Thanks a lot, Cingular!

The BBQ Pit
1

I’ve had a phone plan with Cingular for a bit over a year. Over the course of the year, the service has been OK. Not great, not bad… OK. The plan is a family plan at $50/month for the main line and $20 for the second. I’ve built up a ton of rollover minutes (we don’t really use the phone that often, but for the once in while that we go over, the rollover minutes do help - I don’t mind paying for that peace of mind).

Well, last week the wife and I decide to get a phone for our oldest. As he’s out and about in the world now, I’d like for him to be able to contact us for emergencies. So, I walked into Cingular and asked them how much it would be to add another line. I was told that it would be an additional $10 a month (plus the cost of the phone, obviously). Thrilled, I signed up. I got my contract with the $9.99 price and walked out with my phone.

Lo and behold, I check my phone bill a few days later and find that I’m being charged $19.99 instead of $9.99. So, armed with my contract, bill and receipts, I march back in to the Cingular store. The sales clerk took my number, looked up her records on the computer and discovered the source of the problem. As it turns out, I have an old plan, for which an additional line is $20/month. So, if I want to add an additional line to my old plan, I’d have to pay $20 a month, not $10.

However, (I was told), I could switch to a new plan, whereby I could get the main line and a second line for $70 and the additional line for $10. That’s $10 less than what I’m paying now and what I thought I’d be paying in total. So, what’s stopping me from switching to the new plan? If I do so, I lose all my rollover minutes.

Summary:



               What I thought  What I am paying     New plan 
               I'd be paying

1st line       $49.99             $49.99                     $69.99
2nd line      $19.99             $19.99                      included
3rd line       $9.99              $19.99                      $9.99
                ----------------    -----------------         -----------------
Total           $79.97            $89.97                     $79.98

But with the new plan, I lose the rollover mintues I’ve accumulated

The decision is really a no-brainer. The rollover minutes aren’t worth the $120/year I’d have to pay to keep them. But I can’t help but feel a bit used by Cingular - had I known in advance I’d be paying $20/month instead of the promised $10/month, I might have done things differently.

So, thanks Cingular, for breaking your word and springing extra costs on me and causing me to lose the rollover minutes I’ve built up.
Zev Steinhardt

2

Losing the rollover minutes is bullshit. There’s nothing stopping them from crediting your new line or account or whatever. Tell them to credit the time or you’ll go to another carrier.

3

Going to another carrier is not really an option. When I added the third line, I signed on for two years. I face a hefty termination fee if I quit.

Zev Steinhardt

4

I assume the same contract that says “two years” also says “9.99/month.” I’m no lawyer, but I don’t see how Cingular can hold you to the 2 year part, but not keep the $9.99 part. The contract is either good or bad; it can’t be both. At least, this non-lawyerly person doesn’t think it can be both.

5

Was it the store manager telling you you can’t keep the rollover? I wouldn’t take a sales drone’s word on that sort of stuff. If the manager of the store can’t do it, he can point you to someone who can.

Go up high enough, and you will find a person who can give you free service for life, if they wanted to.

6

If you re-upped on a new two year contract, generally speaking most cell phone providers afford you a grace period of something like a week or two to cancel without penalty. Read the small print in your agreement.

Just something to think about.

7

Just as an aside:

I find it highly ironic that this thread caused Cingular ads to show up in the Google bar at the bottom. :smiley:

Zev Steinhardt

8

This is what I hate about cell phone companies: They’re in the business of providing service to new customers, not long-term ones, because people are constantly shifting from one provider to the next in the hopes of shaving a few bucks off their monthly bill. It’s in their business interest to play this game, so they go for it with everything they’ve got.

9

You might want to check again.

I was in exactly the same situation as you - I had two lines on an old plan. I upgraded to the new plan and added a third line. I have had one bill since then and my rollover minutes were still on it.

In my case, I also got quite a few extra minutes on the new plan - I went from 400 to 700, so the rollover became less important anyway.

