Alltel Customer Service Review: Are They a Good Cell Phone Company?

When I was shopping for a new cell phone company, I wasn't sure which company to join with. I asked a few people, but I wasn't getting any good opinions. Having known one person with Alltel, I signed up with them. When I joined, I was told that I could cancel within a certain time frame, and if I did, my money would be refunded.

Feeling uncertain about Alltel and considering canceling, I called them back within 24 hours. I went through a ton of automated prompts before getting to a live person. It was so frustrating. Realizing that I didn't want to go through this every time I called customer service, it solidified my decision to cancel. The representative said canceling was no problem and that I would be refunded.

A week later, the cancelled cell phone order arrived by FedEx. I refused delivery and then called Alltel.

The Alltel representative told me that I did the right thing by refusing delivery of the phone. He went on to say that my account had been cancelled and that no further contact should be necessary.

A month later, Alltel deducted the first month's bill from my checking account.

I called Alltel, again. The representative that I spoke with during this call transferred me to yet another department, similar to a cancellation department. I was on hold for almost an hour waiting for that department. I was told that my refund would be mailed.

After a couple months, and no refund, I contacted them about it but never did receive it.

A few years later, I looked myself up on missingmoney.com. It didn't say who owed me money, but after I filed to receive it, it turned out it was my refund from Alltel. The reason it took years to get my money back from Alltel was because they were one of several companies who had combined my mailing and physical addresses into one address that is not mine.

I would not recommend Alltel. It shouldn't have taken so much effort to cancel my account and have the refund issued. But moreover, Alltel shouldn't have such a long automated system where reaching a live representative is almost impossible. It is also offensive how their computer system combines addresses as if the customers are too ignorant to know their own individual mailing and physical addresses. Alltel needs to give their customers more credit and improve their customer service.