LetsTalk.com's greedily short full refund period

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

ItWillDo@gmail.com - 20 Jan 2008 22:06 GMT

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 tollway--very 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 I'd 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 be...I 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 us...Our 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.

Reply to this Message

Richard B. Gilbert - 20 Jan 2008 22:26 GMT

> 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
[quoted text clipped - 48 lines]
> $250, and for LetsTalk to change the policy so the same thing doesn't
> happen to someone else. I want an apology, too.

Have you complained to "founder Delly Tamer"? When a company sh.ts on
you, go right to the top!

Reply to this Message

clifto - 20 Jan 2008 22:36 GMT

> 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
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> suburb touching Chicago and close to a tollway--very well-connected,
> according to the coverage map--this issue came as a shock.

Write Lisa and tell her the company refuses to provide the service they
contracted to provide.

http://www.ag.state.il.us/

Signature

If John McCain gets the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination,
my vote for President will be a write-in for Jiang Zemin.

Reply to this Message

larry - 20 Jan 2008 23:56 GMT

"ItWillDo@gmail.com" <JohnClutchFrum@gmail.com> wrote in news:774abfa3-
7ad6-4ac4-9042-faf7e484049d@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

> 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.

No problem. Simply contact the Illinois State Attorney General's office
and explain your situation and their response.

Letstalk has a problem. It's called the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Protection
Act (15USC50 section 2300). They sell HARDWARE that doesn't work, which is
against FEDERAL warranty law, not to mention state warranty law.

There's a handy handbook you should read that the Federal Trade Commission
has for businesspersons that explains THEIR obligation to the consumers.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/warranty.shtm

They'll tell you this does not apply to cellphones. This isn't true. It
doesn't apply to sellphone SERVICE, but you have a hardware problem.

It DOES apply to that sellphone.

Reply to this Message

tscottme - 21 Jan 2008 03:46 GMT

I think it unreasonable of you to expect Verizon to stop you from signing on
with them. It's your job as a consumer to find out if a product or service
will work for you. You can ask people with different cell phones to use
them at your location or you can use one picked up from a retail location
for the short no questions asked period. I don't understand this idea that
a consumer should traipse through life casually making choices and the whole
world must work night and day to prevent someone from making a bad choice.
It's a company not a nanny.

Why did you go out of your way to select LetsTalk as a phone provider?
Isn't it more important to you than them if they make you happy? Everybody
can make a bad choice, sometimes no matter how well they do their homework,
but at least take responsibility for your part in this episode.

Signature

Scott

>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
[quoted text clipped - 48 lines]
> $250, and for LetsTalk to change the policy so the same thing doesn't
> happen to someone else. I want an apology, too.

Reply to this Message

clifto - 21 Jan 2008 22:28 GMT

> I think it unreasonable of you to expect Verizon to stop you from signing on
> with them. It's your job as a consumer to find out if a product or service
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> world must work night and day to prevent someone from making a bad choice.
> It's a company not a nanny.

As much as I am for personal responsibility, I can't go with that. The
customer can't know whether the company has coverage where the customer
needs it, while the company can and should. Plus, the company should know
before it enters a contract to deliver a service whether they can in fact
deliver that service; for them to offer service where they can't seems an
awful lot like outright fraud to me.

Signature

If John McCain gets the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination,
my vote for President will be a write-in for Jiang Zemin.

Reply to this Message

Todd Allcock - 22 Jan 2008 05:46 GMT

> > I don't understand this idea that
> > a consumer should traipse through life casually making choices and the whole
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> deliver that service; for them to offer service where they can't seems an
> awful lot like outright fraud to me.

If the customer purchased a phone from the local Verizon dealer, I'd agree.
However, you have to take a little more responsibility for doing your own
research when you buy from a third-party national internet retailer like
Amazon or, in this case, Let's Talk.

Let's Talk, according to the original poster, offers a (skimpy) 7-day
return policy. How long does it take to activate a phone and discover the
signal stinks in your house?

Let's Talk sells phones (like Amazon) based on the "we'll kick back some of
our commission to you" concept, selling phones for "less than free."

The OP received the lowest price AND the lowest level of service. Hardly
surprising.

I suspect (if the OP wasn't just a troll and is still following this thread)
while Let's Talk won't give him a refund, they might exchange his phone
and contract for a different carrier's, if the OP can figure out what works
in his area, and he moves fast enough (before Verizon's 14-day trial period
expires- obviously he's used at least 7 days of the 14 so far.)

Reply to this Message

tscottme - 22 Jan 2008 08:55 GMT

But a network provider like Vzw isn't reasonably to be expected to know of
every shadow in their network and to flag an address that might be affected.
Yes, they should know that they don't serve certain zip codes or larger
regions but if a customer still insists on climbing walls and swimming moats
to grab a phone and service, that isn't the fault of the network. A network
can't possibly know of every little patch of ground that has almost no
service in their territory. If that patch of ground has been reported over
and over and still accepts customers from that area then and only then do I
see them assuming some responsibility for this poor service.

The cold hard fact is that if the customer won't look out for their own
interest and protect their money the rest of the world combined can't
prevent them from making foolish mistakes no matter how hard well. Act as
if your money is important enough to you and most problems can be avoided.
As they say even if you could make something idiot-proof the idiots will
find a way to win in the end.

Signature

Scott

The North American Union and SPP are just convenient retreats for the same
crooks and kooks that were telling you to panic about Y2K.

>> I think it unreasonable of you to expect Verizon to stop you from signing
>> on
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> deliver that service; for them to offer service where they can't seems an
> awful lot like outright fraud to me.

Reply to this Message

George - 22 Jan 2008 13:27 GMT

> 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.

If you had purchased the service from Verizon you would have had a 30
day no questions asked return policy to decide if it works for you. This
includes a credit for all calls you made.

You purchased from another company who happens to use Verizons network
so your relationship is with them.

I don't know why you sought out LetsTalk but my guess would be it was
shopping for a low price. As you found out the lowest price is not
necessarily the best deal.

Reply to this Message

Ben Skversky - 24 Jan 2008 20:22 GMT

I always get my phones & contracts with a corparate store, never through an
outside agent.

>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
[quoted text clipped - 48 lines]
> $250, and for LetsTalk to change the policy so the same thing doesn't
> happen to someone else. I want an apology, too.

Reply to this Message