What is Digg?Sponsored by Best Buy
Give a Genuine Gibson Guitar for $99 (Price, Not a Typo) view!
bestbuy.com - World-class starter guitar--sweet sound, killer craftsmanship and yeah, you read that price right.
155 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+45I am digging this simply for the satirical Cingular® logo on the page:
http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/images/screwcingularsmaller.jpg - sleze, on 10/12/2007, -6/+30Phone Contracts and extra "fees" should be outlawed. That said, I really like my cingular service(beats the pants off everyone in my area, service-wise).
- danobrien23, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22Still not as bad as Verizon ;)
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/51834 - sirloin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20maybe you should read that contract again before making comments like that.
The contract gives me the right to cancel hen they change rates for their service.. which includes TM since i do not have any tm plan and yet i get tms. Even unrequested ones. I understood this when i signed up. But I also understood the price of these tms and if that happens to change then the contract has as well.
If you read further, you can accept these changes simply by paying your bill. - f3l1x, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18What about how they charge you text message fees for AIM connections do not even use SMS. Cingular has thier phones locked to use thier wireless villiage server so that even if you DO get unlimited internet and you stup your GPRS text messaging etc, you still get charged SMS even if you have you phone setup to use other services. *****.
- jer2eydevil88, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14The reason this is ***** is that they charge for incoming text messages. This means that the increased rate will apply to those, so if your dick friends send you holiday greetings through a text you now have to pay extra for it. No choice to drop cingular because according to them this is an optional feature.
- IHaveIssues, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Dugg for "It's also a giant bologna train shoved up your ass."
- mt066, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12I don't think the text messages are "optional." First off, they're included in the plan when you order it, and they DO charge you for incoming messages (at least for me they do). You can cancel text messaging, but on Cingular's webpage there is a message that says if you do this, "Cingular cannot guaruntee all text messages will be blocked." So apparently, you could get into a situation where you're being charged for recieving them no matter what. So really theyre not optional even by their terms.......right??
- cawpin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11@955701 - Actually, you're wrong. The Cingular Terms Of Service, which I just read, say that you have the right to cancel without penalty if they change the rate for any service which you subscribe to. Since the ability to send/receive text messages is included by default on all Cingular contracts, you are subscribed if you have Cingular service. Therefor, you have the right to cancel without penalty.
- Jacob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11if You want out of a contract and you have free roaming it takes about 3 months but you should be good after that. Just change your phone to always use roaming never your services towers. They still have to pay to use the other towers but you don't so they end up loosing money over it. This is especially good in kentucky if you have anything but bluegrass mobile as they are supposed to be the worst.
- danobrien23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10so wait the onion isn't real??? so that picture they had of Deion Sanders intercepting an ICBM in outer space was photoshopped, cropped, and edited??? thanx donkey for the enlightenment ;) wink
- khag7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10The way I see it, one could argue the following:
"I signed up for Cingular because I liked the 10c PPU (pay-per-use) texting plan. Now that you've changed it, I no longer wish to use your service"
.
Would it be fair to charge that person an early termination fee since Cingular increased the price of PPU texting? I think not. PPU texting /is/ a service which one subscribes to. Its listed in my Cingular account right next to my 911 service, my voicemail service, my free nights and weekends service, and everything else. That is the list of all the features I get. And the thing about those features is, the price (monthly) for some of them is listed as "$0.00" so Cingular thinks that makes the service an extra perk of being their customer and that they can change it as they please. If they got rid of free nights and weekends, do you think people would let Cingular tell them "oh you don't subscribe to that its just like web access you /choose/ to use it and if we want to increase it from free to $50/second we can do that!"
.
If Cingular changes /anything/ about their pricing they are violating the contract because the texting and other features are part of the cell phone service. YES, you can opt out of them, but you can opt out of their other prepaid texting plans and everything else, so just because one can opt out (making it an OPTional service) doesn't mean they can change it as they please.
.
Their change is a violation of the contract. When I singed up for Cingular it was b/c of free voicemail, 10c PPU texting, $1 911 Service, 10c/kb Web Access, or whatever else. If they change those features, they are no longer providing what I signed up for and are thus violating the contract. If I accept the violations, fine, but if I don't, Cingular has to agree to drop the contract with me, with NO termination fee.
.
That's the answer, plain and simple. Theres not arguing about it, because its not opinion, its fact.
.
