Cingular, I smite thee with my smelly socks!

The BBQ Pit
1

I can’t believe I left T-Mobile for them…

Actually, to be honest, for the first two and a half years or so, they were OK. But then things started going downhill - fast.

We had a family plan with Cingular for two years. In July 2005, we added a line for our son. We got him a Firefly phone (Ugh - but that’s not Cingular’s fault - it’s just a lousy phone) for two years.

In October, my wife noticed that there were a lot of strange charges on our phone bill. Upon examination, we found out that there were a bunch of charges for downloads from M-Qube at $5.99 each for my son’s phone. The problem is that (a) he rarely uses it and (b) the Firefly is not capable of downloading games and whatnot.

So, we called Cingular, and they said that they will issue us a credit for this. They said the credit should show up on our account in the next month or so (the amount was for twice what our usual phone bill is). So, when the next bill came around, we just didn’t pay it - since we figured we were covered by our credit.

In any event, the credit never came through and the phones were shut off. Now, I suppose that’s partly my bad - I should have been more diligent - but still, I didn’t think I’d have to wait over two months for my credit.

After I paid the bill, I decided to check my bill out on line and, lo and behold, the M-Qube charges that were on my son’s phone have now started to appear on mine. Now, I know that I haven’t been downloading anything (the last thing I downloaded was a ringtone well over a year ago [Tubular Bells - from the Omen]) and these charges will have to be dealt with too.

After all this, I’m just bummed out on Cingular and think we really need to change to a system that has their billing in order.

However, while the two-year contract is up on my phone and my wife’s, it’s not over on our son’s until July. That, in effect, strands us on Cingular until July, because otherwise, his line will cost us $50 a month, whereas now it costs us $10.

So, Cingular, I smite you with my smelly socks. May the stench overwhelm you. Amen.

Zev Steinhardt

2

Was I the only one who entered this thread awaiting a slightly confused attack on a sock?

3

“Tubular Bells” was from “The Exorcist.”

4

You’re correct, of course. I misspoke.

Zev Steinhardt

5

I was a Cingular customer for 5 years and had just renewed my contract with them (I got 2 new phones out of them) when they decided that I was roaming more than they cared for. They gave me 30 days to find a new carrier. Oh well, thanks for the phones.

Fargin’ bastages.

6

And “Tubular Balls” are a rare medical condition.

Anyhoo, Cingular has fucked up the same thing on my bill (all in reference to the same bill!) four times.

Four!

And every conversation ended with, “Yes, Mister Jeek, it’s been taken care of. Those charges have been removed.”

The fourth motherfucker actually got an attitude with me when I asked him to double check.

-Joe

7

Last place I worked, we used 'em for our business phones.

It was a small business, but you’d figure that having twenty lines on the plan would at least earn us a call back from Bob, our rep, within a couple of months whenever we had a question. Especially since those questions were usually about bumping up services when we started rolling out Blackberries for the sales guys. Nope. Nuthin’.

They had shitty coverage, too.

We ended up going with a the local telco and their better network at half the cost when the contract was up. Up yours, Bob.

8

M Qube is a sort of mobile phone spam that advertises on late night television and programs aimed at kids 18 and under. They and are not affiliated with any mobile phone carrier. There are several companies that provide this service, and the advertisements can be misleading. “Kids, want a free ring tone? Just text 1234 to number 5678 for Tubular Bells.” Watch for the fine print scrolling across the screen: Accepting this ring tone obligates the user to an ongoing subscription for 9.99 per month. The subscriber will receive 3 free ring tones each month for this price.” Etc

After responding to the advertisement, the phone user will receive a ring tone and message offering to upgrade the subscription. One of the tactics of the up sell is to ask for the phone numbers of friends and family members who might also want a free ring tone. The result: more subscriptions.

Other cell phone users may enter random unknown numbers in order to get more ring tones. Also, cell phone numbers are recycled after 60 days. (FCC regulations) A subscription may have been attached to the former user of a mobile phone number and will travel to the new user. No cell phone user is safe from this spam.

Remedy: Respond to one of the spam messages by texting the word STOP or CANCEL. Follow up and call your cell phone provider and ask to have the subscription canceled. For good measure, ask for a contact phone number or e-mail of the company that is charging you and cancel the subscription yourself.

9

Cingular’s billing is a nightmare.

A couple years ago we decided to switch from Verizon- after 4 years of solid service- only because Cingular offered a plan that would have cut our monthy nut by about $15. We had our numbers ported over to Cingular in a matter of hours and we were told we had 30 days to test the phones and service without commitment.

