Readers react to 'Cingular confusion'

Don't get exited with CIngular either. When they took over Ameritech cellular coverage customers, the same thing occurred. After battling with their customer service and being threatened to have to pay a $200 cancellation fee if I dropped my service, I got a lawyer involved and was able to cancel without any charges. I am now a Verizon customer and have had a much better experience with their customer service thus far. Keep your fingers crossed.

I was a Cingular customer whose bills of less than $60 a month increased to $260 with no explanation. I've never paid a bill late and been a customer since 1996. They don't care.

They told me "maybe it's roaming charges" (it wasn't) or "you can switch to another plan to cover your minutes" (my minutes and roll-over minutes from them didn't add up in the first place). After trying to argue the charges for a few weeks, my charges went up to $600 and to a creditor after less than 60 days. I did pay them what I normally would, but they immediately turned it into a creditor.

They wouldn't talk to me until I filed with the state for potential class action law suit. Now they want to talk. Two Cingular reps who won't give their names in suit, told me that Cingular knew they would increase charges on older accounts without notice and were not concerned because they knew they would talk customers into higher plans and weren't worried about losing a few hundred customers because they were getting AT&T's thousands of customers.

I encourage others to file their complaints with their state's attorney general so they can see just what Cingular is doing to customers.

There is nothing about this story that warrented two articles. I have heard enough complaints from friends to know that this story could have applied to any of the cell phone providers. Maybe it's just me, but I don't like it when someone tries to use their public position to get special treatment. News flash... if you don't pay your bills on time, most businesses would choose to disconnect your service.

I am furious!! I'm a AT&T Wireless-now Cingular customer who has been told by a Cingular agent that I can not purchase a new phone without signing a new deal. By signing this deal, I will lose all of the benefits I had with my AT&T deal! In addition, I was told I would be charged a migration fee. I didn't choose to migrate!! Cingular is not treating their new customers right. I've decided to wait out the 3 more months left on my contract and sign up with a new wireless service provider. Cingular shouldn't try to bully former AT&T customers.. that's horrible customer service.

Please contact me if a class action lawsuit is filed against Cingular. This is truly the most pathetic company I have dealt with. They are practicing illegal business practices and refusing to service my account because I am an "ex-ATT customer". However, they gladly take my $$$ every month!

It's not just Cingular, T-Mobile is worse when it comes to hiding fees. Rules on T-Mobile's weekend free minutes usage are not clear. They do not make it clear that long distance/International calls are not included.Switching to T-Mobile may not solve your problems.

If it makes anyone feel better, Cingular is just as horrific to their employees as to their customers. My husband just left Cingular after nearly 15 years in the CellularOne/AT&T Wireless/Cingular handoffs. He had many high profile state & local government and high-tech clients who adored him, and was earning a great income w/AT&T until layoffs. Once hired at Cingular, he (alone) brought in over $1 million in revenue in just over a year. His commission? $12,000. Oh, and his pay rate was less than the cost of living for our area. What an insult! Many of his earned commissions were never paid (mysteriously the HR commissions person was recently "let go"), long-term EARNED clients were taken away and given to new incoming AT&T sales reps, loyal Cingular employees were given demotions and paycuts (or laid off) while the incoming AT&T employees were given pay increases, promotions and a year-end bonus in 2004. Commissions my husband earned were taken from him and given to unrelated reps, while he was handed a yellow pages and told to start over. Cingular has cost us multiple thousands of dollars, but more importantly, TOO MUCH grief! We would like to do a class action lawsuit as a former employee and as soon-to-be former customers. I think we will definitely contact our state's attorney and file a complaint. Apparently, Cingular top brass & management thinks it's above the law. It's not.

Two years ago, I had to pay an early cancellation fee when I moved from Cingular to ATT. When the two companies merged I asked for it back. :-) Fat chance. This new company claims ATT or Cingular as it identity as it suits them.

A year ago, I took a consulting job that put me on the road most of the time. I needed a wireless internet connection that would go with me. It was important enough to make me willing to pay ATT eighty bucks per month. But I didn’t know how long I would need it. I agreed to the two year contract based on the promise that if I suddenly no longer needed it, I could convert it to a cheap voice service for about twenty bucks per month. Today, I walked into the ATT office, turned Cingular office and tried to do just that. Fat chance!

Instead, the only thing I was offered was a new two year contract with Cingular, or pay an early cancellation fee. After a heated conversation with the rep, I walked out, vowing to look on the internet to see if there are any outstanding class-action lawsuits about this.

What I found in the first Google was a litany of complaints over Cingular pressuring the ATT customers they purchased into converting to new Cingular contracts over a wide variety of issues.

Cingular has pulled the rug out from under its ATT customers, reneging on the ATT obligations to their customers. Yet, the customers are still obliged to adhere to their part in the contract for its full duration, or face early cancellation fees. UNLESS, of course they convert to a brand new long term contract with Cingular.

The bottom line is that Cingular thinks that in this merger, they can have the full benefits of the customer’s contracts with ATT without any of the obligation that was offered when those contracts were made.

If Cingular is not willing to bear the obligation of service to these customers, then Cingular/ATT should admit that those contracts are null and those customers free to cancel at any time without being billed any kind of early cancellation fee.

I finally got an actual ATT rep on the phone and asked to cancel my service. When the rep mentioned the early cancellation fee, I said, please have it indicated on my bill because I’m taking that bill into court with me because you, ATT have reneged on your part of our agreement. With that, the rep asked what I had been promised and said it could be done.

I Got At&t Plan In October 2004. With 3 Phones. Things started going wrong in the end of November and still it is getting worse. Dropped calls everyday!!! NO SERVICE everyday!! No Bars. Cannot hear people if I do get a call. Do not get messages until days later. Cannot call out half the time. On any of the three Phones I have. I Missed a few Emergency Phone CAlls from my son.. First they tell me it is the phone. But then called back again someone else said it was the towers. Then I was told it was the sim card. Then I was told that they were gonna FADE out all at&t towers and have only Cingular towers which at&t phones will not work with them. They will Not do anything to honor at&t Customers Other than Charge Me a 525.00 Early termination FEE!! Or I have to Merge which means Pay 75.00 per phone. THen pay 18.00 activation fees per phone. Sign a new 2 year contract! Then Monthly fees will be 150.00 to 300.00 a month. Cannot have 7:00pm free hours unless I pay 14.00 per phone (which is free now If you can get the phones to work) I have 1200 min month for 59.99 and 10.00 per other 2 phone. Cannot offer that But will Offer me 500 min. for 75.99 amonth. Plus 20.00 per other lines and etc. Fees. They Will not let me away from at&t Since they merged They say I MUST merge to get better service. This is fraud. Customer Reps. Are terrible and of NO help. Other than Telling me to migrate and sign a new contract. They sent me an old phone again with a CHARGE BUt it does not work either. PLEASE HELP. I am paying for a service that I can only use maybe half the time. it is alot of money and I have 14 more months to go. With no satisfaction. I do not want to migrate with cingular at all.

AT&T Wireless Customers BEWARE
Cingular/AT&T versus Verizon Wireless

I have been perfectly happy with my AT&T service for the past ten years, a heavy business user on 1200-1500 minute plans, until they were purchased by Cingular Wireless.

Unfortunately, though previously I had been able to float my minutes up and down, all of a sudden Cingular locked the previous AT&T plans. Cingular has essentially been telling their old AT&T customers – no changes to your plan any longer. You can’t up your minutes! Unless of course, you switch to Cingular, and in order to do that, you will need new phones. Given that I had added my daughter’s phone to my plan on AT&T Wireless less than 6 months ago and purchased her a new phone, and that my phone was less than a year old, this was not exactly pleasant news.

I am a heavy business user, and I must have called Cingular 4 times – please let me up my minutes. You can’t possibly be embarking on a strategy destined to drive away all of the old AT&T customers, can you? But indeed, they are.

After 3 months of extremely high cell bills (I was over my minutes) I called Verizon. Guess what, I could get 1500 shared minutes for the same price as I was paying Cingular for 1200, an additional line for my daughter at 9.99 instead of 19.99, unlimited text messages for 9.99 (instead of the 19.99 I was paying Cingular for 1000) and unlimited data for 30.00 a month instead of 40.00 for 20Mbs that I was paying Cingular.

So I switched. I have been very happy with new service and probably would never have bothered to write this opinion – except – I just received my last Cingular bill. To add insult to injury, even though I specifically asked if there was one termination fee ($175) for the account or if the fee was per line before canceling the account, and they stated that the termination fee was per account – they have charged me a termination fee per line and will not remove it (remember, again, one of the lines I have had for almost 10 years). Though I specifically asked if the coverage fee was pro-rated or was applicable for the entire period, they originally charged the coverage fee for the entire period (though the service was active exactly 3 days).

I called and threatened to tell my story to the world. I spoke with two supervisors -
a Marcella Henderson (#2120255) and a Candice Miller (#4391) and informed them if the second termination fee was not removed I was going to post this story everywhere. So, now, I am just following through…..

I recently went cross country and I was under the impression my AT&T nation wideplan still supported me. Unfortunately I was roaming more than 1/3 of the way across the Northern parts of the Country. I questioned the coverage and Cingular told me that Nation wide coverage covers the large cities. What good does this do for me. I cancelled service am totally disgusted and I should not pay for early termination since they stink for supporting AT&T Customers who had no choice during the switch but to inherit their shoddy service. I waited 35 minutes just to cancel service on my childrens phones which are on a family plan. The customer support rep continuously tried to assist me in fixing the problem. Poor service coverage, drop outs and dead zones but I just said cancel my service you can not help me. It is not my phones which are GSM but their poor service and that can not be repaired. I work in communications in the US Navy and I have never had such poor customer service as Cingular provides. Can anyone disagree? I am sure most people also have seen this. I just want the cancellation fees waived since I did not sign a contract with Cingular, I was a committed AT&T customer.
Respectfully
Alan Braunstein

As a happy AT&T Wireless customer since 2002 I was oblivious to the absorption of SunCom (AT&T Wireless) and Cingular. The single analog phone grew to three analog family plan phones in 2004. No problem the SunCom analog service contract is extended 2 more years. Want to add a fourth analog phone with Cingular for son. Sorry, Cingular does not support analog wireless service. Fine, since Cingular cannot accomodate us they will terminate the SunCom contract and allow us to pursue a family plan with out paying termination fees. Wrong, the BAR HAS BEEN RAISED and it will cost $600 to switchover to a digital wireless network Cingular supports. Cingular's customer service is USELESS. The Retention folks are RUDE. Cingular has no idea what PEOPLE SERVICE SKILLS ARE. Please there must be a Class Action Suit which can be made against this arrogant and rude company.

