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From: ceb@csli.stanford.edu (Charles Buckley)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Warning: Defective "Bell" Phone Being Sold
Message-ID: <5144@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 14 Mar 90 18:30:01 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 171, Message 4 of 9


It seems a bit sad, that the Bell name is now being put on inferior
merchandise, but that seems to be the case.

This refers to a phone I recently bought.  It carries the modernized
bell-in-a-circle logo at the top, and the words "BELL(tm) Phones" in
big letters, followed by (in smaller letters) "by Northwestern Bell
Phones".  The model number is Techline 2702S, and a quick check of the
back indicates the set was made in Korea.

The problem is something very simple, that even the old faithful 500
or 2500 sets didn't have: if you set the receiver down on a flat hard
surface (like a desktop) with the mouthpiece and earpiece down, you
generate a feedback squeal, which is disturbing to the party on the
other end, to say the least.

I have seen this happen on two sets of the same model, so I know it's
a design defect, and not a manufacturing one.  This was confirmed by
the manufacturing rep - see below.  Having noticed the problem, I
tried several different handsets of the same style made by other
companies (made in Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc. - sigh), and none of them
had this problem.

Northwestern Bell Phones provides an 800 number for service problems,
which I called using their product.  I demonstrated the problem in
real-time, and the rep replied: "Oh yes, that's a problem with all the
Techline phones [there are 4 models], but you know, you're going to
get that with any phone made."

I told her it was not true, and promptly switched to a handset made by
another company and demonstrated my point.  I told her I would not be
put off so easily.  I also allowed as noise cancelling was not a new
innovation, and was even cheap to implement, and there was no excuse
for not doing so.

At this point, she asked me to hold while she consulted a technician.
I waited, and she came back and said "Well, I just talked to our
technician, and he said the same thing I said.  You're welcome to send
it in for service, but we're not going to find anything wrong with
it."

I allowed as this was unacceptable, and stated I wanted my money back.
At this point she stated flat out "We do not give refunds.", and she
repeated this several times as I tried to reason with her.  I finally
gave up.

The case is so clearcut, and the matter so badly handled, that I feel
I must resort to a posting here.  If anyone from Northwestern Bell
reads this list, I would suggest you do something about your marketing
organization - poor-quality products and insolent, intimidating, lying
service reps won't get you very far.

The Bell name took years to develop a good reputation, and it seems
that this capital is being squandered by those who now use it.  Maybe
some of the other firms earning money off the Bell logo might want to
have a word with Northwestern Bell Phones as well, in their own
interest.