For the first 2 weeks, neither my wife nor I had a call that didn’t drop out, and on every call, prior to being dropped, the sound quality was terrible. After 2 weeks we went back and complained, and the sales schmuck assured us that the phones needed a firmware update. He took care of it and sent us off with the expectation that everything would improve.

Nothing changed for the next week, so on day 28 we returned, requested that they port our numbers back to Verizon, and I called Verizon from the Cingular store and reopened our account. Sales schmuck said our bill the following month would show a month of charges but would also reflect the credit for having canceled within 30 days.

Next month, the Cingular bill showed charges for a month of service and another $500.00 for canceling two lines of service. It took 4 months of phone calls and finally a letter to Cingular before the charges were credited. I considered billing them for the time we spent fighting their “mistake”.

I’ll never go back to Cingular.

10

Just switched my wife away from Cingular. She was getting almost no signal on her phone and last week she finally called them to find out why. The Rep told her that Cingular had chosen to no longer support her phone and wasn’t going to offer her a free replacement. Granted, we don’t use a lot of minutes, but there’s never been a bill payed late. Ever. And she’s been with them since well into the old “ATT Wireless” days.

(Note: Its Never free. Not until all car-chargers, hands-free sets, and protective cases are offerred ‘free’. Still, its insult to injury to charge ‘on top’ of all that for the sin of being a long-time customer. grumble grumble)

Her new ‘free’ Razr arrived yesterday from the wireless carrier I ported her to, the bars on it are constantly pinned to max, and it’ll be $10 less per month.

Bye, Cingular…!

11

Isn’t Cingular owned by AT&T again since the evil empire was allowed to monopolize the country once more?

12

“Tubular Bells” is the one and only ringtone I have ever downloaded.

13

Cingular bought AT&T’s wireless network. AT&T is out of the wireless business.

14

You’ve got the right info, and I could be wrong, but the impression I got from the OP wasn’t that they were even getting the spam texts/messages but that the charges were turning up out of nowhere.

15

Yup. And as a former AT&T Wireless customer, I had a very similar experience with Cingular as Countess Blucher. I really don’t get it–the phrase ‘customer retention’ is evidently not in their corporate handbook.

The sales rep for the service we switched to, when he found out we’d been with AT&TW, asked if it was true what he’d heard, that Cingular was forcing all the transferred users to buy new phones & change service plans. “It’s a bit more passive-aggressive than that,” I told him.

16

Soon to be ex-Cingular/AT&T customer here. I’m not really a phone guy, but I think that the thing with Cingular switching older service plans (especially for those who date back to AT&T) is that those customers use analog service, which will be phased out next year. In the meantime, they are charging another $5/month for the privilege of decreased signal strength, obviously hoping that everyone will upgrade. I wasn’t able to find any cost benefit to existing customers upgrading; it would cost me the same as a new customer. Add that to the lousy coverage in my area, and I have no loyalty at all. I’ve switched over to Verizon. I know that they will have their own particular type of problems, but at least I’m getting a Razr.

17

*If * you are actually receiving unwanted text or other solicitation, you could respond with STOP or CANCEL, and this may stop the sub and the billing.

But the charges and the subscription are attached to the phone number, not the device. The phone could be broken, the service suspended, or the text feature could be disabled so that no messages are coming through and the subscription and charges will continue. The spam vendors do not investigate (or care) whether or not the text messages are being received, they need nothing more than an active mobile phone number in order to bill the phone.

The wireless carriers are not responsible for the origination of the spam, but do make a small profit from the charges. If you call and ask them to stop a product from billing, they are obligated to do so. If they don’t, switch.

I have some more information about the “free” phones. The phones can be purchased at a retail price without the obligation of a contract, and the RAZR is about $200.00 or $250.00. But… if you agree to a two year contract, you get the phone for “free” in exchange for staying with the company for 2 years. The company will certainly recoup the cost of the product within 2 years of monthly billing, and will continue to offer a new “free” phone every two years in order to keep your business. It has some benefits for the customer- if you sign the contract, you don’t have to pay 200 bucks up front for a new phone. But… if you are unhappy with the service after 30 days, you either buy out the contract (usually $200 or $250) or stay the full two years. If you buy out the contract early, you have essentially paid full retail for the phone. So… the phone isn’t exactly free, unless you agree to marry the company for two years.

But the contract can be avoided if you pay the full retail price for a phone. Which is what I did today.

18

Exactly. If they’re making you shop for a new phone & plan anyway, why not shop with other vendors? Especially when you can get a free phone with a new contract from another provider, and you didn’t have any real ties to Cingular in the first place. It just seems bizarre to me–why did they buy AT&T Wireless from AT&T if they weren’t going to even try to keep those customers? What else of value did they get from that deal, other than the customer base?
:confused: