Earlier this week, the Emerald reported that some students have received services they did not order after having phone service activated by Qwest. Most of the complaints stemmed from customers being billed for extended features. Others said Qwest was uncooperative when they called to ask that the mistake be corrected. While there are certainly people in the community who have not had problems with the phone company, a substantial number have complained — numerous enough that Oregon’s attorney general has stepped up to address the problem.
While this issue certainly casts Qwest in a bad light, the responsibility is twofold. “Cramming” is not new. Shady sales tactics themselves are not new. Now that the problem has been highlighted in Oregon, customers need to be smarter when connecting their phones, or they should consider alternate phone service.
Guess what happens when a customer goes to a restaurant and orders a drink without stating what size? Generally, the server will bring a large drink, even if the customer wanted a small. Unless the customer explicitly states what service or product they want, they’re likely to get more than they may have intended. Businesses that do this could be characterized as taking advantage of the customer, but the customer really needs to be paying more attention.
Customers wanting telephone service can better inform themselves about the packages and prices the company offers before actually ordering services, so they will know exactly what to request. Also, examining the monthly bill when it arrives is a smart idea. It sounds simple, but sometimes customers don’t think of these things until a relatively minor problem has developed into something bigger.
Finally, customers should be informed about other options on the market. Cellular phone service is one alternative — often one that costs a similar price and offers similar services. And if all the customers who have complaints about Qwest were to stop doing business with the company, it would add a powerful incentive to improve services.
Qwest does need to fix its apparent customer-service problems and apologize to any customers who feel the company “burned” them. To the company’s credit, it does seem to be putting forth some efforts to improve services, with a plan to answer customer service requests faster and to comply with a court agreement to stop practices that might be misleading.
The solution to this type of issue involves both businesses and consumers.