Cingular Online really SUCKS
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.
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30 Responses to “Cingular Online really SUCKS”
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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!
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…
WELL LET ME TELL YOU CINGULAR IS NOT WHAT IT’S CRACKED UP TO BE
CINGULAR IS THE MOST UNETHICAL COMPANY IN EXISTENCE
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!!!
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 **** 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
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 **** 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…
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
I like to eat fish.
Thats cool. Do you like it better with Tartar Sauce, Cocktail Sauce, something else like Ketchup or do you eat it plain?
Pink Sunshine, how old are you and what are you doing tomorrow night?
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.
She lied, she was calling me.
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…
The moon is in the seventh house.
AzN, you sound like some kinda total idiot. I have your solution. Buy two paper cups and a string you fool.
well if you guys think cingular sucks, NEVER try alltel. I have had alltel for the last 2 years and it SUCKS ***. 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?
Dearest Alison,
Im not sure what you are talking about baby. I have Alltel and it so rocks. I used to have Sprint and they suck bigtime. Maybe you are just in a bad location or something. Good luck anyways. Oh btw, what time are we meeting at the Motel 6 tonight? Make sure you clean up a little better this time. I am very sensitive to smell and last time I had trouble blocking that out. I will bring the pizza you bring the dessert, he he.
Yep,,Cingular sucks. There website doesen’t even offer decent Customer support and there closed on Sunday nights lol, ok whatever. I don’t need lame forums I need somone with a IQ larger than my phone bill to tell me why my screen went blank on my phone!. Well unless these Reps speak freaking chinese I’ll never know because those fellas overseas are hard to get ahold of lol…
Howdey Folks- I am a new CSR for Cingular at the new call center in Albuq., and since I have three call centers under my belt- this should be- after I get it all in my head- a breeze- more or less, to be a top CSR helping folks resolve their issues. The reality is, that yes, the training is short and not sufficient, given the amount of info they need us all to have, and yes, corporate america is only after the dollar,; but the good news is- that if we as consumers want to have a better experience, guess what- we get to change our internal points of reference. Think with me- this life is not about the Dollar- no it’s not. What life is about is learning, many things, by which to enjoy and be supportive of, ourselves and others in life. Anyone wants to chat viz IM- add me to your IM service using awareness21@yahoo.com. If we connect, and we determine we want to chat more, I will give my phone and ISP email which I use more than I do yahoo. Good day Y’all,
William
Please, take my advice and GET OUT NOW! I had AWFUL service, so I cancelled.
*First Phone Call*
I spoke with this sickly sweet girl named Candy (what an appropriate name). I explained to Candy that my service was horrible and that I wasn’t getting voicemails or phone calls when I was in Jacksonville or Birmingham and seeing as I am there most of the time, that wasn’t going to work. I explained the whole someone trying to get in touch with me because they were having a baby and needed me to drive them to the hospital story… she said I could return the phone, no problemo. I was skeptical, and she didn’t seem to be playing with a full deck, so I called customer service about an hour later
*Second Phone Call*
I spoke with Vonnie, who had a had this deep, overly sexual voice. Maybe before Cingular customer service he had been a phone *** operator. Anyhow, I asked him to read back what Candy (I bet she spells it ‘Candi,’ she seemed like one of those)had noted on my account. He did and reiterated the fact that I would not be charged a dime. He just told me to go bring the phone to the Cingular store. So, after switching to Verizon (which is a million times better, I might add) I head to the store. And if you’ve ever been to a Cingular store (this one, being the epitome of the Cingular store experience) and dealt with those people, you know what kind of torture it is..
*Store Visit*
I go in the store and of course there is a wait and some of the "customer service" agents sitting around doing nothing. After watching some poor old man get suckered into buying the latest and greatest phone because his phone had stopped working and knowing that he will never use 75% of the features that phone has on it, it was my turn… I get this little ray of sunshine named Julie. Let’s just say customer service is not her forte… I’m not really sure what is, but since I try to see the good in everyone, I will assume there’s something positive about this woman tucked away somewhere. Anyhow, I tell her I have cancelled my service, and that’s when the claws came out. She grabbed the phone from me and dismantles it. She shows me this little red dot and claims that the phone had ‘water damage.’ I have had a phone take a bath before, and I would have known if my phone had been submerged in water. How am I to know she didn’t lick her finger and touch the damn little dot herself? (Trust me, I wouldn’t put it past these people). So after explaining that no, I had no idea that dot was there and no, I was not aware my phone went for a swim (that dot could have been red from day one, I wouldn’t have known), I was told I couldn’t get my money back, but that I was "one lucky little girl for not being charged anything." Julie is lucky she still has a job after calling me "one lucky little girl." But it’s fine, as long as I never have to deal with you people again… my Verizon phone rings (it’s my Daddy) and as I get up and walk at the door, free of the Cingular bondage, I tell him what FANTASTIC service I am getting with Verizon and how wonderful my phone is…
*Three Months Later*
I get online, pay some bills, and check my account balance… overdrawn by 80 bucks. After having a minor panic attack, I call Suntrust to find out what a mysterious $233 charge on my account is… my jaw hits the floor when they tell me Cingular. At this point, I am madder than hell, but have to wait ’til the next day to call them. I call and speak to Erica, a nice woman, kind of plain, probably lives alone with 15 cats and likes to cross stitch trite sayings on pillows, of which she has about 100. She tells me she will call the Cingular store and get back with me. I am doubtful I will ever hear from Erica again, but I let it go. I call this morning and speak with Yvette (which happens to be the name of the claims adjuster who was fired for not handling my car accident case in a timely manner… just my luck). Oh, let me tell you, Yvette is a real GEM. She tells me that the charge is for ‘liquefied damages.’ Kinda obscure, don’t you think? Well I did, so I asked her to explain to me in detail what these charges were for, exactly… she then tells me that ‘liquefied damages’ mean that the phone CAME INTO CONTACT WITH LIQUID. Well, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I decided that explaining what liquefied damages really means would be a lost cause and resorted to beating my head against a wall, which is probably more productive. Next, I ask her to remove my bank account information from their computer system. She tells me that’s not allowed, which bought her a front and center ticket to hell hath no fury like Rachel. I explained to her that I supplied Cingular that information and she WILL remove it at my request or I will have her job by 5 p.m. today (it had some colorful language and embellishments that I will refrain from repeating, after all, I am a lady). Well, apparently she heard that little message loud and clear and took my account information off. She said that someone would call me back today about the matter (they better). I asked her for copies of all information about my account, and she told me I had to have a subpoena to obtain such records (odd, that I can’t have records on my OWN account?)
