My AT&T phone broke so I paid to switched to Cingular because I thought all things would be equal. I was wrong. Cingular has not merged services and capabilities. It has bought AT&T customers.
I had a family plan with AT&T that included my Washington DC cell phone number, my Ft Lauderdale and Chicago numbers for my sister and daughter. I moved to Ft Lauderdale 3 years ago but keep my 202 cell phone so friends and family in DC could call me free of charge. My cell phone bill was consistantly under $100 and service was great.
Since I moved all three lines to Cingular I constantly tell Cingular Account Representatives "I Hate Cingular" and I think their new motto should be "Cingular Sucks". I would like to recruit the many disatisfied AT&T customers I see in the Cingular store who switched and then cancelled their contracts. We could all explain the common problems Cingular is not addressing. When I try to receive reasonable corrections to problems I am told why service sucks but no solutions are forth coming.
1. I had to separate all of my lines from family plans to individual plans. That means my base costs are twice as high for three lines.
2. My daugher in Ft Lauderdale uses her phone very little except to call AT&T/Cingular customers but my sister in Chicago uses her line a lot more so having them on the same plan made economic sense. Now I pay $50 for my daughter with minimal use and I pay $80 or more for my sisters high use and I pay $80 for my service.
3. My sister's phone, my daughter's phone and my phone have been cut off for as little as S1.97 or I have had to pay one bill twice because the stystem did not record a previous payment. When we proved Cingular was wrong they said they would send a partial refund which we have yet to receive.
4. Today, 7-12-05, my phone was disconnected for an outstanding AT&T bill that did not show up on the internet when I paid my bills yesterday. When I called to enquire about my bill last week I was first told that I did not have an account on the phone I was talking on. Then I was told my account did not have an overdue balance.
5. I was given an 866 number to call to resolve the issue after the phone was turned off but I was put into a recording loop that I have been stuck in since I changed to Cingular in May. I call & the recording tells me to: push 1 for english; push 1 if I am calling in reference to the line am calling from; push 1 for bill payment options; and push 0 for customer service. After the customer servie number rings I am put back into the exact same recording loop: push 1 for english; push 1 if I am calling in reference to the line am calling from; push 1 for bill payment options; and push 0 for customer service. This will occur 10 times if I stay on the phone that long.
6. I figured out the only way for me to connect to customer service is to call from my daughter's phone and trick the recording into connecting me to Florida's cutomer service. Once I speak to a human being I have to start cursing in order for them to realize I am experiencing difficulties that defy standard explanation and lame excusses. When I curse they say, "Ms Harvey that kind of language is not necessary" but when I am not cursing I am routed to another recording loop and left with out human help.
7. Customer service has explained to me that Cingular started out as several small regional companies that have been combined into the National service provider that it has become today. But Cingular is not a National Company and that is the source of a lot of the problems. Each regional service provider has it's own rules and regulations and they are not consistant or connected to each other. AT&T was a National company that started nationally so they had one head and not a lot of regional offices like Cingular with no real head or unified office. This is why Washington DC, Chicago and FT Lauderdale phone numbers can not be on the same plan. They are each handled by different companies using the Cingular name. I am a civil engineer who has worked as a systems engineer and this is why I understand the problem. I could help resolve the problems too if Cingular wasn't too arrogant to try to provide good service.
8. I had to curse excessively when my phone broke and I wanted to receive a Cingular phone as a replacement.
A. I was told they could not send the replacement phone to Florida where I live and my bill is sent because the phone number is for Washington DC.
B. I tried to have the phone sent through the internet but they could not send the phone to my PO BOX because my home address was different from my PO BOX mailing address.
C. So I changed my mailing address to my home address.
D. Then they said I had to separate my family lines and make them individual services lines. So I did that but still could not get the phone sent.
E.in the mean time I was without service on a active line for a week so I called and explained the problems. The account representative told me I had to have the phone set to DC and in the mean time I had to disconnect service. I asked if the internet could send phones out of state why couldn't they? I was cursing every other word and they finally heard me when I said, "I called to have a human being solve the problem not make excuses. Find someone to solve this problem!"
F. I was given to a manager who realized it might be possible for a service rep to get on the internet and send me my phone as I had suggested between cursing.
I should have realized that if it was that hard to get a pone I should not have switched service.
9. I was suppose to receive 3 free phones from my AT&T service contract after one years service but Cingular told me they where not honoring AT&T Free phones agreements.
10. I am due rebates on new phones but they have yet to come.
11. Free data packages are so expensive that I have had to cancel them. My bill on my daughters phone is over $300 in data that I was told would be free for 2 months. My daugher uses less than 150 of her 500 anytime minutes, less than 200 of her night and weekend minutes and her bill is over $200 for free data, text messaging and other things we were suppose to have a free trail on and data was to be included in the "Free" package.
In Summary: I hate Cingular
In Conclusion: I Hate Cingular.
Michelle
Coral Springs, Florida
U.S.A.
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