TLDR at bottom.
So I would like to express my extreme frustration with Aio Wireless in hopes that it raises awareness to others that are thinking of switching and also get input from others as to implications related to porting to another AT&T based MVNO.
I got my shiny new Nexus 5 from Google a few weeks ago. A week later, I was out of my contract with my previous carrier and had just received my new T-Mobile prepaid micro SIM to port to T-Mobile. That process wasn't without hiccups but that aside, I got my number ported over to T-Mobile prepaid just before my old carrier's month renewed. I signed up for the 100 minute, unlimited data for $30 a month deal which seemed awesome at the time.
Unfortunately T-Mobile's coverage was terrible in my house (despite what their coverage map said I should have). In my living room I couldn't get service at all and in the bedroom and computer room it teetered between no bars (but had service somehow) and no service at all. Long story short, I needed to get off T-Mobile because it clearly wasn't going to work for me.
Enter Aio Wireless.
I signed up for their service last Thursday. I had selected the "port my number" option when signing up (maybe this is ultimately where I went wrong) and picked the Pro plan (7 GB data, unlimited data, unlimited text) and then paid for my first month's service and my SIM card. After submitting my order it hit me that I may have screwed up by preemptively porting my phone number before I got my SIM card. I immediately hit up their online chat where the representative assured me there was nothing to worry about and nothing would happen until I got my SIM in the mail.
Fast forward to Monday (two days ago) when my Aio Wireless SIM shows up as delivered. I'm excited to get coverage back in my house and excited that Aio Wireless has a seemingly fantastic deal, all things considered. The kicker is, my SIM card isn't on my front porch. I called UPS and they said the driver delivered it to the front porch but to start the investigation process they would need to work via Aio Wireless as they were the shipper. I don't blame Aio Wireless or UPS at this point (well maybe a little UPS but it was a windy day and my SIM card could have blown away).
I called Aio Wireless support and they launched an investigation. I was frustrated but understood things happen and while T-Mobile's coverage wasn't great, I at least had access to it somewhat. It took me at least 45 minutes to explain and reexplain to multiple Aio representatives that yes, I understand UPS shows the package as delivered but no, I in fact did NOT have the package. They escalated me to a supervisor (or manager) and he told me he would launch the investigation.
After wanting to cut ties completely with Aio at this point, I asked for a refund and to cancel the port of my number. I was denied refund as it isn't company policy to do so. I was frustrated but figured I would give them a chance to fix it. He told me they would ship a new SIM out immediately. Because cell coverage in my house was very hit-or-miss he even offered to contact me via email with an update in "an hour or so" and would personally make sure this was in process and things were moving. He took down my email and gave me a ticket number and said I would receive an email with an updated tracking number soon.
I hadn't gotten a reply from Aio's automated shipping system with a new tracking number OR a reply from the supervisor regarding the status of my call so I called back yesterday mid-morning (Tuesday). After waiting on hold for another 15 minutes I got connected to another representative who I supplied the previous ticket number to so they could give me a status update on my ticket. There was no action on it at that point, no tracking number, etc. They put me on hold another 15 minutes or so while they investigated. The representative told me he was going to reship me a SIM card and gave me a new ticket number related to it and have it expedited. He even offered to have the SIM shipped to another address (my work) where someone could sign for it so it couldn't get blown away by the wind or stolen (though I don't think theft happened in my neighborhood). I never received a tracking number (again).
Later that afternoon (still Tuesday) I noticed my data service on my T-Mobile phone had dropped. I cycled the phone's power and when it came back up I had no voice either (at work I always have full coverage/service). I tried to log into T-Mobile's "My T-Mobile" site and my phone number + password combination did not work. I began to panic, surely Aio did NOT just port my number out of T-Mobile without me having a SIM.
I frantically call T-Mobile and after getting shuffled around their phone tree (another story) I finally spoke to someone who was able to pull up my number. Unfortunately, the number was no longer "owned" by T-Mobile. She told me that the number was controlled by AT&T and that's why my service on T-Mobile no longer was working and I couldn't log into the website. She gave me the date and time the number left T-Mobile's network.
I'm furious at this point with the whole situation. Surely there's a mistake. Surely. AT&T couldn't have ported my number because that would be stupid. I didn't even have an Aio SIM to use.
I call Aio Wireless, enter my phone number and PIN. Their automated system previously had said something along the lines of "I'm having trouble looking that up, let me route you to a representative that can help you." This time I hear a "we see you're on the Pro plan that expires..." Not good.
I talk to another representative who I supply the previous two ticket numbers to. I'm placed on hold for a few minutes while he researches the case numbers. He comes back and says yes sir, Aio Wireless has ported your number from T-Mobile. Are you having trouble placing a call?
