Cingular billing practices

On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:18:53 GMT, "jeremy" <[email protected]> wrote in
<12xvh.4398$Pk5.1498@trndny04>:

>But let's not confuse two dissimilar issues--that of non-availability of
>signal with a culture of contempt for customers.

Nonsense.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

---

› See More: Cingular billing practices

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:elmop-

>
> But give an abusive company like Cingular carte blanche to take money
> AWAY from me? And put me in the position of having to chase them down
> while they claim that "the bill is proper, and you owe the money"?
>

Most people would be reluctant to give the proverbial keys to their bank
accounts to anyone.

Even honest mistakes result in many hours of scrambling in order to correct
the errors. Meanwhile, the customer does not have the use of his money.

Not all banks will credit back errors, as ACH transactions, unlike credit
cards, do not have federal requirements that protect the consumer. Banks
may or may not have policies that mirror credit card regulations.

I personally use my bank's online bill payment service, where I authorize
the date and amount of each payment and where the recipient of the funds has
no ability to take money out of my account.

Anyone who hands over power to recipients to remove money from their
accounts is assuming a lot of risk. There are safer methods of paying one's
bills.

On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 03:17:47 GMT, "jeremy" <[email protected]> wrote in
<vNyvh.5500$635.833@trndny05>:

>Even honest mistakes result in many hours of scrambling in order to correct
>the errors. Meanwhile, the customer does not have the use of his money.

Dead easy with my bank, and no loss of money on amounts in dispute.

>Not all banks will credit back errors, as ACH transactions, unlike credit
>cards, do not have federal requirements that protect the consumer. Banks
>may or may not have policies that mirror credit card regulations.

My bank will. Choose your bank with more care.

>Anyone who hands over power to recipients to remove money from their
>accounts is assuming a lot of risk. There are safer methods of paying one's
>bills.

Depends on the bank.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:18:53 UTC, "jeremy" <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> But let's not confuse two dissimilar issues--that of non-availability of
> signal with a culture of contempt for customers.
>


It took me WEEKS to even be able to setup an account with Sprint. At
some point, they had a customer in their system whose SS number was
mine. Most likely a typo, since there hasn't been any evidence of
identity theft. It wasn't even an easy process of just going to a
corporate store, but I had to fill out forms, notarize them, and mail
them in and wait.

So customer service was not a good point for me.

On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:25:43 GMT, Kevin K wrote:
> At
> some point, they had a customer in their system whose SS number was
> mine. Most likely a typo, since there hasn't been any evidence of
> identity theft.

Even more likely, someone didn't want to give out their SSN and picked one
at random, and it was yours.

Edward
--
Art Works by Melynda Reid: http://paleo.org

"Kevin K" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:KIRoJuEXw9g9-pn2-WWdWeg10B02d@localhost...
> On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:18:53 UTC, "jeremy" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>> But let's not confuse two dissimilar issues--that of non-availability of
>> signal with a culture of contempt for customers.
>>
>
>
> It took me WEEKS to even be able to setup an account with Sprint. At
> some point, they had a customer in their system whose SS number was
> mine. Most likely a typo, since there hasn't been any evidence of
> identity theft. It wasn't even an easy process of just going to a
> corporate store, but I had to fill out forms, notarize them, and mail
> them in and wait.
>
> So customer service was not a good point for me.

Not trying to defend Sprint, but they acted to protect themselves from
identity theft. I don't think they intentionally tried to inconvenience
you, unlike Cingular, whose anti-customer tactics are well-documented.

On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 05:37:25 GMT, "jeremy" <[email protected]> wrote in
<pWVvh.2954$q86.1658@trndny01>:

>Not trying to defend Sprint, but they acted to protect themselves from
>identity theft. I don't think they intentionally tried to inconvenience
>you, unlike Cingular, whose anti-customer tactics are well-documented.

Nonsense.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

I avoid the hassle of overlooking a payment or not getting a billing a
statement on time by using an automatic charge to my credit card. You can
also set an automatic draft or ach debit to your checking account. Either
way, I never had a problem getting credit for something that I shouldn't
have been billed for.

