Cingular Customer Service is horrible

[bill3667]

I just want to rant here, we took a European Roads/FastLaneTravel trip in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France which was great, I'll write about that later. We rented the 997 Coupe for the trip (great car BTW). My problem was with Cingular Wireless and here's my story:

My wife and I were planning an 11 day driving trip through Europe. Apx. 5 weeks prior to departing on the trip I called Cingular’s Customer Service and asked them what I needed to do to have cell phone service while on our trip. I was prepared to rent a phone, order a SIM card or whatever was required to ensure we had cell phone capability during this time since both our families and workmen working on our house needed to be able to contact us in addition to both our business’ were going to use my phone for contact. Cingular’s Customer Service said all I had to do was call them 3 days before departing and they would activate my service for international calling and I would have cellular service in all four countries we were visiting.

Four days prior to departure (June 13, 2005) I called Cingular’s Customer Service and requested international calling be enabled at which time the service representative suggested I sign up for their International Calling Plan that would reduce the per minute charges on my calls, which I signed up for. I was told by the service representative I could now make and receive calls while I was in Europe. When I asked about access to my voice mailbox I was told to hold the #1 key down as in the states and I would connect to my VoiceMail, no matter which country I was in.

When we arrived in Stuttgart, Germany on June 17 I powered up my phone but received a “No Service” message on my phone. I powered the phone down/up several times during the shuttle ride but continued to get the “No Service” message. After tracking down an internet connection, finding the Cingular International Service phone number, procuring an International Calling Card and locating an international payphone I got in touch with Cingular International Customer Service. When I explained my phone problems to the service rep she asked me what make/model cell phone I was using, when I told her it was a Cingular/Samsung SGH-s307 she went offline for a minute and when she came back she informed me the s307 model is not compatible with the frequencies used in Europe and my phone would not work! When I asked her why Cingular’s Customer Service did not determine that during my previous conversations she could not explain it. She would be happy to remove the International Calling Plan charges from my account though. We went through our entire trip with no cell phone capability.

When we returned to the States on June 27, 2005 I attempted to access my voice mailbox but was unable to connect so I called Cingular’s Customer Service. I was told that when I upgraded my wife’s and my calling plan (to add additional minutes) 2 weeks prior to departing on our trip Cingular’s system automatically deactivates all your calling features, including Voice Mailbox, and that the Cingular Service Rep should have reactivated those features after upgrading my calling plan but he didn’t. The affect of this is not only did I not have cell phone service in Europe but callers could not leave a voicemail when they could not contact me because Cingular had deactivated my Voice Mailbox!

When I expressed my dissatisfaction with Cingular’s Customer Service the rep offered to grant me a $25 credit to my account, when I let it be known that a $25 credit would not make up for the lousy customer service I had received from Cingular she rescinded the offer to extend me the credit. I will now get to find out how much Cingular will try to get from me when I get out of my contract.

Bill W.
Landenberg, PA
June, 2005

[84porsche]

I totally agree. I have had to deal with them because our office cell phones are all Cingular and they are absolutely ridiculous. I love Verizon Wireless for my personal phone. They will bend over backwards to keep me as a customer. Cingular on the other hand seems to burn you where they can. We had someone take a GSM phone to Mexico and tabbed up $600 worth of phone charges and I had called them in advance and asked them what exactly the charges would be and they did not give me all the information and we got stuck paying the bills.

[stomachmonkey]

I've had a nightmare with them every month for nearly the last year.

It basically comes down to lack of clear information from them.

I hate them.

Scott

[kycarguy 935]

http://www.angelfire.com/hi5/cingularsucks/

http://www.wessalmon.com/000244.html

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/cingularsucks2/

[Joeaksa]

Bill,

They do not understand that it takes a GSM phone to work overseas. For some reason America has decided to go a totally different route (again dammit) than the rest of the frigging world and use a cell phone system that is not compatable with anyone else.

Am using ATT but considering that they were just bought by Cingular am not excited about having to call cus ser. Bad news is that I have to call them today!

JoeA

[Z-man]

I recently coverted from ATT to Cingular -- we needed a new phone for my wife, and I was basically told I had to switch both phones over to Cingular.

For 2-3 months the billing/features were all screwed up. The free Cingular to Cingular phone feature wasn't activated, and neither was the nation wide minutes feature.

It's been finally cleared, but their service still stinks. The only time I get good service from them is when I speak with a former ATT rep. When speaking with a Cingular rep, I've asked for reimburement for something they screwed up -- they said "I can't do that." Speaking with an ATT rep about the same situation --- they were able to immediately credit my account! From now on, if I call them with a problem, I am going to request a former ATT rep.

Just my story,
-Z.

[Joeaksa]

Z,

I have to do what you did today. Any other hints on what to avoid? Have the contact number of a ATT guy who is supposed to help.

Anyone have any good poop on good plans or deals on extra minutes?

Thx,

JoeA

[RANDY P]

The customer service now sucks. When they took over ATT they replaced all the reps with voice prompting. You have to now talk to that voice prompt system that you're supposed to think is just like a live person.

I can't stand that. Drives me ape $hit having to conversate with this thing that refers to itself as "I"

I just keep pressing buttons until I get transferred to a live (human) operator, which in itself takes 15 minutes or so since there's probably only 2 of 'em for the whole country.

