And have problems with all of a sudden getting an outrageous bill one month? Like being charged for being 890 minutes over your minutes?

and cingular not using an ounce of common sense when trying to fix the problem? or willing to work with you in finding out what the problem is...

I have spent a total of 5 hours in the past 2 days trying to tell them their bill is wrong and they need to evaulate it... i even went to the fraud department and they said nothing is wrong...

I told them that in no time in the pervious billing statement that there was an overage of more than 50 minutes and they said, too bad pay the bill you went over

they "said" they looked into everything and there was nothing wrong, oh how wrong they were as i found the problem with them, they were charging to make service calls directly to Cingular which is supposed to be free...

They are by far the shittiest company when it comes to customer service and i cannot wait to switch my girlfriend over to sprint

[Edited on September 26, 2006 at 2:06 PM. Reason : not plural]

9/26/2006 2:05:34 PM

Cingular is shitty but I dont have other options sooo yeah

9/26/2006 2:08:42 PM

You talked to their service for 890 minutes?

9/26/2006 2:08:59 PM

the service was talked to for about 150 minutes, they were charged to anytime minutes... so in fact if those werent charged to anytime you would recieve 150 more anytime minutes

in essence we basically lost 300 anytime minutes of talk time because of this... so that leaves about 500 minutes left in question in which i infromed them that there is no way those minutes were used and it needed to be reveiwed

i couldnt explain the situation and all details involved in under 5-6 pages... but i told them they are double charging for a past account that had been cancled and it needed to be investigated

^^the service is fine, IE phone service, but when it comes to problems and solving them they refuse to help you... you are on your own for fiding the problem

[Edited on September 26, 2006 at 2:17 PM. Reason : ]

9/26/2006 2:13:24 PM

better question is does anyone here work for/with cingular. if so drop me a pm

9/26/2006 2:17:03 PM

did you check your bill to see where the "bogus" minutes came from? everything is itemized, so I would think the problem(s) should stick out like a sore thumb.

9/26/2006 2:17:15 PM

oh i checked and thats how i found the problem, but i told them there was a problem with the bill and the refused to look into it, thats my point!

if it wasnt for me being persistent they would have made me pay the outrageous bill... when i call sprint and if i have issues with my account (almost never do, but a few small times i did) they absoutely jumped up to help solve the situation, Cingular not a damn thing

told them i want compensation for the minutes and the 6+ hours i spent in having to do their job and locate the problem

i also would like to know is someone works for cingular

9/26/2006 2:20:25 PM

1) talking to cingular on your cell phone is only free if you dialed 611. If you dialed one of the 800/866/877 numbers, you are charged for them.
2) Shit like this is why I sucked it up and paid the termination fee (for me, it was less than a month's bill...hell yes )
3) Start taking names of EVERYONE you talk to - first and last. They become a LOT more helpful when they know you have their names
4) be a pain in the ass. I had to call every single month because of billing errors. It was absurd, but I did get 95% of my problems resolved and my money back.

Quote :

"but i told them there was a problem with the bill and the refused to look into it, thats my point!"

If your first CSR won't do what you're asking, get their name, and ask to speak to their supervisor. Don't fall for the 'We'll have someone call you back' BS. There's someone there. It's only after 3 or 4 levels that that's really an excuse. I only had to escalate to that level once, and they really did call back

[Edited on September 26, 2006 at 2:25 PM. Reason : lkj]

9/26/2006 2:23:52 PM

i was one of the first to sign up for cingular when they got big in 1999. for my entire year's service, i did not get notification on my phone that i had a voicemail, nor did my phone register half of the missed calls i had. i had extremely poor service in some of the most well-travelled parts of raleigh. and you know what they said everytime i complained??? "right now we have alot of customers operating on very few satellites, so your service is suffering because of it. we are hoping that it will get better." they never offered any alternatives, and wouldn't let me out of my contract. when my year was up, i left and didn't think twice.

i maintain that alltel is the best provider out there. i've yet to have a bad experience, and it's been over two years. and everytime i call, they explain things to me, they work with me, they keep my "bottom dollar" in mind, instead of trying to maximize their profits.

alltel ftw

9/26/2006 2:29:06 PM

Cyngular sucks. I liked Sprint far more. For the supposed 'least dropped calls' I have like 10 a fucking day. If I had to pay for it I'd switch back to Sprint. But I've had no billing problems.

