Cingular Wireless / Phone Replacement

I am currently trying to find a valid address to mail this complaint to Cingular Wireless. I spent over 10 hours of my time on the phone trying to resolve this. Thank you for any help you may offer!! Teresa L. Clow

February 14th, 2006

Office Of The President,

On Monday February 6th, 2006 I called Cingular Customer Service because my phone stopped functioning. The screen went black and remained black. The customer service agent advised it was still under warranty and was to be replaced. I had only purchased the phone in April of 2005. I received the replacement phone on February 7th. By February 9th that phone was doing the same thing as the previous phone, the screen was going black when opened and couldn’t be used unless I opened and closed it several times or pushed random buttons to make it work. On Thursday the 9th I called to have the 2nd phone replaced. I was on the phone for over 2 hours in which time I talked to 6 people and was disconnected 3 times. Finally the 6th person, Brett, had the courtesy to call me back. During this time I remained pleasant and patient just hoping that the situation would be resolved. I even asked the warranty department representative to just level with me and tell me if the phone I had was low quality, he said yes it was and there were several problems with that model (the Motorola V220). At that time I just asked if he could please just tell me what phone was a good phone. I no longer wanted to deal with the stress of begging for a phone that worked or not being able to rely on my only phone. At this time I wanted to go to a store, buy a new phone, and deal with someone face to face. He did not tell me, he instead went and talked to his manager and came back to tell me that I would be receiving an upgrade to the Motorola V551. I received the Motorola V551 in the mail on Monday, February 13th – a partial phone arrived with a “reconditioned” label on it. I could not use the battery or back to my previous phone on this phone, not to mention I no longer had a home charger, a car charger, hands free set or any of the accessories that come with a phone when you first receive it or I had purchased additionally.

At this time I proceeded to call Cingular customer again. This phone call lasted over two and half hours. I spoke with a customer service agent, I asked to speak to her manager, she never put me through to her manager, she only acted as a go between, between her manager and me. This made me feel like after all I had been through, even this manager did not have time to help me out. After being on hold and off for over an hour I was told I would be sent the rest of the parts for the ‘reconditioned’ Motorola V551. At this time I felt I deserved better treatment. I had had a lot of time on hold to realize how poorly I was being treated. I felt it was more than fair of me to ask for a new Motorola V551, and not a reconditioned one, and I also asked for a car charger, as I had just recently purchased one and would not be able to use it with this new phone. I felt it would have been justified if I had asked for a refund for the month of service that was disrupted due to the faulty phone, I felt it would have been just to ask for a future month’s service for free. But all I asked for was a NEW Motorola V551 phone and a replacement car charger. I was put on hold again, and then put through to Tony, in the Retention Department. After telling my story once again and begging for someone to just help me out, Tony told me he would be sending me the Nokia 6102 and crediting my account $29.99 for the car charger. This sounded great right? Wrong, during one of my periods on hold I found that this phone (Nokia 6102) did not even make it on the Consumer Reports list, but that the Motorola V551 was third for Cingular service. When I questioned Tony, he advised me this phone was “so new” and that is why it was not on the Consumer Reports list yet. He convinced me to accept this phone he actually said “trust me.” After I was off the phone with him I did some research and found that this phone was not a newer model, and it was in fact rated horribly. That most of the consumer comments on it were bad. In addition to that I looked on the Cingular site to find that the phone I was originally offered the Motorola V551 is listed as $99 and the Nokia 6102 is $70 less at $29.99.

At this time I just feel like I have been lied to and really been taken advantage of by Cingular. I have not been served well. As a customer that has never defaulted on my account and has always been a good customer I don’t understand why I have been treated so poorly and received such low quality service. I basically feel like I have been “conned.”

I don’t want a Nokia phone. I had one once and never liked it. I have always liked the Motorola products much better, until this experience. I don’t feel that anyone at Cingular took the time to help me 100% and really deal with me as a person and not just call they wanted to end. I kept thinking I was getting good service then I would receive a partial phone, or come to find out I had been lied to and was being offered a cheaper phone.

I am very displeased with my service and if I find that the Nokia phone I am receiving is as bad as the reviews say it is, I will not hesitate to pay the $150 cancellation fee to break my contract with Cingular and go to Verizon. There are way too many choices out there in regards to wireless communications for me to put up with such poor service. The only thing I feel like I have control over in this situation is my decision to choose another company.

I don’t even know what to suggest be done to correct this situation. There is going to have to be a very good, very high rated, very reliable phone in my possession and a sincere apology. I am really looking for someone at Cingular to take the time to listen to what I am saying, and please do not waste anymore of my valuable time.

Sincerely,

Teresa L. Clow

2772 Banner Lane

Columbus, OH 43224

C: (614) 264-6411

W: (614) 238-4220