I am not Cingular customer....but a charge of $168 was charged to my bank acct for CINGULAR INTERNET PURCHASE. Discovered this on Sunday (4 days ago) and the next day began trying to contact customer service...their automated system has NO button to push if you do not have acct number..UNLESS you wish to purchase service. Eventually, had to push button for sales just to get a human being. They transferrred me to Fraud Dept, only turns out to be Fraud Prevention. They found that there was no acct in my name, so gave me a separate number to contact Fraud DEpt telling me that it was a voice mail service, I would have to leave name and number and they would return my call. WELL, I did that and received no return call yesterday, so called again today, and received no return call. Their recorded message tells you not to leave more than one message as it only increases their workload. Evidently their Fraud Dept is just swamped, for some strange reason. Tomorrow, I am going to report the fraud to my bank, have not done so because I did not wish to leave the house and miss the long awaited phone call.......this could get old really fast. I feel truly sorry for all those of you who have to deal with this company on a regular basis. What a bunch of uncaring morons they are!! I want my money back!!!!

Indeed, some of Cingular's policies are somewhat confusing and overall annoying. I do feel compassion for our current AT&T customers and I do my best to take care of our customers in our area. You will not find many reps. like those in our store. I have been with AWS over 3 years and knowing that customers feel helpless beacuse they never chose Cingular and now they have to MIGRATE and they should not be forced into Cingular plans, well try being an employee, our benefits will expire at the e.o. this year and we need to sign up for new benefits at a higher price with less coverage under Cingular's benefit package. How about them apples??? AWS benefits were by far the best I have had with any company. Cingular truly needs to practice what they preach "RAISE THE BAR"

I can see that I am not alone with my frustration and anger with Cingular. I was with Cingular originally and switched to at&t. Then of course Cingular bought out at&t. My question is this, since at&t is gone, why is our contracts not gone also? Why are we forced to be with Cingular? I didn't sign a contract with Cingular, I signed with at&t. I wanted to purchase another phone, you all know that story, I have to sign up for 2 years. I was going to suck it up and sign up for 2 years when they informed me that I couldn't switch over to Cingular until I was 21 months into my contract!!! I am 15 months into it. I could switch if I was adding yet another line to my service. I have 3. Is there something we can do as a group to break our contracts with Cingular so we can find someone else who might care and have as good a customer service dept. as at&t did? I have 6 more months on my contract and I can't wait to look for another provider.

I decided to go with Cingular because of the internet access and supposed "great rates and rollover". Well, so much for that. They triple-charged us for deposits on the phones ( we had 2) and then proceeded to charge for every single thing, even though we had unlimited data and a huge minutes plan. Did I mention they also said they can't find our contract? In less then 3 months, our bill was over $3000. After calling/emailing them more times then I can remember, with no response, I just recieved a phone call from a collections agency (this morning). I informed them of what's going on and that I will pay the correct amount when I find out exactly what it is. They were the only people who actually seemed to care what happened, go figure. If I have to join a suit, I will. This is ridiculous.

My name is Heath Crabtree. There is no doubt that cingular is practicing bad business and something must be done. Please contact me through my email address: hdcrabtree@netzero.com

My question is since Cingular "bought" AT&T not merged with it, why do we have to pay any migration fee at all. It would seem to me that as soon as the "sale" was final all AT&T customers ceased to exist and became Cingular customers. So why the Sam Hill are we being charged a fee to stay with the company that bought our existing contracts. When my husband wrote a letter to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) their reply was that "they would need to have a larger base of complaints before they could look into it wrong doing" come on, you buy it, you own it, you service it, period. Please anyone who have been charged or told to pay a migration fee needs to file a letter of complaint with the FCC.

Here is a copy of the Better Business Bureau complaint that I submitted:

My complaint begins with the takeover of ATT Wireless by Cingular Wireless. In July, 2004 I changed my plan with ATT Wireless to include 1000 weekend/evening minutes and 750 anytime minutes (which Cingluar admits). In September, 2004 I became aware of the buyout of ATT by Cingular at which time I spoke with ATT representatives in Boise, Idaho that informed me that my phone and its contract would switch over to Cingular with no problems. I was assured that my plan would remain as it had been at ATT, minutes and all. In spring of 2005 I spoke with another Cingluar representative that assured me that my plan had transferred to Cingular with the same plan that I had with ATT. In two different interactions with Cingular reps I had been assured that both my phone and plan were the same as they had been with ATT.

In May, 2005 I was no longer able to make my monthly payment on the ATT website, which had previously transferred me to the Cingular website under the same screen name and password. I was instructed by Cingular that I needed to establish a new profile, screen name, and password with their website. I tried to do this but was unable. After spending significant time on the Cingular help hotline, at least 20 minutes I recall because I missed a television program simply waiting for customer assistance, I was unable to talk to a Cingular rep in person to help me with my online account.

I am a professional archaeologist so I left Idaho for five monthes. It was during this time my payments to Cingular lapsed causing my phone to be cut off twice. I informed Cingular reps that my online account was not working causing me to be unable to pay. Once, in July, 2005, they said that I should try remaking my account once more, which did not work again. Then in September, 2005 Cingular tech support reps reset my online account allowing me to access it again.

On October 9, 2005 I became aware that my Cingular account did not transfer as promised and that I had been overcharged for about 5 monthes. My bill for September was $651.49 and previous bills indicate that I had exceeded minutes for the last 4 monthes. I called Cingular customer assistance on 10/10/05 at 1:18 PM Pacific Time and in a 40 minute encounter with a customer assistant called "Spencer James" I was informed that I should have known about my plan and that there was nothing he could do. I told him of my tech support problems and he was unresponsive. I said that I would be willing to sign up again if I could get some reduction on this bill or my old ATT plan back and he did not provide a response to that. He said that if I wanted to get a plan for more minutes I had to sign up for a new contract but that it would not help my present situation. When I asked to speak to a manager he said all managers were in a meeting and that I should stay on the line while he went to get one. I waited 20 minutes, all of which cost my account, and then hung up.

I would like for Cingular Wireless to reinstate my previous ATT plan, minutes and all, and post date these changes to the date they say I became a Cingular customer, May, 2004. I would like for all my charges and bills to be adjusted to this plan and remain at this rate until my contract is finished. I would also like to be included in any programs due to Cingular customers as I am now a Cingular customer. Any charges remaining after this adjustment will be paid promptly.

These demands are not extraordinary as they were already verbally agreed upon by Cingular customer service representatives and are contracutal obligations.


Today I contacted my state attorney general's office. I will keep you posted on developments.

Hello! Since the Suncom AT&T merge with Cingular I have experienced a very annoying problem. At the time of the switch to Cingular, I had to pay my bill in full to SunCom. I did this. Months later, I start receiving phone calls from a collection agency from SunCom. Aparently SunCom wants me to cough up another hundred dollars. I have tried calling SunCom to debate this with them, but I remain on hold until I can't stand it and hang up. I've tried using their "convienent" email service. Another dud, they send me a reply that these matters cannot be handled online.

One more last word from me. The way I had always understood my cell phone bill with SunCom is that when we signed up in the very beginning, we paid for A. an estimated amount of time in their remaining monthly schedule and B. the next month in advanced. Then, every month we paid for the month in advance. When I paid my bill in full at the time of the merge, did I in fact overpay by paying a month in advance that I didn't even get?

I'd love to hear any advice or what other's have done!

Thanks, Melanie

Hi, I've been a cingular customer since 2002. Up until August 2005, I never had any problems. I paid my bill at their in-service store, as I always do. My bill was $195.00 I had no proble with this, because my daughter had been very ill, all most to the point of death. My balance was clear. Then I get a bill from cingular for $1,400.00 for charges made between August 20th-Sept. 19, 2005. When I called customer service the person that I spoke with realized that this was an error, because the rep. looked at my history with cingular. This error was to be resolved. In fact they had just sent me a cretificate to add another phone for free! I asked the question, are you in the habit of sending free offers to customer who don't pay their bills? I even had gotten a relative a phone who did not pay their bill, I didn't argue with cingular, because that was my error in bad judgement, so when they sent the bill, I paid it and closed donw their service. I have spoken with so many customer service reps. until I am tired. Cingular and I never had this problem until they let AT&T, in to the mix. One of the supervisors had the nerves to tell me that the calls came from you phone, and my reply was if "your idenity can be stolen from bank account, credit cars, and internet sales, what makes you think that you cell number can't be stolen! I saw the movie "Enemy of the State". I keep my phone in my class room so that if I need to have "Mommie" talk to a student, I can cll her at her job. This has been very embrassing. If you owe them they have attorneys to get their monies. What is a customer resources to get CINGULAR TO DO RIGHT. They also promised to call me and have this resolved, well today is 10/30/05 and, I have now received a bill for $1,900.00 for a phone that is not activated. I have been promised to receive detail bill so that I can go over it. I asked for one from the dates in dispute and if I got one so have you. I am so angry, I pray every night for God to make these DEMONS to do the right thing. NO PROBLEM UNTIL ATT ENTERED THE ARENA.
Thank you for listening' Cingular sure as heck didn't

Please contact me if anyone knows of a lawsuit against cingular for false advertising and not holding up to features promised when migrating from ATT plans to cingular plans. I have a complete flier with features offered and notw and the monthly billing they are refusing to honor half of it. I am very frustrated and know there must be others out there. Please contact me.

Dear Chris,
I greatly appreciate your article about Cingular Wireless. I am also a reporter, most recently with the now defunct A Current Affair on FOX, and would love nothing more than to see some justice done with this company. I've had numerous problems with the company, but I'm hoping my most recent problem will one day become a Class Action lawsuit.

I originally switched to Cingular because of their rollover incentive. In the past few years I've adjusted my rate plans to take full advantage of the service, in other words, switching to a lower rate plan when I had acquired a large rollover balance. I recently decided to switch to a lower plan as I noticed I had acquired over 3000 rollover minutes and was consistently not using anywhere near the number of minutes my plan was providing. When I called to lower my plan I was informed that I would lose all but 900 of my acquired (and paid for) minutes. They told me that this was a new change in policy that took place 6 months ago, but that they hadn't informed their customers about. Had I known that to be the case, every phone call I made from home the past 6 months would have been made on my cell phone to use up a good chunk of minutes (that I already paid for! Did I mention that?).

I feel incredibly victimized by this company and their bait and switch and false marketing policies. I'm not sure how a Class Action lawsuit begins, but I do plan on asking my lawyer about it. I've also been given an address to write to that I'm told will get some response from Cingular. Who knows if that is indeed correct, but here is the address if anyone has a similar complaint...
Cingular
PO BOX 755
Atwater, CA 95301

Please keep getting the info out, you're doing a great job.

All the Best,
Tina Malave

I just filed a complaint against Cingular on this website...
LawyersAndSettlements.com.
Class Action and Large Recoveries Newsletter
The Newsletter email address is
newsletter-BCA-305175@lawyersandsettlements.com

Something that I have been fighting to get from Cingular...

A COPY OF MY CONTRACT!

I have called 3 times over the past year and still have yet to receive a copy of this contract. I am still a ATT Wireless (Blue customer as they call us). I am with Cingular, but I have my ATT Wireless plan along with ATT Wireless Phones. I have not been forced to migrate yet, but I will fight very hard not to loose the great deal I have right now under the ATT Wireless agreement. My big problem is that they do not have a copy of the contract I signed with ATT Wireless. I was told the following...

1) We will mail you a copy in 7-10 business days.
- Never happened
2) We will try to resend it again
- Never happened
3) The contracts are stored in a large warehouse in CA and it is impossible to give you a copy of the specific contract you signed, we will send you a copy of the Cingular Contract that we are curently using.
- A copy of a contract other than the one I signed doesn't help - I did receive a copy of the Cingular contract that I didn't sign, but still no ATT Wireless contract that states my rights

Some things that Cingular does NOT want you to know...

1) They DO HAVE ATT Wireless replacement phones - I just purchased 2 new phones for my plan without having to migrate to Cingular - You have to complain ALOT for them to all of a sudden find these phones

2) Each representative has a limit each day to the amount of credits they can issue to customers - Regardless if the credit is just or not. I know this from a friend who worked from them. Once they hit this limit for their shift, they are to refuse credit and only give the credit if the customer complains enough and issuing it requires a manager to approve - Taking long periods of time to find an available manager.

3) Filing an FCC complaint does nothing - It just gets forwarded to Cingular who will call you and pressure you for over an hour to agree with what they are saying - I filed a complaint with the FCC and Cingular called - A woman in the corporate office basically agreed with some point that I made and said she would look into the matter and resolve it - At the end of the call, she asked if I was satisfied with the resolution - Which at that point I was, and dismissed the FCC complaint - She never looked into the matter and it remained unresolved, yet the FCC complaint was dismissed so I would have to issue another complaint - Cycles back again.

Please contact me by email (mfinley@temple.edu). I have my ATT contract which Cingular seems to have LOST, info regarding my ATT plan, and other documentation - I AM READY AND WILLING TO GET INVOLVED IN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST CINGULAR!!!!

Please explain to me how I might join a class action lawsuit against Cingular. They contend that I owe them $100 buck for early termination b/c I didn't accept their offer to change out my phone. I said the phone works fine in Canada(where Cingular buys from Phillips network). I contend they broke the contract b/c I haven't had the service promised for the last year.

Where do I go from here?

My complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau:

I was an AT&T cellphone subscriber when Cingular bought them out. Cingular gave me a discount to switch over to their plan, so I changed my service to them. After switching to Cingular, I had problems with my phone that I had been paying a $5 per month fee for insurance. I dropped the phone and the vibrate function stopped working. I called to get the phone replaced and they informed me that there was a $50 copay to get the phone fixed. The phone was not worth the $50 to replace it, so I cancelled the insurance and lived with the problem. I then started getting my phone service disconnected for late payments. I have been a little late on my payments from time to time but I never had a problem resolving the issue with my other providers. Cingular disconnected my phone 3 times and I would try to work it out with customer service but they were extremely difficult to work with. I was told to pay so much right now and they would re-activate my phone for a $39 fee. I re-activated my phone 3 times thinking that we had everything resolved. Money was tight so I made a partial payment and they shut off my phone again. I called Customer Service and tried to find out why my service had been disconnected again. They told me that I needed to pay the bill in full. I argued that I didn't have the money to pay the full bill and they said that they wouldn't restore my service without it. At that point I figgured this chain of disconnect/reconnect would probably continue with this company and they were not willing to work with me, so I discontinued my service. I figured that a $150 termination was cheep compared to $39 extra dollars every time my phone service was interrupted. On December 23, 2005 a representative from the corporate office called and demanded the payment in full for the late payment and contract termination fee. I told him that I couldn't possibly pay the amount in full right now and could I make payment arrangements with him. He told me that I could post date a check for the end of the month and it would be taken care of. I told him that I didn't have that much money. He told me that he was sorry we couldn't work it out and he was sending the account to collections. I recieved 3 recorded messages to call a number for an important business matter. This morning, Jan 5, 2005 I recieved another recorded call and followed the prompts to talk to a representative about my account. I talked to a woman who berated me for switching my number to another carrier and harrassed me to pay the bill today or she was going to send me to court. I explained that I didn't have the $350 or so dollars to pay the account in full and could I please make payment arrangements. She told me that I could again post-date a check for the 31st and they would hold it for me. Again I explained that I didn't have the money to pay it in full. My wife heard the representative yelling at me on the phone from our bedroom down the hall and came to investigate. She asked to talk to this lady on the phone because I was getting mad and she didn't want the problem to escalate. The woman on the phone said that she couldn't talk to my wife because her name was not on the account. She asked the woman if we could make a payment plan and the woman said that she needed to put me back on the line. My wife told her that she wasn't going to, and told the woman that she could take care of the problem herself. The woman on the phone started yelling at my wife and she couldn't understand her. Then my wife said to the woman that if we couldn't resolve this to go ahead and send us to court. The woman asked if we had a lawyer that she could talk to. My wife said no, I don't want a lawyer. Then the woman made a comment that, "Scott couldn't deal with it so he had to put his wife on the phone." in a derogatory fashion. My wife told her not to call again. The woman commented that we had 24 hours to resolve the matter. My wife told her ok, we'll do what we can, do not call us back. The woman yelled at my wife and told her, "Get off my phone lady!" My wife ended the conversation.

Just a little hint at Cingular's Business Practices/Lack of Customer Service.

I have been an AT&T customer for years and when Cingular bought over AT&T, they offered me a chance to migrate over to their network. I did not migrate and thought that my old cellular plan with AT&T would continue the way it has since 2004 when they merged. I had 800 included minutes (including bonus minutes for being a long time customer) and unlimited night/weekends for $39.99 on my old AT&T plan.

All was well until I checked my bill online yesterday and found that as of Oct 15 2005, they changed over my AT&T plan with 800 minutes to an "equivalent" Cingular plan at the same price. THE PROBLEM: this new plan only had 450 included minutes. The WORST part about the problem is that Cingular DID NOT NOTIFY ME that they were automatically switching me over to their plan even though I declined to migrate. The I believe this is Cingular's way of forcing former AT&T customers to move over to their equally priced but (in my case) inferior plans. I did not know that I only had 450 minutes with the new plan and because I unwittingly "went over" my minutes last month, I was slapped with an additional $40 for using extra minutes.

I called Customer Service promptly and the rep told me they sent me a letter notifying me of the switch in August. I did not receive anything and when I asked her for the contents of the letter, which she finally managed to get from another department and read out, I was incensed.

The letter stated that Cingular was switching me over to a better GSM network (I was on a multiband with AT&T before) with upgraded coverage. The letter wasn't more than 2 paragraphs and was more of an informative/marketing correspondence than a legal disclosure. I told her so and said that Cingular should have sent a full disclosure with a form for me to sign to authorize any changes. I told her the letter sent to me only mentioned coverage and network changes, but not changes to billing or minutes. Therefore it did not suffice as adequate notification. She couldn't dispute that and I said I was going to write to the FCC and my state's Attorney General about this. I also mentioned that Cingular has got the most number of complaints for billing and service interruptions among all the cell phone providers.

I was on the phone with her for more than 30 minutes and it was after I mentioned the FCC, my lawyer and wanting to talk to her supervisor etc that she offered to give me back the 400 minutes that they took away from my AT&T plan for the life of my Cingular plan. She said that she couldn't reverse the $40 charge for extra minutes used because the new plan came into effect on Oct 15 and since I was already on the plan for 3 months, I should have been aware of it. More talk about Cingular's horrible reputation, the FCC, other complaints, the fact that I did not receive the letter and that the letter's meaningless anyway and more requests from me for the supervisor, led to her saying that she could credit half of the $40. So she actually had the power to do so, but did not until I pushed further.

So the lesson for me was (and I hope it can help you)- if you are being taken for a ride or having wool pulled over your eyes by these people at Cingular- hang on and keep up with the complaining in one phone call and eventually the rep might be able to work something out for you. I will be watching my bill like a hawk for any more changes from now on.

That said, I will still be writing to the FCC, attorney general etc. They have slamming laws (where phone providers of land lines who make changes to your account without your authorization get penalized) for land lines, but I don't know if they have it for cell phone companies. Does anyone know? Also, if there is going to be a class action law suit, I hope you'll feature it on this website before the suit is filed, so people like me will know who or where to contact in order to join the suit.

I was mis-represented (lied to) by a cingular agent, pertainig to re-newing my contract. If a class action suit is possible please notify me at americantrust@coxinet.net

We paid $500.00 to Cingular, which they had no complications receiving, only to be told that the contract we signed with AT&T doesn't have to be upheld. We, as customers our being forced to uphold our contract, while they are opting out of their "add a line" agreement. Why should we have to uphold our contract agreement, while they have the option to bail out? When we purchased our new razor phones only 4 weeks ago, nothing was mentioned regarding the AT&T die off. Cingular took our money readily and now we are trying to add a line and we are being told we must repurchase the same phone we just bought. Not only this, they are not willing to provide communications for my hearing impaired daughter without our complete merge to Cingular. Now we signed a contract that we must uphold. Should they not be forced to uphold the contract they made with us? Why should we be the only ones to pay penalties?

