Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports today urged federal regulators to take a hard look at the potential harm to consumers and competition from AT&T’s proposal to buy T-Mobile USA.
Parul P. Desai, policy counsel for Consumers Union, said in a press release, “AT&T is already a giant in the wireless marketplace, where customers routinely complain about hidden charges and other anti-consumer practices. From a consumer’s perspective, it’s difficult to come up with any justification or benefits from letting AT&T swallow up one of its few major competitors. We plan to work very closely with regulators and lawmakers to scrutinize this deal and what it would mean to people’s pocketbooks.”
Source: Consumers Union
MacDailyNews Note: MacDailyNews does not recommend subscribing to Consumer Reports due to their questionable testing procedures, conclusions, and recommendations regarding Apple products.
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Hey (Consumer Reports) Can u Puleeeeeeeeeeeeeze go away.
The point really isn’t about Apple, it’s about AT&T. Their policies are draconian, Apple’s decision to even have an exclusivity contract is killing competition. You can get Voice+Data+Text from T-mobile for $79 an its unlimited. Those with AT&T pay $40 more for the same plan. If AT&T gobbles up T-Mobile, it’s to diminish the price comparison. People are leaving AT&T in droves, but prefer a GSM network that doesn’t jack them in pricing, so they are unlocking their iPhones and going to T-Mobile so they can save $500 a year. Say what you will about CR, they are right about this issue…
I had a customer tell me that they wouldn’t buy my product (a Mercedes-Benz) until they had a chance to go home and read about it in Consumer Reports.
This customer only had the magazine subscription, and did not have an account to access their site online.
Thinking creatively, and acting proactively, I subscribed on the spot, looked up the car, showed the customer the positive review, and made the deal.
I figured I’d keep it, and perhaps in the future it would help me make another deal.
About a week later is when they published their nonsense iPhone 4 article.
I cancelled my subscription, and told them the reason was because they had no credibility. I could not stand behind them after they scored a product with the highest marks in comparison to all other competitors, and in another article they recommended against purchasing the same item.
I made sure they knew the reason, and when they contacted me a short time later, I told them no to their offer, and again told them why they lost my subscription.
Perhaps they’ll learn from that mistake, but I doubt it.
I absolutely can not believe people are saying this merger is against anti trust laws.
wow
And no one says a thing about version, who /lies/ to there customers.