More and more lately I feel that the consumer has lost power with certain products and services. One area in particular is the cell phone industry.
This particular rant is directed at the cell phone industry (or shall I say cartel). Every single carrier is structured to offer a 2 year contract with strikingly similar “calling plans,” and equally difficult to decipher terms. When you are treated unfairly and charged some ridiculous amount of money they simply rely on their contract to enforce their predatory sales techniques even if they contradict their marketing efforts.
I have personally experienced this with a “National Calling Plan” that was only “national” if 50% of the minutes occurred within your home region. I received a $1,000 bill that month for roaming charges that were not a part of my “National Calling Plan.” That incident pretty much made the entire industry my new enemy.
How many parents have had horror stories of kids ringing up several hundred dollar bills for over using text messaging! If you understand the technology at all you have to understand that any charges for text messages are almost entirely profit for the cartel as it barely costs anything to allow text messages across their networks. They put together these plans knowing that you will trip up so they can over charge you.
The cell phone cartel does give you a “choice” regarding the contract. They do not require you to sign a contract. Instead you can pay full price for the phone and you can leave their service whenever you want. The catch is of course that you cannot use the phone you just bought with another carrier! Unless you unlock the phone which if you have ever tried to do can be an awfully painful process. Even if you manage to unlock the phone it might not be compatible with the network of your next carrier!
It just amazes me that these carriers have gotten away with essentially price fixing the market and limiting consumer choice.
Contracts are by definition “An agreement between two parties” so why doesn’t the consumer get a choice in the matter? Perhaps I’ll write my own contract and bring it to the carriers. If they want my business they should agree to my terms for a change!
Seriously about all you can do is complain to the CTIA “The Wireless Industry Association”, your cell phone provider or write your congressional representatives who by the way are in the cartel’s back pocket.
