Net 10 vs Boost Mobile

HI - Nice to see you again. Have you sent any greeting cards recently?

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I have had Net10 prepaid cell phones for quite a while now.   Between myself, my daughter and my son, we’ve spent quite a bit of money each month for years on minutes for our net10 phones.   The reason we went with Net 10 was the 10 cents per minute and the coverage.  These phones come in almost anywhere.

When Net 10 introduced their unlimited plan, we were all excited.  It would save us all a lot of money having unlimited talk and text for $50/mo.  There was only one problem.  Every time I clicked the link in an email where they were touting Net10 unlimited, it went to their website where I could buy minutes.

HELLO?? I don’t want to buy minutes.  I want the unlimited plan.  I emailed them and they apologized and gave me their unlimited website.

HOWEVER, when I went there, I found out that only three phones are able to be used with their unlimited plan.

OK.  I can work with that.  I’ll just get one of the supported phones, right?  WRONG!!

Once I get past the point where I find out that only three phones are supported by the unlimited plan, I find out that only a few zip codes are supported by the plan.  OK.  I give them two different zip codes (one in NY where my daughter is and one here in KY).  Guess what??!!  Neither of them are in the right area.

I found all of this information out in email and phone correspondence with Net10.  At this point, I’m getting a little upset because they keep telling me how I can just continue to buy more minutes at their website like I’ve been doing.

I went to Best Buy and realized that they were having HUGE after holiday sales on mobile phones.  We end up getting a Boost Mobile phone with unlimited talk, text AND WEB!!  In addition to no contracts.  All for the same $50/mo that the other company wanted for unlimited talk and text in limited areas.

I am amazed at the way this was handled by Net10.  All they were interested in is trying to shove their 10 cents a minute down my throat.  And they were not nice about it.  They have the worst customer service ever.  Here is the email I sent them in response to the whole mess:

Thank you for your NON SERVICE.  I appreciate it.  Why do I appreciate you NOT serving me?  Because I was forced to go look elsewhere.  Got a wonderful BOOST MOBILE phone (and will be getting more soon) with UNLIMITED talk, text and web for only $50/mo.  Since we are in the zip codes of 42701 and 13033 (which you do not service with your unlimited plan) we have decided that we will no longer give money to Net10.  If you don’t want our unlimited plan money, you don’t want our 10 cents/minute money.  Plan on having many more people say buh-bye to Net10 and HELLO to Boost mobile.

I truly do appreciate the fact that you were unable to help me.  Otherwise I would have been stuck spending almost $200/mo with you guys for 3 phones instead of $150/mo with Boost for 3 phones.  THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!  I’m glad there are still companies like you out there who do not care about the customers who spend money with them.  I’ve talked to quite a few people in the past week in the 42701 zip code who are using Net10 and were under the false impression (same as I was) that they could get unlimited talk/text for $50/mo. as soon as their current minutes run out.

When I told them about Boost mobile coupled with Best Buy’s Boost mobile phone discounts, they were ecstatic!!  When I told them boost also has unlimited web – WOW – that sealed the deal.  No more Net 10 for them.  I’m going to make it my business for the next few months to get as many people as I can to leave Net10 and go to Boost.

Just think – I’m not even paid by Boost Mobile!!!  I’m only doing this because YOU LIE and keep spamming my email inbox with false advertising.  You are falsely advertising on the TV as well.  People need to be informed about your business practices.  Word of mouth spreads like wildfire.  YAY!!!!  Well…not yay for you, but…maybe you can sucker more people in that don’t know about your deceptions and will spend the money we used to on your service.  Ya never know.  LOL

Have an awesome day!!!!!  I know I will.

Roxanne Green

This email has so far gone unanswered by Net10*.  I’m just happy to have found Boost Mobile.  The coverage appears to be adequate and I’m slowly getting addicted to texting.

If you are looking for an unlimited monthly wireless phone plan with no contracts, check out Boost Mobile.

* As I was writing this post, I noticed an email from Net10.   I am going to copy and paste it here and bold my commentary within the email.  Keep in mind, this is SUPPOSED to be an answer to the email I sent them (above).

Dear Roxanne:

Thank you for your interest in NET10
Wireless.  (How the heck did they think
I was expressing an interest in Net10 by
that email?) We are responding to your
recent inquiry.

We would like to take this opportunity to
apologize for any inconvenience you may have
experienced with this issue.

We at Net10 is still doing our best to come
up with products or promotions that is favorable
to our valued customers. We thank you for your
interest with our Unlimited phones from Net10.
Net10 does not only offer unlimited phones.
You can also choose our regular phone with
different phone models that might be suitable
to your preference.
(HOLY CRAP - AGAIN they are trying to shove
their per min. service down my throat.
Even after KNOWING what I wanted as a customer)

If you have any further questions or concerns,
please contact one of our customer care
representatives at 1-877-836-2368.  For your
convenience, our representatives are available
Monday-Sunday from 8:00 AM to 9:45 PM EST.

Thank you for being a NET10 Wireless customer. 
(Did they not get the memo?
I'm NOT A NET10 CUSTOMER!!) 

