NEXT-HEL-what a rip off

[Adam McKeon]

IM here to vent and maybe prevent fellow members from going through what I have experienced with Next-hell.

First story: About 4 months ago my contract was due to be renewed with next-hell and I had been having serious service problems with them. Not getting calls, not able to make any, etc, etc. They ensured me it was due to the hurricanes and towers being down. ( cant believe I baught into that) Anywho, they offered me an Unlimited Plan for $120...I thought ..Ok I can handle that. free national long distance, text, the whole bit. What they lacked to tell me is that when it went from plan to the next there was a grace period.....Holy S---!!! In a 2 week grace period I recived a bill for $630
It went on there special " bend you over plan" I bitched and complained but got no where...I ended up having to pay it . Even though I wanted to leave those Bas----. I would not have been able to keep my number..Pluse they would have charged me there standard 250 cancellation fee.

Part 2,, this is the good stuff...I was in Daytona beach working the boat show and dropped my phone in the water...OOps. No biggie, I will see if my plan included insurance..if not .just buy a new phone. Nope..no insurance..And you cant just buy a Next-hell phone. No they charge you an additional $300 if you want a phone and extend the plan 1 year , or $150 plus a one year extension. plus the $35 tranfer fee. So if you want a half descent phone...Say $200 They tac on all that BS..
Let me tell you all something. I almost drove my truck through the store!
I bit my tongue as the poor lil girl sat in front of me apolagizing for what a rip off the company was.

So..Does anyone have a Next-hell phone they are not using? Thats the only remedy is to find a phone and pay 35 for the transfer and not extend your contract. I would be so grateful. You can leave a voice mail with the fishes at 904 838-8838
Adam

[Gordie Miller]

Go online to the corporate website, find out who the President of Nextel(Tim Donahue) is and get his phone #(703-433-4000), call his office. His secretary will answer, ask if he(she) is in, she'll say "I'm sorry he's in a meeting", what is the call regarding? Explain to her(politely)that you feel like you were misled and decieved and that you would like to speak to him regarding the matter. Then, politely, because if you THREATEN you'll be sued(threatening in this country is now worse than any capital crime), explain to her that you'll be calling 4 and 5 times per day, every day, until you the problem is resolved to your satisfaction. You could also try Richard Orchard, he is a Senior VP in charge of customer satisfaction, he's probably in the same Reston, Virginia office. Be careful to ALWAYS be polite but doggedly persistent, remember you have unlimited minutes! Good luck!

[msc5195]

I live and work just up the road at a Chemical Plant in Brunswick Ga. and the Chemical Co. that I work for was loured into nextel radios. This was supposed to be a big cost saving move for the company. They have a 300' tower just 2800' up the road, they came out and placed 4 signal boosting antennas through out the plant, and the company bought brand new Motorolla R720 intrinsicaly(explosion proof) safe radios. Well let me tell ya that was the worst mistake that management hasever made. Our lives depend on our radio communication and nextel failed. The service was terrible from day one. Now we have 21 brand new radios ($20,000.00) collecting dust. We went back to our old motorolla 2 way radios with a local repeator and the reception is great. This was in 2003 before the big nascar deal so they might be better now but I wish not to find out.

[KaptainKirk]

been great for me .....let me check with some of the guys there might be a phone laying around.....

[BoatGoFaster1]

hello adam,

I just went through some nexthell also.

I can't read my notes to good, but one of these numbers is good.

Tim's (the big guy) private conference room 703 394 4550

tim's voice mail 703 394 3952

Tims fax number, might be 703 394 4352

When I got the conference room some suit answered and I said, WHATS TIMS FAX NUMBER. from there I sent the fax and a flunky in his office resolved my problem.

hope this helps.

[sho305]

I know people here that have bought older phones for 10-20 bucks.


My alltel just died on me over new years...called all over them and now it is back working, but no answers. I know they had a problem with their system by the way the phone was freaking out, because the switch tells the phone what to do in CDMA systems.

Their big problem is they put the system together than get rid of everyone to cut costs, excepting the sales force. Then when the system gets full/etc, they have to call in support and figure out what went wrong or what needs upgrades...and those are not the same people that put it together of course. They all do it.

Make sure you tell them you were not told about the delay in change of plans/etc. Also check the website, as I have been told they have better deals than many of the Nextel stores. Keep complaning a lot and often.

Most of the sites run on T1 lines, yep phone lines! A few run on microwave if you see a dish up there and know it is a nextel site (and typically microwaves to another site to use its T1 line). Also, when something happens to up usage they are often not prepared for the extra loading...like if land lines go down. Motorola don't give Nextel the extra equipment for free if you know what I mean. When I worked for a sprint contractor they actually used to take voice cards out of sites busy during the week and put them in the sites next to the stadium for the weekend if there was a game...every week, so they didn't have to buy more cards. Needed a card for every call you put up on a site and they were expensive.

[WATERWINGS]

Yes, NEXT TA HELL never worked to good for someone I know.

They were always looseing signal and couldn't make calls from some areas, hope you get it straightened out.

John

[FLMIRAGE]

Got one, I30, you want it you can have it. Call me 863-412-7836

[Raceman]

My son uses Nextel and recommends it because he likes the radio. When he comes to the lakehouse he has no service. I've got Singular and it seems like the service area is much broader in Ga. I have 850 minutes, shared with 2 phones, free nights and weekends, and free to any other Singular customer anytime, no roaming, no long distance, and any minutes not used roll over to the next month. All that costs 59.95 and 9.95 more for the extra phone. Phones were free with 2 yr contract. His Nextel program overall doesn't compare, but he likes that radio thingy enough to put up with the rest.