I had been a month to month customer for the better part of three years. When my AT&T phone stopped working I went into the store and was presented with a shiny new phone for “free” if I would sign a 2 year commitment. I asked if the contract had a “try before you buy” and I was assured 30 days.
Well within the 30 days I returned the phone and closed the account and had my number ported to a different carrier.
I paid my final bill of $4.33 on January 10, 2006. A month later I was getting calls from a collection agency. When I inquired about the calls on February 16th, I was informed that Cingular had turned me in and I had a balance of $154.14.
First, I NEVER received a bill from Cingular for that amount; they just turn it in collection with NO NOTIFICATION. When I called Cingular on February 16th, to inquire about the $154.14, they explain in was due to early termination of contract. After the agent review my account, the error was on Cingular, and I had terminated the contract during the 30 day “grace” period. The agent then said there was a balance of $4.14 which she would take care of as soon as she found the “code.”
I called the collection agency on February 17th and a $150 had been credited, but the remaining $4.14 needs to be taken care of.
Another call to Cingular (this time I asked for a name and got CUIS #RB1980) on February 17th, and CUIS #RB1980 said my account balance was $0.00. I asked if they would PLEASE contact the collection agency and take care of this. After a brief hold the agent said that she had email the collection agency and it was all taken care of.
On February 22, I called to confirm with the collection agency that my account was in good standings, and I was told a balance of $4.14 still remained. Another call to Cingular and insisting that I talk to the manager (this time I got CUIS #CL5298) and he said there was nothing he could do. The account was $0.00 and their billing department would contact the collection agency. I asked to speak with his supervisor and I was told he would have him call me.
Another call to the collection agency, I asked if they had a contact number and a name that I could call to get this taken care of. They gave me (800)331-0500.
I called and asked for a name or CUIS number and the agent said her name was Caprice and her CUIS number was CM2318. I explain my situation and asked to speak to a manager. She was very polite and said she would be happy to get a manager and asked if she could look at the account. She saw $0.00. I explain that the collection agency did not. She had troubles finding any information about who the collection agency was. I shared the phone number and file number with her and she made the call and corrected the account. I asked if she would hold while I verified the information, and it had been corrected.
The collection agency said that they had been getting many of these from Cingular. Cingular is ruining people’s credit without giving them a chance to pay. I have spent the better part of a couple of days fixing something I didn’t even do. Search the web… I am not alone.

I have had many problems with the switch over from AT&T to Cingular. First off, the in-store reps will try to convince you that your plan w/ AT&T can not be switched over..NOT TRUE! I had my Suncom "UN-plan" transferred along with the add on phone, with, surprisingly, little effort (Our plan included the first phone $49.99 per month and the second at a reduced rate of $29.99 per month. We also share 300 roaming minutes included with the pricing). I had to call Cingulars call center to do so; From there it all went down hill. My first 2(!) phones were defective, they traded them out at no additional cost. My husbands phone also was defective(different model), okay, they did the same for his.
Our first bill had roaming charges while in area, along with our first bill being in EXCESS of $150.00! I promptly called CS, they explained activation fees, roaming,monthly charges for the other phone. With great effort and persistance on my part, I was relieved of these charges. Second... I started dropping calls CONSTANTLY! Practically EVERY phone call I made, while they were "switching towers", was dropped. Most phone calls had to be redialed a minimum of one time. Their switching towers was also contributory to roaming charges acquired, that did NOT equal the 300 shared minutes included in our plan(This happened about 4x in total). Our bill, somehow or another, to this day, averages $110.00 (with no extra accrued charges on our part, $30.00 extra seems a little steep for taxes and such). We are locked into this contract for another 14 months!
I have spoken with CSR's at least 20 times in the past 10 months (the beginning of our contract). The problems I have had include all complaints listed from other writers, barring bills in the hundreds of dollars and late fees (I have never been late with a payment), as well as not being able to connect with 911( 2 seperate car accidents) while having a FULL signal.This I have reported to the F.C.C.. My contacts name is Jennifer Burton, whom is running an investigation per my complaint. Her email is

Jennifer.Burton@fcc.gov.

I have spoken with several CSR's, all promising supervisor call backs, of which are never received. The ONLY call back ever received was from a supervisor Raquel Dukellis code # RD2272, at the TN. call center(I live in VA). When I asked her for written documentation of our conversation and a copy of my contract, she stated that she would have to check with her supervisors to see if that was permissable. I told her that legally, I am entitled to at least my contract. I then informed her of my intent to pursue litigation as well as contact the F.C.C., to file a formal complaint. She kept apologizing and also inferred that my phoneand sim card were defective, I needed to send them in and they would be replaced, at no charge, as my phone is not receiving service(?) I never said I wasn't receiving service and also stated that to be in compliance with federal law cell phones without service MUST be able to contact 911.

I could go on and on...point being, Cingular is sorely lacking in professionalism, service, and they ARE breaking the law. They just know loop holes. What they are doing is fraud by trickery, breach of contract. We ALL need to complain, may be ban together. If there are enough people, something can be done. My next step...state, gather as many people as possible, contact the media, and anything else that will aid in putting an end to this.

Contact me if you share the same cause.
t_d_palmer@cox.net

I have been charged for a warranty replacement for the last 2-3 years with AT&T. My customers are telling me my cell phone was giving lousy service. I asked the now CSR @ Cingular for a warranty replacement phone. I have been give an 2 RMA codes & been promised three times that a phone was on its way to me. Its been three weeks now and I went out h& bought myself my own phone (which I unloced) & now I am all good. I can't believe that in this day and age you can charge for a service & then not give it. Cingular from what I can now tell is hopeless. There are thousands if not millions of their new customers that are PO'd, & as a result leaving Cingular Rollover.. Now its just all over.

I thought at first that I was alone with the hoor trip regarding the terrible service at AT&T and now Cingular. I switched over to Cingular from AT&T in July of 2005 because I thought the service was AT&T because I was with AT&T for over 7 years I would say. They merge Cingular without asking the customer what they think and did not give us a choose and they would not let you go anywhere else and then the service just went down the drain. You would not believe that my service and experience with Cingular - it's been something from a horror movie and the their staff are the most rude people you want to talk to. If you want to get rid of someone you don't like - have them call Cingular for you to solve your problems - they won't come around you again. But anyway, my monthly bill is suppose to me 59.99/mth and I have not seen a regular bill since I signed up totally with Cingular. I'm paying for drop calls, bad reception, and re-dialing the same number to talk to some one. I will call out and I can hear the receivers but they can't heard me so I had to shut off my phone and turn it back on and this went on about every two calls I try to make. I have had five phones send to me, to my neighbor and to the wrong apartment, etc. The phone were sent anywhere it was convenient for the delivery boy. It's been a big mess. I need some help to get out of this madness. HELP!

Here is my latest complaint to the BBB, FCC, and to the President Office of Cingular in Atlanta, GA

December 28, 2005


Stanley T. Sigman
President and chief Executive Officer
Cingular Wireless
5565 Glenridge Connector
Atlanta, GA 30342

SECOND COMPLAINT

Dear Sir,

I am writing this letter for the second time due to the unsatisfied service I’m still receiving since I switched from AT&T in July of this year. I have been having bad service since then. I’m still not happy with my lousy service from Cingular.

I send out an email first concerning this problem and it caught the attention of Mr. Carl Robinson. He called letting me know that he received my email and he wanted to help me so we talked for a long time about my problem. First, a new phone was suggested and that didn’t work so it was sent back.

A week later, he calls back and told me that he did some investigating and found out that from the time I switched from AT&T to Cingular, there were two towers in my area were down for repairs. That is why my service was interrupted and why I continuously having dropped calls or the receivers of my calls could not hear me. Let me remind you that this was less than thirty-days into my new two-contract service.

Please let me tell you that your customer service is just pure hell. I would call the 1800 or the 1866 numbers I was transferred from one number to another; your representatives put me on hold and never return to the phone. I had to call at least 5-7 times with a time frame of 2-3 hours, stay on the phone for about 2-3 hours solid trying to get my service with Cingular working properly. Less than 19 days with Cingular, I already had a new phone along with a new smart chip because my service is so lousy. I would cut my phone off and then turn it back on after two calls a day.

I would ask to speak to a manager or a supervisor because I am getting tried of being put on hold and no one return back to me, then the representatives still put me on hold or disconnect. As for a new customers that switch from AT&T/ Cingular to totally Cingular and it's has been pure hell. I just wanted a new phone - I never had any problems with AT&T. I believe that if I never wanted a new phone, I would not be going thru this.


Page Two
December 28, 2005


I paid too much money for your service (already got a bill but my phone and your service suck). I have the 900 minutes rollover minutes plan in which cost me $59.00 a month. I have spent more time on the phone with your representatives than on my cell phone regarding me service instead of enjoying my phone. If someone would examine my account and see the problems that I am having with my dropped calls in which I have to pay by going over my minutes. My bill has been huge for a cell phone service that still is not to my satisfaction. As long as I have had a cell phone, I never gone over my minutes or paid huge amount for a wireless service.

So sorry to use the language but I am just expressing how I feel about your equipment, the headache, and the time I have spent on the phone with Cingular just to talk to some about my problems. This been going on from day one of activation of my service I just can't take it no longer.

I have to give Mr. Robinson for all his efforts he put in to assist me. He did say that if I have any more problems, to call him but when I was told that he changed jobs. There was an representative named "Chad", he was one that put me on hold, assist me after 3 hours and then he came back to the phone and transfer me to sales and warranty and the tech like he promised.

Lately, since I could not talked to Mr. Robinson, I was introduce to a Rhonda Lopez that went out of her way to assist me in any kind of may. She sends me a different brand phone (a test and used one) to see how it would work but I had dropped called on that also. That phone cut off during a conversation so I had to keep calling the receiver of my calls back two or three times and I got tried of it so I send the phone back and she said that she don’t know what else to do.

Therefore, for the last three months I had to foot the huge bill for a service that I really didn’t had. The only thing I can think of is that Cingular does not work or service my area where I live. I don’t know what else to say but I should not keep a service that benefit me nor work for me.

What is there for me to do?

No my service is shut off - I have had over 5 phones and I had to track them for Cingular. There is a person name Alexa Kaufman and I don't know what she is there for because she is never in the office and don't return you clls nor email response until a week later.
Alexa Graf Kaufman
Cingular Wireless
Public Relations
301-489-3610 (office)
301-742-0888 (wireless)
866-609-7855 (fax)
Alexa.kaufman@cingular.com

I want to thank each and everyone of you who posted their comments because I thought for a long time that I was the only one going through this horror with Cingular.

