If I could, I wanted to respond to the VZW ETF issue from a pragmatic, consumer-oriented direction by addressing, in particular, those people who are facing ETFs because their wireless service was too expensive so they had to end their contracts prematurely.
I would like to address what you just said, from a "pragmatic" perspective, lmfao.
First
If someone ends their contract because their service was "too expensive" they are not very smart. As for VZW, you can change your plan anytime, if it is "too expensive", then select a cheaper plan maybe? Or here's an idea, as a VZW customer, (which I am as well as an employee), I can or any customer can at anytime change their plan online, FOR FREE.
The real issue is personal responsibility, which has already been mentioned here. If you CHOOSE to sign a 2 year contract, w/out being able to pay for it, and then cry when you get disconnected for non payment and hit w/ an additional ETF, too bad, that is YOUR FAULT. Not the wireless companies fault. YOU CHOOSE THE PLAN, YOU SIGN THE CONTRACT.
For these people, avoid both the ETFs and the expensive plans by seriously cutting your wireless costs; an intuitive but often realistically tough proposition. However, I work in the consumer advocacy division of the Houston-based company Validas, where we electronically audit and subsequently reduce the average cell bill by 22 percent through our website,
fixmycellbill.com (and I'll add that 22 percent equates to over $450 per year for the average user).
You can find out for free if fixmycellbill.com can modify your plan to better suit your individual needs by going to the website. Check out Validas in the media, most recently on
Fox News .
Good luck to everyone reading on retaking control over your wireless expenses and potentially freeing up some extra cash this holiday season.
Dylan
Consumer Advocacy, Fixmycellbill.com
Here's another question that you probably will not answer Dylan, when you provide this "amazing" service for folks, what happens after you convince them to select a cheaper plan, and then a month later they incur massive overages for voice or data and their bill ends up 10 times higher than it would have been had they just left it alone to begin with? Do you cover overages for people that this happens to?
I would submit that you do not offer any kind of service that anyone could not already get for free directly from me, (which I provide on a daily basis) or for themselves by just using their own brain. And you can say that I will just try to screw my customers, but the truth is, I work on commission, and to be truly successful in what I do, I build my business w/ trust between myself and my customers, and by ensuring that they are getting what they need, for the best possible price, hence growing my customer base and having repeat, repeat, repeat, business over a number of years. It's my job to make sure my customers are on an appropriate rate plan for their use.
Sure I could stick anyone on the lowest end rate plan and claim that I am saving them money, but if they go onto a 500 minute basic voice plan, and pay 15 cents per text, and actually use 1000 minutes and send and recieve 500 text a month, then that's not really saving them money @.45 cents per minute overage and 15 cents per text now is it?
BTW, I have read on multiple boards now after a quick google search, almost ver batum this same post.
Can anyone get me some mayo for this,
SPAM.
Your post was good for a laugh though I will give you that.
BTW, how much do you charge for this amazing service, I mean as an "advocate" lol.