[barr151]

I have had nextel for a couple of years now and even though the coverage could be better the service i have recieved is better than what i recieved at alltel and us cell. i learned early that if i want a new phone or something new on my contract i contact retention dept. this is the dept that has the power to give you what you want at alot lower price. when i talked with the sales dept they told me the last time i renewed my cotract that i would have to renew all five phones (2yrs) even though only two contracts were up and the phone i wanted would cost $249 plus activation/shipping. went to retention, they added more minutes (no cost), got the phone for $75 w/ no shipping/activation plus leather case and car charger and i only renewed the contracts that i wanted too. wish i would have seen this thread yesterday because i just sold my I730.
plus they now have coverage on the suwannee/santa fe river.

[sho305]

Most cell companies roam on their own or someones analog (old cellular) service, or roam on digital of someone elses where their system does not cover. Digital in town, analog in sticks. Nextel does not roam on anything at all due to special iDen technology motorola dreamed up, so no nextel service and no phone with them. They have a big system and the 2 way works great if you need it, but if you go out of system you are hosed. Most others you can scare a call up roaming if your phone can do it.

[1BadAction]

they have a monopoly on the "walkie talkie" so they treat their customers like sh*t and their service sucks too. also, they screwed the FCC out of billions but since they greased the palms of the right politicians, it is OK. nextel paid 550 million for bandwidth that is worth almost 7 BILLION dollars.

NEXHELL=SCUMBAGS

go here if you want to read more on the FCC screwing http://telephonyonline.com/ar/telecom_why_fcc_side/

[shenn7777]

A great site for mobile telecom.

Howard Forums (http://www.howardforums.com/)

[stokernick]

Why wouldn't you go through the AttorneyGeneral's office or the FCC,Iwouldn't waste my time arguing with those zzzholes.

[OceanmarineB]

besides the walkytalky i think the service is horrible.... in the N.Y.C area. nextel sux, the best is verizon then id say cingular

[mistymountain]

I have a nextahell Im not using. I just cancelled my service with them. I know how bad they suck. I've been nextahell for about the past 5 years. I have an i90 with a brand new car charger plus a home charger. Let me know if you are still interested.

[sho305]

All of them have bad areas, so ask around.

As far as the FCC, they are the biggest bunch of losers on the planet. Want to guess how many YEARS went by before they fixed the lack of service emergency workers had on 9/11? They made a killing off those auctions and ended with a mess....they are flat out clueless and still can't get it together. Just typical politician/lawyers in action I suppose, and you don't see anyone calling them on their ineptitude do you? Ask your state where all those cell phone 911 dollars you paid in went....ha ha ha. Kinda reminds me of California where the police can't do roadside sobriety checks because they get way to many illegals with no licenses....maybe the same people run immigration as the FCC? Either way it is obviously not worth discussing because everyone has their hands in someone's pockets when the money is that big...or you have the insane notion that a government entity can get a job done like that...

On top of that, I had an Alltel guy telling me I would HAVE to get a new GPS phone soon...what a load. I said why, does GPS work inside now? Will it work in my car and in my pocket, or both? Dah. Why so the government/a hacker/a lawyer can find you or me? The idiot had no answer, just a big crock to pour on me. Phones are about like computers now; you don't really need a new one because they are not smart enough to come up with something better you need to buy...the old one still works fine. Sure a few people want GPS phones, but to work they will have to record and track your last readable position...just like a new car records what you did before an accident. Someone will be able to find out where your phone is anytime.

A friend of mine has a nextel in his company truck that does GPS all the time. This way everyone takes their truck home, but you get fired if you take it to the bar.

[WATERWINGS]

Mistymountain...........hmmmm. I knew a girl back in High School that had that handle on the CB radio..........hmmmm

Welcome to Scream and Fly!

[sho305]

I might add about the nextel equiped trucks, they love them. That way they have no liabilty problems with the guys driving them when/where they should not, getting into trouble, or burning up gas. And, the trucks are much safer at the employee homes due to breakins at the company lot. They also work on the road (HVAC company), so that way it costs them nothing really as the employee can drive direct to the worksite like they would from the shop anyway...and the employees get to drive the co. truck home. They can also see what times the truck left the job at lunch, at night, etc. It is all wired behind the dash and they don't have to hook their nextel to it anymore. Nextel (err, Sprint :) ) has that market all wrapped up. I wonder what savings the company realized in reduced fuel/insurance/etc costs, possibly even better productivety?

Around here nextel does cost a little more for a personal phone though...I would not get one except many of my friends have one so I am thinking about that unlimited 2 way...not sure. They added coverage here last year so it works better.

[outboards4life]

my only complaint is indeed the price of there phones. I accidentally ran my phone over with my work truck about 2 weeks ago. Had to purchase a new phone. New phone was 175 bucks. Too cancel the policy was 150. Let me tell you it was so tempting. If it wasn't for the fact that I use the walkie-talkie feature constantly for work purposes I would have canceled.
I haven't had problems with reception, but I don't like the price for everything that they sell.
Travis :cool:

[mistymountain]

Oh Yea,,,,,,, and what High School would that be Waterwings?



Mistymountain...........hmmmm. I knew a girl back in High School that had that handle on the CB radio..........hmmmm

Welcome to Scream and Fly!

[Skittles]

The "insurance" plan they offer is a joke. It's a hell of alot faster and easier if you just buy a new phone........the only problem with that is the price..........if you are a new customer you can buy the phone for 100.00 or so............if you have been a customer since they started you have to pay 300.00 or more. I dont get it:confused: :mad:

[mistymountain]

It's called customer no-service.......................:p

[WATERWINGS]

Misty,

It was WATERWINGS High

[mistymountain]

Ha Ha Ha......


What a coincidence, that we would be from the same school. You know my best friend from Hich School was named John. What are the chances after all these years? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm;) Its good to talk to you again. How is the wings doing?