Oh

and

Jets >>> Bills

9/26/2006 2:30:30 PM

Alltel is the best? Hah. Every day I see lines of people over there bitching about problems. I would say they send my Verizon store the most business in disgruntled customers after Suncom/AT&T making many old customers switch to new phones that they don't want. I have had lots of people come in to signup with VZW because of that shit.

9/26/2006 2:34:21 PM

I would post the Nextel van but I am too lazy to look it up.

Seriously though she might as well just cancel it now, the termination fee is probably way less than that bill was. She can sell her phone on ebay to get some of it back. If you guys both get on the same company you wont use minutes calling each other either.

9/26/2006 2:34:26 PM

i'm glad i'm one of the select few that have never had a problem with cingular

9/26/2006 2:37:15 PM

I have Cingular and have NEVER had a single billing or service problem.

Guess I'm just lucky

9/26/2006 2:40:19 PM

Quote :

"talking to cingular on your cell phone is only free if you dialed 611. If you dialed one of the 800/866/877 numbers, you are charged for them. "

according to my man Eric that is not the case anymore

Quote :

"Start taking names of EVERYONE you talk to - first and last. They become a LOT more helpful when they know you have their names "

Done

Quote :

"If your first CSR won't do what you're asking, get their name, and ask to speak to their supervisor. Don't fall for the 'We'll have someone call you back' BS. There's someone there. It's only after 3 or 4 levels that that's really an excuse."

Done, i have talked to 3 CSR supervisors and the fraud department and some other fraud department, only one guy has called me back thus far...

i have yet to be able to excalate it beyond the supervisor, is that possible? i dont know what else to do if it can be done.

but if your point number one is still true and you are in fact charged for it i would not be surprised cause this guy has had one excuse after another for why things didnt work they way they should have, or why someone told me one thing but it really isnt that way

just one big run around and it is really disheartening to know some companies do this

9/26/2006 2:43:11 PM

verizon easypay prepaid ftw

9/26/2006 2:43:21 PM

^Ugh not a fan. Text messaging isn't included on our prepaid phones. Cost you 10 cent/message on prepaid.

9/26/2006 2:45:13 PM

Quote :

"Seriously though she might as well just cancel it now, the termination fee is probably way less than that bill was. She can sell her phone on ebay to get some of it back. If you guys both get on the same company you wont use minutes calling each other either. "

hold up so you are saying that if i cancel the plan now, that they wont require me to pay it, i dont see how that is possible

this is for a billing cycle between 8/02 and 9/01 and it is past due right now, the only reason why we dont have to pay it is cause it is under a formal review

Quote :

"Jets >>> Bills "

blow me

9/26/2006 2:45:38 PM

They WILL require payment for service rendered. You had the phone during that time and used the network, so its gonna be charged.

9/26/2006 2:46:32 PM

i have never head any problems being overcharged, but there were 4 months where i never was credited for about 800 rollover minutes. most calls get through fine. alltel is good for rural areas, but sucks in urban. my roommate has Alltel, and his phone almost never rings on his end. he only realizes people have called him after it beeps for voicemail. but he gets signal just about everywhere while i don't.

why didn't you just total up the minutes you spent calling people? they have all your calls on your account at their website.

