[hugh]

After an hour on hold, the second level rep told me that there was nothing he could do except contact IT and have them "free up" the SIM card.

This is what the first level rep told me would have to be done so my waiting on the line for an hour did absolutely nothing for me.

Is it worth continuing at this point? Just return the phone and get your money back.

Honestly, I have wasted almost four hours. To return it would likely waste another hour and then I have to tell my son I didn't get and then go buy another.

 

[rsambuca]

Wow are you patient! I would definitely document this and report it to a manager at Wind - I would think you might get a freebie month or two. Or at least you certainly deserve it.

 

[profets]

Give them a chance..

Hugh, it truly sucks to hear the runarounds you've gone through so far, and could only imagine it would turn you off of them.

Part of the problem is the mess with the AITF and HAITF plans. They were strictly meant to be plans that employees could give to family and friends to sign up on. When they did the first one back in April it was a disaster - Needed just a piece of paper with no real record of anything, and the stores got hammered. They improved it this time by having the employee pre-register their family/friend before they go to sign up. Somehow the HAITF became availabe again during the $25 and $40 promos and it just caused a mess. Still not sure if it was supposed to be for the public or not but Wind really should have been more clear about it all.

I have 3 lines and 1 data account with Wind. 2 of those are more recent signups for the $40 plan for my wife and I's primary lines. For my wife's there were some hiccups along the way with the sim card. Their system for doing port-ins and managing sim cards sounds pretty bad. It took a few weeks to get my wife's line active properly. Once or twice I had to go get a new sim card, and maybe 4 calls in total for 10 minutes each. Funny thing was 3 of those times I spoke to the same CSR who was very helpful and apologetic. Without asking me anything they offered to put $40 credit on the account to pay for the first month as a way to make up for any troubles we had gone through.

They are a relatively very young wireless company, and definitely will still have issues along the way. But I'm extremely happy having all my wireless lines there and fully cutting off Rogers. If there's anything I can say I had to spend many many hours over the course of months negotiating with Rogers to get decent plans that still won't even come close to what Wind offers (and not have to sign a 3 year term as well). I really feel free and like the fact I don't have to deal with their nonsense anymore, and like that I can support new competition.

You sound like you have everything documented nicely. I say give Wind a call and ask for either manager or the back office to explain your story. Oh, and by the way, be careful with that Samsung Gravity.. I have one around and its horrible for reception compared to other phones I've tried.

 

[hugh]

Update to this horror story.

Wind never contacted me Friday or Saturday to notify the problem was fixed despite the earnest assurances by two techs that the problem would be resolved by end of day Friday.

So now I can add lying to the list of issues with this company.


Rogers may be annoying and they may be pricey but never have I been treated like this


(P.S. Contacted Wind Mobile PR contacts to get feedback on my story and they never bothered to reply!)

 

[profets]

Ohh, I've easily been treated much worse by Rogers. I've been yelled at, lied to dozens of times, and even called a liar.

 

[hugh]

We have a Rogers forum to discuss issues with that company so please lets keep to Wind Mobile and not derail my thread.

I think my story pretty much speaks for itself.

A company that can't get its promotions straight, a company that get its front line support straight, a company whose IT and customer support systems are clearly inadequate that it can't link a phone order with a plan order, a company that tells a customer something that is clearly inaccurate on multiple occasions, a company that will simply say anything to a customer to simply get off the phone.

 

[TorontoColin]

You should try emailing your story to Wind CEO Ken Campbell ([email protected]).

I had very similar issues trying to port my number in. It took nearly two weeks and they didn't call me back several times. That said, I've never found any telecom who actually calls me back reliably. From what I've heard, they're using a software system that just isn't very good. However, I don't get why you can't just go to another Wind store, pickup a SIM card, and activate it with your plan. It seems like you have reached some clueless CSRs.

 

[hugh]

Monday Update;

On Friday, I have been promised that Tech 2 support could get the issue resolved by EOD Friday and that I would get a call back on Friday letting me know the card was no usable.

