digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About

Cingular accused of deceiving customers

news.yahoo.com — Cingular Wireless Corp. promised to provide uninterrupted service to AT&T Wireless customers when it acquired that company in 2004, but instead it nickel-and-dimed them and degraded their reception in an effort to persuade them to sign new contracts, a federal lawsuit said Thursday.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 9, 2006

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

71 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • carpespasm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21hell, i'll accuse all of the damn US providers of this. none of them stand out in my mind as being a champion of not screwing their customers
  • PunkRampant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Yeah but this one had a better headline that caught my attention.

    Oh. Um.
  • tendonut, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14I have had some of the WORST luck with Cingular since the merger. I've been a cingular customer for over 6 years now, and ever since the merger with AT&T, my signal quality has dropped to the point that parts of my city are blacked out, and my house is totally dead. This was NEVER a problem before. Not just me, but every Cingular customer I know is complaining. As soon as the "Fewest dropped calls" ads started airing, I WATCH my phone (and my entire families) just randomly drop signal entirely when it used to never do that at all. Also, in a small town just below a huge cliff about 10 minutes from me, they have removed a cingular tower to use a cheaper one on the top of the cliff. So what happens now? The entire town is in the footprint of the cliff and can no longer get service. What does Cingular say to the people in that town who are under contract? Tough *****. Don't you love big business?
  • Sp4nk, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14*****. I never had problems with AT&T. My phone was cheap and my service area never dropped my calls. When Cingular took over, they constantly screwed up my billing, changed my plan without my knowledge or consent, and every single time I tried to call them to resolve the issue, NOTHING would get done. In addition, their Web site was absolutely useless for automated or online payments because it didn't support anyone who was from AT&T.

    I eventually shelled out the bones for the cancellation fee to drop them and be done with it.
  • mbthompson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I was a "Blue" customer and unfortunately can pretty much back up every claim made. Truly sad state of affairs. I got burned pretty bad and I will never go back to Cingular. I just hope I get a piece of them in the class action law suit. With this many people pissed off, it could actually bring them down. MCI/Worldcom anyone?
  • Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10What's funny is that I live in an area that Cingular doesn't support, but I get better (and cheaper) phone service through Cingular than most people around here get from the local companies. On the other hand, my parents got dinged in this AT&T-to-Cingular fiasco. YMMV.
  • shaolinpunks, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9it was a worse network.
    phones better yes since they stopped producing any new att phone back in november of 2004.
    but no the network was worse on the cingular side.
  • shaolinpunks, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9the blue side always had better reception than the orange side.
    but then they forced customers to migrate to the orange side if they wanted a new phone or to change there plans.
    the initial "new" sim cards (when the company first merged) they stated would allow your phone to pick up either a blue or orange tower depending on what had better reception was a lie.
    the new sim cards would only pick up orange then if they couldn't find any towers would it THEN search for a blue tower.
    not what they would tell the customers...
  • ImaLamer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I seem to remember a time when "Wireless" was going to mean no contracts, crystal clear service and pennies a minute usage rates.

    I once had that with GTE Wireless, alas, that day is gone. Now it seems the old Cellular companies turned into Digital companies and took us back to 1996. Unreliable service, service contracts and the need to buy thousands of minutes to get a bargain.

    Welcome back Ameritech... oh wait, they are still around aren't they? SBC!!!

    Ahhh!

  • onefix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6You know what's really funny? Ever since Cingular bought AT&T, the great plans have gone away...I hate to say it, but I almost think AT&T was driving the market...I know I'm not alone in the fact that I still have an AT&T TDMA contract...and I pay less than $50 per month...to get a similar plan with Cingular, it is going to cost over $70 per month...one of the stupid things that happened in the industry was taking away the free incoming text messages...this is a step backwards...aren't plans supposed to get BETTER???

    I could really care less about a "free phone"...give me a better plan...I'll pay for the phone...
  • emil1212, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I am a contractor for Cingular, and what they are doing now is keeping certain cell sites open (and closing down others)in order to have less interfearence between handoffs and such(less dropped calls basically). They are phasing out TDMA and soon to be rolling out UMTS nationwide. I don't mean to sound like a Cingular ass-kisser (we all know their customer service sux), but they are trying to have the best GSM network out there. If that means dumping yer TDMA phone, get witthe program, cause it was bound to happen with any carrier.