We appreciate your business.
(NO - You no longer have my business.
This garbage they are spewing is a simple script,
however, it does NOT answer my email or even HINT
that they have read my email!!  AMAZING!!)

Sincerely,

Executive Resolutions Department
NET10 Wireless

(And I am not even going to point out all of the grammatical errors.  It’s obvious English is NOT their first language, so maybe that’s why they could not understand what I was saying.  It really doesn’t matter.  I just hope anyone looking for a prepaid plan stays FAR, FAR away from Net10.)

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Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
What will you do with it?

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Renting a Home in Upstate NY

WOW – it’s really hard to find a good house to rent in upstate NY.   I have had my brother and brother in law looking at houses for us over the past month in upstate NY.  The first house was a HUGE joke.  The guy wanted $800/mo. for it and it had moldy sheetrock and the windows had bullet holes in them.   Yes…you read that right…BULLET HOLES!!!  Apparently he ticked off the wrong person.  The house had been sitting empty for quite a while and developed moldy walls.  Then, he tells us that one upstairs loft is a “master bedroom with kitchenette and bath”.  OMG…here is a picture of the “kitchenette”.   I have to confess, this is the very first stove/sink that I’ve ever seen or even heard of.

EDkitchenette

NEWSFLASH – sticking a stove / sink in the corner of the bedroom does NOT MAKE IT A KITCHENETTE!!!!!!!

Now I’ll bet you’re wondering – “Where is the master bath?”, right?

OK

.

.

.

.

.

.

I’ll show you where the master bath is.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Where else would it be?

.

.

.

.

.

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Right behind the “kitchenette”.  LOL

EDkitchenettebath

Notice the slant of the ceiling RIGHT ABOVE THE TOILET!!!  Oh, by the way, the toilet stuck behind the stove/sink IS the “master bath”.  I guess they figured since there’s a sink in with the stove, you don’t need anything else in the “master bath”.

The worst part is, these pics were NOT sent by my brother, they were sent by the owner of the house.  HELLO?????  Take a broom or a piece of paper towel or a shoe and knock down the cobwebs before you broadcast your kitchenette photos.

And don’t even get me started on the gas tank strapping that’s holding the spiral staircase in place.  The spiral staircase goes up to an “open bridge walkway” that runs between the lofts.  The open bridge walkway is plywood laid across two beams!!!!!!!!

Then, to top it all off, in his first email he asked for security deposit and first month’s rent.  That’s normal and expected.  However, he then emails me to say:

Any Questions, please ask. Basically it will require a month deposit to hold the place, that will turn into the last months rent. Prior to move in it will require Security deposit and first months rent, + current LP gas in tank.  The whole building will be available and rented.

Guess what?  I’m NOT ASKING!!!

The guy thought he’d make a fast buck by giving someone a story about how wonderful the place is.  I’m glad I had my brother go look at the place or I never would have known about the moldy walls and bullet holes.  I just may have rented it for the kitchenette and master bath.  LOL.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about another place that we were contemplating.  Stay tuned……..

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Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
What will you do with it?

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UPS USPS Tracking…What Are They Thinking?

I recently ordered a package to be sent to me via UPS. The estimated delivery date was 1/5/2010.  Now, because it’s UPS, I guess they want to be known for being ON TIME, NOT EARLY.

Elizabethtown KY is about a half hour south of Louisville.  Generally UPS packages come directly from the Louisville hub to here.  This particular package arrived early to the Louisville UPS hub so they decided that instead of delivering it a day early, they would take it for a ride.  As you can see, the package arrived in Louisville on 1/1/2010 at 5:16 am.  Therefore, the package could have been delivered to me on 1/2/2010, but the sender did not pay for Saturday delivery, so the couldn’t do that.  I figured it would arrive on 1/4/2010.  NOPE.  It didn’t show up.  I went back to check the tracking.  UPS didn’t want to deliver it to me on the 2nd, so they took it for a ride to LEXINGTON KY.  Lexington is around 100 miles WEST of Louisville.  Elizabethtown is around 45 miles SOUTH of Louisville.  So, instead of delivering the package to me on Saturday or even on Monday 1/4/2010, they took it for a ride to Lexington.  The package spent two days in Lexington (sightseeing maybe???) and then they brought it BACK TO LOUISVILLE to be delivered to me on 1/5/2010.  In what world does this make any sense???

UPSscreen

Next, I order a package from Best Buy to be delivered to my daughter in NY.  The package was ordered on 1/4/2010.  Now, Best Buy ships packages via UPS Mail Innovations.  Don’t ask me how this could possibly be an innovation.  Looks like BS to me.  Best Buy mailed the package out the very next day after the order was placed.  GREAT!! I’m thinking.  Now that’s service.  NOT!!  UPS gets the package and they hand it off to USPS on 1/6/2010 at 11:18 PM EST in Warrendale, PA.  Since then, the package has been “visiting” in Warrendale.  NO MOVEMENT WHATSOEVER on this package in three whole days.  Well…other than they scanned it twice yesterday just to let us know where it was and that it was safe.  ;-)

UPSuspsTrack

Why are these companies so afraid to under promise and over deliver??

