Unlimited everything for our smart phones is what we all seek. Unlimited texts, calls, messages and data for one flat fee. Metro PCS came to our aid with the $40 Period advertisement. So we thought. I thought this was just the plan for my teen. After multiple visits to multiple stores I have given up on Metro PCS. I can't help but share the worst experience first.
Let me give you a little background first. My daughter has a $15 flip phone which she uses with AT&T and an Iphone without service. I am very cautious about letting her use her sim card in the Iphone. Through AT&T she would receive 300 mb of data usage per month for $20. If she goes over her data plan I would be charged another $20 for an additional 300 mb and on and on it would go. I don't want to leave it to chance that a teen will keep an eye on her data usage.
So, my daughter and I were traveling home from Miami, Florida. We are always seeing the sign on the Metro PCS stores boldly proclaiming $40 Period. We had been driving and shopping for hours. We were finally as far as Jacksonville when we made a snack stop. The Metro PCS was next door with the sign displayed. I complied with her plea to go in and purchase the month for her Iphone. I am still dumbfounded when I thick about the experience.
I explained to the salesman that my daughter would like to have the $40 plan for her Iphone. He proceeded to tell me that the plan will cost a total of $70. I was stunned. My reply was, "Does the sim card cost $30.
"No, the sim card is $10. The service is $60," he replied.
"I don't want a sixty dollar plan. I want the $40 Period plan in the window. The one that has unlimited everything for $40," I replied.
This man proceeded to tell me that no one is entitled to that plan the first month. You must first sign up for the $60 plan and after a month you can switch to the $40 plan.
"Why," I asked. "That is not what the sign says. It says $40 Period," I reminded him.
So, he continued to explain to me that it is done this way because so many people purchased the $40 plan and then complained about the horrible service. The plan is not truly unlimited. You are given a predetermined amount of data based on the plan you select, $40, $50, $60. After you use the data you paid for your device is slowed down to 2G speed. He went on to tell me that you won't be able to use many of the functions on your phone such as GPS.
I continued my own explanation. The slowing down of the data did not concern me. I just did not want to be subjected to overage charges through AT&T. That explanation did not help my cause. He decided to tell me that he was the district manager and this is how it is done.
"Well, it sounds like false advertising to me. I don't see anywhere on that sign telling me I have to purchase a $60 plan for the first month," was my com back.
I tried to think this through without any success. If you bought the $60 plan for the first month, how did that help to slow complaints if each person switched to the $40 after the first month and was unhappy when they reached 2G speed? Here is what I deduced from this situation; force your customers to purchase the more expensive plan and hope they like it and keep it.
Here is my response to him, "You won't be taking advantage of me today."
My unhappy daughter didn't understand what happened. So, while we were sitting in the car I noticed the sign on the 7 Eleven window which read, Big Gulp 99 cents. I said to her, "If you went in there and poured yourself a Big Gulp what would you expect to pay?"
"99 cents," she replied.
"Okay. You get to the register and the cashier says that will be two dollars. What would you do?"
"I would tell her the sign says 99 cents," she answered.
"She says your first Big Gulp is two dollars. When you come back in a month you can have the second for 99 cents. Do you understand now?" I explained.
I could see she understood the false advertisement. I told him I had visited multiple stores and that was the fist time I had heard that. That's when he told me me he was the district manager. I guess that gave him clout to take advantage of customers.
The differences I found in the Maryland stores were the cost of the sim card which ranged from $10-15 and being charged a fee for bringing my own Iphone to the plan. My problem is when I pass a store and go in to get the details I don't have the phone with me. When I return with the phone a different sales person is working and the fees are different.
I would love to get my teen the $40 Period plan but, I no longer trust this company. It's not $40 Period, unlimited everything. It is nothing more than a bait and switch plan. Have you experienced this? Share it in the comments. If you know of a real flat rate unlimited cell plan share that information too.
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