Elliott C. Back: Technology FTW!

Cingular Online really SUCKS

Posted in Law by Elliott Back on July 8th, 2005.

Let me tell you about my epxerience with Cingular online. Since I went about 100 minutes over last month and had a $100+ phone bill, I wanted to upgrade to the $39.99 plan online. Their systems were kind enough to tell me:

260 - We’re sorry, but we are experiencing a temporary system error that prevents us from retrieving your account information. Please wait a few moments and try again.

Wonderful. So, I then called their 1-800 number and tried to get a customer service rep on the line. I followed the voice prompts and was told:

We’re sorry, this number is no longer in service…

I then called Cingular / ATT again, and hit 0 to speak immediately to an operator. They set up the new plan, and then told me it would take effect in 1 month, because otherwise I’d have to pay a pro-rated amount for overlapping service on the old plan. Whaaaaaat?? I might get off Cingular when my contract is up.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 8th, 2005 at 6:17 pm and is tagged with customer service rep, cingular, system error, few moments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

Viewing 30 Comments

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    We get the error 260 a lot with our Cingular plans on their website.

    Oh, and whenever we click "Contact" it goes to a page telling us to login... which we do, click "Contact" again, and get told to login again. Argh!

    Better than Sprint, at least.

    p.s. just saw the new site design - looks nice!
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    Yeah, that website is horrible. I go to log on, it asks for my email to add it to my account. Then it says that failed "due to some error". Then I get it, and click "view my bill" and it takes me to log in again. So I try the whole cycle again and the same thing. Then I go to customer service to contact them, and I have to freaking log in to send them an email... AARRGGHH...
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    WELL LET ME TELL YOU CINGULAR IS NOT WHAT IT'S CRACKED UP TO BE
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    CINGULAR IS THE MOST UNETHICAL COMPANY IN EXISTENCE
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    i can log into the website with no problems... once i get in though i cant find what im looking for and end up completely lost, until i give up and call customer service, which is an even bigger joke then that stupid website!!!
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    Hey Everyone,

    I work for Cingular Wireless, And Im not bashing anyone. Im in between basically. Yes Im a Customer Service Rep. Cingular does have bad things about them, Holy Crap YES. And alot of other companies do too. Im not coming to this site to complain about customers, because I know how frusterating it is when no one listens and helps you out...when you need help the most. Now Im probebly leaving the company soon unfortunatly. But Hey I have nothing better to do I guess. If you have any questions about Cingular Wireless or your service....Just ask. (the only thing I wont be able to do is change account information for you unless you call us at 1-800-331-0500....sorry). Bashing Cingular and Cingular Reps are ok to email. But I'll just laugh about it. Im just here to try to help some people out. I can also provided you with Numbers of dept's because there inbedded in my head :P. Hope to hear your questions or concerns soon. If I even make someones day alittle better thats awsome.. Email me w/ any questions cingular.rep@Hotmail.com
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    so, i see a lot of you people here bitching about your cell phone problems with cingular. having worked as call rep for them for several years, i can definitely appreciate what you're saying. unfortunately, cingular heiarchy doesn't give it's employees any leeway to make reasonable adjustments. things, they say, have to be done by the book, or you are in jeopardy of losing your job.

    so, what else did you expect? does a corporation have a soul or a heart? absolutely not! they are concerned merely with pursuing the allmighty buck in the quickest manner possible. the larger the profits, the larger the vp's and ceo's bonuses are. that's corporate America. we see it every day, but we don't have to necessarily like it.

    now cingular who is the largest cell phone service company in the world is still ranked 4th in customer service. and what's even funnier, they haven't a real inkling why. the key word there is customer service. cingular has no real accurate or thorough database of all of its internal department phone numbers so that their employees can make certain people's calls get routed to the right department. their customer service people besides lacking sufficient training and supervision have no decent list of phone numbers, so they just transfer everyone to credit and activations or to analyst review depts, who in turn, transfer them back to customer service again. then on top of that agents receive little or no training, or else they just don't gave a shit cause they don't plan on being there long anyway, and they have one phone number in their head and refuse to keep any kind of decent phone contact lists. it is a horrific mess. you would think that a phone company of all people could keep a decent contact list and train their personnel on exactly what department does what. not so!

    then on top of that, you are expected to get all customers off the phone asap, but be cheerful while you're being cussed out over a disconnect, or being screamed at by some deadbeat who has to pay a $750 deposit to get a phone (even though he's never paid a bill on time in his life).

    you have no idea just how bad it really is. you are just skimming the surface of cingular's problems.

    i, for one, after all this time think it's hopeless. cingular's glaring bad decisions are ultimately going to drive a potentially good company straight into the ground, simply because they have no clue about the inner workings of customer service and what it actually takes to achieve it.

