New Mom Old Mom

Shopping for cell a cell phone carrier can feel as slimy as shopping for a used car. That’s why I’m grateful that my DH manages both of these duties. But I’m compelled to share this moronic story from his recent adventures in the wireless world.

Our current carrier is Verizon. We’ve got three phones with them (mine, my husband’s and my daughter’s). We’ve got our minutes and our texting plan, and we’ve been fairly satisfied with their service (except at the Lake of the Ozarks). Our two-year contract was up with them in December, so my husband began shopping around because I’d like an email option with my “upgrade” and my daughter would like more texting. After doing quite a bit of research into plan options, my husband had our selection narrowed down to Verizon and T-Mobile, and we were leaning toward T-Mobile. Until today.

We had heard that there are some coverage issues with T-Mobile in our neighborhood, and when you check it online, it’s questionable. I use my cell phone for work, and I work from home, so that would be a deal killer. My husband went to one of the local stores and told them he is ready to sign the two-year contract with them, but first he wanted to bring a T-Mobile phone to our house and make sure it would send and receive calls.

The sales rep said no.

My husband said he’d leave his driver’s license and a credit card, and we only live a few miles, and we’d be happy to use the sales rep’s phone, etc., etc.

The sales rep said no. He said we’d have to sign up, ink the two-year contract and then we could bring OUR new phone home and try it.  How generous of him! That’s some serious diplomacy.

My husband told him if we couldn’t try a phone from our home first, we’d take our business back to Verizon.

And the sales rep let the sale walk right out the door.

I guess this economy isn’t affecting T-Mobile. Good for them.

These people, and this person, and these people experienced T-Mobile coverage problems, so maybe that sales rep did us a favor.

NOTE: I feel compelled to to pull the punch I threw at the used car industry. It was strictly for literary purposes.   In fact, we recently purchased a used Honda Odyssey from Bommarito Honda in Hazelwood, MO and the entire experience was a good one, including the follow-up service we’ve had thus far. Maybe the cell phone industry could take a few lessons.