10

And thus they generate new customers for other companies. I was on Sprint for years - then after the Nextel merger my bill went through the roof. They changed myplan, claimed they didn’t, and told me I had to reup for 2 years to get a reasonable one. So I walked - and I just got my final bill with a $100 credit. :confused:

11

Yeah, fuck Cingular. I was an AT&T wireless customer who, after the merger, switched to a digital plan. They told me at the time that they would need to migrate me to the Cingular digital service and I would (of course) have to invest in new hardware. Thats fine…

…over the last few months, my service/reception has gotten spottier. When I called to inquire, they told me that i was on the AT&T digital network, and that they had been decommissioning those towers. I reminded them that they had told me they were migrating me to the CINGULAR digital network. They told me that I had been switched to the AT&T network instead.

Mind you, my switch was 4 months after the merger, after they began phasing out the service. I inquired why they would not have moved me to the Cingular service at the time, and they had no rationale. Despite all this, you would think that as a result of the merger, they would continue to provide adequate service and move me over anyway. No, they want to renew my contract and buy new phones, again. As far as I’m aware, since they sell the same model phone with the Cingular plan, all I need is a SIM card swap, but they won’t even do that.

So, fuck em. When my contract is up, I’m finding a new provider.

12

As far as I can tell, this is a self-fulfilling business model. I would have been more than happy to stay with Cingular if they’d offered me an even remotely reasonable option to do so.

I was on a family plan with my Mom, but we were past our year of contract, and my phone broke. Any non-moronic company would see that they should offer me, as a current customer, at least as good a deal towards getting a new phone and signing up for another year as they give their new customers. They wouldn’t. Not only did they not offer any free phone, both Mom and I would have had to sign up for another 2 years just for my discounted phone. Oh, and the discounted phones were strictly crappier than the ones we already had (which we got for free). No bluetooth, no camera, etc. And, yes, I actually use both the Bluetooth and the camera on my phone.

I walked. I got a new RAZR phone with T-mobile. Free (well, tax on $100) after rebates. And they threw in a free bluetooth headphone, too. The plan is cheaper, and has more minutes. 1-year contract only.

Even worse, my Mom tried to then reduce the account to a single line and a lower plan. They refused unless she signed up for a new contract. Since there was nothing for her to gain from doing so, they lost her as a customer, too.

And I’m sure that in another year and a bit, when this phone gives up the ghost, I’ll have to go through the same thing again. Whoever came up with this as a business model is an asshat.

13

Last year, we’d had TMobile for some years; our contract had long since run out, but they’d been very good to us – when my husband lost his phone, they replaced it with a new one of a better model for something like $25, etc. But our plan only had free weekend minutes, not free night minutes.

So I called them up and said, hey, we’ve been customers for years; we’ve stayed with you by choice because even though your coverage isn’t as good in our area, we get great customer service; so can we have free night minutes, too? I was told that that’s only offered to people who sign a contract. So I then got the manager on the line and spent two hours – literally! – explaining to him why that business model sucked, why they were penalizing people for staying with them, and if they truly believe it’s a good system to coerce people into staying with them contractually rather than reward them for sticking voluntarily. And, of course, at that point we were free to walk, and he knew it.

I remained polite the entire time, but I was persistent and I made it clear I was NOT going to go away until we received the same benefits a new contract signer would receive. He kept insisting he didn’t have the authority to give us the night minutes. But guess what? After two hours, turned out he did. :smiley:

So my advice is to get a manager and hang in there until you wear them down. It can happen; I’m living proof.

14

That’s why I use a Verizon prepaid account. Sure, I pay more per minute in the short run, but when I hear shit like this, I don’t think a contract offers much of a savings, and who needs the grief?

15

That’s really bizarre. I’ve had absolutely no problems with Sprint in the ~five years I’ve been with 'em—not before or after the Nextel merger. And the last two times my contract was set to expire, they called me and made it worth my while to stay with 'em. On both occasions, I’ve been given more minutes for fewer dollars. Heh, I don’t even pay anything for unlimited web access.

