Cingular Refused to Unlock My LG Phone

Hi there,

I bought a LG cell phone at a discount price with the condition that I had to sign up a 12-month subscription (3 lines family) plan with Cingular in about 15 months ago. After all the terms and conditions had been met and my subscription with Cingular was over 14 months. I cancelled my Cingular service (reason will be stated later) and started to try T-Mobile as my service provider. I thought that I could use my existing LG phone but to simply replace the SIM card with a new T-Mobile SIM card. But unfortunately my LG phone had been locked by Cingular, which prevents it from being use on other wireless networks. I then called Cingular and spoke to several customer service reps (including a supervisor). I was told that as soon as I have used Cingular service for 12 months Cingular would provide me a code to unlock my phone. Now the funny part is that since I am no longer their active subscriber, Cingular refuses to provide me any unlock code (even though I had completed the 12-month subscription).

Please correct me if I am wrong. I signed up to one year subscription contract with Cingular, and Cingular offered me a discounted phone as the reward of using them as my wireless service provider. As soon as the one year contract was over, I should legally possess my cell phone and I can use it anyway I like because I had bought it. When my new LG phone was delivered Cingular had added an electronic lock on my cell and refused to provide me the unlock key. If the service contract had clearly stated that though I paid for the phone I could not use it on their competitor's network, I would understand it. But it is not printed on the contract, be default I have my freedom to decide how to use my possession. Apparently Cingular took away my consumer rights.

Now this is one of the reasons that I decided to quit Cingular. Six months after I had started my 12-month contract with Cingular, I called customer service, explained that I would not use 1 or the 3 lines for 4 months (I could have extended my service contract to cover the time of suspension) and asked if there was any way that I could save. The rep suggested that I could suspend my third line and save $10 plus tax and all associated fees per month. I specifically asked if there would be any service charge for the suspension of service and the answer was NO. Okay, that sounded like a good plan to me. When I received my next monthly statement, I did not see any saving at all. I told myself to wait for the following monthly statement. But still I did not see any savings in the following month. I then called Cingular and the representative told me a completely different story - I had saved $10 on my third line but the monthly suspension charge was $10. I spoke to a supervisor and the supervisor backed up firmly to the rep. Why did not suspend my third line service for no savings? I immediately told the supervisor to reactive my 3 line although I would not use it for the coming 2 months.

This is my experience with Cingular. Thank you.

Sam