Okay, next paycheck, I'm going to buy one of those little gizmos that lets you record phone conversations because I am tired of people being pricks to me. So, two months ago I decide to leave Cingular Wireless after being with them for years. I got virtually no reception in my apartment but TheFiancee and I stuck with Cingular because they were the only ones doing the free mobile-to-mobile service.
So, I sign up with Sprint because I can actually GET a signal in my apartment and they now do the free mobile-to-mobile and with them and call Cingular to cancel my account. After the woman tells me how much I owe, I give her my check card number to pay for it right over the phone. I confirmed that this was the total amount I would have to pay them and once the account was closed, that would be it. What she didn't bother to tell me was that my billing cycle finished the next day and that there could be charges for any minutes that were over my limit. If she had told me that, I would have said nevermind cancelling the account, I'll just wait until tomorrow to do it then.
But she didn't tell me that. So, when I asked her if the total she quoted me was the last I'd have to pay them and when she agreed that it was, I naturally assumed that any charges for minutes used that month would have been included in the number she gave me that day.
Of course, they weren't. What's worse is that I didn't even get a "final billing statement" in the mail. All I got were two "you are overdue $92.97, please pay now" statements, each about a month apart. The first one, I figured was printed before I cancelled the service. The second one I got I knew it had to be a mistake, but just haven't had time to call them on it, what with all of my fun with the Apple corporation and my dayjob and my books and my comics.
Today I get a letter from a collection agency about the $92.97. A collection agency. It's been like two weeks since my second notice and they send me to a collection agency?
So, of course, I call them up. The woman I speak to first was barely there as a human being. I asked her why I was being charged this, etc, etc, and she explained about the overages. I say, okay, fine, but you guys said that the payment I made on 3/23 would be the last payment. Why am I still being charged? Again, she explains that it's because of the overages that were charged after the account was cancelled.
:crazy:
I then ask her how that even works and she then repeated herself, literally not changing a word of her explanation.
I then started to get annoyed because the way I look at it, this was all a big misunderstanding that was essentially there fault. So, I asked for a supervisor that I could feel better about getting upset with because I know that the first person to answer the phone is just doing their job and repeating what they're told to and I don't think it's fair to get hyper with a person who has no control over policy. I told her this, too. She then repeats the same thing about the overages being charged after I cancelled the account. I then repeated my request to talk to a supervisor. She put me on hold for a few minutes and I got to talk to one.
"Hi, my name is Chris [unintelligible] and how can I provide you with extraordinary service today, sir?"
:confused:
"Well, you tell me," was what I wanted to say, but didn't.
The short of it is that this guy repeats what the other woman said adding that these charges are legitimate and that I did make those overages.
"I'm not disputing that," I said, stupidly.
"Oh, okay, then you acknowledge that you did make those calls and run your minutes over your limit as I see you had done four months in a row." No joke - he actually said that.
"No, I don't acknowledge anything. What I'm disputing is why you guys are charging me when you told me I wouldn't be charged anymore after 3/23."
"I'm sorry you were told that sir, but the customer service representative who said that was in error."
"So, now I'm just expected to pay this? I mean, I didn't even get a final bill."
"Well, sir, I'd be happy to send a copy out to you."
"Isn't it too late for that since you guys have already sent it to a collection agency?"
"It's up to you, sir. I can send it to you if you'd like."
"Yeah, yeah, I'd like you to send me that bill, thank you."
"Would you like to settle these charges right now? I can take a credit card number."
:plain:
"No. Thank you, please send me a copy."
"No problem, is there anything else I can help you with today?"
"No, thank you."
"Well, you have a good day, sir."
"You, too."
WHAT a DICKWEED!!!
You see, this is why I need to buy one of those things that lets you record phone conversations. That way I can record it and post it on my site so everyone can enjoy these insipid morons who are called "customer service".
That sucks, Pete-- sorry they were such dicks to you. =(
ReplyDeleteAs for recording phone conversations, I'm planning to purchase a device that will allow me to do so (for my documentary). I'll let you know if the one I get is any good.
Yeah, please do! Let me know how much it costs, too... I may not wait for your review.
