Cingular SUCKS!!!

I was with Nextel for six years; my company sent me this link to a "Premier" cingular website that gave our company's employees 40% off phones and 20% off rates... I swear, that if I had known what a fu@#!$%$@# up company this was, I would not have switched for a FREE phone and FREE service.

BE WARNED-- This company is going through a merger and none of the systems talk to each other and what one CSR tells you the next one won't have ANY record of.

You will have to sit on the phone for 45 minutes waiting for someone who has a clue what you're talking about and then have to be transferred to the department who "can do that" only to be told that you need to call another number!!!

Two year committment??? One-way if you ask me

The worst customer service ever. Billing errors over $100.00 in one month, several layers of management with no continuity. Stated we will be sending out your new phone and should arrive in 3 days. It never arrived after 9 calls and no response they finally stated we will not be sending out your new phone due to: even though we took your credit card number and stated we will fix all your billing errors that we created we cannot comply with our original obligation. Basically telling me the conversation a week prior newver took place Ken was his name.

The worst customer service ever. Billing errors over $100.00 in one month, several layers of management with no continuity. Stated we will be sending out your new phone and should arrive in 3 days. A week later it never arrived after 9 calls and no response they finally stated we will not be sending out your new phone due to: even though we took your credit card number and stated we will fix all your billing errors that we created, we cannot comply with our original obligation, Management will not sign off!

Finally I dropped my service today, but my contract will expire on Dec 22th, since Cingular took over At&T , nothing but, dropped calls, not service on Missouri for three days, calls never went througth, try to call several times and couldn't get througth, all this is documented on my account with notes, and even then today when I dropped my service they said that they will give me a penalty fee for dropped my service.
What a jerks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO NOT GET Cingular !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You will regret it

I work as a Customer Service Representative for Cingular Wireless, and I use to be an AT&T Wireless Customer Service Representative and I just feel the urge tell you all that you have valid complaints. Cingular is a large company with many departments, and not all communicate with each other properly. This is like many large corporations, unfortunately.

Here are a couple hints to help you along the way:

1) To avoid dropped calls, power your phone off and on atleast once per day. If you leave your phone on for days at a time, your signal may get stuck on one tower and the farther you travel away or the more you move around, the weaker your signal will get. This causes dropped calls, static, gargling, etc.....When you turn your device off/on, your phone automatically searches for the strongest signal possible in your area, and by getting a new signal you can prevent dropped calls, static, etc.

2) When you make changes to your account or start a new service, MAKE SURE YOU WRITE DOWN THAT REPRESENTATIVES FULL NAME, ID NUMBER, AND LOCATION (store, customer care, online, etc). And as a precaution, make sure you call back within 24 hrs and ask probing questions like "what text messaging package do I have, or, what rate-plan am I on"? If you wait weeks or months and assume it is done the first time, you may have waited too long and that is where your billing errors come in. A lot of the charges that you pay for that were "discrepancies" could have been avoided by calling back within 24 hrs to make sure that your request has been fulfilled.........Now I know this shouldn't be necessary, but for your own safety, I would recommend you follow this.

3) When ordering a new device/phone, go to a Authorized Cingular Wireless store. You save the shipping cost, as well, you pickup the device that day. When you buy a phone you have 30 days to return it (buyer's remorse). It is a lot easier to go back to the store for a return or exchange, rather than sending the phone back through the mail. Sending through the mail obviously can be a risk as phones have been known to go missing, or we don't receive them for weeks at a time, causing a delay in your refund.

And Finally......

4) Be nice to your customer service representative when calling in for assistance........The saying "Treat others how you would like to be treated". I'll tell you from personal experience, I am much more willing to give credit and/or bend policies if you're friendly with me. If you swear at me, call names, shout, or act like you're entitled to more than what we're offering, you'll get less than what you could have. Just take a deep breath, state your point and why you feel there has been a mistake, and I as a representative would be more than happy to help you.................Just try to put yourself in a customer service representatives shoes. We take approx. 50+ calls per day, and get treated pretty poorly the majority of the time. If you're being treated badly by someone, you are less inclined to assist them. But if you're nice and friendly, you will get more in the end.

Oh, and if you feel you've been mistreated or the rep you are talking to "doesn't know what they are talking about", you're probably right. Like I said, 50+ calls a day of getting treated poorly will do that. My suggestion is to hangup the phone and call back, because you're bound to catch a nice person who is just beginning their shift. Just remember, be nice or you get nothing.

Anyways, I hope this will help someone in someway. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to respond. I will check back later and answer any questions.

Sincerely, CSR J.B.

I manage a customer service call center and your comments, however true they may be, are abhorrent. The fact that you place the responsibilities on the customer are completely unacceptable. Not only do they not get paid to do any of this, they ARE PAYING YOU TO DO IT. Please send your note along with this reply to anyone in management who will read it. Tell them you "found it" on the internet. But the things you have described are PART OF YOUR JOB. You tell people to treat people how you would like to be treated. The reason that they called you is because they feel they ALREADY HAVE BEEN TREATED POORLY. You say you get 50+angry calls a day. Perhaps you are not going into these calls with an open mind, and not taking the attitude "what can I do to help this customer leave the conversation happy."

You do not have to automatically cave in to help a customer, but you do need to listen and evaluate their complaint to see if it is legitamate. If it is not, you must still find a way to make them feel good about the conversation. That is what you are PAID to do.

Cell service charges are far too restrictive for a company to behave this way.

This is not a threat it is a promise: If you continue to rely on the fact that customers have no choice but deal with you because they are required to sign 2 year contracts, you will eventually lose them, your job, and the integrity that you must have, to have tried to respond here.

If you really want to make a difference, make a difference where you can...there. Not here!

[ralugnic-hcet]

CSR J.B.,

You probably are new to the bussiness, let me tell you something. If those are your expectations...leave PRONTO.

Professionalism is the key word here.

You still need to learn how to defuse a tuff situation, symphatize, educate...check with a supervisor or your learning tools.

I have to agree with the previous unregistered user. Customers are paying for a service and shouldn't be resposible for maintaining the quality of operation of the service, refering to the comment made by CSR JB about switching your phone off and switching it on to avoid dropped calls. Futhermore customers shouldn't have to keep note of representatives names, identification numbers and locations, that is part of the service the customer is paying for. Cingular needs to restructure the way in which it does business with it's customers, because judging by the amount of complaints that the Better Business Bureau receives in regards to Cingular they are going to end up losing alot of customers. I'm sure the one of the major reasons their customers aren't switching as fast as they would like to is because of the early termination fees.

Well let me tell you about Cingular sucking. I live in the Hurricane Katrina damaged area. It has been 6 weeks and the phone service really sucks. If I make a call it takes atleast 10 attemps to get a line when you do get a line you better talk fast because you will be dropped. Cingular in this area used to be great when the merger went through that is when it started. Every other call will be dropped. After the hurricane I got a signal and tried to make a call it came back emergency use only so being it was an emergency I call 911 because we was on the phone with a doctor because a friend had an alergic reation to a bug bite well all circuits was busy. I called to cancil my service and it will cost me $200.00. The service ASS HOLE on the phone said once you sign the contract and go over 15 days it doesn't matter how bad our service is you are still liable read your contract. Yes it is true so I figured that since I was treated that way I made a few phone calls with my new ALL TELL phone that worked good to the company that I work for and they are changing cell service. Cingular was top of the list. NOT ANYMORE so it cost me $200.00 and I was able to screw Cibgular out of several thousand dollars so no I can say **** You Cingular

I apologize. In total honesty, I dislike how Cingular and other wireless phone companies are ran. You're right that I am paid to help the customers who call in for assistance, and I work very hard to do what I can to help everyone I talk to with the best of my ability. I wrote these comments with the intention to help someone, maybe just give some tips that could help get better results from the CSR you are speaking to, but I never mean't to insult anyone or make anyone mad. I do what I can within the policies and guidelines that Cingular has set for me and my coworkers. I am a consumer too, and I have been "screwed" by corporations myself, so I have an idea of what you folks have been through. I hope that one day I will get the chance to assist you as I truly try to do what I can to get you as a Cingular customer a proper resolution. My past comments were mean't in the best of intentions, but I do understand how it could be read like I was being a jerk. So, I'm sorry. Hope everything works out for all of you, Sincerely, CSR JB.

