Cell Phone Service - Cingular Wireless

Cingular, El Paso, TX Customer Service – 888-333-6651

I emailed this to an email address I received in today’s dealings with Cingular Wireless – the email address is Email User I used this address and guessed at other possible addresses they might have as a corporation, i.e. Email User, Email User and Email User as they do not readily provide email contact information on their website, if they provide it at all (I never did find one).

I would appreciate learning what other processes I might use to get this intolerable matter addressed and rectified. I am appalled and further more in researching this topic on the Internet, find it interesting there are some out there that feel the issue is consumer ignorance. Consumer ignorance is to say we as a people should forego our right at being treated fairly, with value, professionally and courteously. My ignorance was to believe that a high profile business such as Cingular, with their affiliation with AT&T, would be professionals, honest and present an employee force that had integrity, honor and decency. I think that is not ignorance on my part. I think it is within my reasonable expectations to be a disgruntled customer as a result of the behavior that has been demonstrated by Cingular and it’s employees. If I were to concede on this accepting responsibility for their ineptitude I would be doing a disservice to myself and others who will become subsequent customers of this said company or other high profile companies that are beginning to get too big for their own good and as a side note they are becoming less receptive to customer interaction as I just received back the email I sent as undeliverable to all of the email addresses I attempted.

Attention to this matter will be greatly appreciated!!

Sincerely,

Kelli

To whom it may concern:

I have had a number of conversations and subsequent issues with the customer service and treatment I have received from the employees at the El Paso, TX call center for Cingular.

Since a letter documenting the conversations cannot be sent from your center I am taking it upon myself the Consumer to cite the conversations I have had repeatedly with your company. This is a compilation of the notes I have taken at the times of the conversations. I want this added to my file in combination with the documentations your representatives have made which is apparently in error as they are only partially speaking to the content of the conversations being had.

Certainly I recognize that this is a ‘his word’ against ‘her word’ situation. However, when a customer has repeatedly called in citing specific dates and information and the story is remaining consistent throughout, it becomes apparent that the management of customer accounts is not succinct nor are the representatives presenting and representing your company in the way that Cingular would want to be represented. Then again maybe this is exactly what you want the public to think and in turn be out of business some day as the result of negligible business practices.

Furthermore, the concept of the customer needs to be handled courteously, professionally and the theory that the customer is right seemingly does not exist as a philosophy or a policy within your organization. As a result the public impression by word of mouth becomes negative and the result is not conducive to repeat business nor does it result in referrals. I have used and worked for a variety of phone companies and this truly is the worst experience I have had in the course of twenty years on both the receiving side of phone services and the business side of the same.

Regrettably I am contracted with your company and anticipate I will continue to have issues that are not going to be resolved expediently nor honestly. This is truly a cumbersome burden. Yet I will bear it and continue to monitor my usage, account and activity to ensure that I am not being ripped off by the disreputable company Cingular apparently is. However, I must advise you that the supervisor I spoke with today, Terry Herrba has won my appreciation in a great capacity and I truly hope that I am not inadvertently in error in judging her character and professionalism. I hope that I see these matters resolved effectively and if I must do so by speaking solely to Terry then that is precisely what I intend to do.

Sincerely a dissatisfied customer,

Kelli

12/4/06 – Spoke with Susan regarding billing errors and setup errors that occurred with the telephone order made and service order made for Cingular. She is going to fix this problem, flagging the account to merge them and subsequently flagging the accounts to monitor the activity and ensure that the error is taken care of. Billing date ends 1/2/06 and Susan indicates that I can expect the bill to be due by 1/8/07.

12/5/06 – Reviewed the billing information online and there still appears a discrepancy as the bill is reflected due 12/21 @ ~$150.00. Called and spoke with Eletzise who says she will be in touch with Inphonic regarding billing setup/signup discrepancy and will call me back this afternoon with results. The signup was duplicated and Inphonic charges a early termination penalty. She is checking to see if it would be waived since the error is on their part. 888 378 8091

I then called Inphonic 888 378 8091 @ 10:54a - 1 plan 2 phones is what was ordered that is all I want. I did not order nor request 2 phones 2 plans. They have me down with 1 plan shared between the two phones. Discrepancy is cited here as being on Cingular and I explained to Sandra that Cingular cites Inphonic is the one in error. Sandra - $80. and $9.99 is all that will be charge per Sandra and the records she has from Inphonic's records and sales order.

Called Cingular and spoke with Pat Potello @ 11:51a - will combine the two phones to share one plan @ 1400 minutes rollover shared each month. In the middle of the bill cycle the effects will happen 1/2/07. Will watch billing this month. 1/8/07 or 1/9/07 is when the bill will be due considering the discrepancies and confusion and Pat will call me on my cell to update me with the progress of getting this situation handled into January’s billing cycle.

Checked the bill online at Cingular @ 2:22p - Per account information the group plan is assigned to my telephone number and a 450 minute plan is applied to 417 247 6299 - called to reassess the situation - spoke with Jason. This is to monitor activity for this month until the change is effective 1/2/07.

