On July 9th I activated two lines with Cingular as a first-time customer, one a Motorola v600 the other a Samsung x427. I spoke with a Cingular rep at the Best Buy store where I purchased the phones and specifically inquired about coverage at our families summer home. I explained to the rep that my parents have been Cingular customers for many years and their phones work great there. The Cingular rep told me that I would have no problems since their phones work there. So I went ahead and actived the new equipment.
Right off the bat I had problems, at my home I frequently had calls drop as well as frequent "Call Failed" messages with the v600, so I went back to Best Buy and exchanged it a few days later. The second phone wasn't any better, and worse yet, the Samsung was also suffering the same problem, although not as frequently as the v600. The replacement phone did not fix any of my call drop/call placement issues, so I called Customer service to see if they could offer any help. I told the rep that if we couldn't get these phones working sufficiently around my home that I would like to cancel my service. He asked me not to take such a drastic step just yet, and asked that I try to work with them to get the problem resolved.
Right after that, I took a trip to our summer home for a week and discovered that our two phones had No Service, while my parents two Cingular phones had 2-3 bars of useable signal. When I returned I called Customer Service to find out what was going on, and was told that my parents phones use the old network, and my phone used their new network. I was told there was no way to get my phone to work on the old network, and that I also couldn't buy one that could.
Since I'm only at the summer home a couple weeks out of the year, I decided to overlook that issue after I was told that area was scheduled for conversion to the new system by July. However, since the replacement v600 was still dropping calls, I asked that we try to find a solution rather quickly. I was told by that rep that there were some network issues in New York that should have been resolved the day before, and that I should try the phone for a couple days to see if it performed better. A couple days passed and I was still having problems with both phones, but more so with the v600, so I called once again. That time the woman pushed some kind of a download to my phone, asked me to power cycle it, and try it for a couple days to see if it would help.
I knew that even when I returned home that all was not well, I had to redial three times to get a call to go through, only to have it drop on me a few minutes later. So I called customer service again, this time the rep looked on some maps and said I should have good coverage around my home. As we were talking the call dropped, but he never called me back. When I called back the call center was closed. Later on I would be told my account states I received a call back but there was no answer, yet I have an answering machine..
The following Monday I called Customer Service again, to express my displeasure at not being called back, as well as to try to seek a final resolution to the problems I'm having with the phones. It was at that point I was told that the v600 was discontinued due to problems related to dropped calls. I was told to call an 800 number to arrange a replacement. I called the 800 number, and was told I could accept a lesser replacement which would not work with my accessories, or keep my existing phone until the official fix was available from Motorola in 1 1/2-2 months, and that I would receive a refurbished (USED) phone. There is no way I was willing to accept this, especially to give up a brand new, 3 week old phone, for a used refurb in two months, so I asked that my service be cancelled and I would return the phones to the store.
The rep told me I was past my 14 days to cancel, but I explained the whole situation, that I was asked to work with Cingular on the quality issue before cancelling, that I've done everything I've been asked to do by Customer Service including exchanging the phone. I was told that I should have just cancelled the contract while I could have, instead of working out the problem. I realize that contracts are binding, however, Cingular has admitted that my equipment is bad, they also admit that I did report the problem right from the beginning, and they also admit that notes on my account do show I reported the problem before the 14 days were up, yet they will let me out of the contract without paying the ETF. I'm stuck with their service, and a buggy (or incompatible) phone for the next two months, and service I can't use at home or my summer home. This stinks, and I could really use some help!
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