What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? (Business is in MD and I live in WV)
Over this last winter I found myself planning a trip overseas to Thailand and Vietnam. I would be taking my daughter to see Southeast Asia for a week.
My wife wanted to go with us, but she is terrified of flying, and felt she just could never get on an airplane. She was very sad about missing the trip, so the solution we came up with was to take a mobile phone with us and keeping in constant contact.
In almost any country you enter, you can buy prepaid sim-cards at the airports, usually for 3-7 days of unlimited internet and calling for a moderate fee. My wife was happy now, because she would be there 'virtually' on the trip with us, using video conferencing and live video and lots of pictures and talking. etc.
With this in mind, I entered the (Maryland, though I reside in WV) sales office of a popular mobile network in February, it was one of the larger ones, but not the largest. I asked several people at the sales counter is the phone would work overseas, and all of them told me that the phone I wanted to get was a 'world phone' and would work anywhere. I explained about the simcard and asked again, and was told that it would function.
I also specifically asked every salesperson if the phone was "locked" to their network, and explained the nature of the trip to all of them, they assured me verbally that the phone was not locked and would work. I also purchased their data plan and calling plan so that we could also use the phone here in the US before and after the trip, and gave it to my daughter to hold.
Fast forward to late March, and my daughter and I have arrived in Bangkok. The very first thing we do, before leaving the airport, is go straight to the tourist sim-card dealer and purchase a sim card. The technicians at these sim-card dealerships commonly install the cards for you and make the necessary changes in the phone settings to work on the network in the region. They do this procedure over and over again, day in and day out, for travelers with phones from all over the world.
Only, they were unable to make these changes in my phone. The options to change the network they needed were 'greyed out' and although several of technicians tried, no one was able to make the phone work on a Thai network. The phone was a Galaxy S6, and they are common in Thailand, as they are everywhere else. The S6 is aparently compatible with the netwok, but MY S6 had been seeming disabled to the use of other networks except the one owned by the company who sold the phone. Contrary to what every salesperson told me when selling me the phone, it was 'locked.'
The best we could do to communicate with home was to get in range of some 'wifi' whenever it was available, and in Thailand it is difficult to find, you almost always have to pay or buy something to use it, and worst of all, it's range is a few dozen yards from the antenna, meaning we had to sit there in one spot to use it and communicate with people at home.
We could not a proper data connection like any mobile phone should. We spent hours in coffee shops and in hotel rooms consoling my wife and recounting events to her as best we could when we sould have been exploring the country with her right there on the screen.
The entire idea of using the phone to have my wife there 'virtually' with us was ruined. Our daughter was upset, but my wife was devastated. She spent much of the time we were away in tears because she had been left behind, the promises of the wireless phone provider having been false.
I returned from the trip and took the phone back into this place and demanded to know why it did not function the way they promised it would, and I got many contradictory answers, some of which sounded made up on the spot.
Finally, after making a phone call to some other office, they informed me that, surprise, the phone *was* indeed locked 'because it is our policy' and that I would have to wait 90 days, and be a 'customer in good standing' for them to make billing changes to my account, which they claimed would eventually cause the unlocking of my phone.
I had approximately $3500 invested in this trip, (including the $500 cost of the phone) Either their incompetence at knowing their product, or their deliberate deception in an effort to sell the phone led to a huge catastrophe with the trip at least as far as my wife is concerned. My daughter and I did our best to enjoy the trip, but every time we were able to send a message to my wife back home, it was clear that she was in nearly 10 days of distress and anguish over this issue that could have been prevented if the wireless provider had been honest with answering my questions. It was all yes yes yes when I was buying the phone, and only after I went back, the trip over and basically ruined, did they do a 180 and contradict everything they told me initially.
I would ideally like to recoup the entire cost of the trip, plus the cost of the phone, plus the cost of my vacation time at work. I may never get to take another such trip, and my wife possibly has lost the opportunity to have been 'there with us' forever.
What is the feasibility of getting some of this lost trip money back from this phone company?
