Customer disservice: Burned by Cingular
Fidelity Observer is a reluctant mobile phone user. I have talked about it before, but it needs to be discussed again. I put off getting a mobile phone as long as I could -- I didn't talk much on the phone, the plans seemed like an expensive commitment, and I didn't want my life to be dominated by the phone the way my friends' lives were. I eventually caved when my wife was pregnant with our first child, and wanted the reassurance of being able to instantly communicate in case of an emergency. But I still got only the bare essentials -- a pay-as-you-go plan with AT&T Wireless' cheapest and bulkiest phone. We bought two phones, one for me, and one for my wife.
We have kept the 1990s-era phone (and a slightly smaller 2002 model that my wife uses) through all of these years, along with the pay-as-you-go plan. I still don't talk much with friends, but on several occasions the phone has been great to have for car emergencies and shopping coordination. But recently I've noticed a change in the service I'm getting from Cingular, which acquired AT&T Wireless a few years back. First there was some monkeying around with the pre-paid programs' pricing. Then there was the experience I had today, which brought to light three major problems with Cingular's service
1) An inability to buy over the phone more minutes just before my current minutes expired -- the automated system hung up on me when I attempted to buy time on either phone
2) An inability to register online to manage my Cingular account, or use my old logon information from AT&T Wireless.
3) An inability to get anyone on the phone to discuss these problems, or buy more minutes
A little background: I usually buy $25 dollars worth of minutes (I think about 100 minutes) which last for 90 days, unless you renew before the time is up, in which case they'll last another 90 days. That's expensive, I'm sure, compared to the plans most people use, but I'm only paying about $100 a year for connectivity (plus another $100 for my wife). we have a few hundred minutes stored up on each phone, which we want to keep. That's why it was so important to get through to buy more minutes.
But the phone tree just dumped me at the instant I pressed "2" to indicate that I wanted to make a purchase with a major credit card. No reason was given -- the system said "Thank you for using Cingular!" and hung up.
Hmm. Let's try online. I went to the Cingular site, indicated I was a former AT&T customer, entered our phone numbers, but no dice: They couldn't register this type of account. My old AT&T logon info didn't work either.
OK, so let's talk with a human. Dial the 866 number. Navigate through the tree, then press 0 to speak with a human. Listen to some not-bad jazz, and the repeated messages about how important I am, and apologies for keeping me waiting.
But no human ever came on. I got on before 1 pm, and hung up at 1:20 pm, angry at my inability to conduct two simple transactions or speak with someone who can help.
Keep in mind that I am not a nuisance customer for Cingular. I am a loyal customer. I use old equipment, pay high per-minute fees, don't receive any paper mailings, almost never bother their human reps, and in this case, only wanted to pay them more money. But I wasn't able to get through.
And I am not the only one having problems. Seattle Duck, another AT&T orphan, has also had a trying experience with Cingular. Here are some more blog posts about Cingular.
Is it time for me to ditch the 1990s brick and get a new phone and new service provider? Any companies I should steer clear of?
Read this post on the Blogger mirror -- Reader comments often appear there that won't show up on this page. You can leave comments on either page, I'll read 'em all!
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Dump ATT/Cingular. My wife had a lot of the same issues you are talking about with her regular service once the switch took place. We have since moved on to TMobile To-Go and loved it. We buy $100 worth of minutes/1000 minutes and they are good for 1 full year. You can add minutes anytime and they are good for another year from the time you add the minutes. Another neat feature is when you have purchased $100 or more worth of time in a year, you can add any denomination from $10 up to $100 and it will get you $0.10 a minute and all minutes will be good for another year. The service is excellent and we have had no problem.
Thanks Evan. You're the second person to recommend T-Mobile (someone on the Blogger mirror had similar advice. But I have to make sure their coverage is good in two areas -- where I work, and where I live and shop.
FO, beware of Cingular phone assist, I am now in the middle of a very difficult experience with them. Many (Most?) of their CSRs are commissioned salespersons, so WATCH OUT when you phone them with a question. This is a week-old true story. I wanted out of my Cingular 2-year contract, but the fee to get out was $175, so I hung on. Recently, I wanted to know what the exact end day of my existing contract was, so I called them. I got a guy who wanted to know why I was leaving Cingular. I wasent specific, but was unequivical in not wanting to stay with them. He started a sales pitch for new phones, but I politely cut him off and finally got the termination date. Lo and behold, two days later a UPS guy shows up with an unexpected package. I stupidly open it, and its new phones from Cingular. The SOB I had dealt with on the phone went ahead and signed us up for another two-year contract!!! I called them back, and the lady I got was very apologetic. But she confirmed the operators name that I had written down (FYI-I am in the habit of writing down the name and ID number of any Customer Service Rep's name anytime I call any phone bank, and it has helped me many times) and the existence on the order form of a "commission code". I guess this guy figured we'd go along. Now we can't switch service to another provider without owing an additional $175. early termination fee (per line) for the phones we didn't order. I'm still working it out. CAREFUL with these jokers!!!
Wow! That sounds really slimy on Cingular's part -- signing you up for service you don't want and didn't request. There used to be a term for that for land-line phone service (can't recall it now) but it looks like the bar has been lowered (pardon the pun) for wireless.
Great tip on getting the rep's ID number. Usually they only give first names, I didn't know you can request other details. Not that it would have helped me -- I wasn't even able to get through to a human when I called Cingular customer service!
I have really enjoyed my Verizon Wireless service. It was Ameritech when we first signed up, and eventually became Verizon.
The best service we receive is from a local Verizon store - which isn't corporate, rather he's an "Authorized Agent." He's a great salesman in that he answers all of our questions and goes out of the way to help with any concern - including billing. For that reason I am loyal and although I've since moved, I still drive 30 miles to purchase all phones and equipment from this dealer.
The VW Web site is pretty self-explanatory and we use it monthly to view my statement and pay my bill. I have noticed that there is a pre-pay log-in section where you can check the call history and add minutes.
I'm not sure about the pre-paid plans but we have the "America's Choice" calling plan, which covers all 48 continental states - coast-to-coast. This coverage has come in handy when we travel for business or pleasure. I also subscribe to "Mobile Web," which enables me to check email, news, directions, etc.
Just like auto and home insurance policies, check to see if there are any "employee discounts" provided to your company by the cell phone companies. You should also check with home telephone service provider... sometimes they have a bundle/discount program that includes cell phone service.
For telephone inquiries, there are #MIN and #BAL numbers to call and check your unbilled minutes and get your account balance. Dial *611 from your cell phone, and youll be connected with customer service airtime-free. Also, you'll be happy to know that you will be transferred to a representative after pressing zero a couple of times.
