I’m in need of a new phone – Part 1
I loved my Samsung Omnia. I bought a Zagg for it, even though it’s in my opinion that Zagg’s don’t meet the hype. Needless to say, well within my one year warranty my screen starts going out of alignment. A week or so later I have to keep realigning the screen every day just to type on it, 2 weeks later the screen became non-responsive at all. A week goes by with just using the optical mouse and then the screen starts to peel off. I stop using my Omnia and called up Samsungs warranty department. They asked me if there had been physical damage to the phone such as water or dropping it, which there hasn’t, I take care of my things. The person I spoke with had the RMA department email me a shipping label so I went and printed it out, paid the UPS store a whopping $8 for a small cardboard box and peanuts to ship it!(I know, how do they get away with such robbery!!)
About a week or so gets back and unlike what I was told on the phone, their warranty department emails me telling me that they are shipping back my phone(including the tracking #) and voiding the warranty. The only reason specified was “ABUSE”. This pisses me off because the woman I spoke with said that they would be contacting me with the status of the repair or if there is any complications, instead they just shipped it back. This is a major disappointment because I’ve been surrounding myself with Samsung products lately and was wanting to buy an Omnia 2, 2 USB powered LCD Monitors, a bluetooth soundbar, a wireless ready blu-ray player, a laser printer, and a Samsung refrigerator. I already have $3000 worth of Samsung products in my home and this has been my first experience with their warranty center and I’m honestly quite upset by that.
Now that this new dislike for Samsung’s warranty center has developed I started looking at my options, and despite my trust in Verizon to always bill me fairly, provide me with great tech support, and great service, their modular pricing seems to be getting under my skin. This is what I was paying them for…
Last Months bill:
900 Minutes Plus email:
99.99
Mobile broadband connect(didn’t even use it once):
15.00
500 Texts(not unlimited):
10.00
VZ Navigator(if you don’t flash the firmware, this is all you can use and they charge you for it. Flashing is 3rd party and voids warranty…)
10.00
Verizon Wireless’ and Other Charges & Credits(aka whatever they wanna charge you for)
2.52
Taxes and blah blah blah
1.67
87 txt’s over limit:
8.70
I face dialed 411 information once:
2.99
This ends up being 150.87 for the month of December. Fun!
Now this isn’t just to play with, I run a business(a few kinda) and I have customers calling and txting me often and it’s not uncommon to go through a lot of txt’s, minutes, and data in any given month. I usually go over the txt limit by about this many, so I will perform the following comparisons with this in mind, minus the 2.99 for dialing 411.
So without 411, $147.88/month, across 12 months is $1774.56, multiplied by the contract length of 2 years is $3549.12. My girlfriend gets all of these features and more for $45/month without having to sign a contract with Metro PCS which works out to $1080 over 2 years of service. Unfortunately I’m traveling off the beaten path often so Metro won’t work for me yet.
Phone service guide, 1st quarter 2010:
A list of all of the above features I’m currently subscribed to and their costs from all major carriers, including all fees and taxes. This is just a guide I’ve compiled from other peoples data. No I’m not going to give you a map of coverage zones or a list of dropped call rates. I’m not backing any of this with facts, I’m just sharing my research with anyone who wants to read it. So don’t sue me AT&T when I say that you are by far the worst deal out there…
Verizon
900 Minutes w/ 587+ txts(500 + overage)
$147.88/month | $1774.56/year | $3549.12/Contract length
AT&T
900 minutes w/587+ txts(1500 incl.)
$121.74/month | $1496.88/year | $2957.76/contract length
Sprint
Unlimited calls to mobile, unlimited txt and data and everything else.
$73.18/month | $878.16/year | $1756.32/contract length
T-Mobile
Unlimited talk, text, and web
$84.18/month | $1045.16/year | $2055.32/contract length
Metro PCS
$45/month | $540/year | $1080/across 2 years
Most expensive to most affordable
- $3549.12 | Verizon (Too much)
- $2957.76 | AT&T
- $2055.32 | T-Mobile (Average)
- $1756.32 | Sprint
- $1080.00 | Metro PCS (Way affordable)
^The reason I’ve decided to highlight both Sprint and Metro PCS in green is because Metro has far less coverage outside of large cities and far less phone selections.
If you had to rank the reliability of the networks today it would go in this order:
- Verizon – CDMA (Best calls)
- Sprint – CDMA
- Metro PCS – CDMA (Average calls)
- AT&T – GSM
- T-Mobile – GSM (Worst calls)
If you had to list their coverage in order it would be as follows:
- Verizon
- Sprint
- AT&T
- T-Mobile
- Metro PCS
Selection of phones:
- Verizon
- T-Mobile
- Sprint
- AT&T
- Metro PCS
Overall I would say that Sprint and Verizon at this point are the only carriers I would consider at this point. Sprint is a lot less expensive, so that’s probably where I will go.
Bench Craft Co.
I would normally not do such a thing, but this company that has been harassing me is just outrageous and it blows my mind to see that they are still in business. Below I’m going to list my story and complaint, as well as those of others that I’m seeing online about how negative peoples experiences are with this company.