Whatever happened to the customer comes first?
Or is right for that matter…
I imagine that in hell the only cell phone service provider is Cingular, which makes hell an even more frightening concept than I ever imagined…
How does one little person stand up for herself against the mass conglomerate (dare I say monopoly?) that is Cingular, AT&T, and Bellsouth?
I suppose I will await my phone call from the always delightful Erica.
I’ve had some bad CS from Cingular and excessive billing statements. AND when I try to correct my over billing its still EXCESSIVE compare to what it should be 200+ compare to the original $80. I would also like to note that Cingular’s Blackberry tether Internet plan for 74.99 is as bad as Dialup in speed and for simple websites(dell.com, ibm.com, wellsfargo.com) the internet DOESNT WORK. Suppously I’m at 115.2KBps but it REALLY be about 10KBps. My personal favorite memory is when i paid my bill at the cingular store with a credit card and the next billing statement stated that i own them a 0.01, a penny, from the last month. They denied that they did anything wrong, or that it doesnt make SENSE, lucky i found the recipe.
Lets go over again whats wrong with Cingular Wireless…
- Poor Customer Support(45 minute waits for 2 minute answers)
- Excessive Billing(lawsuit waiting to happen)
- Internet tether is fraudulently stating internet speeds(lawsuit waiting to happen)
- Cingular is in DENIAL of any wrong doing( emotional problems lol)
BTW, T-mobile has unlimited full internet on their Sidekicks for only $30 bucks a month with optional minutes. Cinuglar its $50 for Blackberry plus a mandated calling plan, easily combine cost of $120.
Don’t go with Cinuglar. I rather have a few dropped calls, which happens to every network. I said my peace.
You all sound like a bunch of babies. I would still like to see this pink sunshine chick, she sounds hot. Rachel would probably talk the whole time we were at it.
Rachel is why us decent folk can’t get good customer service. Being a customer service rep myself, if someone dunked their phone in the toilet and then had the audacity to think her ex-customer self was able to threaten my job, I would promptly re-activate her account on the spot adding all the features, including some that were redundant.
Anyways, after reading this entire pitiful thread, I think people are missing a fundamental point that is being made. DO NOT sign contacts people! Period! Anytime you’re doing business as an individual and are:
a) asked to sign a contact
b) forced to let someone auto-draft from your bank account
… you are guaranteed to get screwed. Especially the b) point. If you don’t have the gumption to write a check every month then you are too dangerous to be in command of a debit card anyways. Just give up.
As for point a), when you go to a restaraunt, do they make you sign a contact saying you will come there and eat $80 worth of food every month whether you’re hungry or not, whether the food sucks or not, or whether they treat you like ****? That would be absurd wouldn’t it? All the other point-of-purchase retailers put their reputation on the line with every single contact they have with you. If a restaraunt serves you crappy food, they know it might be the last meal they ever serve you. Companies that use contracts aren’t bound by these rules, and why should they be? They only need to maintain quality of service up to the point where you sign the contract, then you languish for TWO years (you idiots). Speaking of that, think about it… TWO YEARS. Whats so special about their chinese trinket cell phones (purchased by them for about $12 in bulk) that allows them to lure suckers in for TWO YEARS and thousands of dollars just you can gab on the phone while taking a **** or driving a car? People are pitiful.
My advice, get a PRE-PAID cell phone. $20 at Best Buy, and just as long as you use a little discretion (i.e. use your home phone when at home, even if you are inconvenienced with a 10 foot walk across the living room to pick it up) it will cost you much less. PLUS, since the phones are $20 and there’s no contacts, they actually work at keeping you as a customer. You can walk away from one of these phones if you receive bad service.