Its your money, and your decision! if you choose to support a company who lies to YOU, then YOU are either stupid or lazy, plain and simple. Don't make excuses; just make the switch until you are happy. Cingular and other companies are only there to provide you with a service, if you let them and their shareholders bully you around and tell you what YOU need, it's your fault and nobody elses, WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES TO THE WORLD YOU LIVE IN! ...And please stop believing ignorant support reps, they make nothing and fear losing their job since they are easily replaceable... Job Requirements: speak english (or similar?), click mouse, read from screen, easily brainwashed!

My name is Monica and not only am I a Cingular customer but I?m also a employee. Every thing I have read hear is sad but true. I was employed with AT&T and while it may have been stressful it is nothing compared to Cingular who is a slave drivers. I personally have address all the issue discussed with in. And have righted many wrongs and my own personal expense.
Early Termination policy goes as follows. You have 30 from activation to cancel your account for any reason but hears is where the catch come in. They will encourage you to address the issue example poor signal etc? tell you that thing could block your signal. Tree building Etc?this could waste 1 week basically if the SIM and IMEI are correct and the activation is complete. If your travel power your phone off and back on to make it register with the tower around it if this does not work then return to the point of sale cancel the service and start over if you like, but don?t lett anyone talk you in to waiting . Returning could take up 1 to 2 week before the system is noted if you have to mail it back. I suggest when mailing off your equipment paying for delivery conformation (have a tracking number in hand.) the activation date is not the date you get the phone but the date you order the phone so if the phone is on back order you may miss the date.

No AT&T customer that switches to Cingular should have to pay the early termination fee.

Billing error be sure if you notice your bill increasing don?t just look through it do the math. If your change your plan do it at the beginning of the next billing cycle not only is the dollar amount prorated (do your math here) but so are the minutes this causes overage charges.

If you are on a national plan there is not roaming in the US part of the Virgin Island that is on US sole. It is possible that you could accrue roaming while on the border Canada and Mexico these charge should also be reversed. Look through your bill call duration. the average phone only hold a charge for 3 hour so call duration of 421 minutes is imposable that call would have to last about 7:30 hours the phone would die before that time, or your ear would burn off.

The reduction in rollover was the biggest mistake Cingular every made (that is my opinion.) the rollover are part of what we call the Cingular Advantage. If a customer Pay for them they should keep them All I can say is I?m very sorry about this police and believe me I have voice my opinion on this one

Now I would like to tell you about what go on behind the seen. The reason you receive poor customer service is Cingular is obsessed with impossible production stats. In order to get raise we are force to choose between assisting you to the best or our ability or choose to make the number to get the raise. Not making the stat 3 months in a row can get us walk out the door. Instead of increasing these to allotted for time needed, we are told to apologies to you at any giving opportunity. Now I don?t know about you, but I as a customer don?t wont an apology I wont my problem fixed

Last month I found that my contact info online was changed to - "young_khadafi@hotmail.com". Either this was done by hackers or a Cingular employee. Either way, I'm not impressed. I tried to contact the local Cingular representatives and was told they were checking into it. However that was almost a month ago and I've heard no more about it. Ryan Mason told me to just change it (he was on vacation).

I tried to change it and it keeps coming back the same and now it won't let me login at all. If I try to used the forgot password option it will probably send my password to "young_Khadafi@hotmail.com". Also my bill was larger than it should be however now I can't check it to verify why. I'm not sure if someone is hacking my number from the outside or a Cingular employee is doing it from the inside. Either way, I'm about at wits end.

I've had the following problems with Cingular Wireless:

1 - Overcharges during & after Hurricane Katrina that took months to get straight causing unrepairable problems.
2 - Overcharges for minutes/text messages included in my plan continuously
3 - Hackers changing info on my account online (that was not repaired after numerous requests)


I really wish I would have not resigned with Cingular. Suncom and AT&T never had any problems. All my problems began with Cingular. I know several others who have left Cingular. If they are raising anything it's anxiety.

Once again Cingular is overcharging me. I'm being billed for minutes that should be included in my plan. My plan has 700 minutes and yet although it shows 598 there is a charge for 58 minutes @ .45 per minute.

I've contacted Ryan Mason (Feb 23) however he was on vacation. Then I get Renee Burlette telling me they are researching the issue (Feb 23, Feb 24, Feb 28)


- Lanny Creppel Jr

I am looking to find out if there is an existing class action lawsuit against cingular or it's third party provider "M-Qube". Cingular has billed my minor (12 year old) child's cell phone for an apparent subscription to a service online. The date that the supposed charge occurred, my daughter did not have her phone and she was out of town. Cingular insisted that she went online and entered a code which allowed her phone to be charged $21.18 a month. I have attempted to rectify the charge and have been credited and emailed a verification that I have cancelled, yet another charge of $21.18 the following month occurred. They insisted she must have gone online and reactivated the service. Do you have any similar claims?

Resident of Scottsdale Arizona - and I have never experienced such a disaster as dealing with this Cing. / ATT merger as a customer. They have major billing problems and I'm assuming that they figure most people will pay. I'm a patient person and as i've sat on the phone for 30 minutes I googled and found this forum. They have serious billing issues and I have filed a formal complaint with the FCC and the Arizona Attorney Generals Office.

I have been wrestling with Cingular for about a year now. Last January (2005) I had two family talk plans and without notice Cingular dropped my larger plan and moved all five of my phones to a smaller minute plan resulting in a loss of rollover minutes and huge overages. After hours and hours and hours of discussions with reps and supervisors I was credited about 12k rollover minutes last summer but when I called back later to downsize to a smaller minute plan I was told that I could not carry any of my rollover minutes with me. Of what use were the credited minutes? This past fall I finally was able to get a supervisor to agree with me about the overages in the amount of $854.00. I received a message on my voicemail that they were going to give me a credit of a little over $200, which I have yet to see. My last phone call to Cingular resulted in me haning up on the rep out of frustration and a message a week later from them saying that they have reviewed my case and there is nothing else that they are going to do for me.

How can a company like Cingular get away with flat out robbery? What is an individual supposed to do? It would cost more in attorney's fees to recover what was owed. Is there any course of action? All I want is my money back that they stole from me and, by the way, Bellsouth wants their money from me that they paid to Cingular.

I previously worked for cingular for over two years and i can only speak for myself when i say that i went out of my way to help every customer that called in with any problems. I can see how the whole cingular and AT&T merger has become very confusing. i knew this was going to cause problems for customers on both sides. i'm just a little surprise that you people talk about how you got "forced" into another contract. You people probably wouldn't be complaing so much if you actually read what you were signing. I'm not saying cingular hasn't cause confusion but at the same time, how stupid can you be to not ask for documention for what's being done, especially when you're signing onto a new contract?

i don't know if you're aware of this genius but if you're not getting a signal on your phone, you're not going to be able to connect to any call. even 911. You are of course going to experience problems with a wireless phone.

Dear Sir/Madam:

I've an interesting case that I believe will captivate your attention. This May 2006 will end my nightmare contract with AT&T, now under Cingular.

First of all, my contract showed a 1000 minute family plan for $49.99 plus $9.99 for an extra line. Now, I challenge you to acquire either an AT&T and Cingular monthly billing statement to illustrate my point. No where in either contract does it define the type of plan with regard to minutes alloted per month. Unlike, T-Mobile, at least their statements clearly define the customer's plan as 3000 minutes, and so forth. Comparatively, both AT&T and Cingular only make reference to a 200 additional minutes (whatever does that mean?) and absolutely no reference to a base line. Keep in mind that I have a written contract and an AT&T promotional brochure clearly referencing my 1000 minutes plan. Unfortunately, I actually exceeded 800 minutes in the 12th month of usage and was charged an alarmingly high bill of which I contested. After one disappointing encounter with managers and supervisors, I had most of the charges reversed; however, I was warned that there was nothing they could do to restore the 1000 minutes I had signed up for initially on account of their inability to change this information via their data systems? Interestingly, the paper billing statement makes reference to a 200 additional minutes plan, which translates into 600 plus 200 = 800. On the other hand, electronic billing statement via their website clearly reflects an additional 200 plus 200, which adds up to 1000 minutes if one were to include the baseline of 600 minutes. More troubling, this baseline is never referenced by either avenues!

My issue is that as of late, I do not know which is accurate. Furthermore, I have been told by Cingular representatives that this discrepancy should have been brought to AT&T's attention during the first few months of usage. What?! How was I to know that my contract was never entered accurately to begin with when there was absolutely no reference to my type of plan (ie. 1000 minutes) clearly on my billing statements then and now? Clearly, I am being charged for 800 minutes from a contractual position; am I not? Furthermore, I have been paying $60 for an 800 minute plan instead of 1000. Again, I have proof in the form of a contract and company literature (advertisement). What is my legal recourse for getting this matter resolved once and for all, including partial reimbursement for the past 11 months of paying more than that for which I agreed?

Thank you in advance for your reply re. this matter.

Incidentally, I have a log of my past dealings re. this matter and both screen prints of the electronic

I was with at and t on an unlimited minute plan for $99 for the life of my plan. when cingular took over they said i could not switch phone unless i changed my plan. Why would i ever change my plan i have a great plan unlimited minutes for $99 dollars. Does cingular have to honor at and t comminment? thanks chris

Well people let me inform you as a sales representative for cingular wireless formerly an att employee all of your alligations are indeed true. I have a customer service background and was told by the new Cingular mgt team that my job was to sale and leave the customer service to that department. In case you didnt know customer service for Cingular Wireless sucks rotten eggs. As an employee the customer experience believe it or not was even worse. No consistancy at all with answers if you even got one and even worst the idea that a company as large as Cingular has special and specific areas to deal with its millions of nationally located customers. What i mean by this is if you lived in California and went on vacation in Florida...somehow damaged your phone....there would be nothing that could be done to get you reserviced until you returned to Ca. or you could have someone get the replacement for you in Ca and send it to you in fl....seems funny but true. I to agreee with all of you former ATT customers as it wasnt your choice to buy Cingular, it was Cingulars choice to buy you and the idea of charging you to change over and even the idea of them not honor your existing contract is simply absurd. As a customer you should be allowed to keep what you have unless you deceide to change it for one simple reason.....YOU PAY THE BILL!!!!! Also fyi....in January 2007 the now Cingular will be changing its name to the new ATT to even confuse matters more. So all of you current disgruntal customer...sit back and buckle up for the NEW ATT/CINGULAR RIDE again!!!!!!!!