Marc


"Robert A. Fink, M. D." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have been a long-time subscriber to Cingular and its predecessors
> (Cellular One, then ATT Wireless, now Cingular, and soon back to ATT)
> and, in general, I have been satisfied with the service. I recently
> signed up with Cingular's Laptop Connect service as well and that has
> also served me well. I also use AT&T for my long-distance and local
> telephone service.
>
> My current complaint with Cingular is its billing policy. I get an
> electronic statement (via e-mail), which gives a payment due date
> about 3 weeks later than the statement, and then, about 10 days later,
> I receive a hard-copy bill which lists a due date about 2 weeks later
> (but the mailed copy does not reach me until less than a week before
> the due date). Then, almost exactly on the due date, I receive
> another hard copy "dun notice" stating that my payment is late! Thus,
> from the day on which I receive the first written bill, I have about
> 2.5 weeks to pay the bill without getting a "late notice". This seems
> a bit "bush league" for someone who has an excellent credit history
> (many years).
>
> Is it too much to expect that one can expect to pay a bill within 30
> days of receipt of the bill and still be considered "on time"? I have
> complained to Cingular and they have not responded. If this
> continues, I will seriously consider switching carriers when my
> current contract ends (less than a year).
>
>
> Best,
>
> Bob
>
> Robert A. Fink, M. D., FACS, P. C.
> Neurological Surgery
> 2500 Milvia Street Suite 222
> Berkeley, CA 94704-2636 USA
> 510-849-2555
>
> "Ex Tristitia Virtus"

Nonsense.
Verizon is much worse, they have no customer service, and they do not
care at all about their customers. I never received a bill from them for
my service, and tried for an hour to get them to to send me another,
they refused to fax one, they refused to email one. After an hour I was
able to get on line to see my bill, took TWO MORE HOURS ON HOLD to get a
problem corrected. If and when ATT comes to my area I will switch from
FIOS back to them.
jeff

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> "Robert A. Fink, M. D." <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>I have been a long-time subscriber to Cingular and its predecessors
>>(Cellular One, then ATT Wireless, now Cingular, and soon back to ATT)
>>and, in general, I have been satisfied with the service. I recently
>>signed up with Cingular's Laptop Connect service as well and that has
>>also served me well. I also use AT&T for my long-distance and local
>>telephone service.
>
>
> How do you like the laptop connect? I'm thinking of something like
> this, but frankly, I have the impression I'd rather do it with Verizon.
>
>
>
>>My current complaint with Cingular is its billing policy. I get an
>>electronic statement (via e-mail), which gives a payment due date
>>about 3 weeks later than the statement, and then, about 10 days later,
>>I receive a hard-copy bill which lists a due date about 2 weeks later
>>(but the mailed copy does not reach me until less than a week before
>>the due date). Then, almost exactly on the due date, I receive
>>another hard copy "dun notice" stating that my payment is late! Thus,
>>from the day on which I receive the first written bill, I have about
>>2.5 weeks to pay the bill without getting a "late notice". This seems
>>a bit "bush league" for someone who has an excellent credit history
>>(many years).
>
>
> This isn't quite how it happened with me, in that I never got the dun
> letter. But yeah, the paper statement seems to come shortly before the
> bill is due.
>
> You do realize, don't you, that Cingular wants you to go away from
> having them generate and mail you paper statements?
>
> This isn't so bad, really; their online statement system generates a
> literal copy of your paper statement, such that YOU can print it out
> yourself. Or not; I finally decided simply to save the electronic
> statement locally as a simple PDF, ready for printing if need be. I
> even use printouts of the first page, with the monthly bill amount, for
> tax purposes. If someone really wants to see all the hoary detail, I
> can pull it up.
>
>
>
>>Is it too much to expect that one can expect to pay a bill within 30
>>days of receipt of the bill and still be considered "on time"? I have
>>complained to Cingular and they have not responded. If this
>>continues, I will seriously consider switching carriers when my
>>current contract ends (less than a year).
>
>
> You won't get any response. Cingular et al. are the crack dealers, and
> their main customers are the happy-go-lucky 20-something crowd who buy
> lots of crack-like phone services and who simply pay whatever bill shows
> up--or more likely, simply has that amount taken out of their bank
> account. At any rate, they don't call Cingular, ever. Cingular likes
> that. They would rather you be like that.
>
> When a huge part of your business is continuously selling ring tones at
> two bucks a pop to kids who have no concept of money, you tend to like
> that and don't ever want to deal on a professional level with a
> professional adult who has expectations of a business relationship.
>
> And for the record: as much as Cingular would LIKE me to sign up for
> auto-deduct, there's not a chance in hell I'm giving Cingular access to
> my bank account or even credit card. I must review the bill first, take
> care of any discrepancies with Cingular, and THEN pay them what *I*
> think they are due.
>
> No way are they going to generate some random bill and then take the
> money from me, putting me in the position of begging them to give it
> back to me.
>
> I'm thinking of switching to Verizon simply because I think that they
> have more mechanisms in place to deal with professional adults on a
> professional level. They also plainly have superior phone service.
>
>
>
>>
>>Best,
>>
>>Bob
>>
>>Robert A. Fink, M. D., FACS, P. C.
>>Neurological Surgery
>>2500 Milvia Street Suite 222
>>Berkeley, CA 94704-2636 USA
>>510-849-2555
>>
>>"Ex Tristitia Virtus"
>
>