I signed up for a Cingular account in December. It was a nationwide, no long distance, no roaming family plan with two phones on the plan. At the time I signed up, I started my plan over the phone using their sales line. At the time, I asked about night and weekend minutes starting at 7pm - a promotion that they were running at the time whereby it didn't cost extra for N&W minutes to start at 7pm. I was assured repeatedly by the salesperson that I would definitely have N&W minutes beginning at 7pm and there would be no extra charge. At this same time, I signed up for insurance on both phones at a rate of 3.99 each and text messaging on each phone for 2.99 a month for 100 text messages per month.
When my first bill came, it was prorated and I didn't examine it thoroughly (my fault). The charges seemed reasonable, so I went ahead and paid it. The next month, however, charges exceeded $1000 for the previous month!!! I scrutenized the bill and found that not only was I not being charged for my additional package services that I had ordered, I wasn't receiving N&W minutes beginning at 7pm as promised by the salesperson, so ALL my calls from 6am to 9pm everyday were being charged at the peak time rate.
Considering that I was of the belief that my N&W minutes started at 7pm, there were A LOT of calls that took place each day starting at 7pm. I did not have a home phone and used my cell phone as my primary phone.in addition to this, I used a lot of text messages, thinking that I had 100 per month that wouldn't be charged individually; instead I was being charged. 10 per message, incoming and outgoing.
I spent FOUR MONTHS haggling with customer service over these errors on my account. Each time, I was given a reference number and told that an investigation would ensue. I told them I would not pay one cent of my bill until it was corrected. Occasionally, my phones were disconnected for non-payment, at which time I would call them and tell them what was going on with an investigation and they would restore my service, give me another reference number and tell me that they would contact me within a week with a resolution.
The resolution never happened, although I called at least every couple of weeks to find out the status. Sometimes I was told that it was reported to the wrong department, sometimes I was told it was never reported to any department at all and a NEW investigation would be begun.
After approximately seven months of this headache, my service was finally canceled and they refused to investigate futher or find a resolution for my previous complaints. Furthermore, they told me that they had no record of my ordering the text message plan, the insurance, and they told me that they were not running the N&W promotion at the time I signed up for service. So now I have a bill that is in excess of $5000 in collections from Cingular, my credit has been adversely affected and all other cell companies want to charge me outrageous deposits.
My advice is to get whatever you order in writing at the time you commence service - with Cingular or any other provider for any other service. They will take advantage of you in any way they can. Considering that Cingular is one of the largest cell networks in existence now, it is hard for many to avoid using them.
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