Saturday, May 12, 2012

Recommendations


  • Streamline the phone activation process. A lengthy and variable time to activate does little to make customers happy.
  • Fix all documentation and databases about the SIM card location for the Motorola EM326g.
  • Streamline the problem resolution process for activation problems. The email support system is adequate, but difficult to find, and unusable for anyone without internet access.



SIM card follies

Received a new SIM card a few days ago--the instructions for inserting the new card are incorrect. Insert it with the slanted corner (notch) side out, they say. This is 180 degrees off from the only position that will work (notch side in.)

This explains why the refurbished phone had the SIM card installed backwards--the card position that Net10 believes is correct is not. (!)

This error is not a showstopper, but it is certainly annoying.

Monday, May 7, 2012

You have entered the Activation Zone.

Step one: ordered my Motorla EM326g phone from not-a-union-shop*Mart.com; after a few days, the refurbished phone and minutes card were in my eager hands.

First problem: the SIM card was installed backwards. If part of the refurbishing process is to install/replace the SIM card, why wouldn't you check to mark sure it was put correctly?

This marks the beginning of my decent into activation hell. Net10 ships an activation card with the very special serial number printed on it. I went to net10.com, and, as far as I could see, the serial number was being rejected. The 800 automated system appeared to accept the serial number. A few hours later, the phone was still not connected to the network, and displayed a message about unregistered SIM card.

I spoke to Net10 support, and, per their instructions, entered a seemingly random string of 15 or so numbers. I was told to wait a few hours, which I did. I called support back, was on hold for two and a half hours, and then gave up. I submitted an incident report, finally spoke to Net10 email support, who were more responsive and timely than anything else Net10 offered. After some back and forth messages, I was told to wait 24 hours.

After that time, I again contacted email support, and was told my SIM card was not in the system, and they would have to ship a new one to me. Also, the system was supposed to be generating a new phone number for me (based on zip code), and was not doing so.

After a few hours, I started entering contact numbers into the phone, and that's when suddenly the phone started talking to the network that Net10 must sub-contract to and the cell phone number finally appeared.

Total time to activate: about 40 hours--compare this to a non Net10 phone I investigated (more expensive, but only in absolute terms, price per minute of use is actually less) at a brick and mortar store, where the clerk assured me he could activate the phone on the spot.


*with some reluctance, as am pro-union.