9/26/2006 2:47:44 PM

thats what i figured, so canceling really isnt an option for this bill in question

now we will cancel it in the coming month and pay the fee, i just have to call sprint and verify some of their fees for adding lines and stuff to my current plan.... the big thing is where she at school sprint is roaming, though i would add the roaming package to take care of it, i still have question about it

just want to iron out details and costs first

9/26/2006 2:48:47 PM

Ive had this happen. They said it was becuase the minutes that showed up as overage on the statement two months afterwards, was because those were minutes used while roaming and roaming minute usage always come in a month late


probably BS but thats what I was told by a regional manager with Cingular

9/26/2006 2:50:16 PM

Quote :

"why didn't you just total up the minutes you spent calling people? they have all your calls on your account at their website. "

there is a lot more detail into the problem with this bill, i have about 4 other issues with Cingular that i didnt touch on, this is just the broad scope of it

but basically there was another plan before this one, that she ported a phone into... and i belive that she is being charged double for minutes prior to the porting that she had already paid, but since the old account is cancled i dont have access to it and they refuse to help me and look into it for me

9/26/2006 2:50:58 PM

Quote :

"probably BS but thats what I was told by a regional manager with Cingular"

this was one of my other issues....it is called "delayed minutes" in their world, which is complete bullshit and is a gray area they can use to exploit the shit out of you

why when i roam and make calls does it appear minutes after i make the call on my sprint bill?

either because cingular is lying through their ass or sprint is hands down a better company

either way i am canceling the cingular plan, i would never have these problems with sprint and never have in my 6 years

9/26/2006 2:53:07 PM

Where in hell is she at school that its not on Sprints digital network?

9/26/2006 2:53:58 PM

what did you expect to get from this thread other than to just bitch?

this thread has been done over and over again - every company makes mistakes - cellphone companies tend to make billing mistakes more than most - this is well known....

Quote :

"i was one of the first to sign up for cingular when they got big in 1999."

Quote :

"Cingular Wireless was formed in 2001 as a joint venture of SBC Communications (now AT&T) and BellSouth (soon to be purchased by AT&T)."

9/26/2006 2:54:10 PM

Quote :

"Where in hell is she at school that its not on Sprints digital network?"

Lewisburg WV, i lose my digital servie about 40 miles from town, it blows... oh so close!

Quote :

"what did you expect to get from this thread other than to just bitch? "

i expected to get some feedback from the likes of ambrosia1231, so that i can double check some rules that cingular may have, because i dont have time to read through every thing on cingulars site or here i need a quicker way... but yes i felt like bitching, but more importantly i wanted to check rules and regs with what other cingular customers may know

9/26/2006 2:59:42 PM

Cingular used to fuck up my text messages all the time, but I always managed to get a credit every month there were any errors in my bill.

9/26/2006 3:00:53 PM

Quote :

"i have yet to be able to excalate it beyond the supervisor, is that possible? i dont know what else to do if it can be done."

Everybody has a boss
If it's a big enough issue, you may jsut have to resign yourself to setting aside an hour or two of every day to this. If nothing else, you're eating up their money while doing this

Quote :

" but if your point number one is still true and you are in fact charged for it i would not be surprised cause this guy has had one excuse after another for why things didnt work they way they should have, or why someone told me one thing but it really isnt that way"

Part of why I left.
They gave some of THE MOST cockamamie excuses for shit - one CSR tried to tell me that my text messaging wasn't working because of Hurricane Katrina , and that she couldn't give me a credit because it was an act of god, and not cingular's fault.


I'm anticipating getting slapped with a HUGE bill next month for cingular, because I'm guessing they'll try and slap me with more in termination fees than I owe. I had to call them last night for my august bill

As far as the delayed minutes - bullshit or not, they have cautions about it on the website and paper bills, so they'll say that since you knew, you're responsible.

9/26/2006 3:13:48 PM

I have Cingular since they used to be called Bell South. In all these years, have only had one billing problem where they overcharged for instant messging when I didn't even use it. I took the bill to the store and told them what the deal was, one phone call to customer service and they took care of it all.

