I sent the following letter to the President of Cingular Wireless:
After trying to communicate with numerous Cingular Representatives with no results and getting absolutely no response to my written communications as well over a spread of 5 months regarding a billing dispute, I am fed up! Since nobody else in your company seems to care about Cingular's reputation, I sure hope the President does!
I first contacted Cingular mid October when I received my first notice of payment at the end of September for almost $4000! I did not receive the accompanying bill before the notice. As of that time, I was current with my Cingular payments so you can imagine my utter shock and surprise when I received the notice to pay the outstanding amount. With my plan, I was accustomed to paying about $100 a month for the two lines but never more than $250 during a busy month. I thought the unusual bill must be a mistake!
I called Cingular Customer Care immediately. I was told that those were roaming charges. I explained that I had not been aware that I was being charged such exorbitant fees for roaming or that I had been roaming, since I was on a long distance plan.
I had just recently relocated to Boston in August and did not know that my cell phone services would be roaming, seeing that Cingular offers their services nationwide. There is also no indication on my phone.in addition, I did not receive any current statements so I could not note any difference in my billing. Having to deal with the stresses of moving cross country, my cell phone service was the last thing I thought I would have to worry about.
Your representative dismissively told me that nothing can be done about the bill. And, not only did I owe the $4000, but it had risen to $10,000! More than doubled by more roaming fees!!! Surprised by her uncaring response, I asked to speak to her supervisor. I explained the situation with the supervisor as well. Any reasonable person would be shocked and appalled to be hit with a bill for $10,000 in fees for 2 months! I also explained that I had moved to attend grad school and am a full time student now, so there is no possible way that I can afford to pay these outrageous fees.
But I was willing to work out a solution and continue my services with Cingular. Her response was not only similarly indifferent and uncaring; she was disappointingly rude as well. She offered no help or solutions and did not seem to care whether or not I remained a Cingular customer. As a matter of fact, she didn't even offer at that time to change my plan so I would not continue to accrue roaming charges. Her that's too bad attitude really changed my confidence and impression of the caring service Cingular has long promised to its customers. I only regret that I did not get her name that day to report the poor service she provided and the terrible representation she made on behalf of Cingular. Your services are called Customer Care, right?
I have been a Cingular customer since college for 8 years, almost a decade of loyalty. My service has never been interrupted and I pay my bills on time. I have also referred and recommended your services to my friends as well. It seems very unfortunate to me that a billion dollar corporation has all the resources to contact their customers about new and great plans when selling a product, but does not do the same to inform them when something seems terribly awry or unusual with their service. A simple cap to shut off the phone when it hits a certain dollar amount would have significantly mitigated the damages and protected your customers. Even credit card companies, with a high volume of customers, will place a courtesy call when unusual charges come through. This is looking out for the people who patronize and keep you in business.
Given your impressive experience in the cellular market, I am sure you are aware that in this highly competitive cell phone service market today, what will be keeping your customers is that kind of personal and outstanding service. My experience so far with your representatives has proven very short of that standard.
What has also appalled me is the lack of response in resolving these issues. To date, I still have not received a response. To my chagrin, Cingular does not follow its own dispute policy outlined in the back of its billing statements either, which clearly states that the customer will be notified once the concern has been investigated. What it should really say is, As our business policy, we will ignore your concerns and send you directly to our collection agency. Have a nice day!
After sharing my outrage with other people, it has not been difficult to find others with similar Cingular Gripe-Around-the-Table stories. I certainly hope this is not the way you want to continue to do business or the reputation you want for Cingular.
A.
Somerville, Massachusetts
U.S.A.
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