Well here is how my problem started. I was robbed at gun point 2 months before my contract with Cingular was up for renewal.

The day I was robbed I was taken to the police station by the police to do a police report and look at some pictures.  While at the station I called my mom and I had asked her to call 611 on her Cingular phone and suspend my line since her phone is under my contract. So she does it.

Later that night when I got to my place I call Cingular from my home phone and ask them what phone could I get and if I could upgrade early since my contract was 2 months away from being up for renewal, in fact it was more like 1 month 20 days.

Anywy the guy tells me the cheapest phone Cingular can get me is 140 dollars and that I could not upgrade early as Cingular doesn’t allow for it anymore. I asked to speak to a supervisor and I was told by this CS agent that the supervisor could not do anything and I’d basically be wasting my time.

The conversation we were having was polite so I took what the dude said as the truth and since I was just robbed I guess I was a bit gullible since I just had a gun barrel in my face.

So I go to a Cingular store after speaking with my friend Indi who I must ad is the bestest (I know, it’s not word but I don’t care) person in the whole wide world, she suggested I go to the Cingular store and I did. They basically told me that they can upgrade as long as I call customer service and get them to OK the early upgrade.

I call Cingular again and I am basically told they don’t allow early upgrades but this time the cheapest phone was 100.

I was looking forward to upgrading my phone because I wanted to Purchase the Samsung BlackJack and add a data plan to my account but no the only option I had was to buy a cheap crappy phone for 100 dollars that a new contract could get me for free.

Anyway I ask about getting a new sim card and I was told I can get one for free at a Cingular store that it was noted in my account. So two days later I go to the Cingular Store on Broadway and 55th street around there or was it 25th street I forget, and I go to pick up the sim card, The dude says 27 dollars, I said “yo they told me on the phone that I can get it free”. The guy says that he sees that note in the account but they aren’t allowed to give free sim cards anymore. So instead of making a big deal of it as I was running late for a meeting I paid the 27 dollars and put the chip in my temporary phone that I got from my mom.

So a week and a half passed and I call Cingular again and asked about upgrading early, again shot down even though my renewal date was getting closer and closer. The cheapest they would give me the blackjack was 299 after MIR, so I asked how much it would cost to cancel my service. The girl immediately said 175, I said why so much and she said that was Cingular’s new policy effective Feb 1st 2006, I said but my contracts from November 2005, I read my contract and it said each month my ETF would go lower and lower and I read that to her. She said ohh my mistake you just have to pay 10 dollars per each month that remains on my contract. She calculated to 80 dollars.

So I start to calculate how much everything would cost, if keep the crappy phone I am using now and wait 2 months or buy the blackjack early for 299. Then I asked myself what if I switch to t-mobile. I can get the T-mobile dash for 199 after MIR plus 80 dollars to cancel Cingular. That’s 20 dollars less than buying a black jack a month early from Cingular. I then decided to figure out how much my service would be with Cingular if I got the blackjack and added a data plan, and how much my service would be with T-mobile if I got a dash and a data plan. T-mobile was 93 dollars before tax, Cingular 142 before tax. I said hmm but I have two phones with Cingular and just one with T-mobile, but then I figured if I put the remaining phone on the cheapest Cingular plan I would still be paying 20 dollars less with T-mobile and Cingular than with just Cingular alone. So I made the switch. I also get more with T-mobile, for 15.00 I get unlimited MMS and Text with Cingular I only got 1000 txt and 1000 MMS and 5MB of data. I’d need to pay 30 bucks for 3000 text with Cingular. (I have used over 5000 text with T-Mobile so far)

So the day I switch to T-mobile they actually gave me a deal in the store after they heard about my story, girl knocked the price down 50 bucks so my Dash, it came out to 149 after MIR and they had a customer appreciation day when I went, got cool little gift from them. I ported my number over and they told me it will take 3 days.

I swear on my life 15 minutes after leaving the T-mobile store and about 2 minutes after I walk into my house my home phone rings, it’s CINGULAR. They read my dilemma on their customer forums and wanted to apologize was going to allow me to upgrade early and even give me a better deal on the phone, but I told the guy I just ported to t-mobile that they should of literally gotten at me 15 minutes earlier. But the guy was cool said he apologized and said that from the first rep to the guy in the store handled my situation incorrectly, and to show they had no hard feelings they credited 30 dollars to my account to credit me for the sim card I bought.

If Cingular would had let me upgrade early by 2 months I would still be a Cingular customer paying 150 a month, instead I am a t-mobile customer. When my 2nd line contract expires in Feb 2007, it too will move over to T-mobile.

Moral of the story for Cingular (at&t;) is treat your customers right and even if you’re over priced they will remain with you.

To be honest mike, one of the biggest problems that cingular has, and that i’ve witnessed working with them is the major inconsistency between the stores and customer service and i think for the most part because the stores are much less trained than CSR’s are, for the simple fact that we are less hands on with phones and such, and because store reps get commission on sales whereas phone reps do not.  This is one of the biggest problems because store reps will always try to do whatever they can for the sale, while phone reps HAVE to follow cingular policy (which is ridiculous, i agree) because they are monitored much more closely, ya know.

I agree completely that cingular customers, since the att switch to cingular have been treated poorly, hopefully this will change with the switch back to att.  But my advice is when you’re in a position like this, to not waste time trying to get phone reps to go against policy (because we are monitored, and could be fired for doing so) and go straight to the Loyalty team (the ones who try to save cancellations) or to a manager and/or resolution desk, you will always get better results.

Hard to get to a supervisor or Manager when you’re told it will be a waste of time and not even transfered.

CingularGuy - 18 April 2007 06:02 PM

But my advice is when you’re in a position like this, to not waste time trying to get phone reps to go against policy (because we are monitored, and could be fired for doing so) and go straight to the Loyalty team (the ones who try to save cancellations) or to a manager and/or resolution desk, you will always get better results.

Too true. After working in the industry, I’ve learned to recognize when the CS rep on the other end of the line has reached the point where they can’t do anymore for me. I usually ask them flat out if this is true, and then kindly ask them to escalate my call. I’ve resolved many problems by following this procedure and remembering to be as nice as possible and stating my expected resolution. Tact and finesse are your friends. I’ve gotten countless credits for poor service, free replacements, and free repairs.

yeah I know to ask for a supervisor but the rep litterally said it wouldn’t make a difference and there wasn’t one available.

Even though I am jumping horses midstream here by going to att for the iPhone, Verizon had me sold. There is a kiask in our local mall that does employ for commission. It is strickly salary. They are the only booth that doesn’t taunt and cat call while you are walking by. They are always laid back and/ or sitting down surfing the web. I have gone to the with all my problems and have even gotten a couple free replacement phones because they were properly accounted for. The are usually so bored at the kiask that they are more than willing to help with anything.

I know this is random, but it shows some humanity in cell phone companies these days.

Verizon is number one in my book, well until Friday of course. You bastards in NYC have the opportunity to purchase the iPhone first :s Lame.

Done with this rant .....

One of the biggest problems they have is their inconsistency between stores and costumers service. Store reps will always do their best for the sale, while phone reps HAVE to follow cingular policy because they are monitored closely.

foxdrg
Simulation prêt

Thanks for the review. I was planning to buy a new phone and i think i’ll go with T-mobile based on this. I don’t think as a customer, you’d lie about experience.

Regards,
Anjell
Placement financier