ok, I created an account just to add to this post, haha...
I am not quite the guy that feel entitled to anything, I left my country 10 years ago to live in the US, in order to leave a country with such an entitlement culture.
After years of hard work, I now own my own business, and work even harder..
I pay my mortgage on time, never missed a debt payment, actually I have never had debt beside mortgage.
Anyway, that is just to paint the picture that "I am not one of those guys"
BUT
regarding the AT&T issue, I do think we have an issue:
- First I want to point out what some seem to be missing, the contract is both ways and AT&T has also agreed on some stuff, not just us.
- The contract goes beyond what is signed on a piece of paper we don't read, the contract includes all the communication that is made to us from the time we watched a commercial, to the talk from the sales person up to the point of agreement. I have to say, a lot of us don't feel like at&t is meeting its contractual obligations, they make us think we have unlimited data when we don't, they make us think they have the best internet speed when it's very arguable, they make us think they 're supporting the iPhone, but in a middle of our contract we discover that they re not going to support things like facetime on their network. The 'free' upgrade we had every year was just one way for them to get away with it. So now they want to play contract fine prints, we can too and we should start organizing ourselves to understand why THEY do not meet their contractual obligations.
- Our contract does not say that we're going to stay happy for 2 years and shut up. In fact it includes a termination clause, and the main point most are making here is that if they don't even try to make us happy, we'll use that clause.
- We are here in a situation where 3 companies control the entire market, I would really argue that we're not into a free market situation here. Arguments such as 'you didn't have to sign the agreement' are a little weaker here. Really, when you think about it, what's your alternative... At some point, we'll really have to wonder how Europe can charge their customer a third of the cost and yet have much better coverage. Something is wrong somewhere, and some of us really feel as we're being taken advantage of. Yes we do sign the agreement, yet, we feel that we do because we have pretty much no choice. Having the free yearly upgrade was offsetting that feeling, but having to pay $100/month and not getting that yearly upgrade is just a ripoff for most of us, when a lot of countries can get a better service for less than $30/month.
So you're all right, we're not entitled to that new phone, but we are entitled to the level of quality and customer care that was promised to us, and we don't get that. We used to accept it in exchange for that free upgrade, now we don't have to accept it anymore.
So stop being mad at us for being angry, yes, our signed contract did not mention that free upgrade, but the untold agreement was clear to a lot of us: give us that free upgrade, and we'll let you overcharge us for some crappy service.
This is why I stay!