They seem to think that the way to do business is “barely deliver what we are paid to”.  This is not what doing business in a competitive marketplace is all about.  There is no logical reason why the first package visited Lexington for two days before coming to me.  There is also no logical reason why the second package is visiting Warrendale PA for three days.  Neither UPS nor USPS can come up with a logical reason for either  one.  “This is not the norm” they say.  “We can’t explain what happened” they say.  This can not be coincidence.   The only service I’ve never had a problem with is FedEx.  Some people say FedEx is more expensive than UPS or USPS.  Well…if that is the case, that’s OK.  I (and I believe most people) am more than happy to pay an extra buck to get a package delivered in a timely manner without the “sightseeing tours”.

What do you do to under promise and over deliver?  How do you make sure you are providing the BEST customer service possible?  Do you want to provide the BEST customer service possible?  Or are you happy providing “just barely enough” like UPS and USPS?

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Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
What will you do with it?

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Success in a Tough Economy

We hear every day of people losing their jobs, their homes, their vehicles, and their hope.

Many people are turning to a home based business for help.  There are many things to keep in mind when you are looking for a home business.  One important thing is that there are a lot of scams out there.  The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is cracking down on these scams, but there are so many of them, they can’t get to all of them.  What that means for you is that when you are looking – you will find a lot of these scams.  Here are some rules that the FTC has put in place to help us:

1.  We (advertisers of a business) must not make income claims.  If we insist on telling you (people looking for a business) that it’s possible to make $10,000 per month, we must also tell you that there are many, many people making a LOT less than that per month.  YOUR success or failure depends on what YOU put into the business.  You can NOT sign up, do nothing and get rich and we can’t claim that you can.

2.  The FTC is going to be looking at a thing we call autoship (AKA auto order, standing order, monthly insurance program, monthly required purchase).  They are going to look at the number of reps and see how many of those reps are purchasing just the required amount each month.  If the majority of reps are purchasing only the required amount and no more, the FTC is going to say that this proves that the product(s) are not something people would buy if there were no business opportunity attached.

Most of you know that I am a professional network marketer. I’ve done a lot of research the past few years and listened to a lot of the big income earners in this industry. One secret that I’ve learned is that in order to build a huge team of customers and business builders, you must have a product (or products) that need no explanation. For example, Avon is one of the largest network marketing companies there is. There is one simple reason for this. Look through an Avon catalog. Do you see any products in there that need videos, handout sheets, or presentations to explain them? Are there any products that people will say “Why in the world would I need that?” NO. They sell products that require no lengthy explanations and everyone knows what cosmetics, skin care, hair care, jewelry and all of the other things are. People buy these things anyway. They simply redirect money that they are spending now to a new store. That is why Avon has a high mix of customers and reps.

With the new FTC rulings, they are going to be looking at companies even closer. They want to know a few things. They want to know if the reps are buying more than their required autoship amount of product. They want to know if there are as many (if not more) “just customers” as there are reps. This is where having a competitively priced product is so very important.

After talking with and listening to many of these top income earners, they have all said the same thing. Having customers AND retaining them is the key to their success. The key is having a product that everyone purchases now and helping them get that product cheaper and of the same or better quality. That should not be hard for ANY network marketing company.

I have found a company just as I described. The products are something we all buy. We all use them. They require no special explanation. I don’t have to convince anyone that when they are living paycheck to paycheck that they have to spend money they don’t have on something new. I’ve already signed up product users because everyone uses these things anyway. Why wouldn’t someone want to spend less money to get products they use already?

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Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
What will you do with it?

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I Almost Forgot an Important Birthday

Yesterday I went into panic mode.  I looked to the week ahead in my planner and realized that my sister in law’s birthday is the 16th.  I had no time to run out and search through cards in the store as I had a call scheduled in 15 minutes.  Even if I could make it to the store and back, I didn’t want to run in quick and grab the first card I saw.  That’s not very personal.

I was saved.  I went to my Send Out Cards website and searched through the cards for one that I thought she would like.  I personalized it with my own handwriting, signed mine and my husband’s names with the signatures I previously had uploaded to the site, and clicked the send button.  I updated her birthday in her contact card so the system will now remind me that her birthday is coming up.

VOILA!!! Send Out Cards saved the day again!!  I checked the status this morning – the card was printed, put in an envelope and stamped yesterday and accepted at the post office this morning.  It will get to her by her birthday!!

I don’t know how many times birthdays, anniversaries, thank you, congratulations, and other occasions have slipped by because I’ve either not had the time to go to the store and stand there searching through the cards or by the time I did get to the store, I forgot to pick up the card.  Now that will never happen again!!  All I need to do is go to my home computer, pick a card, personalize it and click send.  And, the best part is that if I need to, I can send a gift along with the card.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

And yes – I loved the service so much that I became an affiliate!!  Contact me for a free account so you can send a couple free cards and see how easy it is.   You’ll fall in love too!!

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