    sad...
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    Ahhh welcome to the pain that is my happy crappy cingular phone. Now I rescently bought a new phone (okay my mother bought it for me, so whatever) and when i tried to get onto the internet to buy a rintone, it wouldnt play the ring tone. And if you try and buy anywhere else you get a virus. I hate them really. Itsh ard to read, the directions that is, and its hard to understand wtf us up with it. So frustrated.
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    Oh and it cost two dollars for two lines and i didnt want to but it but it bougght it anyways. I am sorrowful inside.
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    I agree, beware of Cingular on-line. I have spent the last hour trying to upgrade my phone and plan, but after I give my credit card and everything, it won't finish the transaction. The page just won't load. Maybe they don't want to keep me as a customer, because I've never gone over my minutes in four years. So I'm like a credit-card customer who never incurs a finance charge.
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    Cingular REALLY REALLY sucks. On 8/31 I upgraded my plan from 1000 min to 4000 min/month, added 3.99/mo Canada calling and upgraded messaging. The CS Rep 1 gave me a conf number, got her name, location. Next month I get a $1400 bill. I'm still on the 1000 min plan, but the other two changes were made. Called again and spoke to CS2 to dispute the bill, noting CS2 name, location etc. She said, yes CS1 had documented all 3 changes and there would be an adjustment. Called back in one week, spoke to CS3 who said the adjustment was denied. CS2 had filled the paperwork out incorrectly. CS3 refilled out paperwork, correctly.... SURE??? Got an email back today. Denied again. Will filing with FCC help? A congressman, bill oreily... anyone.....??? I'm a single mom. Anyone have a suggestion?
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    Well let me start off by saying that I am sorry for all the inconvienence you guys were put through. If you are ever having problems upgrading online, give customer service a call and we will transfer you to the dept that handles online upgrades and new activations. Also for those who are trying to pay their bill online, you have the option to pay over the phone without speaking to a live person. You do this by dial *PAY on your cell phone and for those who use the website to check their balance and their minutes, you can also do this by dialing *225# (Acct Balance) and *646# (Minute Checker) this way you do not have to call customer service or get online to find out this information. And for the lady with the rate plan issue, if you call customer service, I would recommend that you speak with a supervisor to see why the adjustment was denied. Sometimes the adjustments are denied because there may be some information missing on the form that should have been added.
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    I think you're missing the point. The website doesn't work. It never works. Why can't a multi-zillion dollar company hire competent web designers?

    You don't see this happening with Amazon. You place an order. The order arrives. With Cingular, half the time you can't log in, and then it does ridiculous things like make you log in to get to customer service, but the log in page is broken, or you log in, click "contact us", then it says "log in for this", so you log in, and click "contact us" again, and then it asks again for the log in.

    The site is broken. It does not work. It is organized poorly, and doesn't work.

    Your "solution" is to call customer service. But as you can see above, customer service is often not any better and you have no record of your transactions. I would prefer to make changes on line where I can print and keep receipts.

    I have no beef with my service. I do get dropped calls now and then, but not enough to make me switch.

    I hate the website though. It is 100% flawed. Spend some money and get a real web designer to do the work.
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    I signed a 2 year contract with Cingular for a very specific reason; my girlfriend and wife-to-be also has Cingular. I wanted the free mobile-to-mobile calling. She is the ONLY person I call. Of course I have other calls sporadically, but those probably make up 5% or less of my total calls.

    Before going with Cingular, I researched and researched about mobile-to-mobile calling and how it is implemented toward your bill and if there were any stipulations. I did this because I absolutely knew there would be some type of problem. And there always is.

    Everything I've read and everyone I've spoken with (i.e. Cingular employees) assured me that it's simply free calling to people that use the same service.

    So I finally accepted an agreement with Cingular. 450 anytime minutes, 5000 nights/weekends. She has this same plan.

    A month later, my girlfriend and I both notice our nights/weekends rapidly diminishing and then finally running completely out. I called Cingular customer support and was told that there is, in fact, a stipulation to mobile-two-mobile calls. Rather than using the mobile-to-mobile function first, Cingular first uses your night/weekend minutes for calls to other Cingular customers. Then taps into your rollover minutes. Once both of those are exhausted, then and only then will the mobile-to-mobile function kick in.

    All I could say to myself was: WTF???

    Not only is that some of the silliest stuff I've ever heard, but this little clause isn't stated ANYWHERE.

    Right now I'm at a point where I am considering my options. Is there anything effective I can do that doesn't involve legal action?
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    I like to eat fish.
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    Thats cool. Do you like it better with Tartar Sauce, Cocktail Sauce, something else like Ketchup or do you eat it plain?
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    Pink Sunshine, how old are you and what are you doing tomorrow night?
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    Well, my girlfriend just got her bill and what's normally a $50ish bill is now about $1100.

    All her anytime minutes were used up with me, which we were led to believe would not happen. In turn, this caused all her other calls to be charged.
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    She lied, she was calling me.
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    Im dunno whats up with cingular, but just few months ago i bought a sony ericson. i dont remember what kind right now i have to look. it looks alike a digital camera and its black. i had it for about two months, and someone who couldnt afford to own a nice phone had to steal it from me. i report it lost to cingular. I had to pay a $75 fee to get a phone. Instead of getting my original phone. they sent me the Sony Ericson w600i. its a pretty good phone. but looks kinda cheezy. i rather have my old phone but they said they dont cover that phone they can only send me this one. i got the $39.99 month deal. my phone bill is suppose to be about $120 - $130. but it turns out that they sent me a bill that turn out to be $330 for what i dont know... and they also sent me another bill of $189.99 for my phone bill.. I have no clue what these bills mean cause it does not label why the bill is that much. It just says my name.. and total amout due. nothing els... when i try to log onto the site.. it wont accept my payments nor it would log onto my account...Ever since i turned to cingular my monthly bill have never been under $100 a month..

    I called them up and they kept me on hold for about half hour.. and i talked to someone who didnt know english... wtf.!. And whats with the roll over minutes? i keep going over mins everymonth but when i check my phone i only used about 300-400 mins a month on anytime mins...

    Turns out they said i used internet time.. even tho i didnt...and i went over mins by 51mins somehow.... but up to about $500 in phone bill.... thats too much... and the free cingular to cingular is free.. didnt turn out to be free... buts its alright i guess. cant do anything about it...
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    The moon is in the seventh house.
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    AzN, you sound like some kinda total idiot. I have your solution. Buy two paper cups and a string you fool.
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    well if you guys think cingular sucks, NEVER try alltel. I have had alltel for the last 2 years and it SUCKS ASS. They dont have enough towers so you almost never get service, and when you do almost every call you make is dropped at least once.

    I am almost done with this contract, and looking for a new carrier. Any suggestions as to who I should try?