Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 00:40:25 GMT
From: disk!tony@uunet.UU.NET (tony)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: New subscriber solicitations - MCI
Organization: Digital Information Systems of KY
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 585, Message 4 of 4

        About six weeks ago a woman from MCI called and said a fellow
by the name of Bob Parsons gave my name as a referral and so MCI
called to solicit my business after they got this "referral."  I never
heard of a Bob Parsons -- if I do know someone by that name I
certainly don't remember them, so I can't see how such a person would
think they know me well enough to give my name as a referral.

	Well, I talked with the woman from MCI and she led me to
believe I would be getting a much better deal with MCI than I'm
getting with AT&T.  She said I didn't have to sign anything, they
would switch my service as soon as I got off the phone.  Oh, one thing
that did annoy me -- they asked whose name my service was in -- it's
in my wife's name.  The woman said they would have to put my new MCI
service in her name too.

	Right off ... two strikes against them: they probably pulled
the name "Bob Parsons" out of a hat.  Second, the talked to me on the
phone 20 minutes and then they want to put the service in my wife's
name.  It didn't matter to them that I'm the one who brings home the
paycheck.

	Well, the clincher, the last straw ... about two weeks after I
told the woman from MCI that I would switch even if the service
wouldn't be in my name, a package from MCI arrived in the mail.
Enclosed was a "MCI Long Distance Certificate."  It said, "Pay to the
order of MCI or the Telephone Company $5.00 and 00 cents."  It said,
"Sign and enclose this Long Distance Savings Certificate with your
long distance bill."

	As you might guess, this was the heart of the scam.  The woman
from MCI said I wouldn't have to sign anything to effect the
changeover from AT&T to MCI.  Well, if my wife had opened the mail
that day I would probably be an MCI customer now.  Fortunately she
asked me to open the mail and when I looked on the back side of that
"MCI Long Distance Savings Certificate" I read this paragraph which
looked and read much like a contract.  It said:

	     "This is to confirm that I want MCI to provide
	my long distance service and I authorize MCI to not-
	ify my local telephone company of this choice for 
	the telephone number(s) listed on this form.  I under-
	stand that I may choose only one long distance company
	for each telephone number.  I also understand that the
	local phone company may charge a fee for this and any
	later change.

	Well, I called MCI today and told them I decided not to make
the change.  They actually asked if I was "signed-up."  They asked
this after telling me I wouldn't have to sign anything.  I said, "No,
I didn't sign anything -- I had the "MCI Long Distance Certificate" in
my hand as I spoke.  She said something to the effect that if that was
true, then I wasn't signed up.  She also said something to the effect
that if I "disregarded the form" I would never be "signed-up."

	I think my point is that if this company taught their phone
solicitors to be HONEST, if they told them to tell would-be new
subscribers that, yes, they will need to sign a changeover form to
effect the change, I (I mean, my wife) would presently be a new MCI
customer today.

	I just want to relay one other observation which may help the
folks at MCI make a better impression on their customers.  When I
called today and got their electronic operator, it said to press #1 if
I was an MCI customer, to press #2 if I wanted to establish a new
account with MCI, and to stay on the line if I was calling from a
rotary phone.  Well, choices one and two didn't apply so I stayed on
the line.  I stayed on the line about four minutes and no one answered.
I hung up and called back.  I pressed choice #2, for would-be new
subscribers.  Someone answered on the first ring.  My point is that it
appears to me that if they think you may be calling to establish a new
account they want to talk to you right away.  If they aren't sure if
you want to start a new account, or if you are poor (poor people are
probably the only ones who still have rotary phones), they take their
sweet ol' time and they appear not to care whether they talk to you or
not.

	Well, if the "solicitation" had been handled differently, if
they said something like, "Mr. Safina, we are calling long distance
users in your area today to let them know what MCI has to offer. Blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah.  Yes, we would be happy to put the new long
distance service in your name.  Yes, you will have to sign a form
authorizing us to make switch you from AT&T to MCI," ... then I would
have made the switch and would be an MCI customer today.  I may be a
little weird, but I think credibility is an im- portant issue.  I
think the facts should be laid out in black & white and every question
should be answered with 100% honesty.

        I might add that I did call the Kentucky Consumer Protection
agency today to register a complaint, but writing this message has
given me enough of an opportunity to express my discouragement, so I
will probably use the complaint forms they are send- ing me to protest
the incessant "computer solicitations" we get here on a daily basis.
On that note ... today I had the phone company put a block on our
account so no one will be able to call any 900 or 976 numbers from our
house.  Some of the prizes some of these companies offer sound so
HONEST that some family member may be tempted to inquire one day
without asking for my approval.  Well, thankfully big business still
empowers the "little people" to some small extent.  I was able to make
that choice, to block calls to any 900/976 numbers.

	Well, I guess I left this long post just to see if anyone else
has been "solicited" in the same manner as I was and whether or not
they thought there was anything obectionable about how the
solicitation took place.
		
		
Tony Safina -=- disk!tony@uunet.UU.NET