The shiny Blackberry Priv arrived today in all of its glory. I knew that I was being prematurely optimistic when I posted about its addition to My Travel Technology last week. After the unwrapping and the excitement, came anger as AT&T tried to pull a low-down, dirty trick on yours truly.
I have an Unlimited International Blackberry Data plan which I signed up for way back in 2008. Since that time, AT&T has done everything it possibly could do to get me off this plan and onto some domestic nonsense. Last time I tried to upgrade my Blackberry Bold to the Q10 the AT&T rep said that I could not do so because the smaller sim card was not compatible with my plan. After plenty of yelling, common sense prevailed and they allowed me to keep what is rightfully mine.
Today, I was given another absurd reason as to why I could not keep my plan. “You see your phone is powered by Android so the data plan will not work.” The Blackberry Priv is a Blackberry. It says so right there on the top of the phone. It has all the great attributes that make Blackberry what it is. It is irrelevant that the mitochondria (to reference 10th grade Mr. Chamberlain’s biology class) happens to be Android. Better still, there is nothing in the Terms and Conditions of my agreement with AT&T that state that I have to give up my plan if Blackberry doesn’t listen to TPOL’s advice to Blackberry and continues to put out shitty phones until they eventually find themselves bankrupt and are forced to switch the operating system to remain competitive.
For almost two decades, I have fought with the cell phone companies. The frustration began with my Motorola Timeport from Sprint which was fashionable but did not work in my Michigan dorm room and has continued on to the present day.
Indeed, my disdain for wireless providers is so great that I recently added a consumer protection division to Bachuwa Law called FightMyPhoneBill. This is a live website that I started to go after the unscrupulous, one-sided business practices of companies which no longer allow class-action suits for their scandalous ways. Prior to Bachuwa Law, the only recourse consumers have is to either sit on hold forever or take the case to arbitration on their own. Now, consumers have a better option: Retain TPOL’s alter ego, Bachuwa Law, at no cost, to get these mischievous [INSERT WHATEVER WORD YOU WANT]!
As far as my situation goes, I don’t want to go through the arbitration process. All I want is my data package to be reinstated for my Blackberry powered by Android.
They f&!k you, they f&!k you with the cellphones!
Bachuwa Law 22 Cortlandt Street 16th Floor New York City, New York 10007
AT&T been doing this for years now and I believe it’s a revenue source for them to jack your bill. Recently, I went to twitter protesting their doubling my home internet service fee. Thier social media team reached out to me and restored my previous rate.
ill let you know how this one goes…