Yeah, I think that I'm having extreme difficulties with multiple layers of failure and having "trouble placing a call" sums it up. I then proceed to explain, despite having supplied him with two ticket numbers with "notes" that otherwise should have explained in detail the issues I was having, what was going on. He apologized and then tried to call and have something escalated. He couldn't do anything above what was already done. I again said I want out of this deal. Please refund my money. Of which the canned response was "I cannot do that, it's not our policy to do so." After going round-and-round I'm fit to be tied with these jokers. They are clueless and have no structure in place to remedy things in a timely or structured manner (what I would consider structured or timely at least). Before hanging up I asked if he could supply me with a tracking number since I hadn't gotten one yet. He replied with a FedEx tracking number this time.
I made note of the tracking number and tried pulling it up in their database. It did not show up until later that night. As of this morning I logged in to FedEx's site and checked the tracking number of which it still says "Shipment information sent to FedEx." I'd think nothing of this if it were USPS (I always seem to get packages delivered before their tracking system even shows it being picked up) but this is FedEx. They are pretty real-time with this type of stuff.
So here I am, cellphoneless. Frustrated and informing all of you of my adventures with Aio Wireless. I have little recourse in this at this point it seems. All the while I'm "on-call" at work and they can't really call me on my cell phone because it goes straight to what I assume is Aio Wireless' voicemail system.
I really just want to again port my number to Straight Talk or even a "big boy" carrier like Verizon or AT&T (except Aio is owned by AT&T) and be done with this. Saving money is not worth the breakdown in communication, lack of customer service and ultimately being without a cell phone. I want to port my number to another carrier and then dispute the charges with Discover Card. My fear is if I port to another AT&T MVNO (or AT&T themselves) the number will still be "touchable" (if that makes sense?) by Aio since they are AT&T (or on AT&T) and they could get pissy and hold my cell phone number hostage if I dispute the charges. Is there some sort of actual formality I can go through for recourse?
I realize ranting on the internet isn't going to solve anything but I wanted to raise awareness of my situation and let anyone thinking of switching to Aio Wireless know of my struggle to do business with them. There's a lot of frustration with not having a brick-and-mortar store to walk up to for service. Right now, that cost savings doesn't seem worth it. The adage "you get what you pay for" seems to be holding true right now.
TLDR: Never got initial Aio Wireless SIM, cannot get replacement SIM in a timely fashion (they won't communicate and they won't expedite), won't cancel/refund my order as it's "not their policy" AND they ported my number away from my previous carrier without me having my SIM from them (i.e. I have a worthless phone until someone takes control and fixes this ****) and I cannot place calls and all inbound calls goes straight to voicemail that I cannot access. All around fail.
So I would like to express my extreme frustration with Aio Wireless in hopes that it raises awareness to others that are thinking of switching and also get input from others as to implications related to porting to another AT&T based MVNO.
I got my shiny new Nexus 5 from Google a few weeks ago. A week later, I was out of my contract with my previous carrier and had just received my new T-Mobile prepaid micro SIM to port to T-Mobile. That process wasn't without hiccups but that aside, I got my number ported over to T-Mobile prepaid just before my old carrier's month renewed. I signed up for the 100 minute, unlimited data for $30 a month deal which seemed awesome at the time.
Unfortunately T-Mobile's coverage was terrible in my house (despite what their coverage map said I should have). In my living room I couldn't get service at all and in the bedroom and computer room it teetered between no bars (but had service somehow) and no service at all. Long story short, I needed to get off T-Mobile because it clearly wasn't going to work for me.
Enter Aio Wireless.
I signed up for their service last Thursday. I had selected the "port my number" option when signing up (maybe this is ultimately where I went wrong) and picked the Pro plan (7 GB data, unlimited data, unlimited text) and then paid for my first month's service and my SIM card. After submitting my order it hit me that I may have screwed up by preemptively porting my phone number before I got my SIM card. I immediately hit up their online chat where the representative assured me there was nothing to worry about and nothing would happen until I got my SIM in the mail.
Fast forward to Monday (two days ago) when my Aio Wireless SIM shows up as delivered. I'm excited to get coverage back in my house and excited that Aio Wireless has a seemingly fantastic deal, all things considered. The kicker is, my SIM card isn't on my front porch. I called UPS and they said the driver delivered it to the front porch but to start the investigation process they would need to work via Aio Wireless as they were the shipper. I don't blame Aio Wireless or UPS at this point (well maybe a little UPS but it was a windy day and my SIM card could have blown away).
I called Aio Wireless support and they launched an investigation. I was frustrated but understood things happen and while T-Mobile's coverage wasn't great, I at least had access to it somewhat. It took me at least 45 minutes to explain and reexplain to multiple Aio representatives that yes, I understand UPS shows the package as delivered but no, I in fact did NOT have the package. They escalated me to a supervisor (or manager) and he told me he would launch the investigation.
After wanting to cut ties completely with Aio at this point, I asked for a refund and to cancel the port of my number. I was denied refund as it isn't company policy to do so. I was frustrated but figured I would give them a chance to fix it. He told me they would ship a new SIM out immediately. Because cell coverage in my house was very hit-or-miss he even offered to contact me via email with an update in "an hour or so" and would personally make sure this was in process and things were moving. He took down my email and gave me a ticket number and said I would receive an email with an updated tracking number soon.
