Streamline Wireless

The service was awesome! Patrick and Nicola really were knowledgable and helped me make my decision and save money.

I’m starting to think that the majority of salespeople in the city of Chicago are blatant liars. Actually, I expect a salesperson to blatantly lie to my face, and do the complete opposite of what was promised to me. It seems apparent that the «fast buck» is all that matters. Repeat customers? Ha, who needs them, right?
I have been with Verizon for about 3 years, and have been very satisfied. However, I decided to shop around, and found out I could get a better rate through At&t. Not to mention, my wife had an old iphone3 just laying around, and I felt the need to switch. I took my wife’s iphone (now mine) into Streamline Wireless. For those who don’t know, IF you bring your own phone into a wireless retailer, you are NOT obligated to sign a contract. You simply pick a plan, and off you go.
Now, this scenario I set up seems simple, right? The reason I did not want to be under contract is because of a few reasons:
1. The new iphone 5 will be out in a few months, and I will most likely sign a contract at that time, in order to get the phone at the $ 199 price point.
2. I own the iphone 3, so there is no reason to sign a contract, as this would prevent me from getting the new iphone 5 in just a few months at the reduced price.
Make sense? I think so. Even the sales rep, Ray thought this made sense, and simply had me out within 10 minutes, after taking my iphone into this store.
Here’s where it gets interesting. I clearly told Ray on at least 3 occasions that I would NOT be siging a contract, and wouldn’t pay any activation fee. If they wanted my biz, they would waive the fee, and I would come back in a few months to sign the contract, and get my new i5. Ray said, «no problem.»
Well, the problem, unbeknownst to me, is that Ray did in fact place me into a contract, and what do you think happened with that waived activation fee? Yep, he popped me with that too! I called At&t corporate and told them that I didn’t sign anything. There response, «You didn’t sign a contract?» Nope, I did not. They advised me to speak with the manager at Streamline, and call back if the problem wasn’t resolved.
After a phone call to manager at Streamline Wireless, this was fixed. Unfortunately, I should NOT have had to jump through hoops in order to rectify this slick attempt to sneak me into a contract.
Deception and lies: THE CHICAGO WAY!

These people marked my Samsung WEP103 bluetooth headset which I purchased with a blackberry so I could not return it or switch it. The sales person said «OK, I marked your headset and then put another scratch on it so I would know the Bluetooth was mine.»
I tried to return the headset within the month and they refused. They also turned down other customers a week after I purchased this system for the same reason.
Do not accept any equipment from them with a mark on it. They are deceptive and not honorable.
They told me that they would honor the COSTCO program, but substituted a much inferior headset and marked it. The AT&T customer service and an AT&T corporate store told me to go back and switch out the equipment as it was the same price and I could not do that.

So far my experience with Streamline has been good. I think just like calling AT&T customer service, what you are able to find out and what people can do for you depends on who you deal with.
My S/​O and I have been looking to upgrade now that both our contracts have past the 2 yr mark. This is the closest location to us and we’ve been fortunate to have dealt with Salman. He’s competent, has been able to answer our questions (nothing too complicated) and wasn’t heavy-​handed in tossing in a sales pitch on a thing or two when it was appropriate (which is fine b/​c I already know what I want.)
I also had some issues regarding upgrading to my company-​sponsored discount and all of the people I’ve had to deal with in this process, including telephone and live chat customer service, Salman has been one of the most competent and I’d be the most comfortable with his answers.
I can’t speak for anyone else that works there since I haven’t had any other in-​depth interaction. My only advice would be to work with Salman and go from there.