Letstalk.com LetsTalk.com gives ridiculously short period to return phones without paying huge fee. Internet

I recently got a Verizon Wireless phone through LetsTalk.com. When I try to use the phone anywhere near my house, I get between zero and one bar, the person I am talking to can barely be heard, and the calls are continually dropped. I did a lot of research before buying, and paid extra for a Verizon plan because of their high reputation for connectivity. Because of this reputation, and because I live in a suburb touching Chicago and close to a tollwayvery well-connected, according to the coverage map--this issue came as a shock. I have talked to Verizon techs about this, and, after investigating, they have verified that I am located in some kind of black hole for signal strength on their network. They also told me they have no plans to fix the situation in the near future. In other words, Verizon phones are unusable where I live, and Id be an idiot not to quit the company before the 30 day trial period is up. I'm not happy with Verizon for signing me up for a plan without warning me about this problem, but my complaint here is about LetsTalk.

Recently I called LetsTalk to see how to go about returning the phone (which can be used only with Verizon), and talked to Nicolle (2237). She tells me that I had 7 days to return the phone with no charge, and that now I will have to pay about $250 to do so. It took longer than 7 days to identify that there was a problem with signal strength, exchange initial calls with Verizon customer service (who at first claimed I was in an excellent signal area and that the phone just needed reprogramming), bring friends' phones to the house to verify the problem, then have Verizon take more than three days before finishing investigating. Thus this 7 day policy is pure insanity/greed. This was further confirmed for me when I read that the customer has the 7 days or 30 minutes' use, whichever is less. Clearly LetsTalk doesn't seriously believe that 30 minutes is enough time to properly and thoroughly check out a new phone.

Furthermore, according to LetsTalk's website, Californians have a full 30 days to return their phones and get a full refund. In other words, LetsTalk *will* do the right thing when and ONLY when they are forced to by law. Scumbags.

This, of course, is at odds with the comforting welcome letter I got from founder Delly Tamer, in which is written, "For over six years now, the LetsTalk team has been working hard to making everything we do as helpful and beneficial to our customers as it can beI truly want you, our customer, to be happy, and I want to make sure that you are heard so that we can constantly improve upon your future experiences with usOur goal is to exceed your expectations. The success of our business has depended upon happy customers spreading the word" about us."

Well, I'll be spreading the word, all right.

I want what is only fair in this situation: to not be charged the $250, and for LetsTalk to change the policy so the same thing doesn't happen to someone else. I want an apology, too.

Itwilldo
Anytown, Illinois
U.S.A.