Cingular stores != Cingular?
I looked up my local Cingular store on the Cingular website, and found one near me...
Cingular Wireless
1441 Meadowview Rd
C
Sacramento, CA 95814
When I got there, I found that although it says Cingular on the sign outside, on the windows, and on the inside, the store is actually a "Parrot Cellular" store instead. Does Parrot Cellular run all of the Cingular stores?
The guy in the store was a complete moron, and I watched him turn away customers (including me) because he didn't want to "get into trouble" by helping us.
Are there any stores owned and operated by Cingular or am I stuck dealing with Parrot Cellular or some other 3rd party?
Cingular Wireless
1441 Meadowview Rd
C
Sacramento, CA 95814
When I got there, I found that although it says Cingular on the sign outside, on the windows, and on the inside, the store is actually a "Parrot Cellular" store instead. Does Parrot Cellular run all of the Cingular stores?
The guy in the store was a complete moron, and I watched him turn away customers (including me) because he didn't want to "get into trouble" by helping us.
Are there any stores owned and operated by Cingular or am I stuck dealing with Parrot Cellular or some other 3rd party?
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Yes there are Cingular company owned stores. Call around adn see who really is company owned. Also ot all of our third part dealers are stupid just some
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I called Cingular and spoke with Michael in Sales, hoping they had a list of Cingular-owned stores, so I wouldn't have to call all over the city. He proceeded to call each store on the list to find what he called a "corporate" store. Luckily, he was able to find one close by!
Yay! 😁
Yay! 😁
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I went to two different Cingular stores that are about one block apart in Springfield Missouri trying to find out the best plan for getting better reception in my home. The "Cingular" store said switch to straight Cingular phone/plan - the former ATT now Cingular store suggested I stay with the ATT/Cingular phone and plan because that was the best. Is this a turf war and how can I know which is the best for me?
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What you ran into is an Exclusive Agent. They look like Cingular because all they sell is Cingular products and services, but they're still an indirect store. SOME exclusives are just as knowlegable as Corporate retail reps, and then there are people like the one that you met. It's generally easier to get hired on at an indirect store as they're run by independant (usually small) companies or persons.
The kicker is this, indirect stores are put up strictly to sell, not service. Therefore when you go in for customer service or billing issues their abilities are limited and sometimes non-existent. All an indirect can do is call CS for you for a lot of things...and whether you want them to call is largely up to you and how you perciev...
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The kicker is this, indirect stores are put up strictly to sell, not service. Therefore when you go in for customer service or billing issues their abilities are limited and sometimes non-existent. All an indirect can do is call CS for you for a lot of things...and whether you want them to call is largely up to you and how you perciev...
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Your second paragraph there is off by quite a bit. Indirect stores are not put up just to sell. That attitude of "I only sell" is prevelant whether you visit an indirect or Cingular owned retail store.
And at least in this region, telegence is being replaced by POS.com II. That is the weapon of choice for customer service and the system works quite well.
If the store you are visiting has competent sales reps, indirect or corporate owned, they can help you with the vast majority of your issues. The first issue regardless of the customer is education.
That being said, indirect stores cannot accept cash payments for your service bill.
And at least in this region, telegence is being replaced by POS.com II. That is the weapon of choice for customer service and the system works quite well.
If the store you are visiting has competent sales reps, indirect or corporate owned, they can help you with the vast majority of your issues. The first issue regardless of the customer is education.
That being said, indirect stores cannot accept cash payments for your service bill.
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disturbed1 said:
The kicker is this, indirect stores are put up strictly to sell, not service. Therefore when you go in for customer service or billing issues their abilities are limited and sometimes non-existent. All an indirect can do is call CS for you for a lot of things...and whether you want them to call is largely up to you and how you percieve them.
not true...and stuff said like this pisses me off ONLY BECAUSE this paints a bad picture of ALL indirect stores. i work for an agent and i would NEVER work for corporate. day in and day out i hear customers say they will never step back in a corporate store. now of course an indirect agent can choose whether they want to help the customer with cus...
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Thanks for this. I had a bad experience with that one store, but every Cingular (corporate) rep I've talked to has been awesome. I guess it's hit or miss :-/
Maybe I'll scope out a few other (indirect agent) Cingular stores in my area, since it seems like I'll be waiting a while for the new phones to come out.
Maybe I'll scope out a few other (indirect agent) Cingular stores in my area, since it seems like I'll be waiting a while for the new phones to come out.
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