I live in a small town in rural Illinois and have been a loyal customer of Cingular Wireless for about 6 years. Every customer is required to indicate their address before service is granted so I'm not sure why Cingular cries the sob story that they make no money off people like me because they have to pay SO many roaming fees, etc.
Cingular outright tells us that country people are not as important to Cingular as city folk. (Nothing against city folk). Funny thing is the signal is good even though they now have changed their rules that won't even ALLOW retailers to sell a rural customer in my area a Cingular plan or upgrade their phone. Nice reward for giving them over $100 a month for 6 years huh? Bad planning on their part isn't rural customer's faults!
Cingular had the audacity to reply to one report on this site "Look at Where You Live" and they told me on the phone "Read your contract". UNBELIEVABLY RUDE! I have been paying for 3 lines for almost two years, and it's not MY fault Cingular advertises their famous No Roaming/No Long Distance plans for anywhere in the US. Unfortunately for THEM, "Anywhere in the US" INCLUDES small towns. They have fixed it now where people like me cannot even upgrade their phones and even told me to go find another carrier! Can you believe it? What kind of customer service is THAT?
I am so sick of Cingular and I will NEVER sign a contract with them again! I don't have to! And neither do you! Here's why! Now comes the fun part!
If you're in a contract with Cingular and you lose your phone, break your phone on accident, or your phone becomes inoperable for any reason, they want you to think you are screwed and they want you to buy a new phone at an astronomical price, sign a new 2 or 3 year contract, etc. And everybody knows this.
So I went and bought Cingular's cheapest GO PHONE for 20 bucks (or you can buy the fancy one if you have to have it, or even a Cingular phone off Ebay that is compatible with your area) and put my current Sim Card in it. They are none the wiser. Of course they won't tell you this in the store or on the phone!!! They just keep billing me the same amount now that the contract has run out, and I can tell them to f*ck off whenever I want. I made sure I had the plan I wanted before the contract ran out, of course.
I'm getting back at Cingular for their sucky contract loopholes that are too countless to mention and their love for their rural customers. NOW make some money off me, Cingular! Here's to you, buddy!
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