One more thing....as a customer please dont think Cingular is only sticking it to you, unfortuately you dont have dibbs on Corporate mistreatment. lol!!!!!! They do a great job on mistreating their employees as well. Unfair wages, favoritism, racism, harrassment, and unexplained circumstances on commission payouts just to name a few. I didnt mean to spoil your opportunity to vent as a customer but as an employee i felt the need to totally agree and vent as well.


Best Wishes on your possible class action attempt. Stick it to them because as far as i have read they havent neglected to stick to you. Besides one can not help but think of the the phrase...DO UNTO TO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU.

A girl working for Verizon Wireless illegally obtained my cell phone number by accessing a friend of my family's account with authorization. She began calling and threatening me. I have Cingular Wireless. Whenever this girl called I would log on to my account and print out my "current minutes used" log so that I had a copy of the calls from this girl. After Verizon Wireless completed their internal investigation, I received my bill and, to my shock, the girl's phone number had been deleted from my bill. It appears somebody actually tampered with my account to protect this girl. I was already in the process of filing charges with the local prosecuting attorney and luckily I had a copy of my call log with her number on it. I went into a Cingular store and told them my story. Both girls I spoke with told me "yes indeed your bill was tampered with" and gave me a 1-800 number to contact. When I reached a rep on the 1-800 number, she was agrumentative and repeatedly told me about high security and people can't delete numbers from accounts. She even tried to tell me the bills do not record incoming call phone numbers which is a lie. I remained insistent and she transferred me to another rep. This girl was VERY rude. First she told me the same ling about high security over and over again. When she was tired of repeating herself, she told me I did not know how to read my bill. I've been with Cingular for 15 months and I know how to read. Then she called me a liar saying that I had no record of this girl even calling me. Then I asked for a Supervisor. She refused. I told her to let me speak with somebody else or I would contact the Attorney General. She just laughed at me and said she would tell the Attorney General the same thing she told me. So, I contacted a friend of mine in the FBI. He told me to contact the Attorney General in Ohio. So I did. Two days later, I received a telephone call from the President of Cingular Wireless. He is willing to settle this problem to "my satisfaction".
Also, people who have multiple lines with Cingular may want to check through ALL bills to see that you will have phone calls charging you minutes for calling and talking to yourself. My fiance and I have a shared account and on my portion of the bill I literally have 30-50 calls to myself every month. I don't really think I can have a conversation with myself for 15, 20, or even 30 minutes. Cingular was also unwilling to fix this problem and again said that I didn't know how to read.
So, if you have an unresolvable problem, contact your state's Attorney General. They most likely will be able to help you do something.

Let us find an atty that will start a class action suit against Cingular!!! I have pages and pages of my dispute with copies to the BBB. Nothing was ever resolved and now it is with another collection agency and my credit will be affected negatively. I was promised credit on my acct by customer service reps but never got it and the bill just keeps gets higher. There are lawyers that specialize in class action suit, can't we band together and get one?? There are dozens in Madison county Illinois. In Chicago one such atty is Mark Wienberg.I got his name from John Stossel's new book. Please lets find an atty and go after Cingular before all of our credit is ruined. Pat

My brother and I came over from ATT. My brother is a fulltime rv-er. The Cingular (Nation),Nation wide unlimited calling,is a bunch of BULL! They say they are going to shut him down because he needs to spend 51% of his time in his registered area. Is this a normal requirement?? They say its in the fine print???

Having recently travelled from Georgia to California via Interstate 40, I found that the only place across country (except in most cities) you get good reception is to park near a Wireless Tower along the road and make your call. Answer from Cingular was " power off and then power back on and it will pick up the nearest tower". Funny, if you are driving along and lose your signal as you talk, how is it going to pick up the nearest tower when there is not one for miles and miles. Poor service is also "dropped calls" along the way because towers are so far from each other. The seem to live by poor service. A class action lawsuit would get their attention fast.

This pretty much says it all:
Cingular accused on contract breach
Cingular Wireless Corp. promised to provide uninterrupted service to AT&T Wireless customers when it acquired that company in 2004, but instead it nickel-and-dimed them and degraded their reception in an effort to persuade them to sign new contracts, according to a federal lawsuit filed yesterday in Seattle. The suit, which alleges breach of contract and violations of consumer protection laws, seeks class action status on behalf of the more than 20 million customers that AT&T Wireless had at the time of the merger. Many paid $18 "transfer" fees to switch to Cingular plans and were required to buy new phones or pay other fees, said the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

Please let me know of any class action suit against ATT/Cingular. I would like to join.

Here is an issue I would like to bring up. I currently work for Cingular. I also have an account with them. And I want everyone to know that us Reps. here do what we are told to do. A lot of these complaints I read about Reps lying to them are actually what we have been told by Cingular this is the only way. And in some cases Cingular turns around and does the opposite of what they say and blame us. A lot of us are just ordanary people trying to make a living. But here is my issue. Everyone's account has an authorized user and I have been told by Customer Service that if some one else calls and verifies your last four of your social and name on the account That Person CAN RESIGN A NEW CONTRACT UNDER YOUR NAME! Or even ADD another phone to your account! That to me is Illegal! Also, I have a password on my account so others can pay the bill if I am not able to call Cingular myself. I was just informed by Customer Service that if ANYONE can verify my Password and account name then they to can sign another contract under MY NAME!
What the heck is with THAT?
This does not sound legal to me....

The migration did cause a lot of confusion and most att customers were upset because of the changes in the policy and procedure's. Cingular and att were to different companies before the merger so it will make since that with a new company there are so many changes some will work to an advantage for example att charged 25.00 to reconnect per each line on an account that had multiple lines if suspended vs Cingulars 36.00 reconnect fee for the account itself regardless of how many lines are on the account. This is just on example of an advantage and there are some disadvantages as well like not being able to add minutes to your plan. But every cellure company is different and they all have these disadvantages or advantages in some way. When an att customer migrates from att if they have a current balance owed they are required to pay it prior to switching over but whatever that balance is that they are required to pay is not for charges that they accrued up to that day. A customer will more than likely get a final bill after they have already switched for the charges that they had accrued up to the day that they switched because that bill had to have time to generate. A lot of the upset customer's feel the way they do because of their misunderstanding and due to their assuming things instead of asking questions first. Cingular is not as bad as everyone is proclaiming them to be sometimes the system may bill incorrectly but hey all computer system have glitches and when you call Cingular about an error it is investigated and most time corrected on the spot unless it requires additional research. There are millions of people that call cingular and try to get over on the company and most time they do only because Cingular wants to make every attempt to satisfy it's customer's as best they can. People we need to understand that a cell phone is a luxury and it really doesn't make a lot of sense to attack the company this way. I am an employee of cingular and can speak first hand that Cingular is an awesome company regardless of the negative comments or the misunderstanding experiences some people have had because I've had some worse experiences with Sprint and so has many other people to but att customers are the main ones complaining about Cingular because att had their customers spoiled it's a wonder that Cingular was able to buy att and take over.

This is a response to C:: about that verification procedure Cingular tries to make it as convenient to the customer as possible to make changes to their account. The last four numbers of the ss number is the customer has a password set than that must be verified to make changes to the account and this is the only way a person can be verified because of course the rep's on the phone can't see the person calling and yes if the caller can give the last four of ss number or if the account has a password the caller must give the password instead they Can make changes to the price plan and or agree to a new commitment. Everyone will always have a complaint about something if Cingular told people that they had to go to a store to make changes then there would also be a complaint about that. Use your head and you work for Cingular so you should definitely be smarter than that!

Hello I have just read throught much of these posts and feel relieved to see that there are others that are having the same problems as i am. I was an AT&T customer for about 5 years before they were bought out by Cingular,and i did not have a single problem utill that time. It was all downhill from there,i have experianced everything from being overcharged to getting telled at by customer service reps. I was once told by one that the compant doesnt owe me anything and I just need to pay the bill and not question it because i was too stupid to understand it! Well i am at my wits end with this company and did want to change from AT&T but was told i would be forced to so i might as well then was charged a migration fee of $36 for both of my lines, i was told it would only be $18 for each. On top of that i was charge for two phones that were compatible with the Cingular network as well as being told i had to sighn a 2 year contract.this lowered the cost of the phones but what i later foud out online twas that the exact same phones were free with a 2 year commitment! When i called the customer service i was told the phones were only free to new customers who sighned up online not migrating customer who were considered existing customers? Does this make sense to anyone? why are we asked to pay a fee to migrate from AT&T to Cingular when they are the same company? Are they just trying to pass on the costs of aquiring AT&T on to the customers? this was just the begining of multiple problems and hours of customer services calls and holding for representitives. the phones i had origonally purchased was replaced with the same model 5 times 3 for one line and twice on another line and the problems persisted. Cingular would not send a differant modle phone or let me purchase another model at a discount without sighning another 2 year extension to my contract. Ever since I was talked into crossing over to Cingular it had been nothing but an ongion nightmare in ever way especially financially. the customer service is not any help whatsoever, it is just a different story with every person i talk to. i finally had the phone issue taken care of at great expense to me, i had to extend my contract another 2 years and i was able to purchase a phone a t a "discount" rate of 150$ per phone. one phone was ok and one stil has the same problems that seemto have gotten worse at times. so much for the "least dropped calls of any network" the reason for this is that the line goes dead but it is still connected and accruing charges. This has been my experiance at least.I am fed up with Cingular!!!!! and to top off the nightmare about a week or so after i was forcedto purchase the new phones and extended my contract i found out the model of phone i had previously used was RECALLED!!! i was told this by two cingular reps inm two differant stores when i went to purchase accessories for the new phones. needless to say i was FURIOUS! I immediatly was on the phone to Cingular and was told that the info was true and that i was not supposed to be told this by anyone exept tech support staff who were supposed to decide on a case by case basis to replace the recalled phone????? I am at a loss for words at least words that are appropriate and with that i tried to cancel my contract and was told that i could for $340($170 each line). well with that and the last month of service and the cost of starting with another provider i stayed. now that i know that there are othersthat have had the same problems with the company i fel much better. I am going to fil a complaint with the BBB as well as my attorny generals office. if there is a suit going on please let me know and if anyone in Arizona is starting one I would like to join in. thank you

Reply from C:
What ever you think. I can understand making it easy for customers to change things on there account but Signing a New Contract or adding a New Line. Sorry but not so smart if you ask me. Just looking for a law suit. Someone could easly steal your ss# and if they know your phone number Cingular will let this Non Authorized User run another credit check and activate a line under that Account User's Name. Say you have an Exhusband and he knows all this information but is not on your account. One phone call and a little information and she could sign your name to another contract through Cingular...I am using my head here...are you...Or should I say is Cingular? I believe the best way is at the store and a Hand Signature should be required.

