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Changing cell companies >> Be careful and read my nightmare!

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Advantage


"Transferring a cell number from one company to another is easy...right? Wrong!"

I have done very little other that be on the phone with Sprint Customer Service since last night around 10:00 p.m. and have been on the phone with them a good 3 solid hours today.

Yesterday afternoon I went into a Sprint store and told them I wanted to stop my Verizon account and open up a new Sprint account, purchase a new Palm 755P and sign up for thier $99.99  "All In One" program".  I asked a lot of quetions and one of them was how long would it take to transfer my number. I was told the transfer of my number to Sprint would take an hour or two at the most.

Within 2 hours my new phone was up and working and I could make and receive calls.  That lasted about an hour and I have not been able to receive calls since then and it is now nearly 3:30 p.m the following day!

After 7 phone calls to Sprint I have now been told that there is a "Portability" issue and it could take 2-3 days for my phone to be fully working!  I said ?!>@)(* !!!!!  and that was after I had cooled down!

I tried to to suck up to Verizon and reactive my old phone so I don't loose anymore business but it is too late and I can't do anything but wait!

So if you are switching from one cell company to another and keeping your old number "BE CAREFULL"!!

This has been nothing short of a nightmare for someone like me that lives with his cell phone and averages over 3,000 minutes per month of usage!

 

 Posted By: George Tallabas - Boise Idaho Real Estate Agent - Associate Broker 
with RE/MAX Advantage, Canyon Counties #1 Brokerage in sales and listings
specializing in Boise Idaho Real Estate and Southwest Idaho Real Estate.

 

Posted by

Native Idahoan and Boise Idaho Real Estate specialist serving Boise, Meridian Eagle, Nampa, Caldwell and the surrounding Treasure valley area of southwest Idaho. Specializing in residential, investment, land and commercial real estate. Search thousands of MLS listings at Boise Homes for sale and learn all about Idaho by visiting Search Idaho Homes

Comments (32)

George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Carol - Thank you my friend.  They have a $99.99 plan that includes everything unlimited and I thought I would try them.  I just have to find patience because this is really hurting my business!
Mar 26, 2008 01:31 PM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Steve - Just wanted to warn everyone.  I am getting more grey hair by the minute!
Mar 26, 2008 01:32 PM
Kay Van Kampen
RE/MAX Broker, RE/MAX - Springfield, MO
Realtor®, Springfield Mo Real Estate
George, I've been with Alltel for 10 years.  Guess I'd better stay put.  Sounds like they have your hands tied.  I'd be furious!
Mar 26, 2008 01:41 PM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Kay - This just hit me out of left field....this is my business lifeblood and there is absolutely nothing I can do. To these big companies we are all just a number!
Mar 26, 2008 02:12 PM
Diana Corcoran
Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Hudson Valley Properties - Rhinebeck, NY
Rhinebeck Real Estate
George: I feel your pain! I have no doubt however your reputation will keep customers coming back even with this glitch.  I am sure you wil find a way to rope them all back in..best of luck during the transition and hang tuff!C
Mar 26, 2008 02:37 PM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Diana - Thanks for the encouragement!  I needed that!
Mar 26, 2008 02:42 PM
Marlene Scheffer
Realty Station - Bremerton, WA
Realtor to Kitsap County, WA

You know, I've been thinking about looking into other providers, but now?  Ummm, I'm all good where I am!  Hope this gets resolved quickly for you.

Mar 26, 2008 03:27 PM
Tammy & Terry Coleman
Coldwell Banker Snow & Wall - Murfreesboro, TN
That is horrible. I hope you get it straighted out soon.
Mar 26, 2008 03:54 PM
Kris Wales
Keller Williams Realty - Lakeside Market Center - Macomb, MI
Real Estate Blog & Homes for Sale search site, Macomb County MI
I'm so glad I read this post.  I had been thinking of switching to Sprint because of their "All in One" promotion. So glad I haven't stopped in to the local store!
Mar 26, 2008 10:11 PM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate

Marlene - Just be careful my friend!

Tammy Lane & Terry - Thanks for your well wishes

Kris - I am glad you did stop by...have a great day!

Mar 27, 2008 02:19 AM
-- Casey Brischle
Columbia Bank - Spokane, WA
Spokane Home Loan Mortgage Professional
Hope your up soon George.  Pretty crazy to think about what we did BEFORE cell phones!?!  Cell phones and email, I am not sure how the world revolved without them. :)
Mar 27, 2008 05:33 AM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Casey - Thank you.  It's almost noon now here in Idaho two days after I purchased my phone.  11 calls later I still have no incoming calls!
Mar 27, 2008 05:35 AM
Karen Kruschka
RE/MAX Executives - Woodbridge, VA
- "My Experience Isn't Expensive - It's PRICELESS"
George,  I am well satisfied with Verizon until I have to call customer service and have to talk to a computer who may be better trained than the warm bodies who answer the phone
Mar 27, 2008 06:09 AM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate

Karen - Thanks but the reason I left Verizon is two fold 1) They offered me a wonderful deal on my total cost for a plan and then took it away from me saying thier representative did not tell me what she did and 2) The less expensive plan they have still costs me $140/month.  Right now I feel like I am dammed if I do and dammed if I don't!

Mar 27, 2008 06:13 AM
Anonymous
Anonymous

I FEEL YOUR PAIN GEROGE, I DO WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT I HAVE BEEN IN THE CELLULAR BUSINESS FOR OVER 25 YEARS AND I KNOW HOW FRUSTRATING IT CAN BE. WHEN YOU CHANGE CARRIERS YOU SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THEY DO NOT CLAIM THAT A PORT WILL TAKE 2 HOURS. THEY CLAIM THAT IT CAN TAKE BETWEEN 2 HOURS AND THREE DAYS. YOUR OLD PHONE WORKS UNTIL THE NEW PHONE IS ACTIVATED. THEY USE A TEMP NUMBER ON THE NEW PHONE SO YOU CAN USE IT UNTIL THE NEW NUMBER IS PORTED. GEORGE WAS ONE IN 50,OOO THAT GOT STUCK IN PORT LIMBO. I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MANY PEOPLE I HAVE TOLD NOT TO PUBLISH CELL NUMBERS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. YOU DON'T OWN THAT NUMBER AND IT CAN BE TAKEN FROM YOU. THE ONE THING THAT IS VERY NICE IS THAT YOU CAN NOW PORT THE NUMBER. IN THE OLD DAYS YOU HAD TO GET A NEW NUMBER TO CHANGE SERVICES. I ALSO CAN SAY THAT THE SAVINGS BY THE 99.99 UNLIMITED PLAN FROM SPRINT THAT GEORGE SWITCHED TO, WILL SAVE HIM ALOT OF MONEY IN THE LONG RUN.

Mar 27, 2008 05:53 PM
#27
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Thank you whoever you are but I already tried to get Verizon to reactivate my old phone.  They said they could not with my old number because they had already ported the number out.  The only thing they can do is give me a new number which will do me no good.
Mar 28, 2008 02:32 AM
Patricia Beck
RE/MAX Properties, Inc., ABR, GRI, SRES - Colorado Springs, CO
Colorado Springs Realty
I'm glad your phone is working again, what a pain!!  I can't believe you were on the phone with them for 3 hours!!!
Mar 28, 2008 03:11 PM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Patricia - Thank you again my friend. When I looked at my phone just before noon and saw I had a message I could not believe it!  What a big sigh of relief!  Thank you my friend!
Mar 28, 2008 03:13 PM
Barb Hutchinson, Fruitland Idaho - Payette County homes and real estate
Silverhawk Realty - Payette, ID
www.BarbHutchinsonHomes.com

I really wish I had read this before I tried to switch.  My old cell phone co. was getting so expensive that I decided to switch to Sprint (the $99 "everything" plan).  They told me it would take a few days to switch everything, so I waited.  A week went by and my "old" phone stopped working last Friday at noon.  But the "new" phone was not in service, so I had no phone for most of the afternoon out showing property.  When I got back into town I immediately went over to Sprint and they worked on the problem and after about an hour on the phone with tech support, they told me it was being fixed and I would have phone service within the hour.  By this time it was 5:00 on Friday.  Needless to say, I went without phone service for the whole weekend!  It is now Monday night and the "porting" problem still is not fixed (after two hours with tech support today).  I have no service of any kind, either incoming our outgoing.  They tried to make it sound like it was my "old" company's fault (Snake River PCS) and I believed them until I read your post, George!  I really think I would rather go to the dentist than have to choose a new cell phone plan and go through this!  I read the comment above by the anonymous person who said it is only one in 50,000 who get stuck like this - somehow that is not ringing true at the moment, LOL!  I am so frustrated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apr 07, 2008 11:08 PM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Barb - Spring tried to do the same thing with me days later and tried to blame Verizon but one of their own reps told me it was Sprints problem on the porting end.  I was told numerous different things for 3 1/2 days until I finally got service!  Good luck to you Barb and I hope your life is back in order.
Apr 08, 2008 07:19 AM