Worldcom Wireless a BIG joke, they should have their business license taken away and put in jail!

To All Future Victims of Worldcom Wireless:

Where do I start? I was finally able to cancel my contract after having to deal with their incompetent business for over a year. (I only stayed so I didn't have to pay $400 to cancel my 2 contracts)

On November 15, 2000, I received a promotional fax from Worldcom Wireless. After putting up a $500 deposit ($250 per phone), I received my phones on November 22nd. That's when the nightmare started.

They phones they sent me were Nokia's that were a piece of crap. The phones worked off one frequency, and hung up about 3 times in a 2 minute conversation, so I was being over charged minutes. I made several calls to get working phones and was told that I had never called before and that I should have made a complaint in the beginning, which is what I did. They sent me the wrong chargers and both batteries in the Nokias were bad. I was told that I could send the phones in but would still be charged service. The phones wouldn't be returned to me for 6 weeks after they receive it. Well, I had no intention of paying for 6 weeks of no service so I purchased 2 new batteries, and waited for them to send me working chargers.

I asked specific questions regarding the service and was told one story from one rep, while finding out that he basically lied and told me what he thought I wanted to hear. (A typical salesman, I think so) My first question was do you have service in Salem, OR. Oh yes, replied the sales rep, let me set you up right away. Come to find out, no, they did not have service in Salem, OR, and I was stuck with a phone number to a location that is an hour away, and needless to say also a long distance call.

From the first day I got my phones, I repeatedly called the original number (from the promotional fax) to tell them, hey, these phones are a long distance call. I was told, we are sorry, but your contract is in process, so we are unable to make any changes, please call us back at a more convenient time. (More convenient for whom?, Them, that's who, which seemed to be never)

From November 23rd to the end of December I called trying to get them to correct my phones numbers and to send me working phones only to be told my contract was still in process, there is nothing they can do.

Finally, in January of 2001, I was able to talk to them about changing my number to local phone numbers, just to find out that 1. They do not provide service to Salem, OR, and 2., I had waiting too long and there was nothing they could do about it. Although, I had been calling them for almost 2 months now. What a big joke. So, here I am stuck with two cell phones that are both long distance to me. And about the working phones, they said I waited too long and they don't have any record that I had called and complained in the past, although I called more than 3 times a month, and logged all my calls so I was able to give them names, dates, times, and conversation topics of each and every call.

At the end of January it dawned on me that I had not yet received a bill for December, so I called the company to find out why. They said to please be patient but due to their promotional ad (fax) sent out in November, because the response was so great, their billing system was not equiped to handle all the new accounts and they would send me a bill as soon as possible. My fault, absolutely not, but Worldcom Wireless seems to be putting the fault in their customers, and they are refusing to accept responsibility and remedy their inadequacy to handle their customers billing. So, January, no bill, and no way of knowing what I need to pay or if I am going over my minutes.

February rolls around, same story. I call, they can't help me because they are unable to access my account because they are rebuilding their billing system.

March, April, May, June, me making monthly phone calls worried about my bill, and I still get the same story. Yet they assured me (what a joke) that I would recieve a bill shortly. (They had been saying that since January.)

July 27th, over 9 months after I intially opened my account, I received my first of three phone bills in a weeks time. Amount of one of my phones over $600. The company, although they supposedly signed me up with 2000 night/weekend minutes, now says that I only have 250 night/weekend minutes. By the way, they also sent me a nasty letter saying that I need to bring my account up to date, or they will have to take further action. Now, who's fault is it that I could not pay my bill? Mine, for calling and requesting it monthly to no avail, or Worldcom Wireless' for not billing me on a monthly basis?

So, I call Worldcom Wireless, and after sitting on hold for almost an hour, and being disconnected twice, I get through to a rep. At this point, I am furious, (do you blame me?) so I tell the representative that I am absolutely not paying this bill in that outrageous amount because if they had been billing me as they should, I would have known that I was going over my minutes and I would have seen that they had only given me 250 night/weekend minutes when I had actually signed up for 2000. After speaking with the rep (alright yelling at and threatening to contact a lawyer), they credited my account and changed my plan so instead of paying over $600, I only had to pay $350. (which is still ridiculous, but I wanted to keep my credit in good standings, so I paid it)

I then asked them, well, after 9 months of phone use, this only covers the first 3 months, are you going to credit the other months, because I was not about to pay for their inadequacy. The rep stated that if I wanted credit each time I got a bill, I would have to call in and have them credit it. I asked her what about the other customers Worldcom Wireless has ripped off. She basically told me that if they didn't call in to ask for a credit they didn't get one, because they don't have time to go and clean up their own mistakes. (She accepted that this was Worldcom Wireless' error) They were just looking to the future. I told her that was a bunch of crap and that I would let everyone I knew know that they could get a credit as long as they called and asked for it. (Which is ridiculous, we shouldn't have to ask them to fix their error, they should fix it automatically)

They did credit my account each time I called, and it did reflect on my bill, so I will give them that credit.

I have been counting down the days that I could call and cancel. I called one rep and she said my contract ends 11/25/01. I asked her does that mean I can cancel on the 25th or do I need to wait until the 26th. She said, Oh no, you can cancel on the 25th. I proceeded to tell her that I would wait until the 26th because of everything they had screwed up, I wasn't about to get charged $400 because they don't know what they are doing. Just so you know, I called a second time and spoke to a different rep who said my contract ended 11/24. Hmmm, two different reps, two dates, two different stories. Typical Worldcom Wireless, so whatever you do, don't take one reps word for it. As inconvenient as it is, keep calling back. And just another point, I don't know where Worldcom Wireless procedure makers went to school at, but my school taught me that if you have a year contract that started on 11/15/00, then it cancels on 11/15/01 (technically 11/14/01), not 11/24 or 11/25 which is what two different reps told me when my contract ends.

So, November 26 rolls around and I call to cancel. So I ask them, hey when do I get my $500 deposit back? The rep says, I don't show you made a deposit. What was it for. HELLO, it's for a security deposit. You guys made me give it so I could open two accounts. Well, we don't have proof that you gave us $500 so you need to prove it. Well, now I'm really ticked because I told her after the service they provided (if that's what you can call it), I had no intention of walking away from $500. So I had to contact my bank, get some paperwork, and now I am still waiting on their reply. Luckily, paper trail is on my side and if they don't refund my money in 90 days (which is what they are allowed) then my husband and I will be contacting an attorney, and I plan to charge them interest, after all, don't they charge interest for late payments?

Also, just another note on how this company functions, I opened these accounts in my husbands name, I paid the deposit, I paid the bills, yet almost everytime I contact them they say I am not authorized to do any business on this account. Yet, I had a co-worker call and add me to the account, they didn't so much as ask for any ID whatsoever. I just don't understand how this company stays in business.

I know that this has been a long letter, my intention is to save consumers from the fraud that Worldcom Wireless is pulling.

If you have any questions, or would like more information on some of the trouble I had, or would just like to voice your frustrations on Worldcom Wireless, please feel free to contact me at 503-589-8581.

Holly Harden
Salem, OR

Click here to read other Rip-off Reports on MCI Worldcom