Cingular Wireless, Sunrise Highway, Massapequa, NY - reception problems from home in Bay Shore, NY - terrible service from Cingular - then phone went dead - billing problems, customer service problems

# 9 for August 24, 2003

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on August 23, 2003:

From:

RE: Cingular Wireless, Sunrise Highway, Massapequa, NY - reception problems from home in Bay Shore, NY - terrible service from Cingular - then phone went dead - billing problems, customer service problems

CINGULAR WIRELESS AND ITS LACK OF SERVICE!!!! To: Cingular Wireless Here's my telephone information: 516 581 9500. Where do I even begin? I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life by signing up with Cingular in March 2003 at the Sunrise Highway, Massapequa NY store. Initially, my reception was moderate, however it progressively got worse.

Around late May, it came to the point where I could no longer hold any conversation at my house and had to go outside to be able to talk. (That's if the phone would connect after about the 10th attempt) My phone would not ring half the time and would route the calls directly to my voice mail. Moreover, I would not get those messages at the time they were left, more like couple hours later.

I also had echo problems either on my end or the other end. When I brought this up to the attention of the staff at the Massapequa store, I was told that "It's not a big deal. I get echo on my phone too." I didn't stress the echo, since that was an on and off issue. But right around June, all of a sudden the online system would not accept my login. Since I like to pay and view my bills online, I wanted that problem to be fixed. I called the customer service 5-6 times to no avail.

Each time, they said it would be fixed and nothing happened. I finally gave up on viewing my bills online and told them to send me statements instead which I have not received as of August 22nd. (I later found out they had a wrong zip code in their system all along) To make matters worse, my phone went dead on me (literally) on July 29th. I brought it back to the store and was given an option to take it to the repair shop in Deer Park ("Where the repairman could fix my phone within minutes") or have them send it out. I told the store manager (Andrew G) that I had to go to work and rather have a loan phone.

He gave me a phone (as dirty as it was) that was not charged at all which I had to let him charge it and come back in half an hour to pick it up. When I asked him when my phone would be ready, he told me less than a week and he'll call me. By the 2nd day, the loan phone displayed a "roaming" sign on it which puzzled me considering I was at home in Bay Shore, NY at the time. When I tried to make a phone call, the automated system said "Thank you for calling AT&T Wireless.

The number you have dialed is no longer is in service" or something along those lines. The point is I am not an AT&T customer, so why would the store manager give me a phone that obviously doesn't operate in Cingular area is beyond me. When I took the loan phone back to the store, the girl that works there told me they had no other loan phones available.

The phone worked during the day and kept saying the AT&T thing at night. I returned to the store and had the store manager give me another phone. In the meantime, I had to take off work and lose hours at my job going back and forth and calling the customer service being on hold for close to 20 minutes at a time. I got so frustrated that I called customer service again and explained to them what I have been through in the past weeks with the reception and the loan phone and asked to be let out the contract without a penalty considering they are not keeping their end of the bargain which is to provide service.

The rep couldn't help me, so I asked to speak to a manager (Frank H) and he confirmed that he can not let me out of my contract without a penalty at which point I told him "That's fine, then I shall see you in Small Claims Court" Then on August 20th, my loan phone displayed "SIM Card not working" I went back to the store for the zillionth time and talked to Edward G. He couldn't figure out what was wrong with the card and proceeded to call the customer service which he himself was on hold for at least 20 minutes. Once he got through, he was told that I was kicked off my contract.

I AT NO POINT TOLD THEM TO CANCEL MY CONTRACT. I MERELY INQUIRED ABOUT GETTING RELEASED OUT OF THE CONTRACT WITHOUT PENALTY!!!!THEY HOWEVER MUST HAVE FIGURED OUT THAT GETTING RID OF ME WITHOUT MY CONSENT WOULD BE EASIER THAN FIXING THE PROBLEM AT HAND. I spoke to another manager (Richard H) after I was put back on hold for another 10 minutes which infruated me even more since he is supposed to be the so-called manager.

He told me that the contract was cancelled because I have asked to. I told him I have told Frank I would take Cingular to court if I was not let out without a penalty and as I have explained earlier he has told me that is not possible, therefore they kicked me off without my consent with the penalty!!!! On top of that, I asked him where my statements were and he told me they were mailed. When I told him, I have not received them he had the nerve to tell me he will charge me $5.00 per statement???? When I asked him to read my address back to me, it turned out they had the wrong zip in their system the whole time.

I don't know which incompetent person has decided to promote Richard H to a Customer Service Manager position in the first place, but he managed to aggravate me the worst out of all the unpleasant employees I have dealt with. Instead of rectifying the situation, he had the nerve to tell me additional $5.00 would be charged for statements when the address was wrong the whole time???That is mind boggling!!!

I can talk about this company and its lack of service for hours and I make sure I let everyone I know not to deal with this company ever. And one last thing, I still have not gotten back my phone yet after 23 days, though I gave their stupid loan phone back on the 20th when I went back to their store. CINGULAR DISGUSTS ME BEYOND EXPLANATION!!!! Here's what I'd like to see happen: I want an apology letter from the company and preferably from Richard H and Andrew G. I also would like them to refund me the $140.00 they supposedly charged me for ending the contract.( I say supposedly since I don't have any statements to look at) I also would like them to pay for the long distance calls I had to make from my house phone since the loan phone was not operating at my house and the whole reason I have a cell phone is for long distance. I hope you get back to me soon. I'll expect a response within 10 business days. From:

T.S

Bay Shore, NY