Another thing is, the only positive reviews for this business that I have seen look very suspicious and me as well as other people read them with a grain of salt because they all look like they were probably written by Bench Craft Co. and others have written so on these reviews. One reviewer looked up a business that was listed on the review and learned that it was a fake business planted there by “someone”.
My comment: Bench Craft Co. cold calls businesses and says that they are affiliated with your local golf courses, regardless of whether or not it is true.
The first time they called me they said they were calling on behalf of River Oaks golf course, they fed me statistics about how many visitors the course has, and what kind of advertising they could provide me through their score cards. Before I made any decisions or gave these people any type of payment or data I went in to ask the owner of the golf course how legitimate this is. He told me that they are a BS company and that doing business with them is a waste of time and money because they collect funds from advertising companies and then send the cards to the businesses without any incentive for them.
In short, they charge for advertising that never gets put into use!
I called bench craft, who after I expressed the SLIGHTEST interest in, called me CONSTANTLY trying to collect a payment from me when I wasn’t entitled to give them anything. I explained what I learned from the owner of the Course and I was told by Bench Craft Co. that the owner of the course was required to use the cards they provided and that I was required to send them a payment because they have a legally authorized contract with me, which they DID NOT. They threatened taking legal action against me for not paying them for a service that they are incapable of providing, and they lied and tried to coerce me into their hasty collection process. This company tries to collect money from businesses through lies and intimidation and it did not fly with me. I told him to go ahead and do whatever he could to try to take legal action against me, but they really have nothing going, they lie.
After becoming infuriated by their rep, I didn’t hear from them for over a month. Then I receive another cold call from one of their sales rep calling to say he was reaching me on behalf of a different local golf course. I asked him where they were located and, well, he was from Bench Craft Co. I told him nicely that I’ve had very negative experiences with others in his company and that I would like it for Bench Craft Co. to keep a note that they need to NEVER call me again. This salesman was nice.
About another month goes by and this morning I miss a call from a 1-800 number. They leave me a message saying that they are calling from another local golf course but stating that they need a call back from me to discuss things like they need my help with something. I run a web design business, how was I to know it wasn’t the actual Creekside golf course. I called the 1-800 number back, and received Bench Craft Co.’s receptionist. I told her that she needs to make a note that I hate Bench Craft Co. and that I have requested before that they never call me. She asked me for my customer number with Bench Craft, which hopefully I don’t have. She took down my information while laughing at me the whole time we were on the phone.
This is just an extremely rude company who has no control over the businesses they advertise for, are rude, overly persistant, and they lie. If they call you, ignore them and tell them to never call you again.
From Google & Yellowbot:
Thieves, racists and sexists and…..
http://www.clark.wa.gov/sheriff/commu…Their VP! He hires more guys with the same criminal record if he can find them also. They hate black people, they won’t promote women above menial labor, the have over 300 recent complaints against them with the Better Business Bureau
RICKARDS, GEORGE GUY
Age: 64
Eyes: BRO
Hair: BRO
Height: 602
Weight: 225
Sex: M
Race: W
-Registration Level: II
Contact Frequency: SEMI-ANN
Next Contact Date: 4/4/2008Convictions:
RAPE I / 02-21-86 / HILLSBORO, OR WASHINGTON, COUNTY
Address: 705 NW 72ND ST VANCOUVER WA 98665Posted by Nancy Vaughn on July 02, 2008From Yahoo:
by Craig M – Vacation Rentals By Owner
10/17/2009
Run away as fast as you can if you are called by these poeple. Your order may never be delivered and they will keep your money.
User Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
by Great-Installations
03/12/2009
this site needs no stars rating!, bench crap company should be there name, a 100% rip-off company, i have been promised a bench for one year now, i call just to hear how stupid the next excuse is. Buying stock in todays market is safer than talking to this company, buyer beware!
User Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
by Laura
09/12/2008
WATCH OUT… nothing good can be said about this company. Look them up on the BBB 180 plus complaints
by bt
08/30/2008
sex offenders and criminals, don,t do bussiness with these awful people.
by MTInsurance
07/10/2008
Thanks to everyone who left a message about this company. I was contacted just the same way many of you were to purchase a bench ad. Due to the pushy tactics and urgency to commit I decided to do some research. Neadless to say I will NOT be doing business with Bench Craft. Thanks again for your comments!
by Cameron N
07/01/2008
I’m more than just a little upset that I even had to give this company a star to enter this review.
This company is horrible. They lied to me multiple times. They fraudulently charged my credit card. They rebutted my BBB claim by saying the ad was already displayed at the golf course (another LIE).
The contract they mail you is completely different from what they promise on the phone. DON’T DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY! EVER!!!
It is a shame that Bench Craft Company feels as though they have to lie to you on the phone and get you to agree to somthing and then you find out that you are paying for somthing you had no intention of doing. They started out doing what they said they would do and then, when they had my confidence, they lied to me and have me advertising on a golf course that I would never have wanted to advertise on. It is a shame that they can stay in business while fraudulently promising you one thing and doing somthing entirely different. I agree with a previous reviewer that YOU SHOULD NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY EVER!!!!!
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