Changing Way

When I went to Philadelphia earlier this week, I took my cellphone with me, expecting to be able to make and receive calls. Just after arriving, I bumped into my friend Raza. We agreed to get together and catch up that evening, and he took my cell number to arrange it. I didn’t receive a call or voicemail from him (at least not that day or evening).

Later on, I tried to call home. I got a weird recording about not being able to make calls. The phone told me that we were “RM,” which I believe means roaming. I didn’t see why that should be a problem, but I used the hotel room phone to make the call home.

The following day, at the airport, I saw that I had voicemail. I tried to check it, but got the same recording. When the plane landed back home in Boston, I was able to listen to my voicemail, including two that Raza had left the previous evening.

Needless to say, I am not happy with my cell “service” provider, TracFone. I emailed tech support. They replied, telling me to call the 800 support number. I just did. After a wait of ~5 minutes, a conversation of similar duration, and being on hold while a supervisor was consulted, I was told that I’d have to call and report the problem next time it occurred.

Maybe it’s time to resume my search for cellphone service that’s reasonably priced for a light user, and doesn’t suck.

On a far more positive note, Highrise is excellent for keeping track of things like this. Hey, that means I’m doing Vendor Relationship Management!