Over this last winter I found myself planning a trip overseas to Thailand and Vietnam. I would be taking my daughter to see Southeast Asia for a week.
My wife wanted to go with us, but she is terrified of flying, and felt she just could never get on an airplane. She was very sad about missing the trip, so the solution we came up with was to take a mobile phone with us and keeping in constant contact.
In almost any country you enter, you can buy prepaid sim-cards at the airports, usually for 3-7 days of unlimited internet and calling for a moderate fee. My wife was happy now, because she would be there 'virtually' on the trip with us, using video conferencing and live video and lots of pictures and talking. etc.
With this in mind, I entered the (Maryland, though I reside in WV) sales office of a popular mobile network in February, it was one of the larger ones, but not the largest. I asked several people at the sales counter is the phone would work overseas, and all of them told me that the phone I wanted to get was a 'world phone' and would work anywhere. I explained about the simcard and asked again, and was told that it would function.
I also specifically asked every salesperson if the phone was "locked" to their network, and explained the nature of the trip to all of them, they assured me verbally that the phone was not locked and would work. I also purchased their data plan and calling plan so that we could also use the phone here in the US before and after the trip, and gave it to my daughter to hold.
Fast forward to late March, and my daughter and I have arrived in Bangkok. The very first thing we do, before leaving the airport, is go straight to the tourist sim-card dealer and purchase a sim card. The technicians at these sim-card dealerships commonly install the cards for you and make the necessary changes in the phone settings to work on the network in the region. They do this procedure over and over again, day in and day out, for travelers with phones from all over the world.
Only, they were unable to make these changes in my phone. The options to change the network they needed were 'greyed out' and although several of technicians tried, no one was able to make the phone work on a Thai network. The phone was a Galaxy S6, and they are common in Thailand, as they are everywhere else. The S6 is aparently compatible with the netwok, but MY S6 had been seeming disabled to the use of other networks except the one owned by the company who sold the phone. Contrary to what every salesperson told me when selling me the phone, it was 'locked.'
The best we could do to communicate with home was to get in range of some 'wifi' whenever it was available, and in Thailand it is difficult to find, you almost always have to pay or buy something to use it, and worst of all, it's range is a few dozen yards from the antenna, meaning we had to sit there in one spot to use it and communicate with people at home.
We could not a proper data connection like any mobile phone should. We spent hours in coffee shops and in hotel rooms consoling my wife and recounting events to her as best we could when we sould have been exploring the country with her right there on the screen.
The entire idea of using the phone to have my wife there 'virtually' with us was ruined. Our daughter was upset, but my wife was devastated. She spent much of the time we were away in tears because she had been left behind, the promises of the wireless phone provider having been false.
I returned from the trip and took the phone back into this place and demanded to know why it did not function the way they promised it would, and I got many contradictory answers, some of which sounded made up on the spot.
Finally, after making a phone call to some other office, they informed me that, surprise, the phone *was* indeed locked 'because it is our policy' and that I would have to wait 90 days, and be a 'customer in good standing' for them to make billing changes to my account, which they claimed would eventually cause the unlocking of my phone.
I had approximately $3500 invested in this trip, (including the $500 cost of the phone) Either their incompetence at knowing their product, or their deliberate deception in an effort to sell the phone led to a huge catastrophe with the trip at least as far as my wife is concerned. My daughter and I did our best to enjoy the trip, but every time we were able to send a message to my wife back home, it was clear that she was in nearly 10 days of distress and anguish over this issue that could have been prevented if the wireless provider had been honest with answering my questions. It was all yes yes yes when I was buying the phone, and only after I went back, the trip over and basically ruined, did they do a 180 and contradict everything they told me initially.
I would ideally like to recoup the entire cost of the trip, plus the cost of the phone, plus the cost of my vacation time at work. I may never get to take another such trip, and my wife possibly has lost the opportunity to have been 'there with us' forever.
What is the feasibility of getting some of this lost trip money back from this phone company?
