Aarghh Factor or Know What You Buy?

[Andy Sjostrom]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/31465.php' target='_blank'>http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/31465.php</a><br /><br /></div>Mary Vandeveire of Arizona Daily Star has written an interesting article called <a href="http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/31465.php">"Cell phones: the 'aarghh!' factor"</a>. In the article she sums up consumer frustration related to cell phones... or carriers, really. The article mentions that the the Better Business Bureau logged 18,323 complaints nationally about cell phone service in 2003, compared with 615 complaints in 1998. Major complaints concern credit, billing, contracts, coverage, roaming and so on. Basically all aspects of signing up to wireless services.<br /><br />The article is an interesting read and I do agree with the fundamental and underlying reasoning in the article. Carriers need to improve on pretty much everything they do including the packaging and billing of their services. However, as customers we also have to educate ourselves about the product we're out in the market to buy. Signing a contract without understanding it is never a good idea. If you don't understand it then don't sign it, or ask, ask and ask again until you get it. What's your opinion?

[Jason Dunn]

I've been very fortunate in that the Fido network (http://www.fido.ca) is amazingly stable....I never have serious problems.

[Kris Kumar]

I think billing problems or coverage issues are things of past. In the future (at least in the Smartphone world) we will see issues like vendor messing up the firmware upgrade (Verizion) or a vendor not releasing one (Motorola).

I agree the consumers need to be more aware or careful of what they are buying. Not only the contract, but the phone - its features and its capabilities. In a world where companies are trying to cut down on support costs, it will be hard to expect quality/informative customer support.