P.S. I use Cingular and like it just fine, but denying customers the right to drop contracts after they violate it upsets me. It reflects poorly on them and I have written to them to indicate my feelings about the matter. I suggest you all do the same. - scootinger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10The whole situation with text messaging is *****, plain and simple. They're increasing the rates from something that is way overpriced to begin with. Cingular sells phone Internet usage for 1 cent a kilobyte. But they charge 10 times more (wait now 15 times more) to send (or receive) a tiny piece of data that is probably less than half a kilobyte.
And initially when I got my phone with Cingular I said I wanted text messaging disabled. They did that for the most part but I was told they couldn't block it from everywhere. I do use text messaging some now but very rarely. - 4NDr01D, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Stop Paying 10c-15c a txt msg
EMAIL is FREE !
Carriers are dinosaurs, and their business plan deserves to die! - GraceMolloy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Having worked for both Cingular and Verizon both, I can say with full confidence, that I hope they both burn to the ***** ground.
If you can get a decent rep that has a clue you can get something done. Course you might as well try and make diamonds by sticking a lump of coal up your own ass.
I used to train managers at Verizon. The candidates were, less than stellar. - jeffness, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I get charged ten cents everytime someone sends me a text message, which is really frustrating. i get subject to the charge and i don't think i can turn off the ability to receive text messages.
- cmarticus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I had a phone I totally hated. The Samsung DS 807. My wife's worked fine everywhere it is a Sony. Anyway I have tried to change phones or get out of my contract before with no luck. I used this to my advantage. I called the Cingular 800 number to cancel my service. I read them the text from the contract. "IF WE INCREASE THE PRICE OF ANY OF THE SERVICES TO WHICH YOU SUBSCRIBE... YOU MAY TERMINATE THIS AGREEMENT WITHOUT PAYING AN EARLY TERMINATION FEE... PROVIDED YOUR NOTICE OF TERMINATION IS DELIVERED TO US WITHIN THIRTY (30) DAYS AFTER THE FIRST BILL REFLECTING THE CHANGE." They where like i don't think so sir. They then put me on hold for a half hour. When she came back I'm like look I'm really just not satisfied with the phone reception and call quality. I wanted to get a Blackjack. They offered to get me a blackjack for $99. They ended up giving me a $100 credit to my account and enabling my phone to be updated a year early. I went to a smart wireless store and traded in my old phone they gave me $125. The phone i bought the 8125 PDA had a $100 rebate. With the Credit, the rebate, and the trade in i paid $16 for the 8125. I love this phone :). They will let you out and if you don't want out they will do what they can to retain you. I was very happy with the situation at the end. If you use their rules against them and play their game you can win :).
- baxtermaddux, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"Texting is an asinine practice anyway."
no its not. a lot of people are really bad about answering their phones, but will often reply to a text right away. they just loathe small talk i guess. - jeffness, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Cingular's interpretation of contract law is grossly mistaken besides just this. For instance, did you know that in contract law, penalties for breaking said contract need to be representative of the timing and severity of the breach?
That means that their whole "$150 penalty for breaking the contract, even if you do it 1 month before it's up" would fail in any court case. If you build penalties into the contract, you can't hold the signor to actually paying absurd penalties that aren't representative of the actual breach.. but cingular gets away with it all the time because who's going to ***** around with a bigass cell phone company who can just abuse your rights and ignore the law? - doubleblack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I had a lady from Cingular tell me that they can do whatever they want, and change whatever they want in the contracts because it says "Cingular may change these terms at anytime" so I asked her if Cingular all of a sudden decided to make my plan $10,000 a month they could do that, and I'm legally obligated to pay?
Yes sir, that's correct.
Cingular Customer Service employees are special ed students, and the company is run by monkeys! - Matt2k, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Yeah, I'll just drive out to Kentucky and live there for three months. That sounds a *lot* easier. THANKS!!
- The_Wallbanger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Here's the thing. If Cingular raised their price per minute you would expect to be allowed to bow out of the contract. The only difference with text messaging is they bill you per use, and not per minute. Text messaging is not an "option" to use as Cingular would have it. It's a advertised alternative to using an allocated voice-minute. Change the price and they changed your plan. You should be allowed to leave.
- waxpoet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5omg, griz. exactly how long have you worked for Cingular and how much does your job suck?
- aegis9975, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Fee increases are NOT part of the contract, from the basic fact that you sign a contract in agreement for a specific payment and contract length. Allowing phone companies to arbitrarily increase phone rates of people under contract is ridiculous, if you do not agree with the new rate it should be your right to leave the contract and not get stuck paying it for the remainder of the term at a price you did not originally agree to.
