sept 1 2010 @ 11PM.

I took my time picking out a phone that was right for me, store guys were nice to me and answered my questions. So far so good. But then...

I had to call customer service to get my number because the automated service failed on me. The first two times I tried calling during the day I was on hold forever, so I tried again late at night hoping that I would get someone. I spoke with the rudest biotch in the history of the world. Rude with a patronizing tone! I asked her what her problem was, and that only made things worse, of course. So I asked to speak to her supervisor, I was put on hold for a while, and another lady picked up. I asked her if she was a supervisor, she didn't reply with yes or no, just "can I help you?" I told her that someone had been rude to me and she replied with "so what can I help you with?...ok I'll talk to her".

7-11 clean up your act! When this $100 expires, I'm changing providers.

BTW: This website is excellent, full of very useful info. Excellent job to it's creators and maintainers.

September 2, 2010
6:12 am
andreww
Toronto
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You cant hold an entire company responsible for the actions of a single employee. I've spoken to CS several times and they have always been helpful and pleasant. No matter what company you call, you will always get a bad CS rep at some point. Chalk it up to someone having a bad day and move on.

December 5, 2010
2:36 am
gogu
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Customer support.. huh
Haven't put any money on my account for 4 months. Finally got around to purchasing $25airtime and called customer support to cancel the data i previously had. The CS rep was told me it auto cancelled since the account only had $.12.
I've had this account for a year and every time it had reached $0 the $10 for data would still be pulled off once money was put back on.
Wanting to make sure i will not get charged for data i asked the CS rep her name, badge/agent number, no case number….. No we don't have numbers, i can't give you my last name.
…
So, if they do charge me for the data, there is no real record or anything to prove i spoke to "Jane Doe" and asked her to cancel the data.

Created the online account, and found out $5 was already taken away.. the website doesn't mention what the money was taken off for..

Another call into customer support.. 911 fees for the months you haven't used your phone for..

Speakout leaves a lot to be desired, gurantee that this will be my last top up with thse guys.

December 5, 2010
2:45 am
iamdrumming
Niagara Falls
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It is true that the 9-11 fee is deducted whether you use your phone or not. That goes with any company that charges the 911 fee.

December 6, 2010
4:37 pm
andreww
Toronto
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gogu said:

Customer support.. huh
Haven't put any money on my account for 4 months. Finally got around to purchasing $25airtime and called customer support to cancel the data i previously had. The CS rep was told me it auto cancelled since the account only had $.12.
I've had this account for a year and every time it had reached $0 the $10 for data would still be pulled off once money was put back on.
Wanting to make sure i will not get charged for data i asked the CS rep her name, badge/agent number, no case number….. No we don't have numbers, i can't give you my last name.
…
So, if they do charge me for the data, there is no real record or anything to prove i spoke to "Jane Doe" and asked her to cancel the data.

Created the online account, and found out $5 was already taken away.. the website doesn't mention what the money was taken off for..

Another call into customer support.. 911 fees for the months you haven't used your phone for..

Speakout leaves a lot to be desired, gurantee that this will be my last top up with thse guys.


I find it kind of interesting that you neglect your account, then blame Speakout. All these charges are clearly spelled out, and just because you have decided not to use your phone, doesn't mean that those charges stop. You fret about canceling data, well open a browser and make sure that it is switched off. From what I have seen, Speakout isn't in the habit of randomly stealing money from your account.

December 9, 2010
3:56 am
gogu
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"From what I have seen, Speakout isn't in the habit of randomly stealing money from your account."

Some of the posts above seem to contradict your statement…

I'm all about supporting small businesses.. but if you can't figure out customer support, you might not make it.
No way to monitor a service call, no employee number, we don't give out our last names… are you serious?!
And this is a service for ppl who use their cellular phones rarely (emergencies)? Would you want your grandmother, mother to have an "emergency" phone that they depend on with these guys?

December 9, 2010
12:37 pm
andreww
Toronto
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There have been several occasions when I thought funds were missing from my account. I called customer service and the did a audit of my usage, and in both cases it was me that had made the accounting error. CS has always been helpful. As for giving out a last name? Are you serious? You want my home address as well?

December 10, 2010
12:33 pm
gogu
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Have you ever spoke to any other cs team that didn't have a way to monitor calls? I have not!
Address, no! Badge number, id, name, something ffs.

January 3, 2011
7:11 am
BytheBay
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I have been checking out this site to see what the concerns and kudos are in relation to the service before I leave my current cell phone company. (I'm grandfathered in on a plan that I'll never get back if I leave.)

I have to say some of the comments seem a little odd to me. Being annoyed that SpeakOut has a minimal charge to maintain 911 service then saying "And this is a service for ppl who use their cellular phones rarely (emergencies)? Would you want your grandmother, mother to have an "emergency" phone that they depend on with these guys?" seems a bit contradictory to me. In my opinion If Gramma gets car-jacked she won't be thinking it was a smart move to save $18 a year if she has to call the service provider to get reactivated as her car speeds away.

I get home service through a tiny voip company that I'm sure does not record calls, but I reach a live person when I call or email - Often I get the SAME person and that's kind of a nice trade-off in my opinion. Personally, I like the message that supporting a non-conglomerates sends.

January 3, 2011
7:16 am
iamdrumming
Niagara Falls
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As far as I know, all prepaid companies charge a monthly 911 fee. If one isn't apparent, then they usually hide it within other fees. As far as the company goes, they use the Rogers network, which has been very dependable. I don't your comment about the "grandmother scenario". It is an excellent phone for light use. Service can be as little as $25 a year.