Cingular Wireless

Copy of my BBB complaint:

I began as an att wireless customer in 1997. From then until June 2006 I was

satisfied and even paying more for service than if I had chosen a different

carrier because I liked the service. As of June 2006 my phone began to

malfunction. I went to a Cing store and was informed that even though I had

rplcmnt insurance, due to the merger with Cing, I would have to resign a

contract because my att wireless simcard was no longer compatible with the

new network. (At this point in time my contract was up with Att wireless,

and I was on a month to month contract)In a pinch and without my cell phone

I singed a contract, and purchased a new phone. I feel Cing forced this on

me. I also feel if I had purchased and been paying for insurance on a phone,

if it breaks it should be replaced under the terms of the insurance. Cing

took no consideration of their customer's sim cards not being compatible

after the merger. It's not about the customers, it's about big business.

The new phone, a motorola razr, totally stopped working within 5 months.

Again I had insurance, and I received a refurb rplcmnt phone. That phone

broke less than 30 days later, and I received a warranty rplcmnt refurb, and

again it broke within 30 days and again I received a warranty rplcmnt

refurb. This phone has lasted approximately 2 months. Now it's keypad is

completely nonfunctional. Yesterday I went to a att store and looked at all

of the phones they support, made a choice based on features, style and cost.

Of course this issue can't be solved in the store, of course not, so I just

went to have a look, and came back to my office to call the 800 number. The

warranty rplcmnt dept started to give me choices of phones and I was looking

at their website to see what each one looked like. The phones they were

offering, which they refer to as "comparable" were the first 5 cheapest

phones on their website. Large, clunky, and being given away for free for

new customers. I $249 paid for my original new razr. I don't feel that's

comparable at all. I was switched to the "escalation dept", at which time a

supervisor said I could have the phone I wanted ONLY IF I signed ANOTHER 2

YEAR CONTRACT AND USED MY "UPGRADE". Again, that was unacceptable to me.

Again I was passed back to att sales. Essentially from what I gathered att

wasn't going to take the rap for the phone and warranty didn't want to

replace my phone with the phone of my choosing. So between their depts I was

juggled, with professional attitudes all around. Until I reached a

"supervisor" whom immediately took my frustration personally and began to

speak to me as if I were a child and telling me that there was "no valid

reason" to accommodate my request. I was then switched to another supervisor

upon my request, whom had been briefed by the previous person. Although he

was nice and professional, I feel this was just as condescending as his tone

implied. Again I was switched back to the warranty rplcmnt dept. By this

time I was actually in tears out of frustration and being on the phone with

them and on hold for 4 hours and 20 minutes. An extremely nice girl, just a

regular Joe, not a "supervisor" simply located the phone I was requesting,

and cleared it with her supervisor to send it to me. The phone is supposedly

now on a Fed Ex truck for delivery to me. I'm very happy with this

individual's actual observance of all the customer service promises att, aka

cingular, aka the new att make. However, I'm certainly disgusted with the

corporation's overall policies that are built to cheat their customers. But

of course I'm stuck until Feb 2008 in a contract that I will be greatly

penalized for cancelling. My desired outcome is that the lady that actually

listened to me, and helped me be given a great perk for actually doing her

job like she cared. There really is no compensation for taking up 4 hours of

my day and making me cry. If, and I doubt they do, att has something in

mind, I'd like to hear it.