9/26/2006 3:18:01 PM

this is what happens when the people that are answering the phones make $5-10/hr

9/26/2006 3:18:28 PM

Quote :

"As far as the delayed minutes - bullshit or not, they have cautions about it on the website and paper bills, so they'll say that since you knew, you're responsible."

that right there angers me, when we purchased the plan we specifically asked if there is any difference when you roam than over a normal plan, the delayed minutes thng only supposedly happens when you are roaming... that i dont buy but that is for anotehr time

we informed them of the primary location for the use of this phone was Lewisburg wv and that it would be roaming and they said there will be no difference in charges and/or billing issues over a plan that is primarily used a non roaming enviornment... obviously they have people working for them that have no clue....

the first guy that we talked to said that there was another line on the account and it would be taken care of by the fraud department and the bill would be taken care of... only to come back and have them tell us they couldnt take care of it anymore and we had to pay it... um no you said there was a problem and you were going to fix it, you should be held accountable.. the excuse when i talked to someone else about this situation i was told that he was sorry and the guy that i spoke to didnt know what he was talking about... gee thats a surprise everyone doesnt seem to know what they are talking about in this company....

Quote :

"I took the bill to the store and told them what the deal was, one phone call to customer service and they took care of it all. "

i am wondering if iw ould have any more luck on this.... people in the store if i waste 4 hours of their time there they may try and solve this situation in a more timely manor cause it is more costly for in store people to have to deal with this

9/26/2006 3:23:09 PM

This very thing happened to me this month! They charged me an embarrassingly high amount. I called them and demanded to close my account because my contract had already expired. They were really nice and took off the charges that I refused to pay if I kept my account open. I think it depends on who picks up the phone in customer service.

9/26/2006 3:31:03 PM

unfotunately we are still under contract, thogh i would pay the 150 fee to cancel in a heartbeat if it meant not paying the 435 on the current bill. But being under contract may not allow me to be free of the charges if i were to cancle now

very frustrating, i have kept my cool for the most part accept a few times where they were calling me a liar and really aggravated me

i have called CSR about 7-10 times and them nor their supervisor was willing to work with me

9/26/2006 3:35:34 PM

Quote :

""Cingular Wireless was formed in 2001 as a joint venture of SBC Communications (now AT&T) and BellSouth (soon to be purchased by AT&T).""

hey where'd you find that bullshit? they were handing out Cingular cell phones in the Brickyard in the Fall of 2000, which is when i signed up for a year's service. so i guess it wasn't 1999, it was 2000. still...your data is wrong.

9/26/2006 3:36:49 PM

That sounds very frustrating. My bill was $600. There is NO way that was right. Cingular is sketchy.

9/26/2006 3:37:03 PM

^^^i was just gonna suggest that. i've had several big problems with them and went round and round over and over. I went to the store with all 3 problems and they were taken care of within 5 mins (besides the 15 min wait to talk to someone). if you go to the one in Cary ask for John, he's really cool and really helpful. I think he's a State alum as well.

[Edited on September 26, 2006 at 3:38 PM. Reason : people post too damn fast]

9/26/2006 3:38:31 PM

Quote :

"That sounds very frustrating. My bill was $600. There is NO way that was right. Cingular is sketchy."

no kidding as they cant even remotely consider the fact that a girl in med school with no time to do anything but study would have the time to make 1300 minutes worth of calls in a month! i mean come on people lest be serious here, especially when no privious bill was ever over by more than 50 minutes

i think going in to the cingular store after work on one of these days and staying till close and beyond will get some attention and repeating this for several times

9/26/2006 3:40:59 PM

Quote :

"^^^i was just gonna suggest that. i've had several big problems with them and went round and round over and over. I went to the store with all 3 problems and they were taken care of within 5 mins (besides the 15 min wait to talk to someone). if you go to the one in Cary ask for John, he's really cool and really helpful. I think he's a State alum as well. "

nice is that the one over by carolina ale house... well same side of the street anyway? thats where i would go

9/26/2006 3:42:10 PM

yep, that's the one, in the corner down beside kohls

also if they credit it this month, make sure it doesnt show back up on the next bill. they did that to me once when Customer Service "handled it". somehow i amazingly had the same bunch of calls from the month before on the same day same exact time to the second.

