Complain about a product or service

Ericsson

Michelle of Long Beach CA writes (6/20/03):
On 12/05/02 I purchased an AT&T Wireless Ericsson T68I cell phone at Best Buy, Lakewood CA. The offer entailed one (1) mail-in rebate of $50.00 with the manufacturer and another rebate for $100.00 with Best Buy. Both forms were mailed on the on December 31, 2002. As of this date, I have recieved nothing although I resumitted the documents for the $50.00 rebate. (I also submitted another complaint herein concerning the $100.00 rebate from Best Buy) Soon therafter, in Janauary of 2003, I received my envelope I submitted with the $50.00 rebate with a stamp returning it from Sony-Ericsson and indicating that the offer had expired when in fact it had not since the expiration was Janaury 1, 2003. My envelope was postmarked December 31, 2002.)

I called back the following day in January of 2003 and spoke to Chris 1008 and he advised me to resubmit the documents I had made copies of and to state on the receipt "No Record. Advised to submit this information." I resubmitted the documents the following day. On June 19, 2003, I called and inquired about the $50.00 and the $100.00 rebates. Helene, the customer service rep replied that the rebate had expired in March of 2003 and that I would not be entitled to my rebate. I explainted that I had submitted the rebate timely, had records to verifity it, had resumitted my rebate eventhough it was erroneously denied and that her response was not acceptable. I also stated that there was no written notice that the rebate would expire in March of 2003 when continual inquiries and submissions were made concerning a rebates which had been prevosly submitted in a timely manner. I spoke to the supervisor, Noel and she told me that same info and Helene.

Eddie of Lauderhill FL (1/7/02):
I ordered two cellphones from AT&T back in early Sept. 2001. Around the end of Nov. one of the phones failed to function, so I followed the instructions in the owners guide and called Ericsson Technical Support. I talked with a gentleman there who told me that I had to mail my phone in for repair (which I did). He told me that I should have my phone back within seven days of their receiving it. The phone was signed for by T. Pexa on 12/03/01 at 2:03p.m. I've called this company for the past four weeks and all I've gotten is excuse after excuse. I NEED ACTION!

I'm paying for phone service that I'm being deprived of by the distributor Sony Ericsson.

John of Columbia, SC, writes:
I purchased a phone from Circuit City (who will gladly return my money for a full refund by the way.) I originally had an analog phone from Ericsson and liked it, so I purchased another one from them, so that I could keep using the wireless accessories that I owned. I have a charger, a car-charger, a hands-free headset, a leather girdle for the phone, spare batteries etc.

I replaced my old analog Ericsson (Model AH600, which worked nicely) for a new Digital Model KH668. This new model came with TDMA Cellular service from AT&T, for $89.00 per month for 200 hours of calls, no longdistance, no roaming anywhere in the USA. I like that plan and use it frequently.

My phone starting behaving badly six months ago. After about ten minutes of use, the display goes crazy (garbled characters, and the keyboard stops responding to input) and the phone hangs up on my call. In other words, I can make about two short calls, but after that the phone is useless. I have to pull out the battery, and reset the phone, and then after about half an hour of fussing, it is cold enough to make a call again.

I spoke with Circuit City, who no longer carries Ericsson, but was happy to swap my phone with a new Nokia brand. But I want to keep using a substantial investment ($150) in Ericsson accessories. These won't work with a Nokia or Motorola phone.

I called Ericsson several months ago, who told me that they would ship me a replacement for my phone, but they don't have any in stock. I asked to make sure,

"I thought that you were the manufacturer of these phones?"

"Yes, we are".

"Ok, then what DO you have in stock?"

"We don't have any phones in stock, but I will put your name in a list".

I was told that Ericsson had two ways to deal with a broken unit. I could give them my credit card number and they would ship me a replacement phone prior to my shipping my phone to them, OR I could simply send mine off to them, and they would ship me a replacement once they received my old phone.

I asked which one would be faster. They said that they did not have any in stock, and could not guess about when they might arrive. I asked for a wild estimate, was I talking about waiting weeks, or months? They had no way of telling.

I gave them my VISA credit card number, and have been waiting two months now for a replacement phone. Now, when I call customer service and press the digits to get to customer service, I get a recording (for the past two weeks) that says "DUE TO HEAVY CALL VOLUME, WE CANNOT RESPOND TO YOUR CALL, PLEASE CALL BACK LATER. GOOD BYE".

So, I tried sending Email mesasges to their Web support area. These go unanswered.

All I want is a working phone that matches the accessories I have purchased.

I am currently unable to make phone calls when away from my office. I have missed important calls, and the improper operation of this phone has caused hang-ups in the middle of customer calls.

The inability of this phone to work in emergency situations could be life-threatening. I rely on a working mobile phone for my business communications on the road and this is unacceptable.