Read this! This is how you can get out of your contract with Cingular if you are currently an ATT Customer!!!
I was a faithful ATT customer for over 3 years. I was not going to switch to Cingular unless I had to, I had good solid service with ATT - hardly any dropped calls inside my home, outside, and coast-to-coast traveling and n/w starting at 7 pm for no additional charge.
About March my phone quit saying "ATT/Cingular" and just read "Cingular". The same day, I couldn't get a signal at home. And when I did, I had to lean into it and not move an inch or all I could hear was myself echo really loudly and the person on the other side couldn't hear anything from me. I assumed that there was a tower with a problem. However, about 6 weeks later the problem was not fixed, and I was forced to have a landline installed as I have two small babies & live in the country and couldn't be stuck 5 miles from town with no phone!
I had some family over early May. 4 of us on ATT, 1 on Cingular. None of us on ATT could get service in my home or outside in my yard. But the Cingular customer had great signal strength and had to lend her phone to everyone to make calls. So I decided that maybe I was going to have to switch after all. I called up Customer service. Pick otu FREE phones, plan, etc. They indicated that I would have to provide my husbands (it was all in his name) credit card and drivers license to see if we were approved to switch over, even though I was already a customer. He was traveling. So I gotta call back.
Husband comes home - go to Cingular store - make this easy. HA! Cingular store says "we don't offer free phones anymore - promotions for ATT customers ended in April". Also insists that it's my phone that's the problem, not the Cingular network. 4 ATT customers with no service & 1 cingular and it's the phone? I got livid and rude after she wouldn't let me speak with a manager and told me she had no control over what towers were shut down.
Went home and called the CS line again. Misinformation. Still can get promos, but no FREE phones anymore. Turns out April was the cutoff for current ATT customers to renew their current plans and not switch. CS Rep again insisted that the problem was my phone, no the service. Explained that I am a technically-minded person and not an idiot. Told him to come to my house with a phone that had an ATT sim on their crappy network and try to make a call. Told him my aunt just gave me her Cingular phone that she used at my house with a C Sim and I put my ATT sim in it and I still get crappy service. WTF???
So he just tells me that it's my phone. Over and over again. I tell him that he either needs to tell me that he'll switch me for free with free phones or he needs to give the phone to his mgr. He says it would be better if his mgr calls me back because of hold time. I explain that I refuse to hang up, and I'll be right here on hold until someone fixes this problem and makes me happy. Again, we repeat the "the problem in your phone - you need to buy a new one" and the "it would be better if my mgr called you back" about 10 more times (I am NOT exagerating!).
I'm on hold 20 minutes or so. Then someone else in CS instead of CS for Sales gets on the phone. Tells me the following:
*They will switch me over to Cingular for free - no activation charges
*They will send me 2 free phones (two lines of service) - gives me a choice of 3 models
*They will NOT charge me for shipping of said phones
*The COMPLETELY release me from my ATT contract AND like any other new Cingular customer, I have 30 days to decide if I like the service. If not, cancel my service and return the phones and pay NO TERM FEE.
So guess what? I got my new phones, activated them, still had too many dropped calls for my liking (although I could actually talk on my phone at home again!), and ported my numbers to Verizon within 1 week. Returned my phones immediately. Got my 1st cingular bill and had early term fees. Called them up, she said they were removed right then. We'll see, but technically they released me from both contracts and I could go with a provider that a) worked perfectly in my phone and b) didn't insult my intelligence with every converstation and c) I DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH CINGULAR INCOMPETENCE ANY MORE!
Candice
Charlotte, North Carolina
U.S.A.
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