    I was also a Blue customer and "transferred" to Orange with no activation fee and any hassles. Just some of my experiences.
  • Philbert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I have a bit of a problem with Cingular myself currently. .I was out of work for a while and my account got cancelled and went to a collection agency. I paid it all off months ago but when I recently wanted to get it set up again I was told I still owed $80 and they wanted a $150-200 deposit. I told them "no thanks, I don't need a cell phone that badly".
  • jsg7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I had the same problem in terms of the phone. I originally bought a Suncomm phone, which then became AT&T Wireless, and then Cingular. I started having problems with my phone at some point after it became Cingular.

    I never had any problems with billing, but the phone was a major issue. I had unlimited incomming calls so when Cingular said I couldn't keep my original plan if I upgraded my phone, I just switched to Sprint. Couldn't be happier...
  • furo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I know Cingular manipulates things. I recently moved and went with a prepaid phone to get me by. As it happens, it utilizes Cingular's network. There is a tower literally less than 300 yards from where I sit, and I know for a fact it carries Cingular. I miss calls regularly, at all times of the day, see delays in text messages, and the reception is truly pretty pethetic. My girlfriend and I called each other and the reception was crap. Now, given the proximity to the tower, there is only one explanation... intentional degrading of service that isn't directly under their contract. Since it's prepaid, they still get their money and are isolated from backlash.

    -Furo
  • mdarby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3After the switch I never received a bill that was correct. Every bill was at least $100 to $1000 dollars more than it should have been. Every month I would have to call them, politely yet sternly speak to some poor soul until they fixed it. I finally had enough and cancelled my two lines for $300. I was so mad with them, I paid $100 a month on the cancellation charges. By the third month ($100 left on the balance), they had sent my account to a collection agency.
  • Hypermarkalan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3To the guy who said "get witthe [sic] program" in reference to sticking with TDMA phones: I got with the program and bought a great Nokia GSM phone that worked fantastic with AT&T. Now, after the merger, it drops in places where I had previously experienced perfect reception. I was even so happy with the service I convinced my then fiancé to switch from Verizon to AT&T. Then the merger occurs and BOTH of our GSM phones suddenly began performing only slightly better than a phone on AMPS.

    So don't go off spouting that we need to get with the program, because we did. Only to realize later that the program was one designed to sound good in theory but screw us in practice.
  • rfunches, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Cingular has always had signal problems for everyone I've known (including my parents and I) and their current campaign of "fewest dropped calls" is a joke. I switched to Sprint several months before my Cingular contract ended to see how both networks performed, and basically anywhere Cingular's network couldn't pick up a signal, I would get on on Sprint's network. Even when on one or two bars I can hold a clear call with Sprint -- which has yet to drop any of my calls -- so needless to say I brought my parents over to Sprint when our contract ended.

    We had been longtime customers of Cingular (before that, CellularOne) and customer service promised us for years that they were in the process of upgrading their network in our area and we would get better service. For the person who said that Cingular was trying to have the best GSM network out there, according to their reps they've been working on it for years and years, and I call pipe dream on it.
  • billyliberty, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Customer service representatives don't have the ability to chnage the name, it's true. However, call 611 again about the caller ID thing. Ask to speak with technical support. Be firm, but polite and a ticket will be submitted that will change your display per your request.

    Also, regarding your billing thing, Cingular recently changed their billing system to the old CACS-T system from AT&T Wireless. (Ask a representative next time, they've been instructed to tell you it's an "upgrade" to your account.) It's changing market by market and essentially intensifies the collections treatment for accounts. You used to be able to call up Cingular and be given a specific date when the invoice absolutely had to be paid by. That is going away. Cingular is moving to a system that assigns suspension dates based upon payment history, tenure, et cetera when determining when to shut your phone off. That suspension date is only known by the whims of the system (within a few days or so). Your "Blue" history is irrelevant to this equation.

    While Cingular adopted the collections system from AT&T Wireless, they did not adopt their more lenient payment due dates. Your invoice can still be due about 14 days from the day it was created with an additional 5 to 10 days before a late fee is assessed. Really not enough time to mail a physical payment. (Though who uses checks, right?)

    As an aside, if the issue of losing any accumulated "Rollover" minutes on account of a price plan change occurs, raise hell (politely, of course) and minutes can be added back. It all depends on the representative that you reach, however. They are under strict guidelines to not go over around 7 minutes average per call. Along with other metrics, their respective jobs depend on getting you in and out as quickly as possible even if your issue may be unique and require some careful attention.