Also, Cingulair not allowing customers to leave because they consider text-messaging "optional" is BS, the linked article makes good points regarding this issue.
From article:
"Text-messaging is not an optional service. Cingular phones are set to receive text-messages by default. It's only optional If a user has a text-message plan or blocks text-messages. Only then have they exercised a choice." - Novagenesis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Except, you're refusing to pay for text messages.
That does not invalidate the contract on your end. If they have a problem, they cancel it and suck the costs.
You simply Dispute all text charges, put in writing that you will. If they complain, dispute all the charges, totally and stop using the phone. You cannot be charged for a service you refuse to receive. Yes, they can win a case against you because they have money, but they have to waste it.
If everyone who turns off text messages starts disputing the charges when the happens, Cingular won't be -able- to sue everyone... ditto if everyone start cancelling their phones with the price change, and disputes the cancellation fee.
It's illegal to report a disputed debt to a credit bureau...you can put in writing that they are not to contact you... That leaves them with only one outlet. Suing.
If enough people dispute these charges, suing won't be an option. They can't collect court costs with any half-decent judge if the situation is that against their favor, even if they can buy a few verdicts.
People have to stop being afraid of the law and use it in droves against big companies. It's not worth it to Cingular to sue everyone who has a problem with their illegal plan changes. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9Geez, A typo classifies you as Retarded now. Wow
oh im sorry....
Jees a tiepo calassifes u are reaetared woon now - theonesteve, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6@Embrace
Not only do typos classify you as retarded, but randomly capitalizing words in the middle of a sentence does too. - wilf_brim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Text messaging IS part of the contract. If you don't subscribe to any media plan, right there on the bill AND IN THE CONTRACT are the words: "Text messaging, $0.10 per message". I don't see how they can twist things to say that this is "not part of the contact". I smell a class action lawsuit. For which some lawyer is going to get $1.5 mil for about 4 months work, and I (and a bunch of you , I bet) will get a coupon for $5 off the next Cingular phone purchase worth $150 or more.
- xevidentx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@ suprchunk you are a complete moron with no sense of humor, STFU
- shredomatic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Damn, and here I was hoping I could get out of my contract. Oh well, this isn't going to stop me from trying.
- dhulser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@jeffness
yes you can. call them, ask to block texting... i know plenty of people that have done it... - bmonet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@involution
Bologna is an italian word. The italians pronounce gn like we pronounce ny (canyon).
Another example of the gn=ny:
Gnocchi
(pronounced ny-ohc-kee)
I guess this doesn't really make too much sense considering Bologna sausage is not really Italian, but rather an American version of the Italian mortadella. - Hardcase, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's your lucky day!!!
http://tinyurl.com/yhtzdm - mt066, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yea but I don't want to pay extra for something that should be working in the first place.
- FaT32, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You are 100% right there.
Damn! I hate to pay for incoming sometimes ADs! - loggia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Their legal folks and management simply made a calculation:
Risk of class-action lawsuit divided by cost of class-action lawsuit multiplied by benefit of not providing early termination to all customers.
They KNOW they are wrong - they are saying "call our bluff if you want." Any half-intelligent CSR is grumbling under their breath at having to repeat the BS they are being forced to tell you. Text messaging comes with your plan as a default service - they can't even guarantee to block all incoming messages even if you ask them. They are dead wrong, they know it and they are having customer service do their dirty work.
Sue them if you choose; Cingular thinks it is worth it to roll the dice on this. - sremick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4With so many people being screwed by Verizon, Cingular, T-Mobile, Sprint, etc, I'm so glad that there are alternative companies that "get it". It never ceases to amaze me why people will masochistically continue to flock to these companies with poor plans for high prices that routinely abuse their customers.
My cellular provider is Unicel. Allow me to be a fanboy for a bit... here are just some of the benefits:
- Nation-wide coverage (despite being a "small" rural carrier, they have roaming contracts w/ other carriers for no additional fee to the user)
- Contracts are OPTIONAL (you'll save a bit on the phone if you accept one, but you don't HAVE to be on a contract)
- Generic, unlocked GSM phones (don't like their offerings? Order one off the internet and pop in the Unicel SIM card. That's what I did)
- Incoming SMS is FREE (and always has been)
- Outgoing SMS is $0.10/ea (+$10/mo for unlimited text messaging)
- All plans included 2MB/mo GPRS data and more is available
They have plan specials all the time, beyond what's listed on their website. Mine I pay $35/mo for 1000 anytime minutes and then +$5/mo for free nights&weekends, making those 1000 minutes really just "peak" minutes and I never manage to use them up. And my phone gets better coverage... my Verizon friends are always borrowing my phone because I get service in the places they don't.