Talking machines are massively gay.

rjp

[deanp]

I had service with Cingular since their Cellular One days and my first "bag" phone back in '91 or '92. Recently I went from having service at the office to no service. Other people in our industrial park confirmed the same issue. Called Cingular, they claimed nothing changed with the towers or service, but they would upgrade the phone software. Turn it off, turn it on and see what happens. Did this for over the course of two weeks. They finally said, must be a phone issue, I qualify for an upgrade, but I'd have to commit to another service contract. I had 6 months left on a two year deal. Told them no way, if they couldn't get service restored I was changing providers.

I ended up changing to Verizon and have no issues since. I just got my bill from Cingular looking for their $150 termination fee... will be sending back a letter telling them to stick it.

[ubiquity0]

My contract with Cingular (originally under ATT) is up next month. Then its goodbye

...


...hello T-Mobile.

The Cingular phone bill has to be the most confounding & irrational financial document I've ever seen.

[hoff944]

T-Mobile's coverage is horrible if you do any kind of traveling at all. Check out their map. T-Mobile won the JD Power customer service award again, but Verizon Wireless was right on their tail. T-Mobile will eventually go the way of the buffalo.
Wireless communication has its limits and I would not replace my landline with a wireless. Circuits get busy at peak times, calls will drop during handoffs sometimes.

[Moneyguy1]

Application of technology has outstripped the ability of the technology to deliver.

[jbrinkley]

[rbarton]

DeanP,

Did you have any luck getting Cingular to waive your termination fee? I am getting ready to try the same thing. My situation: Having been a Cingular customer since '98, last May I decided to upgrade my (2) phones. Looking up my account on their website, their info showed I was due for an upgrade at the end of that month. I wait until after the date stated and call to speak to a rep. She tells me that my 2 year contract is expired and the only way to get new phones is to sign up for a new contract. None of the contract options were as good as the one I had had before, so I shop around and decide to go with T Mobile. I port my #'s over and call Cingular to cancel service.

Now, almost 3 months later, I get a bill from Cingular for $314 for contract termination fees! I try to access my account online, but since it was closed I get nowhere. I wade through Cingular's stupid phone support system and finally get a salesperson who transfers me to a customer service b%tch. She tells me that my contract was actually not up until August. She tells me that you are eligible for a phone upgrade if you are within 90 days of the end of your contract. What I am thinking happened is that the May date shown online was the date 90 days prior to my contract conclusion. The customer service b%tch basically tells me I have no options but to pay up. She clearly does not believe my story about the conversion I had with their rep in May. Her records show that I did call and talk to someone about a phone upgrade at that time, but no details are available.

Anyway, sorry about the rant. Anyone had any luck getting early termination fees waived?

Cingular Sucks!!!!

[deanp]

I sent a letter detailing my conversations along with a check for the last usage fees. I have not received any additional correspondence from Cingular, although it's only been about three weeks since I sent the payment.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

My wife has had cingular for years. No issues from them ever. I had AT&T and had no issues with them. Switch to July, we had to have internet connectivity for the laptops due to my wife's traveling. We called in, got the internet information and signed up for the $50.00 unlimited access plan, which is what the rep sold us and told us would be great for our computers. We had to buy wireless cards but that was OK, they were coming with a rebate that handled the cost. Cingular sent us the internet cards without the sim cards. We went around about that until they agreed to provide sim cards like stated. We get the sim cards then find out that the plan the rep signed us up for was for blackberries not pc's. Here we go again to customer service. They apologize for the mixup and inform us the rep was new and misunderstood the plans. It was going to cost us $80.00 per month per card and the sim cards were no good. After much arguing I finally got them to transfer me to a supervisor who hung up on me before I could say hello. I called back, got a different call center (they have several), and got in touch with a very helpful supervisor. She stated they could not help with the misquote (even though I was quoting US Standard Code concerning contracts and agents of the company) as Cingular has no options of costing out the difference when they make a mistake. We got three months completely free service and returned one of the cards. This means, over the two years of the contract, we will end up paying about $90.00 more than we should have paid on the one connection. We are thinking about changing providers at that time.

[kjb]

I'd happily switch to verizon if I could use the phone in Europe, and if they had any phones thinner than .5" for sale. Heck, I could get a free Verizon phone through work if I wanted one.

Does t-mobile have their own network, or do they pay to use Cingular/AT&T capacity?

/ J

[kycarguy 935]

I believe T-Mobile owns some of their own network but pay Cingular to use the rest.

[FrayAdjacent911]

I had AT&T for a couple years before Cingular bought them out. I have no problems with Cingular... but I haven't ever tried to do anything other than pay my bill and use my account as it was originally configured.

Though I've heard more horror stories about Cingular than any other company. I hope they get their $hit together.

[gr8fl4porsche]

My wife has tried unsuccessfully to switch from ATT to Cingular - should have been no problem since they are the same company.
After a weeks worth of phone calls and hours on hold - she finally gave up and stayed with ATT. When the contract is up - so is Cingular. Not one person in customer service has any clue what they are doing - they are constantly contradicting what the previous disservice agent just said. Apparantly its cheaper to loose customers than to properly train personel.

US Cellular has entered our market - any info?