Didnt See This Coming
This is gonna be very strange. You almost wonder if this is what theyve been planning all along, considering SBC IMMEDIATELY adopted the AT&T name internally and announced this decision.
How do you see the customers taking this one now?
I don't think they planned on doing this since the beginning because of all the money they spend on promoting the Cingular name after the merger.
If this does happen (it was an SBC CEO who said it, not a Cingular one), I'm just hoping they'll pay for our rebranding of POP in the stores.
ralph_on_me said:
I agree. People in my area whine about the Cingular name and want the old ATT name.
I don't think they planned on doing this since the beginning because of all the money they spend on promoting the Cingular name after the merger.
If this does happen (it was an SBC CEO who said it, not a Cingular one), I'm just hoping they'll pay for our rebranding of POP in the stores.
I was under the impression that the Cingular CEO was simply a puppet when it came to something that the BLS CEO or SBC CEO said. Is that incorrect?
And it would be nice if they rebranded your stores at no charge to you. I hope they do.
The Cingy CEO could be a puppet, but SBC only holds 60% of his strings. We just have to watch and wait.
I don't see the CEO as a puppet. With landline/long distance loosing monies faster than GW's approval rating they need a sharp cat in their executive office.
It kind of goes against the spinning off wireless (like AT&T did in the nineties) dealie that was vogue at the time. However, I don't think they'll ever re-combine. It's all a plot for each individual corp (BLS, SBC, etc) to reap as much as they can from a globally recognized name.
dca said:
...or go on ebay and see if anyone is selling the old AT&T blue logos and signage from all the stores that were closed/re-branded???
That would work, except they "re-jiggered" the logo.
sangyup81 said:
yeah and it's at&t now not AT&T
Yeah, supposedly using lower case is more "au courrant."
I hope that this "name change" is successful in bringing in more customers and money. If not, EVERYONE will be out alot more money than what we were all out with the merger alone.
I just don't know what to think of this to be honest.
As for my shirts... even though I can't wear them to work, I'm looking forward to wearing them out on the town as vintage clothing.
"Do you work for Cingular?"
"Nope, I don't!"
tadams said:
You and C may have it somewhat easy with the name change, but our stores will not. They just invested some money on a new outdoor sign for my store. Also one for the inside. They just did a whole remodel on another store. I hope that they will not be out loads of money. We also just placed an order for more shirts, cards and things like that. I know that they are not that expensive, but it adds up with multiple stores.
I hope that this "name change" is successful in bringing in more customers and money. If not, EVERYONE will be out alot more money than what we were all out with the merger alone.
I just don't know what to think of this to be honest.
I honestly feel that this wi...
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tadams said:
Well as of right now, its 50/50. They also thought that the merger was going to be a great thing. And look at the numbers... If the company was doing some restructuring with this name change, I could see how it would help. The company is not changing, the name is. People are only dumb when they want to be. Customers will know that the name changing isn't going to change a thing.
But there is major improvements going on in customer service. I have experienced that over the last few days. I have had to call them 4 times, and have had wonderful experiences every time. The changes are becoming evident, and this will help, in my humble opinion.
tadams said:
Well as of right now, its 50/50. They also thought that the merger was going to be a great thing. And look at the numbers... If the company was doing some restructuring with this name change, I could see how it would help. The company is not changing, the name is. People are only dumb when they want to be. Customers will know that the name changing isn't going to change a thing.
you need to apply at Verizon. you have good business sense and know thy customer.
JUST because Cingular has some flaws that does not mean that Verizon should be #1. Please just go away. I think that I am losing brain cells every time that I read your posts.
SForsyth01 said:
I honestly feel that this will be a very good thing, provided it is followed by a guerella marketing campaign.
A gorilla marketing campaign would be a lot more fun 🙂
BluetoOrange22 said:
But with AT&T Wireless' reputation so ruined by a steady chain of events the years before the acquisition, do you think they can regain the trust from the customers?
Yes that was BEFORE ATT customer got a taste of Cingular. ATT was a great carrier. They gave away minutes, had retro phone plan changes, did not extend your contract on a whim, Most ATT customers including myself were very happy with ATTWirelss. Unfortunately Cingular will try to capitalize on that Good will but people are not as stupid as they think. They trashed the ATT name selling Cingular before and AFTER the buyout now they want to claim a big:
Never mind! Desperation is not pretty,
Im not questioning that there are unhappy customers out there, but there always will be. As for the extending the contract on a whim, how does Cingular do that??? Gimme proof man.
tadams said:
I know on pleanty of customers who were not happy about switching to Cingular, but have come in and said that they are so glad that they did.
Im not questioning that there are unhappy customers out there, but there always will be. As for the extending the contract on a whim, how does Cingular do that??? Gimme proof man.
They don't extend the contract on a whim. TenMidgits has gone to Verizon and must be having problems with this because Verizon extends your contract every time you sneeze.
But to his point, Cingular will extend your contract if you make a change in the last year of your contract (I think it's a year, but it could be 6 months, I'm not 100% sure) while AT&T would let y...
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tadams said:
What Ten said was "on a whim". Verizon and Sprint do it, but the contract extention on a rate plan change is the only way for the most part other than an upgrade. My point was that it happens with other companies ALOT more frequently than it does with Cingular.
Correct, as usual, my dear. 😉
tadams said:
I know on pleanty of customers who were not happy about switching to Cingular, but have come in and said that they are so glad that they did.
Im not questioning that there are unhappy customers out there, but there always will be. As for the extending the contract on a whim, how does Cingular do that??? Gimme proof man.
There are MANY MANY MANY mre who have left. I'd say 4-1 easily. Your last quarter's numbers prov that. So if you can live with the few who actually believe Cingular is better, Why are they now talking of name changes.
Cingular is a desperate company getting hammered by now even T-Mobile. It's not pretty.
ATT will not change anything. A polished turd is still a Turd...
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TenMidgits said:...tadams said:
I know on pleanty of customers who were not happy about switching to Cingular, but have come in and said that they are so glad that they did.
Im not questioning that there are unhappy customers out there, but there always will be. As for the extending the contract on a whim, how does Cingular do that??? Gimme proof man.
There are MANY MANY MANY mre who have left. I'd say 4-1 easily. Your last quarter's numbers prov that. So if you can live with the few who actually believe Cingular is better, Why are they now talking of name changes.
Cingular is a desperate company getting hammered by now even T-Mobile. It's not pretty.
ATT will not change anyt
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I have loved the Cingular coverage, phone choices, and the customer service. This name change just seems like a move backwards in my humble opinion.
Oh well. I just hope it works out well for us customers and you employees.
I was never up on the name Cingular, anyways. It almost alienated the possibilities of getting any kind of foothold in corporate/enterprises accounts... "Because we concerned ourself with the individual" attack... Hmmm.