<p>We bought a cell phone from Radioshack and we are very unhappy with their service. The salesperson gave us false information (regarding free 30 day trial of internet and text messaging). They also signed my s up for unlimited internet and unlimited messaging without asking us. And we were told that there would be no activation fee but it was still charged. When my s went back to ask and they told him that he was to bring in the paper bill (which my s never received) to have it credited and when my s told them that nobody told us that, they jsut said "oh oops". </p>
<p>Since it was the only store close to campus, we had no choice. Now I wonder how I can report this so that other customers would not be cheated. Any suggestion? I looked on their website and there is a customer care phone number and email address, but I wonder if they will deal with complaints.</p>
<p>I suggest that you return the cell phone to Radioshack. Do you have a Verizon store near you or are you near a major mall where you can try out literally many, many different cell phones with different plans to find a fit? You might also want to think about which cell phone plan you have and then just add your child on the family plan (might only be about $10. a month). You can even go on line to verizon.com and see the many cell phones. Sometimes you can get a free or almost free cell phone for signing up on a plan. Why stay with Radioshack?</p>
<p>I agree. All the major carriers will let you shop for a phone and service plan on their website and then the handset is mailed to you within a few days. There really is no need to go through a salesperson since 3rd parties like Radioshack are taking a commission at some level and have incentives to tack on as many deceptive charges as possible.</p>
<p>AT&T and Verizon Wireless seem to be the two dominant providers on campus. Both offer service contracts or pay-as-you-go service, which may be more accessible for students without a credit history.</p>
<p>The 1-800 number should work if you are truly dissatisfied with Radioshack. I imagine there is a regional manager or office that deals with complaints against stores.</p>
<p>mdcissp, my son is international. That's why we went to Radioshack. We've signed a 2-year contract so we're stuck for now or we forfeit our deposit of $500. </p>
<p>I find the cell phone plan very expensive. The minimum is $39.99 and extra for texting. And we still don't know how much the government surcharge and tax amount to yet. We did think about pay-as-you-go but it adds up too with the $1 per day of use added on top of the charge. </p>
<p>Anyway, I hope that new students will read this message and be aware of this store.</p>
<p>Please forgive my bluntness, but I don't see why it makes a difference if you are international or American when it comes to signing up for cell phone service. $500 is way too much money. I am surprised that you were charged that much. Maybe the high fee was due to being an international, but I am not sure. On the other hand, $39.99 is very cheap for monthly cell phone service.
How many minutes? Make sure your son knows exactly how many minutes the $39.99 is good for. I still suggest, if you don't mind the aggravation, to contact Radioshack customer service about what happened. There should be a toll free phone number and/or e-mail address for Radioshack customer service if you look on line under "Radioshack". Also, know exactly how many text messages you are allowed as that can be a very expensive surcharge.
Also, do you get your $500. deposit refunded to you in 2 years?</p>
<p>well as international, we were only in town for the few days for the orientation and move-in and since we don't know the area well, and did not have any time, we couldn't go around checking other stores for better and more reliable service. And not being American, we are not familiar with the cell phone plans or taxes or government surcharge (my husband did ask what else would be charged and was told nothing). We were tired, rushing and thus trusted the salesman more than we should. We are normally more careful than that.
In Canada, we can get cell phone plan starting at $17.50. For $39.99, s gets 450 minutes which he cannot use but there was nothing less. And getting pay as you go would have worked out to the same almost if he's charged $1 a day that he uses the phone.<br>
$500 deposit is because he doesn't have SSN and we are supposed to get that back but it was still a bit of a shock to us.<br>
He is paying extra $5 for 200 text messages per month.</p>
<p>"you might also want to think about which cell phone plan you have and then just add your child on the family plan (might only be about $10. a month)."</p>
<p>also, being International, we can't add him to our cell phone plan because he is using his phone in LA and our plan is in Canada and it would be long distance for him to phone people in LA.</p>
<p>And I did do research before we went. But we needed to get many things done and settled in a short period of time, and we made a mistake.</p>
<p>I am so sorry that you went through this terrible experience. I am shocked that you are being charged $500. deposit because of lack of SSN. Make sure you hold on to the papers so that you get your $500. refunded. I just wonder if the clerk (not you) made the mistake giving you wrong info. I still suggest that you call (if it is a free call) and/or e-mail the Radio Shack customer service and tell them what happened. I think you will feel better if your complaint of receiving wrong info. is addressed by Radio Shack. Also, don't be surprised by many fees on American cell phone bills. This is in addition to the monthly fee. There are various taxes charged. Radio Shack is not the only place to charge extra fees (due to state tax, other taxes, etc.). If you don't get your complaint resolved with Radio Shack (and I hope they resolve it), keep copies of the order (if you lost your copy, Radio Shack near USC should have a copy of the original order) and make sure you get your $500. deposit back. Again, I am so sorry you went through this terrible experience.</p>
<p>I would pursue complaining with radio shack, but you might find that beyond selling the original phone and contract that they want nothing to do with it anymore.</p>
<p>So, it's probably worth also going directly to the company that you have the contract with (at&t, sprint, verizon, etc) and see if you can get a release from the contract. </p>
<p>If you google around a bit, you'll find a lot of stories of how people have gotten a free early release from their contract, usually by being especially persistent and/or exploiting fine print in the contracts.</p>
<p>I’ve had the same problem with radio shack , as I also arrived from a different country. This is the review I just posted on Yelp:
I just moved to the US, and I opened an AT&T line with the “help” of Radio Shack. Now that I’ve had to deal with them for more than a month, I came to the conclusion that they are quite dishonest, untrustworthy and disrespectful. They lied to me about certain elements of the account (tweeking the truth, shich as ATT will reimburse your deposit in 9 months maybe even 6, when in fact it’s a year if you pay on the dot every month), or by claiming no opening acc fee.
A girl opened the acc for me, and when I went back several times alarmed by my first bill, they first blamed it on the girl who had left, (but didn’t notify me until I came back to inquire again) then said they were looking after it, but kept telling me to come back making me wait for an hour at a time, asking me to call, then hanging back when I did.
When finally my patience was over I was told how unpatient I was, and that they didn’t have to deal with me at all! All the time screwing me up, letting my bill escalate with AT&T, despite claimin “it takes time to make those changes” - *****<strong><em>.
I would say that unless you already know what to buy not to trust them, they play it overy cool, squeeze your hand like crazy to shake it, but are quick to put the blame on each other, which makes it very difficult to centralize any complaint. I’ve seen some old people wait for an hour too, and them being served some </em></strong>***, just taking advantage of the fact they don’t know or understnad the system.
I’m quite mad at them, and am ready to follow up.
Any suggestions would be great,</p>
<p>Margedebourg, I’m sorry you had to go through that kind of treatment. My son has gone back to Radioshack once and realized that they weren’t going to help him in any way so he just calls AT&T to get anything changed.<br>
Are you planning to complain to Radioshack?</p>