Letter to the editor: VZW-Alltel merger unfair to hard-working resellers

Dear Editor,
Most are aware of the Alltel/ Verizon “merger.” In case you’re not, the story is as follows: The FCC ruled that in order for the merger to go through without Verizon having a monopoly, certain portions of Alltel would have to be sold to another carrier. These portions are in areas where Verizon and Alltel are the only two carriers. This was to ensure that there would still be competition and choices offered to the customers in these markets. These portions of Alltel that are to be sold are considered “divested.” The portions to be merged with Verizon are “non-divested.”
Now that we’ve gone through Cellular 101 class, I’m about to tell you about my situation. I live in Thomaston, Ga., and about three years ago I was notified by my account manager that our company PSC, Public Service Cellular, was selling out to Alltel and that this meant great things for us.
Every customer that was activated by PSC had a 706-656 area code and prefix and could be ported to Alltel. The only catch would be that the customers would be signing a new two-year contract. We signed up all these customers on a two-year contract so now we had to wait for their CSA to become eligible to upgrade. So, we waited two years for these customers to become eligible and the cycle started again.
Present day and time: My store is in a divested area; however, on Friday Jan. 9, all of my customers became non-divested. So, what does this mean for me? In short, the customers that I have worked so hard to keep, that were originally activated by me on PSC, I can no longer assist. My personal cellphone bill has been mailed to my store since I ported to Alltel.
Now, even though my bill comes to my store, my account is non-divested and my store can no longer access it? Now according to the ruling by the Department of Justice, I can no longer upgrade these customers because divested agents can’t access non-divested customers’ information. So, in case you still don’t understand, I’ll spell it out: I LOST MY CUSTOMER BASE!!! Even myself! Is this fair? NO!!! After hours of phone conversations and days of anticipation that this would be fixed, the lawyers have decided that Verizon will not have to give any customers back to us. The Department of Justice has ruled and my area is “up the proverbial creek.”
There are approximately three other stores that are in a similar situation in Georgia. I live in a very rural area and 95% of my business has not been new activations, it’s been upgrades.
So, short and sweet, what do we have to look forward to? We don’t get any bailout money, we don’t get to hop on the Verizon bandwagon, and we don’t get to keep any of our customers. What we get is a giant GOING OUT OF BUSINESS sign draped from the top of where our Alltel sign used to be.
So, I want to say thank you. Thank you to Verizon and Alltel for making sure that businesses such as mine were treated like everyone … fairly. Businesses that have had their owners invest their life savings are not cut off at the knees. And, if you haven’t realized by now that I am speaking sarcastically, you must be one of the morons that made this decision and called it fair competition.
Christy Daniel, Wireless Connections