I hate Cingular

[Reckoner]

Cingular has to have the worst service department I've ever dealth with.


I called them a few weeks ago to switch from ATT Wireless to Cingular, and I asked them for a free Moto V551 with 1 year contract. They said that this would not be a problem, and that the charge would show up on my credit card bill, but would be refunded. However, I get my statement in the mail today saying they charged me $210 dollars for the phone. When I call CS back up they tell me they don't offer the phone for free with a 1 year contract, and the rep was mistaken. I told them that wasn't my problem. They said there's nothing they can do and the only way to get a refund is to send the phone back.

This kind've stuff pisses me off. They'll definitely be losing a customer when my ATT Wireless contract is up in October.

 

[Mr N8]

Welcome to the large family of Cingular haters.

 

[Scarpozzi]

They're mistaken again. Call your Credit Card company and have them take the charge off your card.

 

[ironcrotch]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
They're mistaken again. Call your Credit Card company and have them take the charge off your card.

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: MogulMonster
Welcome to the large family of Cingular haters.

 

[GrouchyLadybug]

Yup. Reception in my area is HORRIBLE from Cingular. I counted the days til my contract was up. Now with Verizon and love it.

 

[Night201]

<--- Happy Verizon Customer here. On beaf with them is the time it takes to get new phones out to the public.

 

[Shanteli]

Direct opposite...just switched from Verizon to Cingular...very happy...better phones too

 

[dartworth]

Originally posted by: Shanteli
Direct opposite...just switched from Verizon to Cingular...very happy...better phones too

 

[osiris3mc]

Just to chime in - sprint sucks! Don't forget about them!

 

[Malak]

Verizon had the best reception for me. Sprint had great customer service, and I would have stuck with them, but there is zero reception where I live.

 

[GrumpyMan]

There was a I hate T-Mobil thread the other day too about customer care. I guess all companies have lousey CC departments depending on the area.

 

[Darilus]

Originally posted by: GrumpyMan
There was a I hate T-Mobil thread the other day too about customer care. I guess all companies have lousey CC departments depending on the area.

Agreed. I've had to deal with Cingulars CC a few times, and never had any complaints. They were great for me.

 

[Aimster]

Dude I want to do the same thing. I have AT&T want to go to Cingular.

Did you just ask for that phone for free or she offered it to you?

 

[imported_KirbsAw]

All the companies suck. They're usually pretty good if you don't have any problems. If you do though, just cry.

 

[bigrash]

I've had service with AT&T, Cingular, TMobile and I'm back at Nextel now. I think Nextel is the best when it comes to customer service.

 

[geckojohn]

Verizon seems to be the best with customer service.

 

[Siva]

Cingular has always been good to me, best service in my area too.

 

[Steve]

I started out with AT&T in September for a 1-year term, and have been migrated to Cingular. With both providers, I sometimes don't get a voice mail until several days after it was left for me.

 

[slightlyhuman]

I hate when the egg cartons don't fit in my shelf for the eggs.


this is inside my refrigerator we are talking about too.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Yep, Cingular sucks ass.

We constantly get our voicemail messages 2-3 days later. My wife had a client call wanting to see some houses Monday before last and she didn't get the message until Wednesday. She called up and complained that this could potentially have cost her $20,000!!! They did nothing. Fvcking idiots. When our contract is up I'm cancelling my service with them and switching to Verison.

 

[KingPhil]

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
Cingular has to have the worst service department I've ever dealth with.q]

I disagree. I've had grea service on any of my phone / bill issues. HOWEVER, I think their service kinda sucks now. I always get dropped calls. Full signal, down to no signal, and I havne't even moved. 1 second later my signal is full again.

I've had my phone replaced 2 times and it still does it.

 

[johnjbruin]

Had Cingular for years - pretty satisfied with it.

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: Shanteli
Direct opposite...just switched from Verizon to Cingular...very happy...better phones too

I'm going to do just that in couple of months. Hate Verizon

 

[ToeJam13]

Well, Cingular is going to have some reception issues due to its acquisition of AT&T Wireless and the transition from TDMA to GSM both companies implemented.

AT&T Wireless out west uses a lot of spectrum for their TDMA services in the lower 800-900MHz band. They also started much later than other carriers in migrating to GSM. As such, a huge number of their customers still own TMDA handsets.

Cingular Wireless did migrate to GSM much sooner, however much of their frequency allocation is in the upper GSM-1900 band. Higher frequencies usually offer shorter range, so these channels tend to do worse in the countryside. Higher frequencies also tend to be more ?line of sight? limited, so obstacles such as trees, buildings and hills affect call quality more than the lower bands.

The big problem is that Cingular can?t take too much of the 800-900 band and without upsetting AT&T TDMA customers. Furthermore, many of the really good GSM smart phones in the market do not support GSM-850? only the nearby GSM-900, which isn?t used in North America. My Nokia 6310i greatly suffers from this.

Verizon really does well in the western US due to their ownership of both CDMA-800 and CDMA-1900 bands, as well as huge areas of AMPS coverage. It?s a rare place where I cannot receive a signal with my LG-VX4500.

Beyond adding more towers, Cingular has two options here to beef up their network. The first would be to forcibly retire all TDMA phones and offer upgrades to GSM units, reclaiming the entire lower PCS band for GSM use. The other option would be for Cingular to make use of the emerging GSM-450 standard.

AT&T Wireless was already working on ridding itself of TDMA phones by offering discounted upgrades on new phones. The carrot approach works well for the willing, with the stick reserved for the rest.

The GSM-450 option is a fantastic option out here in the west since it operates at 450.5-467.5Mhz, with extensions into 479-496MHz. Lower frequency means increased range. The problem is that spectrum is reserved by the FCC, with the lower GSM-450 band mainly used by both analog public land mobile transmitters & repeater stations, and the higher band used by analog UHF-TV stations 15-18. The higher band will be available sometime after 2007 when the FCC halts transmission of legacy TV broadcasts.