The Saga Continues
For the backstory covering the errors related to my Cingular expierence, please see this thread.
https://www.phonescoop.com/carriers/forum.php?fm=m&f ... »
Well - the surprises keep on coming.
Today I was greeted to find a bill in my mailbox. This bill for a total of $300 some dollars. Needless to say I was shocked!
As I glanced down the bill I was amazed. I was being assessed the liquidation fees (early termination fee I later discovered), the activation fee, prorated usage for the media package I never asked for, and a prorated charge for the plan which I never activated or used.
The early termination fee was a shocker considering that I had canceled well within the remorse period. The activation fee was a shock...
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https://www.phonescoop.com/carriers/forum.php?fm=m&f ... »
Well - the surprises keep on coming.
Today I was greeted to find a bill in my mailbox. This bill for a total of $300 some dollars. Needless to say I was shocked!
As I glanced down the bill I was amazed. I was being assessed the liquidation fees (early termination fee I later discovered), the activation fee, prorated usage for the media package I never asked for, and a prorated charge for the plan which I never activated or used.
The early termination fee was a shocker considering that I had canceled well within the remorse period. The activation fee was a shock...
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Forgot to make title more descriptive. Ignore the man behind the curtain.
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Note: Today in this post = June 2
I called in today, sales line, asked how long a refund takes and was told 3 days.
I called in again today, account cancel line, asked how long a refund takes and was told 7 days.
I called in today, not sure which line, asked about my refund and was told that it would take 10 business days from the date of being received AND after that period of time 1 to 2 billing cycles. (Talked to the manager)
I called in today, not sure which line, asked about my refund and was told that I would receive my refund with those 10 business days, BUT that it would not show up on my account for "a month or two". (Talked to the manager)
My final call today, billing department, was told that it would take approx 20...
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I called in today, sales line, asked how long a refund takes and was told 3 days.
I called in again today, account cancel line, asked how long a refund takes and was told 7 days.
I called in today, not sure which line, asked about my refund and was told that it would take 10 business days from the date of being received AND after that period of time 1 to 2 billing cycles. (Talked to the manager)
I called in today, not sure which line, asked about my refund and was told that I would receive my refund with those 10 business days, BUT that it would not show up on my account for "a month or two". (Talked to the manager)
My final call today, billing department, was told that it would take approx 20...
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sorry about that dude, our bad. 😁 go to sprint their known for great customer service 😉
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WOW. Yeah, I'd say im sorry but im not too inclined to apologize for Cingular. But hopefully whichever other carrier you choose, good luck! I personally havent had a bad experience with Cingular but you have so yeah, dont go that route! T-Mobile is very comparable to Cingular as far as phones go.
I used to have T-Mobile and I was very satisfied with them then I made the dumb move to switch to Nextel. I would have went back to T-Mo but they didnt offer EDGE nor the S710a. T-Mo would be a good choice! Hope everything works out for ya, good luck!
I used to have T-Mobile and I was very satisfied with them then I made the dumb move to switch to Nextel. I would have went back to T-Mo but they didnt offer EDGE nor the S710a. T-Mo would be a good choice! Hope everything works out for ya, good luck!
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Um...they can usually credit back ETF fees INSTANTLY. Why don't you call back and ask them how much you owe after the credits are applied, and then send them a check back for that amount. It's not that hard, really.
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They call it "Liquuidated Damages" because "Early Termination Fee" wouldn't be enforcable in court. When a contract is broken, a party can collect on the money they actually lost, such as that on the discounted phone, or money they possibly could have made, such as the profit on the monthly charges. On the latter issue, though, companies are required to mitigate their losses, meaning, if you cancel, they have to sell your number to the next person that walks in their door and start collecting the money from them, instead of you.
One thing Cingular should do is have an option of a customer just paying a profit on the service each month instead of doing the ETF. That way, they can still get a monthly income, the customer can drop his b...
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One thing Cingular should do is have an option of a customer just paying a profit on the service each month instead of doing the ETF. That way, they can still get a monthly income, the customer can drop his b...
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Well, something technically is available like that...it's called "reduced rate suspend." You pay ten dollars a month for up to six months and the service is suspended...caveat there is that it's suspended, meaning that your contract is suspended ie being extended while it's in the suspended status. The deal with the ETF is that you're signing a contract, be it physical, verbal, etc, that you will have active service with cingular for X amount of time. If you liquidate your account before the end of the agreement, you are assessed damages. That's the other nice thing about the ETF for cingular, at least in the South East: the fee starts at $240.00 and goes down by either 10.00 per month if you're on a two year, or 20.00 per month if you'r...
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See, that makes sense. A company isn't losing $200 if I cancel one month before the contract ends. Stuff like that can get a company in trouble. Someone can't just put in a contract that there's a penalty for cancelling a contract, all they can collect on is damages. Well, they CAN put it in, it just won't be enfoceable. A lot of times, it's not worth the hassle of taking a company or a consumer to court over $200, which is why Cingular usually cuts a deal with large companies that end up owing $10,000 in ETFs. Especially if that company is knowledegable in contract law.
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The only problem is that I've only ever found that policy availabe in the South East, Indiana, and possibly New York...I'm pretty sure the West and mid west have a flat 175.00...doesn't make sense to me, but I could, hopefully, also be wrong.
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State laws, my friend, state laws. Those states probbaly said that a company must have the fee be prorated. Cingular said ok, but raised the beginning fee to be able get the same amount at the average cancellation period.
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That's possible...either that, or the other states said that there must be a set fee from the begining. I was with sprint before I got my cingular job and had to wait to the very end else I get charged 150.00 in etf, where as you've got the prorated etf for cingular. But you're more than likely right that it does have to do with the states' laws.
