5518 - The transfer - phase 1

I hope I remember everything about this adventure.

A. My mother in law wanted to switch to Consumer Cellular (CC) to save money. Does she need to do it? Nope. But she's 89 years old and still lives in a nickel and dime world. She's paying $70 a month for AT&T (A) and has seen the ad for $20 for CC. $50 less. That's all she knows. It's $50 less. Well, A charges for long distance, but CC does not, so that's a plus.

B. Is she going to handle the transfer? ... Oh hell no. I get to do that. I also know I'm going to run into unknown problems but having worked for the real phone company I figure I can handle them.

C. Now she's not going to get a cell phone. She could never figure something like that out. But CC has a base station that is a cell phone that you plug your regular telephone into. It should work just fine.

D. I call CC and tell them she wants to switch. CC says OK but we need a pin number from A to complete the transfer. I have to call A to get the pin number. So I call, tell them what I need, get put on hold, and get cut off. I call back, same thing, cut off. 

E. I finally get someone that tells me I have to call a different A number to get the pin number.

F. I call that A number. The guy tells me oh you don't need a pin number since my MIL has a landline. Pin numbers are just for cell phone transfers. CC has to initiate the transfer with the A account number which is the phone number plus the extra three digits after the phone number on the bill. And BTW, since it's a landline, there is a 7 - 10 day waiting period to complete the transfer per the FCC so the customer can change their mind (from the 1980's when all this BS first started.)

G. I call CC, by the way, I talk to a different person EVERY time I call either company. I tell CC what A told me. So CC calls A and gets the transfer started. Now, since we've committed, CC will send us the base unit in 2 days express shipping. BTW the base unit costs $85. MIL - "EIGHTY FIVE DOLLARS!!!!" IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE $20!!! I explain this is a one time charge for the base unit. ... MIL - "EIGHTY FIVE DOLLARS!!!!"

H. So we place the order. The next day, no incoming calls on her A line. Outgoing OK, but the phone number doesn't work (remember this for the end of the story.) So she has dial tone but no incoming calls. Remember the base unit is going to take 2 days to show up. HA! Nope, I call CC and this time they tell me it was sent regular shipping, 3 -5 days. So no incoming calls for 3 -5 days for someone who lives on the phone. She still has A dial tone.

To be continued... (I've reread this several times adding stuff I forgot about. There is probably still stuff missing.)