Cingular Sucks

Cingular's not that bad. Just most of the time my reception would suck and thats with all the bars but otherwise the service is pretty good. And another thing is they over charged me 3 times

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I am still an AT&T customer if you will...I haven't migrated my phone yet. I was waiting for things to calm down with the merger before I swtiched.

My problem is that I went on vacation last month to Port Aransas Texas which is just outside of Corpus Christi. Last year I went there on vacation and I talked on my phone and I was not in roam, and I was not charged roaming charges (it was still AT&T), and this year Cingular is trying to charge me roaming charges. I am still on my ATT plan. I have called cs and they said there is nothing they can do until my new bill generates. Well they are still trying to charge me for roaming. I was not charged roaming by AT&T but I am by Cingular? I thought the coverage would be better. My phone is a NOKIA 3590 TDMA phone. I do understand they will be phasing out the TDMA phones, but Cingular should notify their customers when the phase out will take place. I agree with other posts, I feel like I am not getting the same customer service because I guess I am not technically a "Cingular" customer yet.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get these charges taken off my bill? They say you can't depend on your phone, and they are right. I live in Dallas Texas. I was in Dallas today and my phone said ROAM on the display. I guess I will have to watch my bill to see if I get charged for ROAMING in my home calling area.

If you are on a true nationwide plan, you will not be charged for roaming charges regardless of whether your phone says ROAM or not. Secondly, the way that roaming works is: the phone roams, the tower company bills ATT/Cingular, then att/cingular bills you. If att/cingular has not been billed for your roaming, how can they credit it? They can't just guess an amount...... The roaming billing system is delayed, so call in when you get your bill & I am sure it will gladly be credited.... that is if you are on a true nationwide plan (there are some plans that are charged roaming in some areas & not in others.... which are you on?)

Also, in some areas...TDMA is being phased out. ATT is too for that matter. You are being phased out. Of course, you should be fine for awhile, but little by little.... it is happening now.

Hope this helps

Originally Posted by michellelee69

I am still an AT&T customer if you will...I haven't migrated my phone yet. I was waiting for things to calm down with the merger before I swtiched.

My problem is that I went on vacation last month to Port Aransas Texas which is just outside of Corpus Christi. Last year I went there on vacation and I talked on my phone and I was not in roam, and I was not charged roaming charges (it was still AT&T), and this year Cingular is trying to charge me roaming charges. I am still on my ATT plan. I have called cs and they said there is nothing they can do until my new bill generates. Well they are still trying to charge me for roaming. I was not charged roaming by AT&T but I am by Cingular? I thought the coverage would be better. My phone is a NOKIA 3590 TDMA phone. I do understand they will be phasing out the TDMA phones, but Cingular should notify their customers when the phase out will take place. I agree with other posts, I feel like I am not getting the same customer service because I guess I am not technically a "Cingular" customer yet.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get these charges taken off my bill? They say you can't depend on your phone, and they are right. I live in Dallas Texas. I was in Dallas today and my phone said ROAM on the display. I guess I will have to watch my bill to see if I get charged for ROAMING in my home calling area.

Thanks for such a quick response....

I am on ATT 1350 Local Plan. Which the state of Texas is my home calling area. I was on that plan last year when I went on vacation, and the same goes for this year. My plan has not changed, it just now my service is thru Cingular because of the merger. So how is it that I am being charged roaming this year and not last year? My plan has not changed.

There is only one place in Texas that I am charged roaming and that is in San Angelo. I was charged roaming with ATT and Cingular, and that is fine, I knew I would be charged for roaming.

Do you know when the TDMA phones are going to be phased out? Also, I see alot of people on ebay selling unlocked phones. There is a phone I was looking at. Can I take that phone to Cingular and have it switched. It is a NOKIA 6820. It is a GSM phone. I would prefer a Nokia because my headset and charger will work with this phone. And, I really like the Nokia phones!

Have you already been charged for roaming, or is it that your phone said 'roaming' and you are assuming you will be charged?

1. Roaming calls and charges take anywhere between 2-10 days to show up on your account.
2. If you have a plan that says no roaming or long distance, read the fine print. Does it say 'no roaming anywhere on AT&T network'? Then if you are out of AT&T network you would get charged. Just like providers keep adding towers and expanding their network, it is possible that some towers are taken down or are not functioning and your calls are no on ATT network.
3. Do you have bills for the period you were on vacation at the same place last year?
4. Get an attorney, if the charges are high. A cheap way to get an attorney to do become a member of a company on a monthly basis - about 10$ a month and you get free advise and a letter for each case. I recently became a member and I think a letter from a law firm has an instant effect compared to you making a hundred calls. I have seen real instances of this 'attorney letter' instead of the customer making calls and writing many letters.

Yes, I do still have my bill from last year showing that I was not charged. I even called Cingular before I went on vacation just to make sure that I was in my coverage area. They confirmed that I would be. My phone said Cingular the whole time, it NEVER said ROAM or EXTENDED AREA. It said CINGULAR.

My phone shows ROAM when I am at home! I am just wore out from it all, but I am going to fight it before I pay a $300 cell phone bill. I have sent a letter disputing those charges. I have been told by Cingular that as long as I pay my minimum monthly charges until this issue is resolved, they cannot turn my service off.

So, I guess I will see how it goes. I think I am going to switch to a GSM phone. I was going to anyway. They attorney letter is a good idea. Can you tell me who you joined? A letter from an attorney would definately work better.

I joined a service called pre paid legal. You can check out what it means and what is included at their website.
The website is www.prepaidlegal.com

Disclaimer: I am not a sales person for the company or its service.

Originally Posted by michellelee69

My phone shows ROAM when I am at home! I am just wore out from it all, but I am going to fight it before I pay a $300 cell phone bill.

As Cingular removes TDMA, your phone will look for other towers that will accept it's connection. Unfortunately for you, that means you're using other carrier's towers, which means you are roaming. Roaming is simply defined as not being in your local area on your cell providers tower. The tower you're actually connecting to (maybe T-Mobile?, not Cingular cause those are being phased out and your phone says roaming) is billing Cingular, who is billing you.

Originally Posted by michellelee69

I have sent a letter disputing those charges. I have been told by Cingular that as long as I pay my minimum monthly charges until this issue is resolved, they cannot turn my service off.

You may want to double check your contract to make sure they don't charge extra fees or some rediculous interest on unpaid balances. Sure they can't turn you off, but they can fee you to death.

Originally Posted by michellelee69

So, I guess I will see how it goes. I think I am going to switch to a GSM phone. I was going to anyway. They attorney letter is a good idea. Can you tell me who you joined? A letter from an attorney would definately work better.

Get a GSM Phone. Your phone should conenct to Cingular towers, so you shouldn't be charged roaming. Maybe switching to a nationwide plan wouldn't hurt either.

Originally Posted by youarestupid

I work for customer service for cingular, you guys are really idiots. Just because all of you aren't accepted into the wireless welfare program you can't be mad. If your tv breaks, will you call your cable company for a new tv??? NO so don't call cingular when your phone breaks, you're sol. You think CS is so rude, try dealing with 50+ idiots daily which half can't even turn their phones on right. The more you ask for credit, it's guaranteed that you aren't getting it... so don't be greedy and rude when you call into us. And if you think you can call into customer service and tell us you're wrong.... think again. You are the one calling into US for help. If you really are done wrong, we will acknowledge that and help you, but if you call into us screaming because You went over your minutes we will not help you. It's a company and if you were in head of it you would say the same thing... NO.

hey buddy your an idiot. as a customer service rep you should DEAL with all types of people. If they get mad, thats their right, you wouldnt have a job without paying customers. Realise that. I work retail took me a long time to realize that. Also when your service isn't right, or peoples bills aren't right, put urself in their shoes and realize what it might be like to be on their side. If that doesnt work.... THEN GET THE **** OUT OF A CUSTOMER SERVICE JOB. Your an idiot seriously. When you say something about your company you should always be respectful especially to their clients. Your representing the company. Grow up seriously. Your actions might influence yourcustomer base.

Originally Posted by theelittleonee

hey buddy your an idiot. as a customer service rep you should DEAL with all types of people. If they get mad, thats their right, you wouldnt have a job without paying customers. Realise that. I work retail took me a long time to realize that. Also when your service isn't right, or peoples bills aren't right, put urself in their shoes and realize what it might be like to be on their side. If that doesnt work.... THEN GET THE **** OUT OF A CUSTOMER SERVICE JOB. Your an idiot seriously. When you say something about your company you should always be respectful especially to their clients. Your representing the company. Grow up seriously. Your actions might influence yourcustomer base.

Very good. This is the right way to handle these idiots in CS of Cingular.

I can honestly say I like Cingular the best for my area. No, they're not perfect, but like others have said, try to find one that is! And as far as I know, call quality/reception also has a lot to do with your phone, you might try switching it. I have also had problems with charges on my bill, and customer service saying they could not do anything about it. First, they told me they did not know where these charges came from... so eventually, after a few more calls and a small headache they took off the charges. As has been said, you do just have to talk to the right person. Not everyone is there to help, some are there just to make money. It's only a paying job for them. Which is kind of annoying, but oh well, try again get a better rep. But I think Cingular is getting better with service, at least in my area, because I used to drop calls on a road near my home and that has been fixed. I know around here the smaller companies like Verizon, Alltel, and T-Mobile have horrible signal. I'll also admit to Cingular being pricey for a lot of their plans, but once you find one that fits you well it isn't so bad.. I have like 1800 rollover minuts due to mobile-to-mobile calling. It's just different providers for different users which is even different in each area.. I guess it all depends on where you are

If you are ever having trouble understanding a bill, take the bill into the store you got the phone from and talk to a rep... even better if you can get the same rep that sold you the service or has helped you previously. Once the bill is explained, if further action is needed (ie rep cannot credit/fix account), request that the rep briefly not the account explaining the found error, then call customer service.

Now, I personally always call customer service for the customer, but at the same time, there is usually only 1 rep running the store - me. So, if I have a ton of people waiting, I will commit to fix the error after closing time, or I will note the account so the customer can call.

I do have to say, however, that when a customer buys a phone from another store, then comes to me the next week with a horrifically messed up bill due to rep error, I get a little agrivated when they make me call customer service to say the exact same things they would have to say. Don't get me wrong - helping the customer is never an issue - it is when they make me call and neglect my customers when they could simply call themselves. I will usually, in this case, get cust serv on the line, hand the call to the customer, and continue helping other clients.... this way if they have any questions, I am there....

So, the point of all of this rambling is.... go to the store where you got the phone from with your bill in question & figure out the problem there. It is so much easier. Alot of times, customer service misunderstands the issue because both parties are using differing vocabulary, and it is hard to get on the same page when you are communicating via phone.

This is true... I have been in a situation where I went to my local rep and they could not do any more for me than I could do for myself, so he dialed the CS and let me talk to them. Not the rep's fault anyway, but he was very nice and connected me to them

rant, rant, rant! lol... one thing i hate about cingular... Prepaid. Even AT&T had a better Go-Phone plan