I'm responding to this retard below. I am working for one of the Cingular (and AWS) vendors. We supply and install their networks. I have access to monitor their networks, specifically cellsites. I was an AWS customer. Before and I say about a year after the merger, cellular service (quality was great). In the past 16 months or so, former AWS Operation personnel have not been taking care of their cellsites. They basically do not give a rat's ass about it. After rolling out their GSM networks, Cingular wanted to get rid of their old TDMA so bad.

I told all my friends and family about this. They got smart and paid these bastards early termination fee and switched over to other carriers. I on the on other hand stuck with them hoping that they would be professional enough to perform maintenance on their systems.

If you don't call that forcing, I don't know what does.

By the way, Cingular keeps a log of their network's performance. They know what they did (or doing).

This is a good lawsuit.

I am disappointed with the service and charges I get every month from Cingular. When I was with AT&T wireless, I had no problems. Cingular charge outrageous taxes and fees. I have a family plan it appears they are charging me for each phone instead of the $9.99 for the second line. If I didn't have a two year contract with Cingular, I WOULD DROP THEM RIGHT NOW. iT'S CRAZY. I have been trying to get answers with no results. Maybe if we stick together something can be done.

I was an At&T customer until Cingular bought them out. I have had terrible service, dropped calls all the time, lets put it this way 23 dropped calls in 17 days. We were told we could get a contract with cingular and not be assessing break of contract fees, and we had to buy new phones in order to have them as a provider being they bought out AT&T. We were charged 18.00 per phone to activate. They are blaming everything under the sun, that my phone is the reason for the dropped calls. Told me its my phone, told me to power off and on when i got to work and home, told me to trade sim cards. Placing the blame on everything but them. I am told i can upgrade if i sign a contract no go. Now i am finding out there is no contract signed and everything is verbal dating back to 04 so how can they uphold the contract if nothing is signed. How do i go about joining the class action lawsuit? I am in Oregon dont know if that makes a difference or not.

As a cingular prisoner, I can relate. My cell phone coverage is about 50-50 in the Greater Seattle Area. After several attempts to deal with tech support and NEVER getting a call back on ANY of the cases I have filed with them, I was told that their technology has grown so fast that they can no longer provide decent coverage on the contract I still have to pay for. That the cell phones they sold me a year ago and the simm chips they provided me no longer work well with their new technology. I was advised to sign another two year contract in order for them to provide me with the new phones that will work with their NEW technology.

July 20 2006
I have had it.with cell phone companies along time back, after testing all. Then signed with AT&T when the contract
term expired I changed to AT&T GO PHONE. Then Cingular comes along and drop calls increase or more areas not at all.Then needing a battery a sales person told me they did not deal with that phone any longer but I could switch to Cingular
and he could help me. I said didn't Cingular buy ATT&T acounts , very sorry he said. Then said quietly try Batteries Plus. What could this person do but what his employer tells him.Now the final blow 2 minutes ago I open the mail and notice from Cingular stating my plan and number will be dropped as of September 30,06.So they suggest I sigh up with one of thier plans prior. How can they treat people this way? I say Cingular deserves a Law Suit.
How do I join this Class Action Law Suit?

I have cingular for my son and myself. I was hit at Christmas with a $1000 bill. Then, this last month I had a $1500 bill??? I was in shock I usually run around $140 a month. This past month I had called to expand my package and had asked how my minutes were running. The lady told me my plan was perfect and no need to change plans. (I usually call once a month to check on my plan after the night-mare Christmas bill.) NOW...I have this huge bill that has to be wrong. I can't get any help from them. I had heard that they were being sued for billing issues.
During the switch over to AT&T it was crazy my phone was shut down and they messed up and shut down my house phone as well. I would love some help with this company!

Cingular began dropping my AT&T coverage from day one. I wished I had recorded my conversations with cingular. I was told way back in October '05 that I needed to buy a new phone by Feb. And sure enough, things got so bad that i was forced to buy $$$ a new GSM phone from cingular. New phone$$$, new car charger$$$, new case etc... I was assured by the sales rep that I would get with my new phone a data transfer cable. No cable but, I got to sign a new two-year contract with a company that was already messing me over and ripping me off. I lost minutes that I had fought AT&T for for 4 years. I lost everything basically. Same money with less service. AT&T customer service was 24 hours. Not Cingular. Several friends are in the same boat. Their phones barely work but can't afford new ones right now. They have family plans with multiple phones that will have to be replaced. I realize I live in Central Alabama but, even in Montgomery or Birmingham, I get dropped calls. Never had a dropped call before Cingular. I can be sitting in my den and have a dropped call. Twice in one night. Come on. Does anyone have the number to Sprint???

I understand where B.J. Miller is coming from. We live in a rural area in TN. Although we were not with AT&T, we signed up with Cingular in 2003(we just signed another 2-year contract for service with them this past Dec).
We received a letter from Cingular yesterday advising us that as of 9/12/2006, our service will be cancelled with Cingular due to the fact that we make over 50% of our calls out of our network area.
My problem with their 'cancellation' is that we've lived here for the last 32 years! Cingular KNEW we lived out of their network area and sold us their contracts anyway. Now we have to go through the hassle and expense of purchasing another contract from another provider, so will someone please explain why isn't it right for us to file against Cingular and have them pay us the "early termination fee" to cover the charges we're going to incur? They definitely would have hit us up for it if we had of instigated cancelling our contract with them first!

Well, after reading all the serious concerns from former AT&T customers, I've made the smart decision to bail out of Cingular when I still got the chance, cause I too am having the same crappy/inferior service that others are experiencing. (I'm a former AT&T customer, also.) Around the merger, I refused to sign a new 2-yr contract even though I was offered attractive new phones (there was nothing wrong with my current one.) Since I'm month-to-month, my relationship with ATT/Cingular officially ends August 31, 2006.

I am so surprised, but yet not, to find out how many people struggle with Cingular in customer support.

I have been a customer since 1993, originally with AT&T. Thirteen years of service at over $175/month is not enough for some simple professional customer service. I originally purchase an unlocked phone for $399 only to have problem after problem with the service when Cingular took over. They suggested it was the phone and I couldn't argue because the problems did appear to be hardware related.

Six phones later - and with a no longer UNLOCKED phone - they discovered it was with the account and the problems were fixed. Around the same time, we started getting big holes in our primary coverage areas. It was confirmed with a customer service rep that there are towers no longer being supported by Cingular that were AT&T. Oh, and it would cost me $150 to switch over to the new Cingular network. By the way, my no longer unlocked phone will no longer work and you must buy the newer, more expensive one for $450.

Alas, I will soon be choosing another service. However, if I could warn people about one thing that are going through what I and everyone else on this page, it would be this:

Keep your patience and avoid all out cancelling your contract if you want to retain your phone number. You must first pick a new carrier, instruct them to transfer your phone number, and upon verification that it is done, cancel your Cingular account. This applies to whether or not you are under contract or beyond it.

I canceled my service with cingular as they had no service in my area. I was told I had coverage in that area!
They asked that I send my phone back. I sent it back and they are still charging me the $175.00 to get out of the contract. They should not have offered me service if they didn't have service in my area. Much less put me in a contract. They are defrauding innocent and honest people. They are a total rip off!

Please let me know if there is any class-action suit on Cingular or AT&T. Last September 2005, I was suddenly hit with an $800 dollar bill. I was shocked and tried to rectify it, but to no avail! I was being charged for tons of incoming calls (of which they never give you the listing or the phone number on your bills, so you're at their mercy)!!! They refused to give me those listings, even after I had an Attorney write them a demand letter. I paid $400 and then two weeks later got another bill with another $400 plus on it. I just gave up and now they have dinged my credit!!! I was with AT&T for six years, never had a problem, and my monthly bill was always at 39.00 dollars. This is cellular robbery. Please help us someone and get a class action suit going. Thank you.

AAUGH!! I am on hold right now with a Cingular rep. I have been reading all these complaints but I have not come across any that replicate mine. Here goes: When I moved to a new region I was told I had to close-out my old account and open a new account with a new number. Cingular took the final payment from me that day and said that account was closed. Approximately 4-5 months later, I got a call from a collection agency. Cingular had an unpaid bill that they are collecting on.

I called Cingular... at first they tried to tell me that they could not access that account because it was closed out and I would have to deal directly with the collection agency. With a lot of persistence, I finally got them to find my old account and they said that the account was in the middle of a cycle and I had had an unpaid balance. When I closed out that account, no one mentioned that I was in the middle of a cycle and the rep did not get a new address or number to reach me. Actually I still have Cingular but they do not cross-reference accounts either. This has happened to my daughter, my son, and myself because we all relocated.

The first time I found the problem, I was doing a free credit check and saw it already on my credit report. I eventually paid it and will have to wait 3 months and call back to see if it is off yet. The other 2 times our first contact was from a collection agency. Twice we had to pay the collection agency and were charged a free from them; Cingular did nothing to help or fix the situation. This last time it was actually Cingular's mistake. They had charged my son a early-cancellation fee that should not have been charged because he still had Cingular; he had just changed regions. Well... his phones are under my name, so I was the one clearing up the mess (again).

I was reading the information on this site so I new to insist on a "credit" for all the crap we had been through. After being on hold for 12 minutes, I did get a $50 credit on my next bill. I haven't gotten it yet so I'll cross my fingers). If this happened to us 3 times then it must happen to a lot of people. Why don't they get information so that they can send you a final bill and not have a collectiion agency involved or worse... it ended up on my credit report.

Hopefully, I have sparked a conversation on this matter. AUUGH!

hey im pissed!!!! cingular has hit me and my wife with a 456$ bill after i moved to arizona for 1 month and i have had contact with cingular customers 95% of the time im on my phone which has 700 minutes or so a month on generouis average 10 minutes a day we r broke folk that r a struggling young family with 2 babies and a mess of medical bills so if you guys feel 1/4 as strongly as i do about getting back our cash from these corporate maggots 2 words CLASS ACTION!!!!!
if these jerks want to lie and over tax they should have been politicians not "services for hard working americans who can barley afford gas to get to their under compensating jobs. sorry guys i'm just a little steamed.

