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Horrible Customer Service - I feel totally ripped off!
January 20, 2014
11:26 am
Cell phone user
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January 20, 2014
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During the Christmas season, I picked up the DEAL, where you purchase a $100 prepaid card and receive a free phone and an additional $25 top up. I've never had a prepaid phone before so I asked how it worked. I was told to just register the phone before the end of 2013.

Well, it is now January 18th and my phone is notifying me that I only have 12 days till expiry. I was totally confused. I called up customer service and I was told that I was suppose to also register my $100 prepaid card. I told her I didn't know that. I asked if an exception could be made to top up the $25 because it was obvious that I registered it before the end of December 2013. Yes, it is my ignorance but I did ask what I needed to do AND why did my phone work without me registering the $100 prepaid? It should not have worked until I also registered my prepaid. (Apparently they put $5 on my phone.)

I just feel like I was scammed. Why would they put $5 on my phone initially so that it would work just for a while? Enough to take me past the expiry deal of 2013? To make matters worse, when I asked if I could speak to a supervisor/manager, she said that there wasn't one. I asked why there wasn't a manger on duty and then she said that there was one but they're too busy to take calls. I persisted again and realized that she was not going to pass me through.

Very upset and disappointed.

January 20, 2014
11:56 am
chimpanzee
vancouver
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you do know this is a low cost option which is unlikely to have conceirge type service i assume.

why it is a bad thing when they gave you 5 dollars credit in the new SIM ? I very much appreciate that.

and your case don't need a manager unless you want to bullying them for the 25 dollar credit which is a promotional item which like many other promotional items have time limits.

for your case, just top up for 25 which would be good for a year and wait for the next promot which usually comes in spring/autumn and christmas time each year.

no one is ripping you off

January 20, 2014
12:53 pm
46jimbo
Toronto
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I can understand your disappointment, but it isn't as bad as it seems. You paid $100 and you will get $100 in credit. Next time they do a promotion, you will understand how it works. Also, all of their phones come with $5 credit on the sim card. This is standard with Speakout.

January 20, 2014
1:41 pm
fefrie
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Pretty simple. The Promotional $25 is attached to the $100 credit.

If you don't activate the $100, you don't get the $25.

Just activating the phone doesn't tell anything to the system to activate the $25 credit.

Just activating the phone is like just purchasing the phone without any credit (which I assume people would do to replace a phone.)

You really can't expect anything from a service clerk. They have too many other things to do.

In fact, you can't really expect much from anyone these days for proper service.

You have to do the research yourself. There are way too many easy ways for businesses to take your money.

January 20, 2014
6:15 pm
dennismiller
BC
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Maybe next time you'll get what I got this time. I got handed a 100 and a 25. I questioned it saying the 25 usually is added automatically with the system. The clerk was adamant that that is the way they do things so I got 100 + 25 bonus and an additional 25. You win and lose in life. The promo was clear but I've learned to be persistent. Call them again!

January 21, 2014
5:52 am
46jimbo
Toronto
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OK, here's a tale that shows that Speakout CS isn't all bad. A friend of mine is with Speakout and his expiry date was Dec. 27. He intended to add new funds to his account on the 26th in order to keep his unused credit alive. However, the ice storm hit Toronto and his power was out for several days so he couldn't get on line. When he topped up a few days after the expiry date, he phoned CS and they reasonably allowed him to keep his credit. They could have just said tough luck, why didn't you go around to a 7-11 store.

January 21, 2014
6:28 am
chimpanzee
vancouver
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they could't given the latest crtc directive, but point taken

January 21, 2014
10:55 am
46jimbo
Toronto
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I believe the CRTC rule only came into force in 2014. This was still in December.

January 21, 2014
1:43 pm
chimpanzee
vancouver
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not sure the exact date as there is ambiguity there but this is what they said

"The Wireless Code establishes new standards that all wireless service providers must follow. The Wireless Code applies to all new contracts signed as of December 2, 2013. It also applies to existing contracts that are renewed or extended, or where the key terms are amended, as of December 2, 2013"

January 21, 2014
9:18 pm
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January 20, 2014
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chimpanzee said:

you do know this is a low cost option which is unlikely to have conceirge type service i assume.

why it is a bad thing when they gave you 5 dollars credit in the new SIM ? I very much appreciate that. It was a bad thing in my case because if there wasn't an initial credit, I would have realized that I had to do "something" else to activate my prepaid $100.

and your case don't need a manager unless you want to bullying them for the 25 dollar credit which is a promotional item which like many other promotional items have time limits. You obviously didn't read my post in detail. When I bought the package, I asked them what I needed to do to get it working AND get my $25 bonus. All they told me to do was activate my phone. I also did mention that I have no knowledge of how this whole prepaid cell package worked. When I was talking to customer service, they saw that I activated the phone 'on time'. Like I said in my post, it was my ignorance but I asked....out of good will if they could give me my bonus $25 because I did activate my cell within the time frame.

for your case, just top up for 25 which would be good for a year and wait for the next promot which usually comes in spring/autumn and christmas time each year. You didn't read my post properly. I don't need to top anything up. I am disappointed that they didn't give me my bonus.

no one is ripping you off


I feel ripped off for not receiving my $25 that was a bonus to my purchasing the $100 package deal.

January 21, 2014
10:22 pm
chimpanzee
vancouver
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that is because you don't read carefully. you won't get the 25 until you top up during promo period. So don't top up your voucher until the next come and you will get the 25.

April 28, 2014
3:15 pm
speek
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April 28, 2014
7:27 pm
chimpanzee
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that is definitely not true.

I renewed mine right on the expiry date(i.e. 0 days left per the online screen) without any issue.

But it is a good idea to give it some slack in case they have maint problem. Though using the good old phone key in way seems to always work, beside that is the only way to get the annual free phone

April 29, 2014
7:58 am
speek
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May 4, 2017
3:30 pm
speek
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May I know why my sincere and honest posts were removed from this thread back in 2014?

While I never did recover my lost funds, my experience with SpeakOut Wireless and my susequent follow-up has contributed to the implementation of the 7-day grace period which has probably now saved many SO customers a bit of unnecessary financial grief. I believe SpeakOut's customer service has returned to what it once was, prior to my bad experience (but honest/truthful experience, 'chimpanzee' - keep in mind that I renewed my minutes via voucher/phone-in, back then).

Thank you.