After Christmas my wife and I made the move to Freedom Mobile from TELUS. I’ve also written about their network coverage a couple of times as well as helped a couple of people who had issues with Freedom Mobile set up their iPhones to maximize their experience on it. The only thing that was left to report on in my mind was our billing experience as from previous personal experience as well as the experience of my clients, this is where things can go badly. Now I wouldn’t call this bad as such. But I will explain why Freedom Mobile should really do a better job of explaining what will happen on their first bill among other things that I will get to in a second. Let’s start with the billing part. And let me use this breakdown to illustrate what I mean:
I’ll get to the circled part of this in a second. But going through this bill, everything up until the (Watch) section of the bill was what I was expecting. What I wasn’t expecting was a $45 connection fee for the Apple Watch. I say that because when we signed up, we were told by the Freedom Mobile staff that they would waive the connection fee for each phone. Which they did. However they didn’t tell us about the $45 connection fee for the Apple Watch. The thing is that the connection fee for the Apple Watch is easy to find on their website:
On the Freedom Mobile website, if you find the Apple Watch plan and click the question mark in the circled area, you see this:
There you will find the mention of the connection fee. Which means that it’s in Freedom Mobile’s interest to tell customers about it. And while I admit that while I am not your average person when it comes to tech, I can say that if I had signed up online I would have clicked on the question mark and read the details and said “Oh okay” and moved on with life as I would know what to expect. But we were not told about this fee at the kiosk that my wife and I went to. That in turn led to us being caught off guard when our bill arrived. No to be clear, my wife and I aren’t mad as we both know that telcos will find new and creative ways to extract money out of your pockets whenever possible. Thus this fee isn’t a shock to us. But if I were a “Joe Average” consumer, I can see a scenario where they would be mad and call into customer support to express their displeasure as they would perceive that the connection fee for the Apple Watches should have been waived as well. And I would pity the Freedom Mobile employee on the other end of that call as it likely wouldn’t be pleasant.
Now combine that all of what I wrote above with this experience that my wife and I had when we signed up for Freedom Mobile:
Now originally my wife and I went to the Sherway Gardens location as we had to do some other things in that mall. Thus it was one stop shopping. But when we started talking to the staff there, they said that Apple Watch plans are not something that Freedom Mobile offers and the only company that does is “TELUS and maybe Bell”. Even when I showed them Freedom Mobile’s website on my phone which clearly lists Apple Watch plans as an option, they denied it was even a thing.
What both of these experiences suggests to me is that Freedom Mobile needs to make sure that their employees are better equipped with a deep understanding of their product offering, as well as being able to be completely transparent about billing and expectations so 100% of customers have the best customer experience 100% of the time. I say that because from a tech perspective, I think based on what I have experienced so far that Freedom Mobile is going in the right direction. And Freedom Mobile’s pricing is on point. But the customer experience needs work. If they take care of that, the “big three” telcos may have trouble holding onto their customers.
GM’s Ditching Of Android Auto And Apple CarPlay Has Officially Blown Up In Their Face
Posted in Commentary with tags GM on January 5, 2024 by itnerdLast year, GM announced that they were ditching Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in favour of their own system based on Android Automotive in its electric vehicles. While the motive to those on the outside was to create a new revenue stream for GM, the automaker denied this. This is what they said at the time:
Tim Babbitt, GM’s head of product for infotainment, gave MT a better explanation at a press event for the new Chevrolet Blazer EV, the flagship vehicle in the no CarPlay or Android Auto strategy (and our 2023 MotorTrend SUV of the Year winner). According to him, there’s an important factor that didn’t make it into the fact sheet: safety. Specifically, he cited driver distraction caused by cell phone usage behind the wheel.
According to Babbitt, CarPlay and Android Auto have stability issues that manifest themselves as bad connections, poor rendering, slow responses, and dropped connections. And when CarPlay and Android Auto have issues, drivers pick up their phones again, taking their eyes off the road and totally defeating the purpose of these phone-mirroring programs. Solving those issues can sometimes be beyond the control of the automaker. You can start to see GM’s frustration.
Babbitt’s thesis is that if drivers were to do everything through the vehicle’s built-in systems, they’d be less likely to pick up their phones and therefore less distracted and safer behind the wheel. He admits, though, GM hasn’t tested this thesis in the lab or real world yet but believes it has potential, if customers go for it.
Fast forward to today and GM has just started shipping their Blazer EV which is supposed to be an electric vehicle that appeals to the masses. But they’ve had to stop selling it. Here’s why:
Our automotive editor was scheduled to test a Blazer EV soon, but it looks like that will have to wait — GM has paused sales of its brand-new Chevy Blazer EV following reports of significant issues.
In a statement provided to The Verge, Chevrolet communications executive director Chad Lyons said, “Our team is working quickly to roll out a fix, and owners will be contacted with further information on how to schedule their update.” Chevrolet vice president Scott Bell said, “We’re aware that a limited number of customers have experienced software-related quality issues with their Blazer EV. Customer satisfaction is our priority and as such, we will take a brief pause on new deliveries.” GM did not confirm how many vehicles are affected, other than saying it’s a “limited” number.
Edmunds reports that two months after purchasing a 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV RS AWD for its long-term test fleet, the SUV has been at the dealership for two weeks. With 23 fault codes on a diagnostic test, they wrote that “What we got back from the dealer was alarming: the single longest list of major faults we at Edmunds have ever seen on a new car.”
Things went even worse for InsideEVs writer Kevin Williams, whose weeklong test ended after 28 hours. The vehicle’s CarPlay- and Android Auto-free infotainment system went blank while he was driving, and then an attempt to charge the battery failed, producing a “Service Vehicle Soon” error message.
Let’s get this straight. GM’s brand new electric vehicle is on a sales pause because “a limited number of customers have experienced software-related quality issues with their Blazer EV”. This after trashing Android Auto and Apple CarPlay for having “bad connections, poor rendering, slow responses, and dropped connections” which sound like they are throwing shade on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. After spending a considerable amount of time trying to stickhandle around the blowback from this decision to dump Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in their electric vehicles, I think it’s safe to say that this decision has blown up in GM’s face in spectacular fashion.
Now I’ve tested many, many cars over the years, and only once have I had one issue with the infotainment system that came with the car. And that was with this GM vehicle which didn’t have Android Auto or Apple CarPlay in it. And GM couldn’t explain to me why it didn’t work. And I’ve never encountered the issues that GM claims are present in Android Auto and Apple CarPlay outside of say a bad cable or a bad USB port. Rather than try to reinvent the infotainment system in cars to simply facilitate making a buck, perhaps GM should focus on making great cars that are reliable and leave infotainment systems to Google and Apple.
Just a thought.
Leave a comment »