You deserve better customer service
Written: Sep 23 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Local Coverage: |
 |
|
| Plan Flexibility: |
 |
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
|
Pros: coverage, rates
Cons: customer service
The Bottom Line: Decent provider but you don't deserve such poor customer service. You owe it to yourself to go elsewhere, where they have some understanding of what service means.
|
|
|
| e927's Full Review: Cingular Mobile Phone Service in Philadelphia |
I chose Cingular (formerly Cellular One) primarily because they offered the best "basic" deal and offered a decent local calling area. And I will admit, I've been pretty satisfied with being able to get a signal and the overall call quality.
But -- and this is a big one -- the customer service has been terrible. So bad that I am looking for a new provider now that my contract is ending.
Here are a few examples of their customer "service":
First, it took several calls to actually activate my service, even though the sales rep promised it would be done that evening. (Ok, maybe this was the rep's fault and not Cellular One/Cingular's, but I'll never know). But each time, I had to wait on hold at least 20 minutes to speak to a cust. service rep.
Then, my first bill came. They were billing me for a significantly higher rate, not the special promotional rate my contract called for. When I called (and waited on hold some more), the cust. service rep told me that charging the higher rate was standard practice on the first bill or two of the contract and that it would be adjusted in a subsequent bill -- and that I was NOT entitled to a refund of the difference. (excuse me?? my contract didn't call for 1 or 2 months at the higher price and the remainder at the agreed-on rate!) Several phone calls later and that finally got straightened out.
At one point, shortly after the switch from Cellular One to Cingular, I thought improvement was underway. I had to call customer service and a live person answered within seconds!! But that didn't last.
I guess about a year ago they decided to start charging a monthly fee for voicemail. (they could do this under the contract... sneaky!) If you didn't want to be charged, the letter I got said you had to call to cancel it. So I did. At some point shortly thereafter, they reversed that decision -- but without telling anyone! I only found out because I saw something in their ads about "free voicemail." Sick of calling, I went to an official Cingular store to ask about it, where the first clerk thought I was crazy to even THINK they would charge for voicemail. Until his manager told him that yes, they did decide to do that at one point. Apparently everyone objected and they decided not to charge.
But the last straw is their billing system. I normally pay by credit card over the phone. I would say in the last 6 months, the system has been down at least 3 of those times. You simply get disconnected (after going through the hassle of entering you account info) and/or put on an endless hold to speak with an operator. And this month, the recording actually told me to call back "later in the week" or else face a looooong wait. Paying online wasn't any better -- that system was down, too! You also now have to set up an account to pay online, whereas before you could do it without that.
When I e-mailed them about the recent problems I encountered trying to pay my bill, I received a canned form letter that didn't even mention my problem -- or speak to a resolution.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 15-25/month
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
e927
|
|
Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.