Naturally, I never heard back from them on Friday.


Called this morning and sat on hold for ten minutes. CSR says that nothing has been done. He spoke to his "supervisor" and I will be getting a call back in next couple of hours. - Yeah right.

 

[hugh]

However, I don't get why you can't just go to another Wind store, pickup a SIM card, and activate it with your plan.

Tried that and the store they sent me to doesn't sell SIM cards!

 

[hugh]

Well, after twenty days, about three hours on the phone, several drives and more, I give up!

Despite repeated assurances that Lisa, a supervisor at WindMobile, would get back to me before lunch, I did not hear back from Wind so I called in at 2pm. On hold for almost 15 minutes before I got in.


Once connected, I asked how do I return. CSR read notes and then asked how long I had used the phone? I calmly replied that it was difficult to use the phone when the SIM card was not activated so the answer was zero minutes.

(sensing issues: I never took the phone out of the box or the sim card out of the wrapping so it should be an easy return.)

I've now been on hold for ten minutes while CSR finds out how I am supposed to return the phone.

Update: CSR tells me that I can take the phone back to a Wind Store at Jane/Lawrence and get a full refund. Since Jane/Lawrence is a 25 minute drive, I suggest that's ridiculous and why can't I take it to the Wind Mobile Kiosk at my local Blockbuster. I mean if they sell them there, why can't they take them back there?

Back on hold for ten minutes.

So comes back and tells me that I can return it to a Wind Mobile store. We look at the list of stores on the list. Lo and behold the two Blockbusters near me are on the list. Seems now that some say - Take Out - beside them. My local BB does not so he says I can take it back to that store.

On my way to end the nightmare in less than an hour!

 

[djino]

That's really disappointing! I can't believe WIND's Customer service has been this bad. Tony was preaching since DAY 1 that they would be different in all aspects of wireless including customer service. Reading what you went through, shows they are no different from the situations I've read from Bell.

Though not an excuse, I think the reason is due to the Holiday Plans that have been out along with less staff since its Holiday Season, has caused WIND to drop the ball. There is high demand for the Miracle Plan as well as the Holiday All in the family plans along with their BOGO offers. WIND isn't staffed to meet this demand and its probably having a negative effect on their front line staff who have to deal with issues like yours on a daily basis over the last several weeks.

Customer Service isn't the only issue WIND is having right now. If you read other WIND forums, you will see data issues are having an impact. People are finding it difficult to stream videos (Youtube, netflix, sling, etc) without it data dropping every few seconds. I don't know if this is due to the Miracle Plan which includes unlimited data or what, but WIND has yet to make an official announcement about this issue which is pissing people off (including myself).

Half Duplex issue is something else that is apparent, yet WIND has yet to make an announcement concerning this.

And Lastly, I think there are issues with Porting Request. Well to be more specific porting request from former WIND clients (people who were with wind then ported out to another carrier then back to WIND), as these request are taking a lot longer than your ordinary request.

Although I believe WIND will survive this and improve on customer service, its just unfortunate that they are leaving a bad taste with a lot of their clients. Holiday Plans are done, lets see if they can fix these issues and move on.

djino

 

[hugh]

For those wondering why I was so patient and put up with all the crap, I did it for two reasons:

1. My son - he wanted this phone and this plan and now it will probably be quite a while before I sign him up since I really don't want to pay $40 a month or so of unlimited texting and local voice. The $20 plan was perfect for him. Oh well.
   
2. I wanted to do a story on Wind Mobile and review the service.

I ended up getting my story but I was hoping it would be more of a positive one. I like to be able to alert consumers to new providers and new products, especially positive alternatives.


Hopefully the return will be uneventful but I'm worried!

 

[TorontoColin]

Somehow, I doubt it will be that easy.

I've been with Wind for about 8 months now. From my experience and the experience of others I've found that getting your service set up is often a nightmare, but if you can get it set up things will go much better from there.

If you're still interested in getting a cell for your son I'd recommend you look at Mobilicity. I've heard much better things about their customer service.