[Edited on September 26, 2006 at 3:44 PM. Reason : more]

9/26/2006 3:43:00 PM

the bill is under offical review right now, so i am expecting a response within 5-7 business days. i asked for compensation for my time invested in having to locate the problem, (because they refused to do it and when they suspposedly did they couldnt find it), if they dont do both a) correct the problem and b) provide me with adequate compensation i will go to the store and spend hours on end there until they do something

9/26/2006 3:45:27 PM

Quote :

"also if they credit it this month, make sure it doesnt show back up on the next bill. they did that to me once when Customer Service "handled it". somehow i amazingly had the same bunch of calls from the month before on the same day same exact time to the second. "

and when this happened when you looked at your invoiced call list for that next month.... what days did this calls get listed as, the orginial time and date you made them or did they somehow have new dates within the next billing cycle so it looked good?

[Edited on September 26, 2006 at 3:47 PM. Reason : ]

9/26/2006 3:46:51 PM

i dont know if this helps you or not but...

in the past 12 months, someone has gotten my moms info(we share some plan or something) and each time orders a cell phone from our account

the second time was in NYC, the first in some place in VA...both times my moms called them up and they fixed it pretty quickly...the second time my moms was really pissed and they gave us like free txt messaging

9/26/2006 3:57:12 PM

I think you should look into Sprint Nextel, I have yet to have any kind of problem (dropped call, billing error)

9/26/2006 3:58:10 PM

the few times cingular has messed up they have always been good about fixing it

and when i messed up and got a $600 phone bill all i had to do was call them and 10 minutes later they knocked off $300 even though they were at no fault at all. i did this by just asking to be transfered to someone that could work with me on the bill. ive been a customer of theirs for almost 6 years and by being polite and asking they helped me out.

[Edited on September 26, 2006 at 4:01 PM. Reason : .]

9/26/2006 3:59:35 PM

Quote :

"Currently there is no Sprint PCS Service in the 24901 area. However, we are continually expanding our network so you may want to check back later for coverage changes in your area. In some areas, consumers with insufficient signal at their billing address may make a formal request for service at that location. The customer may be responsible for additional charges in order to provide service at a specific billing address. To make a coverage request, create a Support email and select Coverage from the Topics drop-down box. You must enter your name, billing address, daytime phone, and whether or not you are a current Sprint customer. In five to seven working days, a representative will contact you to discuss your request."

If I was you I would not buy her a Sprint phone for her even if they agree to waive roaming fees. She is likely to have issues with billing, and features working correctly. Sprint also has horrible coverage up there.

Look in to Verizon or Alltell before doing anything.

9/26/2006 4:05:25 PM

i have sprint right now never had any issues that were resolved in a timely manor and i plan on putting her on my plan

cant say the same for cingular, they must not like that the account is in my girlfriends name but i have access rights to it and i am doing to calling to fix it and not her

when you had the 600 dollar bill, did you look at calls and see numbers there you didnt know and have to point them out to them or any other ungodly request they throw at you?

9/26/2006 4:05:53 PM

Quote :

"If I was you I would not buy her a Sprint phone for her even if they agree to waive roaming fees. She is likely to have issues with billing, and features working correctly. Sprint also has horrible coverage up there. Look in to Verizon or Alltell before doing anything."

no dice on the other companies, they dont have service, we looked into it

i have used my phone up there and have no had issues with billing with sprint, EVER the only thing i know i cant do up there is send and recieve texts... though maybe that will be allowed if ihave the roaming package... thats why i find all this stuff cingular tells me about "possible" problems hard to believe... are you a) a shitty company or b) provide shitty service? either way i am not going to stay with them

i am not worried about sprint they have always been good to me

9/26/2006 4:08:45 PM

^ you might have covered this...but what does the detailed billing say? Can you see the calls that correspond to the overage in minutes? I know you talked about the Cingular CS minutes, but what about the other 500 minutes? Are there calls listed there that contribute to that overage? And I assume the calls listed there are not ones you guys recognize...is it just one to two numbers you don't recognize or a bunch?

[Edited on September 26, 2006 at 4:25 PM. Reason : ]

9/26/2006 4:23:45 PM

I've had problems with their inaccurate poll of my rollover minutes that I should have available.

9/26/2006 4:34:54 PM