Tech Talk/By Martha Knight

Wouldn’t you think great big companies that have got into the communications business would communicate pretty well?

Shouldn’t Walmart be able to talk straight about Straight Talk?

I have felt a little queasy about using Straight Talk cell service. I signed on when it started up, in spite of the vendor being Walmart, because it offered unlimited voice, text and data service and deep discounts on a selection of decent cell phones.

That’s pretty much why a lot of people shop at Walmart, at their stores and online: lower prices. Yeah, Walmart can be predatory, and they leverage their huge buying power to get better deals than anyone else can get, and they do underpay their workers and treat them unfairly, so much so that I prefer not to give them any of my business. I know that has not harmed their bottom line, but if a few hundred thousand of us consumers feel that way there will be some impact. I weakened on Straight Talk, and rationalized that it was really TracFone I was dealing with; Walmart is just their outlet for this gear and service.

I like the faux Blackberry model of Samsung Phone I got from Straight Talk when the service started. It is obsolete now, as to features (no touch screen, for instance), and I have not achieved any real speed on the teensy little QWERTY keyboard. A real symptom of aging technology is that the phone has had to be recoded, several times in the past few months.

When I went online to order another 30 days of service, I got a message saying I could not do so because there was a pending transaction. Eventually I found out that the transaction involved reprogramming my phone. I should make sure my cell phone was on, and call a customer service number from another phone and follow the instructions.

Calling that number brought me to menus within menus, then eventually a recorded prompt demanding to know my cell phone number. I spoke it into the receiver of my landline portable, and the disembodied voice said it back to me, and asked whether that was correct, and I said it was.

Then the same voice told me that that phone required some new code entries. For further assistance I could email Customer Service or visit the Straight Talk website. Then, still neutral and detached, the voice said, “Goodbye,” and I heard a click of great finality.

I emailed with customer service, received a ticket number and advice  about reprogramming my phone, but it referred to features my phone doesn’t have. Another email exchange brought different instructions including two very long numbers to program into my phone. After going through the process many times, and always receiving an “invalid code” error message, I scouted for more direct phone contact with Straight Talk.

Eventually I found one through a Google search.  It is 888-251-8164. At that number I reached a live person. A woman with a slight accent listened patiently to my tale of woe, checked out my phone specs based on the model number I gave her, then provided cogent instructions for reprogramming my cell. No great, long sets of numerals. I followed the streamlined instructions and received affirming screen messages.

I waited the prescribed interval and made the two phone calls to get my phone up and running and in the system, then went back to the Straight Talk site to order another service period. It informed me that my phone had been reprogrammed successfully, But I would have to register as a new customer rather than a renewing one, because there had been an interruption in my use of Straight Talk.

Meanwhile I got some more emailed responses from the Customer Service channel I had used before. These messages apologized as usual for the problems I was having with my Straight Talk phone, assured me that I am a valued Straight Talk customer, and explained that the long sets of number I had entered on that code entry screen had been seen as Invalid Code because they were invalid! Customer Service had sent me the wrong numbers. So I should call the Customer Service number during regular hours (the same number where all I ever got was voice mail and recorded questions and answers).

Trying to deal directly with some communication giants is an exercise in self torture. Should I record my own message, including, but not limited to, the characters I have been advised to enter before anything else-- *, # and 0? Or should I come right out and say the cuss words indicated by strings like $&!%!!@*!--?

Drymar@gmail.com. 596-7546.