Checked bill online to see if there were changes reflecting the conversations had on 12/4/06 and 12/5/06. Today is 12/18/06 – Spoke with Ricardo . . . the matter will be taken care of and changes reflected accurately by 1/2/07 the change of the billing cycle.

Received two paper statements same day (12/18/06) called to be sure the discussions are being tracked and the discrepancies will be reflected as the bills were for ~$149. and $145. I spoke with Audrey Stuart re: billing – The updates have not been reflected accordingly. They are to update the information to reflect the appropriate calling plan (1400 shared minutes between the two phones and 400 text messages a piece @ 10.00 a month total each phone); charging two separate accounts; Audrey is removing the subsequent charges to pull the full of each account together to get this into one account as was ordered and requested; she states our normal bill should be $110 plus tax ($120) . . . Will be due the 21st of each month; the $149.19 is still due per Audrey on 12/21/06. She is going to explain the situation, placing me on hold to update the floor supervisor of the situation on this account; they will concede to make the first bill due on 1/8/07 and then the $110 is due 1/21/07 and every 21st day following.

1/5/07 I found my cell service to be shut off this morning. I got online to pay the account though it was told to me that the bill would not be due until 1/8/07. I then called and spoke with Cindy. She explained to me that noted on my account were conversations with Ricardo on 12/18/06 and the initial conversation about Inphonics. I explained to her the history of conversations here regarding this account and the indications that have been made to me. I filed a formal complaint and asked Cindy to email a copy of the complaint being filed as apparently the word of the representatives at Cingular cannot be trusted. She printed a copy of it while placing me on hold and then indicated when she returned that she could not mail the information either by hardcopy post that I had to have an attorney make the request either via telephone call or mail. I explained to her the policy of identity protection and the privacy act is irrelevant in this situation as the information on this formalized complaint is less revealing than my statements. She could not accommodate my request at which point I was given to Victor who explained the same thing. I advised that I would be contacting the FCC reporting the inappropriate conduct and behavior of this company and their need to have an attorney contact them on behalf of my request for documented proof of conversations was bogus.

1/5/07 I have reviewed the FCC site and made preliminary contacts with them to ascertain the methods by which I need to file complaints in regard to the false promises and allegations of Cingular phone service. I have also reviewed the Better Business Bureau to determine the methods needed to report adverse action being demonstrated by Cingular’s representatives falsely handling this account from the beginning.

1/6/07 I reviewed the Cingular website again today and found that we are being charged not ~$110.00 but $190.00 in services. I called and spoke with Oscar who proceeded to tell me that I was not viewing the website correctly. He refused to listen to the fact that I knew how to navigate their website and asked that I give him a chance to explain. He explained and I reiterated the fact that the billing period being shown to me was only the billing period of 11/29/06 – 12/1/06. He finally listened to this. I then explained to him that I needed and knew that he could provide me with an itemized explanation of the upcoming bill. He began by explaining that there was a ~$27.00 charge for ringtones. I explained to him that only three ringtones had been downloaded from Cingular’s website. The other ringtones were not valid downloads and that two grown women were using these phones not children. He proceeded to tell me that we had done this unequivocally. He then tried to explain that we had gone out to other websites to review ringtones and this was the result. I said whether we did or did not doesn’t matter considering we did not agree to signup for anything else other than the service plan we had, I explained to him what that was and again reiterated that we had only requested ringtones and agreed to ringtones from Cingular no other provider the other charges were false. He then stated he would credit these charges on our bill and to expect to see the changes reflected in 1 to 2 billing cycles at which point I explained to him I did not trust that this would take care of the matter as I had been fighting with false promises since I began using the Cingular service only a month ago. He then explained the next charge was a $5.00 late fee of which I was responsible. I explained to him the conversations again that I have had the previous month. He looked at the account and stated that it was my problem because I had paid my bill yesterday which made the bill late. Therefore the late fee was my responsibility. I stated it was not because of the problems with this account I would not pay this fee because the irresponsibility of the employees I have dealt with subjects the company to afford me the $5.00 be waived this month. He refused to listen and I asked to speak with a supervisor.

Terry Herrba came to the phone and she began to go through each step of my frustration, listening and addressing my concerns. I asked if in fact the ~$27.00 for the ringtone/messaging had been credited. She said that it had and explained as well it would be reflected in 1 to 2 billing cycles. I confirmed this statement to mean that I would see this credit reflected either in February or March and she concurred. I then spoke to her about the $5.00 late fee and she cited that she would waive it and as I listened she made the notation. I then asked for the further explaination of the remaining balance of approximately $48.00 (190 – 110 – 27 – 5 = 48). She said this balance includes the taxes and surcharges and the prorating of the plan setup and changes as our account was set up in the middle of a billing cycle and has had discrepancies being taken care of. I then explained to her the appreciation I had in her handling the situation professionally and courteously.