I am all for the class action suit. Earlier this summer, I switched over to Cingular because I was having problems with another carrier, the name I won't mention, but it rhythms with cell.

Anyway I purchased a phone, and I had problems with the buttons on the phone not working, the phone was damaged, I took the phone back for a replacement. Great phone exchange no problem. I travel a lot, and I was away for about two weeks when I received a call from Cingular asking me if I could check in the box to see if they had put the phone in my box by mistake. So I informed them that I was away, but as soon as I get back to the city I would check, and it was there when I return. The rep called me back again, and I told them that I had just return home, and checked and yes the phone was there, so they (Cingular) wanted to know if I could bring the phone out to them, which is about a 25-minute drive with traffic. I told them, when I get a chance I will.

They offer to come and pick it up during the weekend, but I told them no one would be home, so as soon as I can I will bring it in. Another week has passed by, and I am out of town again, my schedule is so full that I didn't make it out there yet. Next the supervisor’s calls, asking for the phone. I told her that I was away again, but when I get home I promise to make it there. Which I did. When I returned, I made it out there and gave them the phone.

This is when the drama begins. I gave the representative the phone, and she was not familiar with what was going on. She goes and locates the supervisor. The supervisor in turn comes back to the counter with the phone and tosses it at me, and proceeds to tell me that I am only bringing back the phone because she charged my debit card that is on file $100. I said to her, who authorized you to do that? She started to laugh and say how dare you come in here after all this time and try to return the phone. You are only returning it because of what I did. I said lady, what you just did is called theft by deception. I never authorized you, nor did my husband to take any funds out of my account. I told her that if I don’t get my money return back to me, the sign on the door won’t say Cingular anymore, but it will have my name.

She said she wasn’t giving me back a dime, and starting calling me a thief. I was so upset, that I called her customer service 800 number, and told them the incident, they told me to hang up the phone, and immediately call the police and have her arrested. That is not what she was trained to do. Well, eventually they returned my money, but not without a fight, and actually, I believe that ever since that has happened, my bill has been higher. Anyone has any suggestions on how we can get this started. I am afraid that she might try to take money again. HELP!!!!!!!

I've been w/ Cingular for 7 years. Always paid my bills. I have one of their old 1,000 anytime minute plan for 49.99. Now, for the third time within the seven years that I've been w/ them, I received another surprise bill. This one for $450. The other two amounting to about $350 or so, I just took what ever discount they offered and paid b/c I didn't have time and patience to fight them.

But this time is outrageous and ridiculous. Strangely, the numbers so far that I browsed on the statement seem familiar. But $450 worth of them???? Ok, now they're making a fool of me. AND I DON'T LIKE IT.

I spoke to several reps who admitted that Cingular has had a problem in the past couple of years of charging customers for their anytime minutes. I have their names and employee numbers.

I plan to contact attorney general as I am reading others have been doing. But would like to also start a class action suit.

DID ANYONE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH CINGULAR CHARGING THEM FOR THEIR ANYTIME MINUTES? Please contact me ASAP.

Joy
joyfulgal@sbcglobal.net

I CHANGED MY ACCOUNT MINUTES in the "middle" of the month and got BACK Charged for PRO-RATED minutes used on a DAILEY basis, not monthly, @ $165, for changing then. I asked them to send me a copy of the contract, which states this deceptive charge, and they did not. This is Reverse-Rated and probably an illegal CON!!! Soooo, beware, do not change you contract minutes mid-month, AND check your bill for added fees, I was charged for 7 PM calling that I did not order. I will contact my state attorney's office.

“CINGULAR WIRELESS OR NEW AT & T HAS A BUNCH OF TRAINED LIER CUSTOMER SERVICE REPS”


I’m A Loyal And Extremely Dissatisfied Customer Of Cingular Wireless Network, Now The New AT&T. I’ve Been Through The Most Ridiculous Customer Service I Ever Dream Of, Especially From My Cell Phone Company With Which I’ve Been A Loyal Customer For Over 1&1/2 Year Now.

How It All Began:

In Feb’07 I Noticed My Phone Bill Was Almost Twice As It Is For My Average Months, The Main Reason Being, Price Increase For The Txt Msgs. I Started By Complaining To The Customer Service Reps To Cancel My Plan Without An Early Termination Fee. They Told Me That They Won’t Do It, As The Txt Msg Service Was Not A Subscribed Service. But Technically, Txt Msg Service Is Actually Part Of The Subscribed Service Because We Don’t Have Restriction On Receiving Txt Msgs. They Are Already Included In The Plan By Default. Unless If We Exercise The Option Of Not Having Txt Msg Facility At All.

I’ve Been Arguing This Point For Almost A Month Now And Cingular Is Not Ready To Listen To It At All. In-Fact Their Customer Service Has Been From Bad To Worst In All That While I’ve Been Trying To Put Forth My Point.

Finally I Decided To Get A Lawyer Involved, But Then I Realized Cingular Never Gave Me A Copy Of The Contract I Signed. So I Call The Customer Service Again And Ask For A Copy Of The Contract I Signed. The Rep Tells Me He’ll Send Me A Copy Of The Contract By U.S. Mail. I Wait For The Contract And Finally What I Receive After 10 days Wait Is A Copy Of A Plain Contract With No Signatures On It.

I Call Them Again And Explain To Them That In Today’s World Getting A Copy Of A Plain Contract Without Any Signature Is Not Something I Would Wait For Cingular’s Customer Service Reps To Send Me Via US Mail. I Could Easily Download It And Print It At My Leisure. At The Same Time I Also Tell Them To Find A Copy Of The Contract Which I Signed With Cingular. The Rep Tells Me He Can See The Signed Copy Of My Contract But He’s Unable To Print It Or E-mail It To Me Because His System Does Not Allow Him To Print Or Email It To Me. I Got A Hint That He’s Lying To Me, So I Further Question Him Regarding What Kind Of System Would Not Allow Him To Do So, And To That He Had No Answer, He Kept Mumbling Something. Then I Told Him To Tell Me What Format The Contract He Can See In, And To Hide One Lie He Further Lied To Me Saying He Can See It In A Pdf Format. So I Asked Him To Suggest To Me That Best Way To Get The Copy Of The Contract With My Signatures On It, And He Told Me To Go To A Store Close To My House And Have Them Print It Out For Me, They Would Be Able To Do It From Their System. So I Take A Day Off From My Work Just To Go To The Store And Get A Copy Of The Contract And As I Expected They Did Not Have A Copy Of My Contract In Their System. Which Company In The World Would Ask Their Customer Service Reps To Lie To Its Customer’s Just So That They Can Charge Us The ETF. Yes Ladies And Gentlemen, There Is A Company That Would Do Such A Cheap Thing And The Name Of That Company To No One’s Surprise Is “Cingular Wireless,” Now The New “AT & T”.

Now Cingular Can Get So Low And Cheap That Their Customer Service Reps Start Lying Just So That They Can Charge The ETF. How Cheap On Part Of Cingular.

Bottom Line Is That I Have Decided To Go As Deep As Possible To Put Up A Serious Complaint Against Cingular With BBB And FCC.

Any Suggestions, Please Email Me On dievergin@hotmail.com

For 14 years, I had stayed with the company that started as AT&T and ended as AT&T. Throughout all the changes in company names, phone types, service plans, etc., I stuck around and every so often made changes as deemed necessary. What I found to be the case over the last few years, was that loyalty meant absolutely nothing. I had the majority of problems occur since 2005 and just recently switched to another company.

In October 2005, Hurricane Wilma came through South Florida and left many people without many things, from electricity to gasoline to fresh food and not to mention communication like land-line telephone service. I was reliant on my cellular phone as many hundreds of thousands were for those following weeks. I experienced problems with my service from dropped calls to failed calls. I did not have any other way to communicate with family and friends after a devastating time because I was unable to use my own home phone for a week and my electricity was out, so I could not recharge my cell phone when it ran out of talk-time. I had to use my car charger, but gas was unavailable until who knew when, so I was only charging when there was the low battery signal on my phone. With two small kids at home and my husband reporting to work for the operation of emergency crews, I was very nervous to have to rely on one thing - my cell phone.

A long story short, I eventually got home service but continued to receive poor service with the company known as Cingular. I also received the bill from that month with more than $100 additional charges for the overage during the days after the hurricane. When I called to complain about the lack of sympathy that this company had they stated that they were currently making a decision about not charging South Florida customers overage for that time period. They even assured me that a letter would come to indicate their decision. No letter came, of course, but I did call again and again until someone credited part of the charges. I argued that the overage was because I got failed/dropped calls and that they could cross reference the call to next call to see if the numbers were the same. They still wouldn't budge on the whole amount. I was unhappy.

Now, in Feb. 2007 I took a trip to the Bahamas and made one phone call from my cell for seven minutes and got hit with a $16 charge not once but twice. When I called to question these charges the rep said that I must have made a three-way call. I didn't. The rep credited me one of the charges but $16 was a little high in the first place, wasn't it?

My phone was not working so well anymore, so I took it to the new AT&T and they put in a new card but the sales rep said if it doesn't help, I will probably need a quad phone since mine is only a duo band (my contract just ended). I checked out the phones for the fun of it but they would not sell me a phone with rebate unless I purchased a media package. If I opted to get a phone without rebate, it would have cost me too much. I walked and switched to Verizon. I did the 30-day trial and the service is great and any customer service I needed was wonderful in comparison. I can't believe it took me this long to switch. Oh, one more thing, my final bill was not prorated when I cancelled. So much for 14 years of loyalty.

I think someone asked about class actions. I think these fellows are investigating unauthorized cell phone charges.

If you were charged on your cell phone bill for ringtones or other mobile content that you never authorized or ordered, you might want to get in touch with them:

http://www.ClassActionConnect.com/?q=node/680

As a avid customer of AT&T, I was shocked when Cingular took over. I bought my phone and had nothing but problems with it. I returned to the store where I bought the phone and was told I had to talk to Rene Burlette. She was no help to me. Not only that, she was very rude and acted as if my problem was just that, my problem. I don't know if all stores are like this but, I have since terminated my contract and went to SPRINT!

Hi, how I can send PM?