Now that Cingular and AT&T are joined, I just hope they do not absorb AT&T's way of doing business!
I had an AT&T account at one time. They billed me for $400+ in received calls for one month. Most calls were logged during hours when I was sleeping and my phone was turned off and on the charger!
When I contacted customer service, they assured me that they would take care of the problem, but that I should pay the bill to maintain my service. The amount would be refunded when the problem was corrected!
The following month, I received a similiar bill. When I called customer service again, the connected me with a technician who told me that this impossible for calls to be logged to me unless I received them. He refused to believe that my phone was turned off.
I cancelled my contract and was told that I would have to pay $150 cancellation fee.
The following month, they again billed me for an unbelievable number of received calls. When I told customer service that my contract had been cancelled during that period, they STILL insisted that I had gotten the calls! I now use only prepaid, even though it costs a bit more than the normal plans.

Why CINGULAR TRULY SUCKS
First of all:
They charge you minutes for checking your messages.
Second:
When I signed with Cingular I was TOLD BY THE CINGULAR REPRESENTATIVE to choose a plan that had more minutes than I could use. Since they have rollover I could save up minutes (I WAS TOLD) and then switch to a plan with less minutes at a later time. I would be able to keep the rollover (I WAS TOLD BY A CINGULAR REP), and from there switch back and forth as necessary.
I chose a plan with more minutes than I needed and paid more than I needed in order to put this plan into effect. A few months later (and 6000 rollover minutes saved up), I called to switch to a plan with less minutes. The Cingular rep told me they had changed their policy three days previously and switching to a plan caused me to FORFEIT my rollover minutes. The minutes they seem to take such pride in saying are mine with catch phrases such as “They’re your minutes – you paid for them” and "Never throw away anything you can use to express yourself, including your unused minutes." and "They're your minutes. Don't trash 'em." Keep in mind (and this is what really makes me upset) I WAS TOLD TO DO THIS.
I was obviously upset with this situation. After several calls and talks to managers I was told that an area manager would call me to resolve my issue. I was never called. After over a week of waiting for an area manager to call me back (NEVER HAPPENED), I called them back again and they were very rude to me and told me it was impossible to resolve the situation and that it states in the contract that they can change their billing policy WITHOUT NOTICE. They also told me they couldn't change my plan without decimating my saved rollover minutes (6000 minutes) because the COMPUTER WOULDN'T LET THEM.
That’s fine, I wouldn’t have a problem with that – but understand what happened here – THEY TOLD ME TO CHOOSE A PLAN WITH MORE MINUTES AND THEN SWITCH TO A PLAN WITH LESS MINUTES (KEEPING MY ROLLOVER) AT A LATER TIME. THEY SUGGESTED IT TO ME. If they switch the policy without notice, I don’t have a problem with that. But it’s the dishonesty of tricking me into spending more money on one of their plans and then cheating me out of the value I thought I was receiving – IN FACT I WAS TOLD I WOULD RECEIVE. This is in my opinion a horribly dishonest practice.

im also a cingular csr and I can tell you i average 80 calls per day.. most people are nice..

now the thing is the policys cingular has are pretty strict... and usually when I get a pissed off customer there is nothing I can do WITHIN our policy to make you happy so technically your screwed..

now I can tell you this..

I agree with the previous rep and what he said and I will tell you this right now.. if a customer calls in pissed off, rude, swearing etc and there is nothing within policy I can do to help him then too bad cry me a river, your not entitled to anything, have a nice day..

now if a customer calls in like a NORMAL HUMAN BEING, and understands they are talking to a person with feelings explains everythign in there point of view, I am more then willing to bend policy etc to help them out as much as I can without risking my job...

Reading the comments from the CSRs explains a lot about what's wrong with Cingular. I agree we should treat others the way we want to be treated. I wouldn't decieve you or try to cheat you out of your money. Nor would I work for a company who does and you shouldn't either. You should know that when you get an angry customer, they were probably nice the first couple of times they called. But when the problem is never resolved and all you get is the run-arouund, it's hard to be nice. Before you post of list of rules for customers you need to remember it's customer service, not representative service. You're not there to dole out favors to people who stroke your ego.

I'm in tech support, and unlike the wimpy CSR above, I love angry calls. Why? because they are so easy to disarm. The customer says, "Your company has just screwed me over and then insulted me." And I say, "That's awful, I don't blame you for being really angry. Now let me see if I can get something done to solve your problem. Did you want to escalate this issue to management?"

This of course is not the method of most Cingular CSP's (Customer Support Princesses). They demand a rosy attitude, and if they don't get it, well screw you and why should Ii care.

The most evil and horrible trick they use is to put you on hold. It's really worse than being hung up on because you hand on for 20 or 30 minutes and then get cut off.