ReplyDeleteI am having a similar problem with Cingular after canceling my service. My dispute was over pre-billing. Cingular pre-bills the month (like many others) but did not credit me for almost a month not used. They claim that because I canceled my service one day after the billing cycle (which they told me to do to complete my contract) that they cannot credit me back for the other 29 days of the month. This has gone to collections, after I had paid promptly the amount in full up through my cancelation date. Cingular wants the other 29 days.
ReplyDeleteThese people are rude, and I mentioned that as a consumer I was not being treated fairly and was being billed for services not rendered. A customer service person stated that "Because you don't pay my bills, you are not a consumer".
I can't even tell you how irritated I am over this. It is so clear that the consumer has little rights or protection against corporations, and in credit matters the consumer is guilty until they can prove themselves innocent.
Sorry to hear that, man. That's the way it's going these days with corporations. On this site I've chronicled not just my dealings with Cingular but with Apple, as well. Both companies leave more than a little to be desired. My generally impression is that if a company is going to lose you as a customer (and they know they are) they'll do nothing to be nice and in Cingular's case, they'll actually be dicks to you, aggressively.
ReplyDeleteWhat's worse is that I explained to Apple that I was not leaving Apple for another OS--they still had me as a customer yet it was still like pulling teeth to get them to give me what I wanted--which, to their credit, they eventually gave me--but not before Airborne lost my iBook on its way to the Apple 3rd party repair service.
It's amazing civilization works at all with corporations running everything...
Thanks for posting, Dan! Please feel free to come back and share how things turned out for you. GOOD LUCK!
To all who are dissatisfied with Cingular's practices. It is really a shame that the person who sold you the phone originally did not "teach" you. When Cingular signs a person on for new service, you are given a css (customer service summary) which explains everything from how much your bill will be to how to use voicemail, etc. Maybe next time youll ask more questions before you purchase. An educated consumer is the best customer.
ReplyDelete"An educated consumer is the best customer."
ReplyDeleteMy God, you are brainwashed!!
Who wants to be "the best customer" anyway? I'm sorry, I'm trying to live my life, not striving to please my corporate service providers, thank you very much.
Besides: I'm sorry "Anonymous," I'm too busy trying to be educated about what our government is doing. Perhaps if EVERYONE wasn't out to fuck us, I'd be able to actually read a contract from a cell phone service provider.
I really don't care for people like "Anonymous." They're rude and they suggest we all just deal with it rather than trying to make changes that benefit everyone.
Corporations were originally supposed to exist to benefit it's customers. Now they seem to exist only to benefit themselves. Corporations are NOT living things--they do not have a right to exist or a right to free speech, although government and business seem to think they do--but now I'm getting off on a rant. Back on topic:
No, I don't think it's my job to be "an educated consumer," I think it's the job of corporations everywhere to not be dicks to their customers.
Hey Pete, I love your website ...but here i have to agree with "Anonymous". We cant all just go though life with blinders on and when we make mistakes or dont read our contracts we agree to for service...just say ..."its their fault for not telling me and I'll be damned if Iam going to do it their way." Its just like buying a car and never changing the oil and once the car breaks down you say..."well its their fault ...they must be out to get me"
ReplyDeleteYou wonder why service sucks so much?...its because people dont take the time to read the manuals or the contracts (that they agreed too) and try to sidestep the system. And when they dont get what they want..they scream "its the corps fault..they are too big...i'll teach them a lession" That in turn drives up prices...with in turn makes them lay off people in the service areas. So keep that in mind.
"You wonder why service sucks so much?รข€¦its because people dont take the time to read the manuals or the contracts (that they agreed too) and try to sidestep the system."
ReplyDeleteSteve--this kinda doesn't make any sense. I'm not trying to sidestep the system. My problem wasn't that I didn't read the manuals or contracts or anything. I simply wasn't told what was up. And besides that, why does service suck because of what the customers do or don't do. Even if there was some way for me to divine that I would still be charged something it would still suck that they didn't just tell me about it, wouldn't it?
And people saying "I'll stick it to the corporations" doesn't make the prices go up. Rareness of the product or service, inflation and greed makes prices go up. As consumers we have very little power at all. Sure, we can boycott a company or it's products but when's the last time a boycott actually succeeded in doing anything?
Look, in an ideal world, we all would read all of the contracts we have to sign in life.