If you don't like the way these other companies are treating you, STOP GIVING THEM YOUR BUSINESS. Go elsewhere and support companies that do better. It's fitting that Unicel's slogan is "The way wireless SHOULD be". - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I love it when people make grammatical errors RIGHT BEFORE calling someone else stupid.
That is the funniest thing on the internet, to me.
Get a brain, Morans! - Ihova, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I tried to block text messaging on my plan ( I have kids) and Cingular wanted to charge me a monthly fee for this. I handled it in house.
- GraceMolloy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2(Not that I agree with the companies, but being an ex employee) If only more people would take this kind of initiative ... I'd have had a whole lot fewer migraines.
So few people want to deal with their own children. - loggia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Customer service people (and most executives) do not know how to read a contract. "Cingular may change these terms at anytime" does NOT mean they can do whatever they want. Their terms of service come after, not before, federal and state law.
If you want to better understand a contract, simply add "if it is legal to do so" after every sentence. So, "Cingular may change these terms at anytime, if it is legal to do so."
So, no, they can't change your plan to $10,000 a month. They probably can't raise your text messaging rates without offering you a contract termination either....
Companies put whatever they think can think of in their TOS, hoping you'll believe it. It doesn't mean it's legal or enforceable. - Gigadafud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2funny how since cingular gobbled up AT&T, you get less minutes for the same amount of money. my plan has been out of contract for over like 2 years now and to get a new plan, i would pay more AND get less minutes. wtf!
too bad there are like 3 or 4 nationwide providers that i would even consider now, and they all suck about equally. does anyone else find it funny that all their plans for the 4 main providers are all the same price and the same amount of minutes. there is zero competition. even if i hated cingular enough to switch, where would i go for a better deal? - Ugoff, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I'm not surprised. Cingular is probably the worst when it comes to stuff like this. They continuously tried to charge us an activation fee after we had paid it. It was a pain in the ass but we had to terminate and pay the ***** early termination fee. I will never use Cingular as long as I live.
- shelle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Phone service is fine. CUSTOMER service is crap. That's why I switched as soon as my contract was up.
- vhold, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I know it's bad faith on the part of Cingular to be doing something like this, and hopefully they'll be punished in the marketplace for it, but basically.. this is what you get for letting companies rape you with 2-year contracts with penalties built in. You wanted a phone at a discount, and this is the price you pay for it. You can't have it both ways.
I think part of the reason people get so angry, even when it's their own mistake is that they are so gullible to these contracts in the first place that they didn't even consider that alternatives exist. - warfang, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@ JoeSick
righhhht
I hope you did that on purpose... - jamiequint, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"The whole situation with text messaging is *****, plain and simple. They're increasing the rates from something that is way overpriced to begin with. Cingular sells phone Internet usage for 1 cent a kilobyte. But they charge 10 times more (wait now 15 times more) to send (or receive) a tiny piece of data that is probably less than half a kilobyte."
Actually assuming 160 characters + header you're probably at 200 Bytes max, thats 1/5 kB. So really they are charging you 50-75 times more than standard data rates, not only that, but SMS messages are sent over voice not data, which costs them less than data. If text message rates were proportional to voice costs I imagine we would be paying $0.01 or less a message. - Sfmobius, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@vhold
That is the first comment on here that make sense. I learned my lesson w/cingular years ago. I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy. I was fortunate enough to be included in one of the numerous class-action suits against them and I got all my bogus "termination fees" waived.
If more people thought about the ramifications of contracts these days and refused to sign them, cell carriers wouldn't try such underhanded legal-but-unethical tactics. - Griffology, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"if you wasnt you're stupid "
-classic, at least you got you're right!
I too don't understand why companies are raising text messaging costs! I can understand ones that involve more data with multimedia attached, but text messages give me a break! I'll get my grandpa to write an angry letter for me. :) - f3l1x, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@jer2eydevil88
YEA!.. you reminded me. They gave my bud free texting for the first month. So what did he do? text the hell out of people. It's free right? WRONG! My ass gets charged still for each incoming one. Same goes for random spam. America is the only place i know where the majority of consumers lets this ***** fly cause they don't know any better. I'd like to see them get away with this crap in the UK or Germany.
Stop being complacent people. Call and bitch about everything. -
Show 51 - 100 of 155 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is 