If you're thinking about Cingular...DON'T DO IT
Written: Mar 06 '05 (Updated Dec 27 '05)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Local Coverage: |
 |
|
| Plan Flexibility: |
|
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
|
Pros: decent phone selection
Cons: EVERYTHING ELSE
The Bottom Line: Cingular should be joining Montgomery Wards...OUT OF BUSINESS
|
|
|
| criteeker's Full Review: General Reviews of Cingular Wireless Customer Serv... |
Please forgive me, but I wrote this review in the Los Angeles slot, but felt it needed to be heard in the General category as well. Folks in other cities need to experience the hell I just went through. I feel as if people in other cities might not read my experience in the LA section. And I feel like people in LA might not read the general review. So I posted in both. After the drama I just went through, I feel I'm entitled to vent and get the word out. I have the right to get the word out to as many people as I can to warn them of the tactics Cingular is perpetuating.
It reflects a lack of customer service company wide, not just in any one given market. If you TRs, advisors and Leads slam for me for a duplicate review...so be it. I loathe these Cingular morons. (Gee, can ya feel the anger coursing through my veins?)
Cingular's tag line is "Raising the bar." Yeah, and that bar resides in the abyss of cell hell.
Let's face it, ALL cellular providers are terrible. The key is to find out which is the lesser of the evils.
I have come to find out that Cingular's coverage is concentrated on the West Coast of the USA - while T-Mobile's coverage is mostly West Coast. Whenever the coverage fades (for either company's customers) the other company's cell towers take over. They have an agreement. There was talk about a merger, but the FCC blocked it due to the fact that these two companies are the only to have a GSM network.
Something that Cingular won't tell you is that if you roam outside of either coverage network, the minutes you rack up are REALLY expensive. Also, their "taxes" tend top be higher by at least $3 per month than other carriers. Cingular seems like they nickel and dime you to death.
While there are complaints on all sides, most of them were from years ago and everyone should improve over time - right?
The run-down between the three carriers is basically like this. If you travel extensively - get Verizon. But Verizon is behind in technology, so if you want a better variety of phones and technology, go with Cingular or T-Mobile. If you hate what I went through and a poor level of customer service and being lied to your face - go with T-Mobile for better phones, better customer service and great plan prices.
So four days ago, after the last straw with Nextel, I decided to come to Epinions and cNet.com for the definitive answer to my question... Cingular, T-Mobile or Verizon?
This is where the drama begins. I picked a comparable plan, a Siemens S66 phone, a media plan and insurance. At the end of the transaction, I asked them to permanently block my number from others. They said it would be a $25 fee. I asked for the free accessories. They said that they don't offer any. I asked if they'd ship it overnight for free. They said no it's $15. So I talked a manager into giving me free overnight shipping. Mind you, this was a Thursday and I needed a phone for the weekend as I was planning a trip to Santa Barbara and I hate being without a phone driving long distances at night. He ASSURED me that it would be there (tomorrow) and we ended that call.
Friday at about 2:30pm, I called Cingular and they informed me that it was to be delivered on MONDAY. So I sat in my house...waiting...for NOTHING. So I called Fed Ex and they told me that it was scheduled to be delivered on WEDNESDAY! So again, I called Cingular. And again, I sat through the endless automated menus. I asked for a supervisor and after 13 minutes, "Jeff" came on. I went through the entire story again and he said he could help me.
He told me that he listened to the recorded phone call where the guy promised overnight shipping and agreed that I was lied to. He went on and said that he'd call a local store (to me) and set it up so I could walk into the store, activate my phone and get a FREE car charger. I was happy with this resolution so I sat on hold while he orchestrated the deal. He came back and informed that it was all set up and that I was to see "Sherwin" and gave me the address. I fired up my Magellan Roadmate 700 GPS and off I went to the Cingular store - it was about 14 miles away. Come to find out there were at least three stores much closer to me.
So I get all the way over to the store. They don't have the phone I wanted!!!!!! Come to find out that that particular phone has been discontinued. GREAT! I left ... very angry for more than one reason.
On the way home, I noticed the Cingular store. I went in and a very sweet girl helped me. I told her the entire story, yet again, and she sat me down and told me the plain truth. Cingular had a contract with Siemens and Nokia to be the only providers of non-flip phones for Cingular. Siemens and Cingular had a disagreement so Siemens pulled out. The S66 was an amazing camera/video/Bluetooth-enabled phone for the blow-out price of $99.
Well, she talked me into a Motorola phone that was similar to the LG6100, but it was a flip phone - I prefer non-flip phones or as they call them, "bar phones". I agreed anyway. She activated the phone and we spent some time picking a new number. She also said that she talked with her manager and he agreed to give me a free car charger. Wait, I was already promised that through Jeff and it was already on my notes in my account. Speaking of notes, the girl commented that I had called Cingular 16 times in less than a day. I said, "Welcome to my cell hell."
She told me that I'd have to switch to their plan because tele-sales, the internet sales and the stores all have different accounts. Which means, I'd have to have YET ANOTHER cell number. That would be three numbers in two days. I have sent out 3 emails....they're probably as irritated as I am.
I learned a HUGE lesson. While you might be able to get a slightly better deal on the net or the phone sales, it's always better to go to the store for several reasons. You can see and play with the actual phone you're interested in. If you have any issues, you can easily swap out a phone or deal with issues much easier than waiting for shipping and having down time without a phone.
She informed me about the Siemens/Cingular issue and then told me that tele-sales sold me insurance for a phone that I could not really insure. It retailed for too much and I would never get the same phone if it ever broke or malfunctioned once it was discontinued. So I'd be paying for insurance that was not effective. I love being lied to AGAIN.
So she activates my new Motorola phone and we started in on final details. Then she asked how I would pay for this. I said, wait, I already paid for this and "Jeff" told me that I could walk into a store and just get a phone. Not gonna happen. I'm also not interested in paying for a service twice and waiting two months for a refund of one.
Their store closed at 7 pm - it was 7:30 at this point. I had FOUR employees on the phone with Cingular trying to resolve this. You'd think, being in the communication business, that the corporate store might have a direct link to Cingular? NO. So, the four employees were on their phones trying to reach someone who could credit my account. I asked why they couldn't just transfer the funds from the tele-sales to the store. Not gonna happen. Eventually, we were told it would take TWO BILLING CYCLES to get a refund. I told them that that is not acceptable...the woman on the phone hung up on me. GREAT customer service. So, once again, the four employees called into Cingular. After a while, they refused to return my money immediately or credit my account, so at 8 (freakin') 30 pm, I told them to rip up my contract and that I'm going back to Verizon and their ZERO drama activation process.
If this is the way things are at Cingular in the beginning, who knows what hellish nonsense awaits me in the future. CAN YOU HEAR MY ANGER NOW? GOOD!
UPDATE: If you don't believe me, then look at what Consumer Reports had to say about many of the big US cities. Copy and paste the following link into Google or any web browser and you'll be amazed.
http://aolsvc.aol.consumerreports.org/finance/report76a.html
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 140
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.