But this is not an ideal world, obviously. If this were an ideal world, we could trust businesses to not be jerks and to not try to take advantage of our busy schedules and lives, too. No one has time to read everything we should read. This isn't "just the way it is" but the way companies to treat us. Companies are there to provide services to us--that's the reason for their existence. Instead they think of making money as their reason to exist. That's secondary to providing the service/product. Or at least, it should be, in an ideal world, which we are not in, of course.
Companies don't have to charge the highest price the market will allow. Companies don't have to all be mega-corporations. There is such a thing as a "medium-sized company." I'm not saying all companies are corrupt. I'm just saying that when you do anything to an extreme it's probably a bad idea and in some cases it just might be hurting someone.
So, which would you rather have?
1) Companies forced to be generally benevolent, trustworthy entities?
2) Companies that take advantage of your busy life and lack of time to keep an eye on them?
No, in my mind I'm always going to give the benefit of the doubt to the individual person. Companies can afford to do a lot more than the average person. This is America, right? Shouldn't the minority power be protected just as much as the majority?
I'm not saying that companies "are out to get us." What I am saying is that they're out to get our money. You have to admit that this IS the case. You also have to admit that they could make it easier for us to be their customers by not making those contracts so big, dry and cryptic. They could do this--but they won't.
Oh and by the way, I'm not the only person who thinks Cingular sucks.
Check out this post at Engadget.com about JD Power's cell phone customer service ratings. Cingular comes in second-to-last. Ironically, right above the cell phone company I'm with now.
Jeez, I just can't win!
I think I'll wander by the T-Mobile store later and see what they've got going on...
Unfortunately, I didnt have that problem with Cingular, but I did with Sprint... They have a problem with DOUBLE and TRIPLE billing in the SAME month, for SAME month and FUTURE month service.... Umm.... WHY?
ReplyDeleteBut my favorite one is AT&T who told me I owe $51.13, for 2 years its $51.13, once Cingular bought them out, it somehow went to $113.21..... Although before Cingular wanted $750 deposit, now only wants $150.00, so Im thinking they figure they can collect if Im with them somehow...
Good for me going to T-Mobile, been with them 2 years and have had only a few minor problems, which were resolved immediately.
Wow, thanks for the comment! I'm thinking about t-Mobile myself. I just need to find someone who has them to come over to my apartment to see if there's coverage in our neighborhood. I don't want to trust some claim from them that my area is covered--I want to know for sure before I go transferring over my phone number. But again, thanks for the comment!
ReplyDeleteGood site... love reading about Cingular, in fact, I work there... in the customer service group...
ReplyDeleteI can tell you two things,
1. The person you talked with the first time told you a half truth. They said you were paid in full, but they were refering to bill already published. They should have told you that you would get a final statement, and explain the charges on that statement.
2. When the first person dropped the ball, the second person and there supervisor should have explained how the charges were valid, but done so in a way that was professional and showed how the company appreciates your value as a consumer, even if you are not a current consumer, your experience with Cingular is important, post-final-invoice.
So, there are two issues, and now it is time to "place blame" if you will. Normally, it is easy to blame The Man, but in these cases, I can tell you that the corporation is not at fault, well, not without effort to fix these types of issues. Call center management and the company at large spend MILLIONS of dollars in training, re-training and re-re-training reps on how to educate customers on FUTURE bill impacting issues. In fact, the company monitors calls daily to give feedback to reps on how they can better educate and serve the callers. Of course, with over 50 million customers, and over a million calls a day, there are bound to be some calls that fall thru the cracks. These sorts of problems could happen with any carrier, as they all have the human element in their call centers. I hope your experience with your next carrier is a good one.
"1. The person you talked with the first time told you a half truth. They said you were paid in full, but they were refering to bill already published. They should have told you that you would get a final statement, and explain the charges on that statement."
ReplyDeleteTHANK you!
"2. When the first person dropped the ball, the second person and there supervisor should have explained how the charges were valid, but done so in a way that was professional and showed how the company appreciates your value as a consumer, even if you are not a current consumer, your experience with Cingular is important, post-final-invoice."
Again, THANK you. See, because if any company leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, you can bet I won't be coming back and thanks to the world of blogs, it's conceivable that I can still do some damage to your reputation.
