Phones Programs/Partners - MCI Neighborhood Deal-has anyone looked into it?

I hope this is the correct forum to post this. On Monday MCI announced a new residential rate. 49.99 for unlimited local AND unlimited long distance- 24/7. In addition, there is free caller ID, call waiting, voicemail , dial8, etc.. Comments from anyone who has looked into this deal?? Thanks!!!

Actually, no - this is not the appropriate forum, this forum being specifically for: Discussion of the latest frequent flyer program buzz.

I would suggest Omni.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by svpii:
Actually, no - this is not the appropriate forum, this forum being specifically for: Discussion of the latest frequent flyer program buzz.

I would suggest Omni.</font>

Sounds more like SPAM to me http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Well, ScottC - I had the same initial reaction. But FT's version of "SPAM" requires some mention of miles or points.. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I'm trying to give this poster the benefit of the doubt that he/she really is asking for feedback and NOT promoting a product.

How about the "MCI" forum! We do have one.

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Craig6z
Buzz & United Moderator
moderator2@flyertalk.com

I'm really shocked by some peoples attitude. I feel like the poor guy was trying to get information out. As far as I understand you do get miles for spending money through mci. If you can funnel all the money from your local company to mci, its a great deal i would think.

They are offering: Earn 2,000 miles after your first month in The Neighborhood - and another 1,000 after your second month. You also get 5 miles for every dollar spent.

I'm sure of you call you can get a better deal.

Here's the link
http://www.mci.com/res_local_service/jsps/default.jsp

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ValueConsumer.com (http://www.valueconsumer.com) Home of Tripple Dipping Online Shopping

My neighborhood hasn't joined "THE NEIGHBORHOOD" yet, evidently. Don't you just hate that??! It would sure save me some mega-bucks. Thanks for the heads-up!

From the first look it may be a better deal. I need to run the numbers. Would you earn miles on the whole $50?

I personally think this is the right place for this. It has to do with MCI, miles from MCI, and new services.

I just signed up for The Neighborhood. Did it by phone. The rep said I would get 2000 bonus miles and 5 miles for every dollar of the $49.99 per month.

I've been with MCI for two years and have never had a problem getting UA miles.

This is a pretty good deal for local and unlimited long distance. I didn't have to call my local company to disconnect and I got to keep the same phone number.

Robyn
(edited to correct typo)

[This message has been edited by Robyn (edited 04-24-2002).]

I signed up this morning for neighborhood complete ( unlimited local and long distance). The rep said there was a 5000 mile bonus for signing up and 5 miles per dollar spent each month (250 miles).

When doing your analysis to see if this plan is right for you, I'm sure there will be the typical array of taxes applied which should amount to about another $10.

You are right about the taxes. I estimated at least $10 additional for taxes= $60. My unlimited local yada yada yada plan with verizon is about that with NO long distance and NO miles.

Before you switch to this plan, read the posts on this FT thread about using MCI for local service. The savings are not great enough for me to take the chance. I'll stick with my combination of Verizon and http://www.onesuite.com.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum99/HTML/000127.html

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Tenacious:
Before you switch to this plan, read the posts on this FT thread about using MCI for local service. The savings are not great enough for me to take the chance. I'll stick with my combination of Verizon and http://www.onesuite.com.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum99/HTML/000127.html</font>

I've had this plan for three months. It's GREAT! $49.99 for all home phone charges. One bill, plus FF miles. I thought it was too good to be true, but haven't yet found the catch.

I can call anywhere/anytime with this service without additional charges.

Well, we signed up for it on August 5, and have had nothing but trouble and hassle getting the actual service started. We got letters saying that, since we refused to allow MCI to run credit checks, we had to send a $39 deposit per line to some P.O. box in Missouri. We hadn't been asked about credit checks or anything like it. We called the Customer "service" number to inquire, and, after spending about 45 minutes, we told that new account numbers had to be assigned since they hadn't received our deposits by the unreasonable date stated. Were told it would take another 3 to 4 weeks to start service, but we would receive $25 off certificates for the second two months for our inconvenience. Nothing came. Wife called again to get answers. After last call, her phone was hooked up with local service and features, but no long distance. Our main line still has not been changed. When she called to get to the bottom of the long distance problem upstairs, was told there was a problem with the MCI line, and that a service call was required. She was also told that we weren't entitled to receive the $25 certificates promised by two separate MCI folks in previous calls because we were already partaking of a special offer. So, today, 3-1/2 months after initially agreeing to MCI service, we have one line with local service only. The savings will be great once the service is finally started, but what is saved monetarily is being spent ten-fold in multiple endless calls to uninformed and unhelpful MCIers. I wish we hadn't gotten involved with this. Oh, and the 5000 USAirways bonus miles haven't shown, either, and I recently read that MCI isn't participating in airline mileage plans anymore. I will be interested to see if the miles were a scam, too.

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Missing the Wings of Man, Whisperliners, and the overall civility in air travel!

I signed up for MCI the Neighborhood in July and was told if I didn't allow a credit check I would need to post a deposit. I disagreed with this since I have had telephone service for 42 years, 32 of them at my current number. In the course of the discussion it was mentioned if I was a senior citizen this would be waived. All I had to do was send a copy of my driver's license which I did immediately. It took about a week to set the system up but it has worked great. My bill is now 49.99 a month plus about 15.50 a month in taxes. I had signed up for the AA mileage program (5,000 mile signup bonus, 1,000 miles per month for five months). When October rolled around and I still hadn't received any miles bonus or other so I called. The woman I spoke to assured me that I was set up correctly and my miles would be in my AA account by 11/2. When it became obvious by 11/10 that there were no miles posted and it didn't look like there were going to be any, I called again. This time the recording that picked up stated that the AA offer was over, the alliance no longer existed. After many minutes trying to get a human being I finally met with success only to be told I was never signed up for AA miles. They didn't have any record of my AA ff number. I had given this number when I signed up and again when I called in October so I asked for a supervisor. This of course meant that I had to tell my story all over again. She was very sympathetic and said she could do nothing for me herself but she would forward my complaint to headquarters. She assured me that they would contact me within 72 hours with their decision about the miles. I was very sceptical about receiving any kind of callback from anyone ever.

Then, much to my surprise, two days after my call to MCI a gentleman called from headquarters to apologize for the mixup and ask what he could do to make up for it. I said I wanted my AA miles. He offered miles with other airlines or hotels but I was adamant. I said I only fly AA and I was entitled to those miles. Finally he said he had two offers. One would be to take the miles owed to me as of now, 5,000 bonus miles, plus 3,000 miles for the three months I had paid bills for and about 750 miles for the 5 miles per dollar I had spent. The other was for the whole 10,000 miles plus the 5 miles per dollar but I would have to wait until May to collect. Now I love the Neighborhood plan and I don't want to see MCI go under but on the other hand I don't have enough faith to wait until May. I took the 8,750 miles. He told me it would take a week or so for the miles to show up in my AA account so I was very surprised when, two days later, there they were.

I'm very happy to get any miles at all from this company and, as I said before, I really like the plan. I no longer have to call after nine at night or before seven in the morning. I don't keep track of how long I've been on the phone. I'll call my kids several times a day if I need to because no matter what I only pay that $49.99 plus tax. I know others probably won't agree with me but I'm in hog heaven and I managed to get almost all the miles I was going to get anyway. I lost about 1250 miles but that was my choice.

Chris