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See this is what im talking about. Cingular is trying to be the best in customer service, where they have a lot of work to do to get to that spot. They are trying to do uniform policy, and have everyone with the same info, but they cant do that unless they hire all new people and fire all the old ones. I work for the company, on the old AT&T wireless TDMA side and know how frustrating and conflicting information we get from cingular reps. I dont know how they really keep their jobs! Sorry guys, but as the previous post says, there is only a few that really know whats going on, and getting one of those reps is like pulling teeth. Im sure there is stuff to be said about the AT&T reps as well, so no one is perfect.
Cingulars policy's t...
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Cingulars policy's t...
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wyild1 said:
Cingulars policy's that they have placed for the former customers to migrate are ridiculous. Also the buyers remorse (30 day) policy is dumb. I was told from a few reps (and if there are cingular reps out there, correct me if im wrong) that the Early Termination fee is charged to customers, even if they cancel within the first 30 days, and will be refunded back once they get the phones. If im not mistaken, it takes 1-2 billcycles for that. So with late fees, you would still end up paying more (unless they credit late fees, which i dont believe cingular likes to give out credits)
Thats incorrect, but I think you may be thinking about the phone. When a customer cancels within the first 30 da...
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I know what you mean man. I appoligize if i was placing it on the reps, but come on....some of the blame is the reps (you have to agree with me on that, on either side of the company) but mainly on the company. lack of training, lack of info update (contact numbers....rebates that still show up in migration tool when the promos were changed 5 days ealier and there isnt a rebate anymore) and such. I cant say attws was perfect, but it was better in most aspects then how cingular is handling it in my opinion.
Ill never be CSE. This is an outsourced call center that no matter what is told to us that we are going to switch. Cingular supported John Kerry in his bid for US presidancy (sp?) and he supported All jobs to be back in the US. ...
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Ill never be CSE. This is an outsourced call center that no matter what is told to us that we are going to switch. Cingular supported John Kerry in his bid for US presidancy (sp?) and he supported All jobs to be back in the US. ...
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I'm in complete agreement on the training side. CSP sucks...it sucks hard...and yet that's where everyone is supposed to go for the "consistent information" we're supposed to be giving.
The entire migration chore has been a huge train wreck. I can only hope/pray for the poor at&t customers to have good experiences once their SECOND bill comes out, as the first one seems to always be a coronary waiting to happen.
I don't suppose you remember if you had a trainer come into your call center that said he was from the Ocean Springs call center? I'm just curious, as I knew that one of my managers down here went to either Ontario or Montreal, always get those confused, to do training. Just wondering.
The entire migration chore has been a huge train wreck. I can only hope/pray for the poor at&t customers to have good experiences once their SECOND bill comes out, as the first one seems to always be a coronary waiting to happen.
I don't suppose you remember if you had a trainer come into your call center that said he was from the Ocean Springs call center? I'm just curious, as I knew that one of my managers down here went to either Ontario or Montreal, always get those confused, to do training. Just wondering.
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My trainer was from Schaumberg, I think. He was a damn good trainer, but come on. Eight weeks dropped down to two, there's only so many you can do. Add to that the fact that, as I mentioned, none of us knew anything about GSM and it wasn't originally covered in the curriculum, so he had to slide some GSM training in there somewhere.
The whole merger was a bad idea in theory, for both employees and customers. The only people who benefit are the fat cats on top who run the company, who smile in our faces on those goofy videos ("get on the bus, gus" 😕 ) and drive around in fancy cars. Where's my car, dammit? How come I cant be in a video?? 👿
The whole merger was a bad idea in theory, for both employees and customers. The only people who benefit are the fat cats on top who run the company, who smile in our faces on those goofy videos ("get on the bus, gus" 😕 ) and drive around in fancy cars. Where's my car, dammit? How come I cant be in a video?? 👿
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I feel your pain , but let me ask you a question how long have you had csp??
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See, I work in a legacy Orange call center. Put simply, I've always understood the return policy to be that as long as we receive the phone, no matter what kind it was nor how much it was, back within the thirty day return policy, the ETF is waived. Now, for those that order their phone online or through the phone, that means a reduced trial period, since your time starts from the day that you order your phone. So factor in three to five days to get the phone, and if you decide to return it, three to five days, optimally, to get it back to cingular. So now you've only got a 24-20 day return policy. That's really the only fallacy that I know of in the return process.
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places head in hands
"Oh GOd here we go again"
Sighs and hopes thar cellboob will just go away and go complain somewhere else
"Oh GOd here we go again"
Sighs and hopes thar cellboob will just go away and go complain somewhere else
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I am upset for you. I work in an agent store and make sure that my customer understand everything fully before they leave the store. That is also why when a customer asks me "why should I buy from you instead of from the internet?" I reply with service and the fact that you KNOW what you are getting. I am sure that any company's online purchasing works like this though. Not that it is an excuse for Cingulars customer service. Anytime that I have ordered anything online my order is jacked somehow. Sorry about all of your hassles.
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hello sir i am a cingular representative and yes unfortunately mistakes do get made when you have such a bif company and how many reps, its unfortunate that it happened to you
i have worked in customer service for about 2 years now and have seen some of the most outrageous situation, some which are not copanyies faults some are, ( i know cingular makes mistakes as does every other company) as for your thread yes its a good idea to let people know bout mistakes and weridly enough some "reps" do know more bout things than others however all compaines due have these mistakes and gliches,
i have worked in customer service for about 2 years now and have seen some of the most outrageous situation, some which are not copanyies faults some are, ( i know cingular makes mistakes as does every other company) as for your thread yes its a good idea to let people know bout mistakes and weridly enough some "reps" do know more bout things than others however all compaines due have these mistakes and gliches,
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It takes a couple of months for refunds on cingular purchases via telesales and cingular.com. It is going to be some time before you see that money back.
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