Cingular Wireless
Fraudulent Billing Ripoff

I have been a customer of Cingular for almost 5 years now. My last 2yr contract was signed with them 21 months ago (contract renewal is in late March '07). Until recently, I have had no major complaints about them, and in fact, was very pleased with their service.

I signed my current contract at the Cingular kioske at the local mall. The Cingular store in my town has horrible customer service, but customer service at the kioske is excellent (or so I thought). I made it very clear that I wanted the family plan that had free nights/weekends, free mobile-to-mobile, and free nationwide calling area (no roaming). I made sure to tell him I wanted the nationwide plan because occationally I go to GA to visit a friend (I'm in NC).

Four months ago, I started traveling with a new job.in the space of six weeks (covering two billing cycles) I was in TN, GA, and VA. When I received my next bill, I had $160 in roaming fees. When I called Cingulars customer service, I was told that I did NOT have the nationwide plan. She was very helpful, and changed my plan retroactively to the nationwide plan when I explained that I had asked for that when I signed my contract (I could not find my copy of contract and they could not send me a copy).

The following bill had another $65 worth of roaming charges on it. I called customer service again, only this time, the customer service rep was extremely rude. I explained to her what had happened the previous month, and what the previous rep had done. She informed me that it was a legitimate charge and I just needed to pay it. I disagreed with her, and she put me on hold to speak to someone else. When she came back (again, being very hateful), she told me that the reason there were roaming charges was that the roaming was for international calls, not nationwide, I had made and received. I then informed her that I have never made or received an international call, EVER.

She put me on hold again to speak to someone else. When she came back this time, her tone of voice was completely different. APPARENTLY, Cingular billing had made a mistake (imagine that), and charged me international roaming charges made on calls from VA to NC.

Cingular corrected the charges, but I am getting tired of having to call them every month about my bill. A couple of months before this happened, I also had to call them for $50 worth of charges for a new phone they said they had sent to me after I made a broken phone claim to them. I had never made a claim (my phone was just fine), and I had never received the phone they claimed to have sent to me. They removed the charges, but I have learned that I have to go over their bills with a fine-tooth comb.

Beware of their billing mistakes!!!

Company: Cingular Wireless
Country: USA
State: Nationwide

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