Complaint / Review
Cingular
Overcharge on most calls made. Unable to use cell phone at home and at the office, Fairfax Internet

I have been using the regular Cingular cell phone service for many years. But recently, I decided to use Cingular's Go Phone Plan by paying $29.99 monthly which allows me to roll over unused minutes when my phone is not used for 1 or 2 months at a time while I am traveling out of the country.

However in the past 2 months, after an absence of 2 months out of the country, I have found my cell phone either is not able to find the network in Fairfax or almost all the calls are dropped in Falls Church.

Apart from the bad signals mentioned above, I have also found that often when I made calls which are shown to be under 1 minute's duration, I am immediately charged for the cost of 2 minutes (30c instead of 15c). The Go Phone feature shows on the phone screen the duration of the call. Cingular then immediately calculates the cost of that call and shows on screen how much money I have left.

Another frustration is that when I end the call, the timing meter of the call still prolongs the duration of the call for another 5 seconds, often going over 1 minute. Also even when calls are dialed and there is no reply, I am charged 15c for the failed call, apparently because the ringing goes over 3 seconds allowed!

I have called and made complaints and at first would get a refund for a couple of calls but I am tired of having to call and spend more than 10 minutes trying to get through or being cut off in the middle of the conversation.

The last time I called to complain about the overcharges this week, the Customer Care representative insisted that Cingular charges were correct. I spent about 30 minutes telling him that the charges were wrong because the duration of the calls is shown on my phone screen.

I wonder how many Go Phone customers are being overcharged without realizing it?

Does anyone know of a way to record (i) the duration of the call on my phone screen and (ii) the charge Cingular made that is also shown on my phone screen? If this cannot be done, then it is a question of their word against mine.

I am tired of being ripped off. Does any Go Phone customers have the same problem?