Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2006 > December > 19
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Tempting the telemarketer
About a month ago, I got a call at work from a customer service representative at SunRocket, which offers voice-over-IP service, similar to Vonage.
The timing was good: my new job is likely to entail some working from home, and I’m still on a cell phone only. We have no home phone, but we do have a cable modem. If I’m going to be making lots of calls during the day for interviews, it makes sense to get a more reliable home phone.
I asked the rep to call me on my cell later that evening so I could discuss the deal with my wife. The quote I was given was $199 for two years of service with no activation fees. Equipment (including a cordless phone) was to be free.
We decided we’d try it out. But by the time we discussed it, it was late at night and too late to try to call the rep back.
A few days later, the representative called, and we discussed the offer. He told me the two-year deal was no longer available (it was a one-day offer, you see) and that he could give me an extra phone, but the charge was now $199 for one year instead of two. Not as great a deal. I told him I’d need to reconvene with Mrs. G.
We decided to hold off on the offer. We didn’t need the line at that exact moment, and we hadn’t really studied other options.
In the weeks since then, the representative has continued to call, at least four or five times a week. I’m not always able to answer my cell phone, but I’d see a number from the 605 area code and knew where it was coming from and usually just didn’t feel like haggling. The calls continued to come. No voice message was left, just constant calls. I stopped answering the phone when I saw that “605.”
Today, the rep finally left a message. The one-day offer is back: $199 for two years of service. The offer also appears on SunRocket’s Web site.
So what do you think? Was this just an example of slightly over-eager customer service? Was I smart to hold out for the two-year offer? Or should I be wary of doing business with a company that called so many times it began to be annoying?
I’ll be honest: I’m not sure what to do here.