" In fact, the company monitors calls daily to give feedback to reps on how they can better educate and serve the callers. "
Wow, really? This must be a new thing, because that first woman totally screwed the pooch for me. While I understand that with 50 million customers a few are bound to be treated poorly, I guess I feel like more than a few are falling through the cracks when Cingular comes in second-to-last in the customer satisfaction survey I cited above. The strange thing is Sprint came in last in the same survey and while they have been dickish to me in the past year that I've been with them, I don't think they've been THAT bad...
Anyway, thanks for your post, APR! I appreciate your good wishes and hope your job there goes well for you. Customer service is a tough gig because often you only get to deal with the customers that are not satisfied. :\ Take care and thanks for commenting!
CINGULAR SUCKS!!! I HAD HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE WITH THEM ALSO, I QUIT, AND REFUSE TO PAY $175 EARLY TERMINATION...I URGE ANY CINGULAR CUSTOMER TO SWITCH TO VERIZON OR SPRINT OR WHOEVER.
ReplyDeleteI work for Cingular in there IT department in Atlanta. Trust me. Management is quite aware of the reputation issue at Cingular. It's all we hear about all day long.
ReplyDeleteI just had to build a system that allows the store reps to call customers and proactively follow up on customer satisfaction issues. Did you know that the turnover rate in the call centers is 40%? Wow! That job must really suck.
I am sorry that you were lied to by the call center rep.
Wow, thanks for the post! Very interesting info--40%? I can imagine that. Well, I'm glad they're trying to do something about it. It always seems to me that most corporations don't give a damn what anyone thinks of them unless it gets really bad.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for your post and your kind words. Take care!
I am a new cingular customer, had been with AT&T for 22 yrs, but wanted to add my 81 yr old father to my plan so he could have a cell phone to use in case of an emergency. I was still able to keep my AT&T plan, but could not add my father to the plan, because they are now Cingular. I resent the HELL out of being forced into changing to a different carrier, just to add another line to my existing one. I have not been real pleased with the reception i get on the new phone, or with the new service, which ever the case may be. But today (6-26-05) I tried to make a call on my phone and just get a beep, beep, beep, with a msg. stating circuits busy, or something like that. I call customer service and ask what the matter is. This is the second time I have had to call customer service in the 2 wks that I have had this phone. Both times I was told I had to turn my cell phone off periodically (actually the guy today said I needed to turn it off at least ONCE a day). I NEVER had to turn my AT&T phone off for it to reset. And each time I was told to take the sim card out, which in the instructions that came with the phone, said these sim cards are very delicate and need to be handled very carefully. So every time I take it out I am afraid I am going to damage it. Well, anyway, he finally checked with a supervisor and they said there was a problem in my area and there was no service at this time, but that it should be fixed in the next 24 hrs. I said to him "That is rather inconvenient when you are paying for a service and have NO access to it for 24 hrs". Of course he is just the messenger, he has no idea what or why we are having this problem
ReplyDeleteSo in the 2 wks that I have had Cingular service, I think it pretty much SUCKS !!!!
My corporation switched from Verizon to AT&T/Cingular. Our Technical department provides 24/7 support or should I say we try to since we switched to Cingular. Our Calls are constanly dropped plus it takes several attempt to dial out even when a signal is present. We have written several emails to out corporate rep (no response) and I even went to the Cingular store to no prevail. The Cingular store was unwilling to even tackle the problem. They SUCK BAD!
ReplyDeleteWow, that's pretty surprising--what I understood was that when two companies merge they are supposed to provide better service to their customers. Despite what some have claimed above, it sounds like Cingular/AT&T are just as bad as they always were. Sorry about that, man--that sucks. Good luck, I hope they do improve for you. I still need to find someone with T-Mobile to come over to my apartment to test the signal. I'd like to give them a try, but I won't do it until I know for sure that I can get reception in my apartment. I know T-Mobile has a map on their site, but I don't trust companies to tell the truth these days.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why that is!
Thanks for commenting, Stephen!
Anyone who has a cell phone should know that if you are cancelling service to cancel it on the day your bill cycle ends otherwise you will have a prorated amount of minutes. Cingular bills the rate plan in advance but usage is billed in arrears. The computer system cannot create a bill until the cycle closes and it adds up your usage. So when you get a bill lets say it is for 08/02-09/01..........you are being billed for September's service and the usage that occurred the previous bill cycle.
