Cingular - a Company that Cares!
Written: Feb 27 '05 (Updated Feb 27 '05)
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Pros: Friendly, helpful, willing to go out of the way to help
Cons: Online buyers, beware of the small (should we save invisible) print.
The Bottom Line: While every company has it's mishaps, Cingular not only made up for theirs - but went above and beyond the call of duty!
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| armywife831's Full Review: General Reviews of Cingular Wireless Customer Serv... |
The year was 2002; I finally purchased my first cell phone plan. It was horribly expensive, had horrible customer service and even worse signal reliability.
That's been the story of my cell phone life since then. I've gone through 3, possibly 4, carriers; countless phones and spent way too many hours arguing with the customer service representative (CSR). I've paid the penalty fee to cancel contracts. I've lied my way out of them. Fortunately when my enlistment was up, I was able to get out under the "Soldier and Sailor Relief Act." Whatever it took.
Finally I'm happy. Not thrilled mind you - but at least I am able to get a hold of a real person (during business hours anyway) with real answers when needed.
Why I Love 'Em...
Recently my phone caught on fire. I'm talking, glowing orange, smoke coming out of it, hot to the touch. Of course, this couldn’t have happened at a more convenient time for my family (is there really one anyway?)! No, it had to happen the 4 days before my due date. Our house phone couldn't be dialed out on due to a power surge the weekend before that killed the headset and it was my only way to get a hold of my husband if I were to go into labor while he was at work.
Fortunately, we learned our lessen and had purchased the insurance plan this time around (thanks to an unfortunate event where my husband's phone somehow ended up in a pot of soup while we were on vacation a few months prior).
I'm flipping out, he's getting ready for work and I'm using his phone to get a hold of customer service. They weren't open yet. I had to wait until 8am my time to get in touch with someone to find out how to fix this and I was preparing myself for World War III in order to get it done.
The lady that I spoke to, while pleasant, was of no good to me. She instead informed me that in order to get a replacement phone I had to call a 800 number or go to a Cingular store in the area. She was nice enough to provide me with the phone number and address of the closest one to our home. I called, found out the hours and as soon as my husband returned home from work I was on my way.
The saleswoman I dealt with there was extremely helpful. Unfortunately for me, they didn't deal with insurance claims and sent me on my way to another store that did. 5 minutes later I walk in and am helped by a nice gentleman. He seemed a bit concerned at first, explaining that water damage (which had caused the fire) wasn't covered under the phone's warranty plan but as soon as I explained that I had the insurance plan his face lit up like Christmas. By now it's 10 to 5 CST. He rushes me over to a customer courtesy phone dials a number, sits me down and said the person on the other end is who I needed to talk to.
Now I'm figuring it's going to be weeks before my phone is replaced.
As soon as the lady answered I explained the situation and she informed me the phone would be on the way that night and should arrive the following day. Had I waited 10 more minutes to call I wouldn't have received it until the following day since the cutoff time for shipment was 5pm CST.
No explanations needed. No questions to be answered. No hassle period.
She also explained that someone over the age of 18 would have to sign for the FedEx package and that a $50 deductible would be charged to my next statement. Another happy surprise, since I was thrilled to avoid charging it to my credit card.
As promised, my brand new phone arrived the following day.
But online buyers beware...
The only downfall in Cingular's Customer Service that I've experienced as of yet, is when we purchased our initial start-up plan via the internet. We had thought we ordered both voicemail and the insurance coverage. But we missed the small print. In order to start either service you must call in when you receive and activate your phone. When we did that, no one asked if we had purchased the insurance coverage; the voicemail was free. The only reason I was aware of this "stipulation" was a near miss when I thought my cell phone had been lost at Wal-Mart.
Luckily for us, that near miss saved us a good $200 to replace my cell phone last month. And like I informed the CSR that I dealt with the first time - if their web support team was to make it plainly clear that this step was required, their service would be top notch!
Final Thoughts
While I have to find a perfect cell phone carrier company I'm a very satisfied Cingular customer. I have a great plan - got to love the roll-over minutes, and great service reliability. My coverage in consistent. I can talk to all my "family" (other customers) for free! The CSR's, both on the phone and in the stores, did everything in their power to help me out of a bad situation. I didn't spend hardly any time talking to an automated system (I despise them) but most of all:
For once I had a legitimate complaint that was handled promptly, and sincerely, by a competent person as opposed to a mean, angry, unhappy CSR whose goal in life was to give me an aneurism before I was 25 years old!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 89.99/month
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Epinions.com ID:
armywife831
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Member: Megan
Location: Fort Gordon, GA
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 10 members
About Me:
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