 

[james99]

I walked out the store with a working phone but I wasn't applying for a special offer like Hugh's.

 

[hugh]

james99, honestly I think that's exactly why I never got this done. From the first time I discussed this plan with Wind employees, I sensed that this was going to be an issue.

 

[djino]

@Hugh,

I have been meaning to ask you a question about the Sim Card issue you have gone through because I sorta went though it too. Where you not able to deal with the WIND Rep who specifically signed you up for the $20 HAITF plan? Meaning afterwords when you finally received the sim cards that could not be used.

Reason why I asked this as I had the same situation happen to me. I wanted the $20 HAITF Infinite Laptop plan (All I needed was the sim card with the plan as I already had a data stick to use with WIND). I signed up via my friend who works for WIND in Toronto (I live in Ottawa). He then mailed me two sim cards (one just being a spare for future use) to have a rep activate the plan on when the time comes.

So the day I received the sim cards in the mail, I called 611 and spoke with a WIND Rep, but the rep could not activate the plan on either of the sim cards I had as it showed as being IN USE. I found that hard to believe as the sim cards were still sealed. The rep told me to return to a store and swap them out for another.

When I returned home with the replacement sim cards, I called back support and this time the rep said that they COULD NOT activate the sim cards because I needed to have a sales receipt that would include some sort of invoice/sales number. They said the only way to activate the plan would be to purchase a sim card with them over the phone and they would mail it out to me which I would receive in 3-5 business days. So I did just that (this was when the sim cards were $20) and paid the $22.60 (tax include) via credit card.

A week later, the sim card still didn't arrive (this was around the end of November). Around this time they were having shipping issues across the board as I read WIND Threads about people not receiving phones/sim cards ordered by phone/online.

--

I called the WIND rep that set me up originally, I emailed him the sim card number from one of the replacement sim cards I had and was then able to activate the plan on it THAT'S IT, THAT'S ALL.

I didn't feel like calling WIND to cancel the sim card order I had.

Last week (like 6 weeks later), I noticed a $22.60 credit towards my credit card from WIND Mobile.

--

Anyways, the point in mentioning my story, was to get you to return to the employee who originally set you up on the HAITF plan and have him redo everything.

djino
"Hope it works out for you"

 

[hugh]

Anyways, the point in mentioning my story, was to get you to return to the employee who originally set you up on the HAITF plan and have him redo everything.

Unfortunately, I do not know who that was. Frankly the CSR spoke such poor English that I would dread dealing with her again! I supposedly spoke to a Tech 2 rep and they couldn't get anything done so I'm skeptical that it would have made a difference.

So the day I received the sim cards in the mail, I called 611 and spoke with a WIND Rep, but the rep could not activate the plan on either of the sim cards I had as it showed as being IN USE. I found that hard to believe as the sim cards were still sealed. The rep told me to return to a store and swap them out for another.

Echoes of my story.

 

[hugh]

OH MY GOD!

On the way to my son's hockey practice, I went to return the phone and to get my refund.

Guess what? The store wouldn't do it.

Its amazing because during my call this morning, I forced the CSR to confirm what stores I could take it back to. This led me to being put through to Doris the supervisor who informed me in a condescending tone that I could take the phone back to any Store listed on the Wind Website that did not say - Take Out - beside its name.

I gave her the specific address and asked if I could take it back to that store. She said Yep no problem.

 

[cooper83]

I cannot wait to read your finished story!

My bet is you'll be getting a bunch of free stuff and a call from a higher-up with an apology. Or not.

any Store listed on the Wind Website that did not say - Take Out - beside its name.

What is this - a fast food restaurant??

 

[TorontoColin]

"Take-out" locations are locations which just have prepackaged phones for purchase with later activation, they have no actual Wind staff.

I avoid the Blockbusters at all cost, I only deal with the stand-alone corporate stores. In this case though, I would have considered calling Wind support while standing in the Blockbuster to yell at them.

I'd recommend filing a complaint with the BBB. Wind addresses all BBB complaints, and usually promptly.