I hadn't gotten a reply from Aio's automated shipping system with a new tracking number OR a reply from the supervisor regarding the status of my call so I called back yesterday mid-morning (Tuesday). After waiting on hold for another 15 minutes I got connected to another representative who I supplied the previous ticket number to so they could give me a status update on my ticket. There was no action on it at that point, no tracking number, etc. They put me on hold another 15 minutes or so while they investigated. The representative told me he was going to reship me a SIM card and gave me a new ticket number related to it and have it expedited. He even offered to have the SIM shipped to another address (my work) where someone could sign for it so it couldn't get blown away by the wind or stolen (though I don't think theft happened in my neighborhood). I never received a tracking number (again).
Later that afternoon (still Tuesday) I noticed my data service on my T-Mobile phone had dropped. I cycled the phone's power and when it came back up I had no voice either (at work I always have full coverage/service). I tried to log into T-Mobile's "My T-Mobile" site and my phone number + password combination did not work. I began to panic, surely Aio did NOT just port my number out of T-Mobile without me having a SIM.
I frantically call T-Mobile and after getting shuffled around their phone tree (another story) I finally spoke to someone who was able to pull up my number. Unfortunately, the number was no longer "owned" by T-Mobile. She told me that the number was controlled by AT&T and that's why my service on T-Mobile no longer was working and I couldn't log into the website. She gave me the date and time the number left T-Mobile's network.
I'm furious at this point with the whole situation. Surely there's a mistake. Surely. AT&T couldn't have ported my number because that would be stupid. I didn't even have an Aio SIM to use.
I call Aio Wireless, enter my phone number and PIN. Their automated system previously had said something along the lines of "I'm having trouble looking that up, let me route you to a representative that can help you." This time I hear a "we see you're on the Pro plan that expires..." Not good.
I talk to another representative who I supply the previous two ticket numbers to. I'm placed on hold for a few minutes while he researches the case numbers. He comes back and says yes sir, Aio Wireless has ported your number from T-Mobile. Are you having trouble placing a call?
Yeah, I think that I'm having extreme difficulties with multiple layers of failure and having "trouble placing a call" sums it up. I then proceed to explain, despite having supplied him with two ticket numbers with "notes" that otherwise should have explained in detail the issues I was having, what was going on. He apologized and then tried to call and have something escalated. He couldn't do anything above what was already done. I again said I want out of this deal. Please refund my money. Of which the canned response was "I cannot do that, it's not our policy to do so." After going round-and-round I'm fit to be tied with these jokers. They are clueless and have no structure in place to remedy things in a timely or structured manner (what I would consider structured or timely at least). Before hanging up I asked if he could supply me with a tracking number since I hadn't gotten one yet. He replied with a FedEx tracking number this time.
I made note of the tracking number and tried pulling it up in their database. It did not show up until later that night. As of this morning I logged in to FedEx's site and checked the tracking number of which it still says "Shipment information sent to FedEx." I'd think nothing of this if it were USPS (I always seem to get packages delivered before their tracking system even shows it being picked up) but this is FedEx. They are pretty real-time with this type of stuff.
So here I am, cellphoneless. Frustrated and informing all of you of my adventures with Aio Wireless. I have little recourse in this at this point it seems. All the while I'm "on-call" at work and they can't really call me on my cell phone because it goes straight to what I assume is Aio Wireless' voicemail system.
I really just want to again port my number to Straight Talk or even a "big boy" carrier like Verizon or AT&T (except Aio is owned by AT&T) and be done with this. Saving money is not worth the breakdown in communication, lack of customer service and ultimately being without a cell phone. I want to port my number to another carrier and then dispute the charges with Discover Card. My fear is if I port to another AT&T MVNO (or AT&T themselves) the number will still be "touchable" (if that makes sense?) by Aio since they are AT&T (or on AT&T) and they could get pissy and hold my cell phone number hostage if I dispute the charges. Is there some sort of actual formality I can go through for recourse?
I realize ranting on the internet isn't going to solve anything but I wanted to raise awareness of my situation and let anyone thinking of switching to Aio Wireless know of my struggle to do business with them. There's a lot of frustration with not having a brick-and-mortar store to walk up to for service. Right now, that cost savings doesn't seem worth it. The adage "you get what you pay for" seems to be holding true right now.
TLDR: Never got initial Aio Wireless SIM, cannot get replacement SIM in a timely fashion (they won't communicate and they won't expedite), won't cancel/refund my order as it's "not their policy" AND they ported my number away from my previous carrier without me having my SIM from them (i.e. I have a worthless phone until someone takes control and fixes this ****) and I cannot place calls and all inbound calls goes straight to voicemail that I cannot access. All around fail.
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