Letter to Bellsouth

Does this make sense to you? Am I being unreasonably angry or should I send their stuff back and sign up with Vonage?

Hello,

Hopefully you care about your company and whether or not it keeps losing customers... because if certain policies are not changed, you will continue to lose them in record numbers.

I am writing to you today because my husband and I have had an account with you since 1984... but we are considering a change. This is why:
I purchased a telephone from your company, which has a defective handset... but the base unit, which has taken time and effort to program... is fine.
However, in order to replace the defective handset, I'm told I must return the base unit and live without a telephone until the replacement comes.

Is it your policy to inconvenience your customers? I didn't think so, until I was told that I could not just order the replacement first, and THEN return the other... which would inconvenience us LESS (the unnecessary new base unit will STILL have to be programmed, needlessly... as the handsets are interchangeable with these base units)

No. I was told that I must follow this inane procedure. Just because. Because that's the way it is.
Please give me credit for having more intelligence than that. I wouldn't even expect my four-year-old to accept a lame reason like that.
Your policies need to be reviewed and CHANGED.

Not only that, but when I told your supervisor that we could not be inconvenienced like that... without a phone... she told me to go borrow one from a neighbor!

This method only serves the manufacturer... and MAYBE Bellsouth. But in the long run, it will serve neither: as discontented customers leave in droves.
It's bad enough that our DSL service isn't worth HALF what we pay for it... since it only seems to work HALF the time... now you sell me overpriced equipment and inconvenience ME, the CUSTOMER when it's DEFECTIVE? Yeah... that's the way to keep customers. Sure. Whatever.

If this situation can not be resolved to my satisfaction, I will return ALL of the bellsouth equipment and expect a full refund: right before I close our 22 year old account and sign up with someone else. Yes, I will still have to purchase another telephone, but to be quite frank, the volume level on this "premium" phone system is pathetic anyway.