16

I’ve found that if you throw a big enough fit, the cell companies will cave. I’ve had way too much experience with this.

17

We’ve had nothing but good luck and great service from Cingular. We just added a phone for my eldest on the family talk plan they advertise for $9.99, and got the phone for free. They just replaced my phone for a new one when I had a complaint.

Sorry for your problems with them, Zev.

18

Cingular is a pain in the ass, but I’m not entirely convinced that they are any worse than their competitors.

My biggest problem? Them dealing with the actual phones. I dropped my phone in a some water- Ok, a (PERFECTLY CLEAN) toilet. and all I needed was for them to open it up so I could let it dry out. Easy enough, right? I could have done it, but I am useless and don’t have any of the necessary tools.

I get into the store and wait almost an hour to be told that they can’t even open my phone for me. But hey! If I have their insurance I can mail my phone to someone and they’ll do it for me (which, according to the sales person, can take up to a MONTH).

And the other day something went wonky with their network and the multimedia messages on my phone stopped working. The tech guy on the phone (not cust. service- the actual tech guy) explained that it was in fact their network that fucked up and my phone would never have that feature again. He offered to put in a request for them to send me a new phone, but said it would be virtually impossible for them to approve it. Instead he sent me a voucher to get a better phone for $30 (no crazy contract either). All nice enough.

I go to buy the phone and the store guy just swaps out my sim card and resets everything. I lost the 6 ringtones I had downloaded just two days before. Guy in the store calls cust. service, explains how it was all their fault, and asked if they could credit my account for a few free ringtones. They said no. Feeling bad for me, the sales rep then showed me how to IM mp3 files straight to my phone (I have unlimited internet on my phone, so that’s free).

Overall? Eh, they aren’t totally evil. Ya know, on the scale of Big Evil corporations and all.

19

I’ve been with them probably 7, and never had problems before. I started with a really good plan through my company. My whole family is now on Verizon, which so far has been great, and since both daughters boyfriends are on it too, I figure no extra minutes at all even with minimal family plan.

I discovered, quite by accident, that changing plans Dec. 29 works really well. The way the guy was shoveling free stuff on me makes me think he had a quota to make and all sorts of phones to get rid of.

20

I was with Cingular for years, back from when they were Cellular One in Chicago. I was fairly happy with them until they switched to GSM. After that the service became very spotty and unpredictable, not good qualities when your mobile phone is your only phone. But wasn’t the half of it. Now, my best friend lives in Dublin, despite the distance we’re close and talk three to five times during the weekend, sometimes more one the weekend. Yes, you can imagine our phone bills, though not as bad as you might think.
Normally I would buy pre-paid calling cards, because of the good rates but also Cingular did not offer international dialing. I imagine my surprise one day, while to trying to text him, I accidentally dialed and he answered. WOOHOO! Happy day I thought, now I could reach him even if I had run out of minutes on my card. I wasn’t sure what the rates were, but 7 years ago the rates to Ireland was $0.50/min from my PrimeCo phone (remember PrimeCo? Poor little critter never did get his phone back!) and mind you too, this was back in days before free long distance. So, I figured I’d use that as a good conservative estimate of what the rates would be (and yes I did try calling them, but of the three people I spoke with none had anything even slightly resembling a clue.).
Imagine my horror when my bill arrived and I discovered they were charging me $1.50/min!
**What the fuck kind of highway robbery rate is that!? ** And to further rub salt in the wound, this was $1.18 more than the highest rate of the competition!
*(Oddly too, it would have only cost me $0.99/min to use my phone *IN ** Ireland)

I pleaded with them to give me a credit on the grounds that they couldn’t answer me when I called to inquire and that it was reasonable for me to assume it would be a competitive rate, to which theirs is not. Of course the response I got was something to the tune of, “sir, just pay your bill.” I switched service shortly thereafter.
Now, after a brief stint with T-Mobile (great in Chicago, shitty in New York) I am with Sprint and paying only $0.06/min to Ireland. For now I’m happy with Sprint, the service is great, unless you mean customer service, which leaves much to be desired.