    Also, this is not meant to degrade Cingular alone. As previously stated, all wireless companies are guilty of the same crimes. They continually changed policies and adopt disreputable practices (charges for incoming text messages? ring tones?) to maximize profit. This wouldn't be such an issue, but at the same time they're attempting to eliminate any threat of competition at the federal and state level through incredible donations to Congressmen. Honestly, do you think we'll ever see anything like WIMAX (or equivalent)? Public Wi-Fi? Right.

    As always, READ YOUR BILL. You most likely do not need Roadside Assistance or other such services which are always added at the beginning of your service.

  • Avengelist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I was working in one of the outsourced Canadian call centers (as an email rep - remember those canned emails you received? That was me.) at the time of the switchover - we were explicitly told to try to get AT&T Wireless customers (both TDMA and GSM) near the end of their contract to sign a new one with Cingular, and to at least make an attempt to get new contracts out of everyone.

    They even instituted an employee rewards program, where you got "bonus points" for new contracts. You were penalized if you didn't make the offer of a new contact - it was a requirement on every call.

    AT&T was always trying to get their TDMA customers to switch to GSM; even before the merger. The service degradation was occurring before the merger, and ramped up after. It was mainly in areas of overlap in network, not everywhere. As the GSM coverage expanded, the TDMA was reduced.
    We were to position it as a "network upgrade", as in, "Look, Cingular has better signal in your area. If you take this new contract and this cheesy phone, you can get this better signal."

    I no longer work there (my outsourced to Canada email position was re-outsourced to India) so I can't speak much for the current state of affairs, but back then - it was horrible, for reps and customers.
  • Ceadda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Or, you could read the stupid terms of service, and realize the go phone does NOT use cingular's network. It uses at&t and only towers that support the old at&t phones will work.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Cingular also never changed my mailing address (after notifying them 5 times) and I was sent a sleeper bill for $45 dollars that went 'unpaid' (though I pay for all my bills online) while changing over from ATT to Cingular so I ended up with a $128 bill that had me harassed through a collections agency


    I do like the serivce to be honest, but that is the only thing that has me steamed.
  • carpespasm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"hah, that guy doesn't have a camera/music/color/disco ball phone."?
  • budyhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2OMFG I knew I was getting screwed, I signed up with AT&T back in 2004 right before the merger, ever since the merger I have been unable to make a call, or to talk for more than 15 mins before the call gets dropped. I have 2 months left with this stupid contract, as soon as it ends I am gone.... fcuk cingular I WILL NEVER USE THEM AGAIN, AND I WILL TELL EVERYBODY I KNOW NOT TO USE THEM... the TDMA excuse is a bunch of nonsense, I have a GSM phone from my AT&T contract and I cant make calls anymore. fcuking *****... I HATE CINGULAR SO BADLY...
  • Dred, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have had Verizon for two years now, and I love it. I have excellent coverage no matter where I am in the U.S. I haven't had any billing issues and coverage like I did with Cingular. Cingular still keeps sending me bills. I tried for six months to resolve this issue, and they still haven't stopped.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Cingular is an evil, evil corporation. I can't wait until my contract is up with them.
  • deltavike, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Does anyone remember CellularOne? They changed their name to Cingular to overcome some of the heinous things they did to customers. Same tactics with a new name but people keep lining up for the cheap services.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Interesting

    If they are closing some towers down, what are they doing about compromising service for the persons whom had their respective towers turned off?
  • caresieb, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I was originally an ATT customer and I now HATE cingular, their stores are NO help when there is an issue and the plans are outrageous. We pay over 100 dollars a month for 2 phones on the cheapest family plan....
  • SwordofKahless, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Quite simply they should not have been switching people to GSM when there is no GSM service in those areas.

    Bottom line TDMA is great for rural reception and in areas where no GSM available. The only thing GSM is good for is to save the carrier money and for data.
  • jcidiotashram, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1with all the mergers and acquisition going on, i don't think there will be any company in the future who will drive the market with innovation in terms of service and quality. it is like those vicious cycle. two or three companies slowly taking over everything else, till the government gets in and breaks them again as per the monopolies act or something like that. i never tried cingular, but i had sprint, t-mobile and am a verizon customer now. my contract ended long time back, and i get all the correspondence and sweet deals in the mails if i renew my contract. before reading this article i had cingular in my mind and now heck no.
  • PhillyMJS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm not a fan of Cingular, either. I left them for AT&T Wireless back in 2001, because they kept messing up my billing. They were supposed to automatically bill my (perfectly valid, non-expired) credit card every month, but they would not. And then they would ding me for late fees for nonpayment. I kept having to call them up and get it fixed. After the third time, I jumped online and ordered a phone and plan from AT&T Wireless, and called Cingular to cancel my service with them.

    I was not happy when I became their customer again, but so far they haven't screwed anything up. Of course, I haven't had to make any changes to my service or anything to really give them a chance.

    ~Philly
  • ziggystardust, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1All these horror stories about Cingular are what I went through with Verizon. I switched to Cingular and have never had a problem in the past 2 years.
  • rkuchiki, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Not really related to the article, but related to Cingular. Their login page has been busted for quite a while now. "L115: 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."

    I'd expect if they want us to pay for the service they might better fix this "temporary" problem that has been going on for over two weeks.

    I'm starting to regret getting Cingular.
  • coniglietta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is totally true, Infact I wored for cingular and our official response was suppose to be that because we had purchased at&t the contracts that at&t had with other wireless providers for leasing their TDMA towers had gone away. Only to find out a few months later that Cingular was infact migrating at&t towers over to GSM technology and reducting the amount of operational TDMA towers to just a handful.. Just enough to keep service to customers so they could not escape their contracts through loopholes.

    At one point at&t before the sale / merger was making a customer grab by offering a free wireless phone upgrade every year for a contract renewal. Which would have been good but it actually turns out they were just sweetning the pot for Cingular to step in. Now when those people came to 1yr of service they were given the option to recieve a free phone. That phone usually being a TDMA phone unable to recieve decent service because of the tower switch. Or the cheapest POS GSM phone we could give them meaning singal band nokia that they could get average service on (and by that time the average was pure ____). The only catch, you have to sign up for a contract renewal with cingular and lose any promotions that you had recieved over the years of loyalty with at&t. To make matters worse Cingular was offering different rate plans to the migrations.

    This is the hell I went through from the customer care perspective, and you may not believe it but I felt really bad for our old at&t customers as Cingular was not even supplying vaseline.

    http://makebusy.blogspot.com
  • mbthompson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1POTS= Plain Old Telephone Service (in case anybody didn't know that)
  • moondew, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I still have four AT&T phones and have had no problems at all. They never even try to get me to convert to new contracts.
  • Dropscience, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yea they also told me i could get unlimited internet via my PDA with the unlimited media net plan, instead, they deicided to drop a 250.00 charge on me, luckily cingular is a understanding company...including when they give me a warranty exchage on a phone i got from ebay!
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I had ATT.... my phone broke and I couldn't get a new one because "att wasn't cingular" so cingular wouldn't give me a new phone... so finally i almost wanted to upgrade with a "new cusomter" plan...but i couldn't...because "att was cingular"...i was an ATT customer...and I was a bastard child of the cellphone industry...when it helped them i was cingular...when it helped them i was att...bastards.
  • DaveMode, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Switching my service from AT&T to Cingular was without a doubt the single most painful customer service experience in my life. I'll personally be looking for any opportunity in joining a class action suit.
  • askheaves, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1After Cingular bought out AT&T, I found that I was no longer able to alter my plan. This has left me stuck with a $12 per month charge for data access that I no longer use. I can't increase or decrease my minutes at will. I called them up and found that I'd lose my nights and weekends if I altered my plan since they were originally 'promotional.' My only real option would be to buy a new cell phone and switch to Cingular. That's really really bogus.
  • tendonut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In response to the people who complain about Cingular Billing, ever get a bill for $12,000? Problem started last February where we never got a bill. Not doing the traditional "no bill, no pay" crap that people pull, I went and paid my bill for the normal price on the normal due date. The next month, I get a double bill, but still shows that I made the payment. But what is strange, is this bill says it was due one month ago. So I go to Cingular (their store is USELESS) and explain the problem, and they of course just tell me to pay the bill and be done with it. I refuse, pay the regular bill on the regular day and continue. Now I know this is not an overage, since the reason for the high bill according to the Cingular people was I went over in text messages coming from my brothers phone (we are on a family talk plan). He has NO SCREEN on his phone! It broke last year, so how did he manage to send 2000 text messages? Also, according to the bill, customer service, the kiosk and the people at the store, no one could give me the exact total I owed. Each would come up with a totally different price, all WAY over the normal bill. So I go home, and start to get angry with customer service. Finally, after trying for 3 days, I get ahold of someone and says "ooh, there appears to be a billing problem. I'll take care of it" Of course, he didn't. 3 days later, I get a 2and bill. This one for double of my double bill (bringing it up to about $500. Says that the bill was due yesterday, but I just got it today. 2 Days later, I get a bill for $1,200 that says it was due back in December. Then the next day, a $5.000 bill. I am now like crying to one of my friends who I find out has connections at Cingular and would try to take care of it. The day before the normal due date for my bill, I get a bill for $12,000. They can just kiss my ass if they think I am going to pay for this.

    To wrap this up, it was all eventually taken care of and my normal bill of $124.87 (4 people on a family talk plan) was returned. What the problem was, was they were billing me for the 800 minutes I paid for as if they were paid for by the minute, regardless if I used them or not, then billed me for the minutes I used out of the 800, then billed me for all texts sent (I have 200 or so I prepay for) billed me for all the rollover minutes I've accumulated over the past year, the mobile-to-mobile minutes, the night and weekend minutes, EVERYTHING. They basically charged me for every minute I used and every minute I was entitled to. And the people at the store still think I pulled a fast one to avoid paying overages when I told them what the problem REALLY was.
  • SwordofKahless, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If I had to take a guess I bet your travel all over North America was traveling from the Airport into and around-in the major city. Therefore not venturing too far away from their limited GSM coverage.
  • tendonut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Oh yes, and my text messages have been arriving a few days late. Me and my g/f would have a fight and after I stop talking to her, she continues to fight via text messages. So clearly, she gets a little pissed when I never respond because I never received them. Of course, 6 days later, my phone starts recieving texts like crazy until the phone memory fills up, and then I see why she was mad and what she was saying. Delayed text messages can hurt a relationship.
  • absurdist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Interesting. I guess I must be one of the half-dozen or so people in the country who has had no problems with Cingular. I travel all over North America and the world in my work, so I needed GSM. My plan was with ATT Wireless originally, when Cingular took them over I switched over to the Cingular network. I got the same plan for less money, a better phone, and much better coverage nationwide. The only other choice was T-Mobile, and frankly, their national coverage is a joke.
  • pyromonkey48, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I originally signed up with at&t and i didnt have a problem until they merged with cingular. I got horrible reception and overcharges were common every month. It was hell jus to get them to take them off. Cingular sucks. i switched to verizon and havent had a problem yet.
  • bigstinky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Count me as number 7. I held on to my ATT phone as long as I could until one day a billing issue occured. I told the rep that I would not be switching to Cingular once my two year had expired...(About a month from then). They put me through to a tier 2 rep and he offered at that point to switch me to Cingular. He then told me he would cut the $18 x 3 migration fee (I have a 3 phone contract), drop the early termination charges, send me 3 free motorola phones-(nice ones,) and knocked 100 bucks off the bill I owed. I was leery but he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Since then I have had zero problems and better yet, zero dropped calls. Granted, I live in a major city. My initial oncern with Cingular was their partnership with SBC. So far so good...Even the reps have been decent towards me and my "phonular" needs. The only issue I have is with the monthly bill. 120 bucks a month vs. $89 via my ATT plan...(with nights and weekends starting at 7).
  • IlDuce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1As a current Cingular employee, I can say that this is true. Starting about a year ago we turned down the AT&T network in an effort to force people off TDMA. My manager was told this by his boss, and relayed it to us. We've been telling customers this ever since.
  • sadecrvn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So why is anyone surprised? And WHY doesn't anyone see a link to the "net neutrality" story???
    Cell phones, POTS, cable systems, the internet... the DLC, the Republican Party. One ring to rule them all. One band of dark lords, the Illuminati. It's not like in the fantasies, so idiotarians say it's all just fantasy. And I'm sitting here watching the conclusion of SYRIANA, and wondering why don't more people gert it? Where does all this business about "any criticism of the US system means you hate America" come from? How stupid can people be?
  • vajra918, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Starting?
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 72 of 72 discussions

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.