When I first moved to Uruguay I bought a cell phone with Claro but seeing as they don't have any agreement with a phone company in Ireland I couldn't send messages to, or receive messages from home. As such, I switched to Movistar and was delighted to find that an international text message costs the same as a local one! (1 Uruguayan Peso!) However that has turned out to be the ONLY good thing about this network!
I first bought a pre-paid phone and found that the price for making a voicecall is insanely high so I went to inquire about a contract. I was told they had a contract that costs $395 monthly which includes 74 call minutes to ANY number, 200 text messages to ANY network and 1000 messages to 2 pre-selected movistar friends. I thought this was a good deal so I took it.
There was a specific phone I wanted (nokia 5070) which is on display in almost every Movistar store in Montevideo. However when I asked for it they said they don't have it. I explained I really wanted that model as I was used to using it and asked if I could go to another store and I was told they don't actually sell that one anymore. I asked why it is still on display in every store and got no response. I then asked if it was possible to have the one that was on display in the case and told no.
I signed up for the contract and accepted a different model nokia (1680). However the phone is awful to use AND when I write a text message in Spanish (which I obviously need to do living in Uruguay) it only allows me to use half of the characters in 1 message that I am allowed to use if write the message in English! I brought this to the attention of movistar staff and there answer was "that's just because of the language"?! Why should I pay double the price to write a message in Spanish? it makes no sense! Not to mention that my phone loses ALL coverage once I leave Montevideo, even when its only an hour or so outside!
Now I have the phone for one month and my first bill arrived. The bill is for the month of January and seeing as I only started my contract on January 26th it should only be a small amount...the bill says 1, 100 pesos (40 dollars!). I went to the store - where I had to wait for over an hour just to talk to someone about my problem and 5 female members of staff were more interested in having a conversation about their weekend in the manager's office than actually helping any customers in the store! There were 15 desks and only 4 were attended!
I finally spoke to someone, they treated me like I was stupid and told me the figure on the bill is a negative number and I actually have to pay 90pesos...how am I supposed to know that? Nowhere on the whole bill does it say I have to pay 90pesos! Why is the bill in a negative number? Then I asked if I could pay it and she told me that you can't pay Movistar bills at Movistar! She also told me that my contract was for 74 minutes of calls but that all of the messages included in my package were ONLY to other movistar customers. I told her that this is not what I was told when I started the contract and she just looked at me as if to say "I don't care, its not my problem"!
So now I have a contract for a phone that costs me twice as much to send a message in Spanish than any other phone, I was lied to about my contract, I have no signal outside Montevideo, I have been to Movistar central office numerous times and each time have to wait at least an hour just to speak to someone and then they are really rude to you! Why should I continue to pay every month for the next 12 months for a phone that doesn't work properly and a contract package that I was lied to about?! I think i'll just not pay and find a better company.
And it doesn't end there! The due date on the bill said 20/1/2009. I went to Red Pagos and paid 90pesos on 19/1/1009. On the evening of the 19th my phone stopped working! I cannot make calls or send messages to any network that is not Movistar!!! None of my friends are with Movistar (and now I can see why) so I cannot contact them. I went to my closest Movistar store and was told YET AGAIN that I have to go to the central office! Why can none of the staff in all of their other stores ever help me?
I am so angry and dissatisfied with the way I have been treated by Movistar. They have no idea about customer service! I have spoken to many different people in many different stores and none of them helped me! Nobody could explain why Spanish text messages are allowed less characters than English, nobody could explain why I have no signal outside Montevideo. Nobody ever apologised for the mistake on my bill or how long I always have to wait and I bet nobody will apologise when I have to go again today to get full service back!