ReplyDeleteYou do realize that you just gave me the very explanation that would have allowed me to avoid any of this trouble?
ReplyDeleteIf the woman I had spoken to had simply used your words above, I would never have complained.
Why is it so easy to bag on me simply because I would like to have an explanation.
I've got a lot on my mind as any of us do these days, I don't have the time to memorize how everything works. I don't have the ability to keep everything in my life straight in my head all the time, so it would be nice of other people could, oh, I don't know, PROVIDE DECENT CUSTOMER SERVICE and actually remind us of how things work.
I've gotten good customer service from companies--I know it's possible. It just frustrates me when most of the time companies don't bother to try, like this woman did for me.
Cingular Wireless Employees - SUCK!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a group of the biggest pieces of shit I have ever seen in my life.
*No Service
*No ability to make the customer happy.
*Every ability to say NO!
Reminds me of those Capital One commercials.
I tried to get my wife a new phone. They certainly would be willing to help if I increased the amount of money I am currently paying for a calling plan and if I was willing to pay out the ass for their shitty phones. So no thanks.
Our contract is up in March 2006 so it makes more sense to continue to keep the service till then.
Cingular employees you will go the way of other companies that do not know how to take care of customers. Take a page from Neiman Marcus and learn the art of service. Youรข€™re really not good!!!
Cingular Wireless must be destroyed and burned to the ground. Its evil must be vanquished from the earth. Cingular Sucks! Join the anti-cingular community at http://www.truthtree.com/cingularsucks/
ReplyDeleteCingular Wireless = Arrogance
ReplyDeleteCingular Wireless = Stupidity
Cingular Wireless = Shitty attitude
Cingular Wireless = Honesty-impaired
Cingular Wireless = Ornery
Cingular Wireless = Liars
Cingular Wireless = Effers
Cingular Wireless = Scumbags
so, i see a lot of you people here bitching about your cell phone problems with cingular. having worked as call rep for them for several years, i can definitely appreciate what you're saying. unfortunately, cingular heiarchy doesn't give it's employees any leeway to make reasonable adjustments. things, they say, have to be done by the book, or you are in jeopardy of losing your job.
ReplyDeleteso, what else did you expect? does a corporation have a soul or a heart? absolutely not! they are concerned merely with pursuing the allmighty buck in the quickest manner possible. the larger the profits, the larger the vp's and ceo's bonuses are. that's corporate America. we see it every day, but we don't have to necessarily like it.
now cingular who is the largest cell phone service company in the world is still ranked 4th in customer service. and what's even funnier, they haven't a real inkling why. the key word there is customer service. cingular has no real accurate or thorough database of all of its internal department phone numbers so that their employees can make certain people's calls get routed to the right department. their customer service people besides lacking sufficient training and supervision have no decent list of phone numbers, so they just transfer everyone to credit and activations or to analyst review depts, who in turn, transfer them back to customer service again. then on top of that agents receive little or no training, or else they just don't gave a shit cause they don't plan on being there long anyway, and they have one phone number in their head and refuse to keep any kind of decent phone contact lists. it is a horrific mess. you would think that a phone company of all people could keep a decent contact list and train their personnel on exactly what department does what. not so!
then on top of that, you are expected to get all customers off the phone asap, but be cheerful while you're being cussed out over a disconnect, or being screamed at by some deadbeat who has to pay a $750 deposit to get a phone (even though he's never paid a bill on time in his life).
you have no idea just how bad it really is. you are just skimming the surface of cingular's problems.
i, for one, after all this time think it's hopeless. cingular's glaring bad decisions are ultimately going to drive a potentially good company straight into the ground, simply because they have no clue about the inner workings of customer service and what it actually takes to achieve it.
sad...
GET THIS!!! I changed my price plan of 2000 minutes to a family plan of 2100 minutes and got another phone. Now I have a work phone and a personal phone for $10 a month more. Easy?....with Cingular...hell no! They billed me for 250.00 in overages the month I changed my plan. They informed me I incurred my overages because I changed my plan during the middle of my billing cycle. They told me that if I waited to change my plan at the end of my billing cycle I would have incurred about 17.00 in overages. Hmmm....17 or 250? It all has to do with the way they "prorated" my account. No one said a damn thing about it to me or I would have waited. Therefore my bill that was normally about 150 with taxes, etc was now 410. I told them it was unfair and you know what they said?.......Sorry sir.
ReplyDeleteCrap, man--that's the rawest of deals so far, I think. I'm so sorry to hear that--if I were you, I'd be switching away from them.
ReplyDeleteI've actually been with Sprint now for just short of two years and I'm not happy with them, either. I'm thinking about giving T-Mobile a try. They seem to have the best deals on minutes--I just don't know what their coverage is like. OH well...
Thanks for posting, Churchy--sorry again--really, there shouldn't have been ANY overages at all. I mean, come on--all you did is change plans--why should there be any extra charges at all?
Former Cingular customer, and I have had it with them. Here's why:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cingularwirelessreallysucks.com
I'm sorry to hear that Pete! I never did like Cingular when they were first born and especially when they merged with At&t Wireless! They are just blood sucking bastards! Money got to their head. Well, I have Sprint and I love it! They treat me like royalty! I've had Sprint for 5 months now, so far I love it! The best thing about Sprint is that you can't actually fool them, I've lied to them so many times for credits! I didn't had to pay my bill of $140.25 ( I have three lines ). Your going to love Sprint!
ReplyDeleteWow--well, I think your experience with Sprint has been different from mine. Back in Feb of this year (2006) I got fed up with them giving me no grace period or warning before they cut off service. Literally, I'd forget to pay the bill for like a day or two and I'd try to make a call only to discover that my service had been suspended.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I just quit them and went with prepaid T-Mobile. I LOVE PREPAID. Yes, the minutes are more expensive, but I pay for what I use and I never pay more than I expect or am comfortable with in a month. Seriously, I bought 1000 minutes for $100 in March and I only ran out of them in late May.
I'm glad you're happy with Sprint and I truly hope their good service to you lasts.
Here is an actual letter that explains my experience with this company. Dickweeds, indeed:
ReplyDeleteKim A. Weighous
Cingular Wireless
2321 North University
Lubbock, TX 79415-1717
Dear Cingular Wireless:
I continue to receive bills regarding this phone, which did not work at my location and was returned to you several months ago. Here is a summary of what happened with the phone.
Even when I first got it, the phone would ALWAYS drop the connection at my location in Mena, Arkansas, sometimes after 20 minutes, sometimes after 30 seconds. The phone worked fine everywhere else I tried it in the entire USA, including Reno, Nevada, Denver, Colorado, Ft. Smith, Arkansas and everywhere else it was tried. I took the problem to the local Cingular store (S&L Wireless) at 1109 Highway 71 South, Mena, AR. I was told the problem was my phone, and I needed to buy a new one. This is nonsense as the phone works fine everywhere but here, but I was rather rudely told this was my only option.
I then called the toll-free number and complained. I was told they would รข€ลcheck the equipment.รข€ I told them I was going to try the phone one more time and then I was not going to pay for it anymore. I waited until well after the date I was told to wait, tried the phone and it worked for about 15 minutes and then dropped the connection once again. I then RETURNED THE PHONE with an explanatory letter to your office in Atlanta, Georgia approximately 2 months ago.
In legal terms, this is called รข€ลnonperformance.รข€ So far your company has been totally unresponsive to my requests to have the remainder of this contract cancelled and the BALANCE WAIVED. If you check my call records, I have not used the phone in months, and used it very little before that as it was USELESS TO ME. If you continue to pressure me for money and damage my credit, this will become a legal issue.
Sincerely, Kim Weighous
I called the Company and got STONE WALLED once again on January 17, 2007. AVOID THIS COMPANY - THEY DONรข€™T CARE IF THEY PROVIDE SERVICE, THEY JUST WANT YOUR MONEY
Sorry for your trouble, Kim. But you're certainly not alone, sadly.
ReplyDeleteI just think it's sad and amazing that I first posted about this back in May of 2004. Almost two-and-a-half years later people are still bitching about Cingular. Of course, soon they'll be bitching about at&t since Cingular has been bought by at&t.
So, I suppose we should look at the bright side: soon Cingular will be no more!
Ok, so it's a very small, lopsided bright side.