14 day return policy? Normal to get the run around?
I bought a Sony T637 on Friday to try out the service. No one I know has anything other than Verizon, but it had bluetooth. So I figured that I had a 14 day return policy, I could give it a shot.
Well, once he printed out my receipt, I noticed that there was also another stipulation at the bottom that said and less than 30 minutes of talk time. Ok, I can live with that too. It won't take me long to figure out if I like the service. But no where on Cingular's site or in their store do they mention that, except on the receipt.
Anyway, I used my wife's Verizon phone and my Cingular and drove around looking at places I would go and the coverage and the Verizon phone won (in Northern NJ). I used the phone a bit, but less than 30 minut...
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Well, once he printed out my receipt, I noticed that there was also another stipulation at the bottom that said and less than 30 minutes of talk time. Ok, I can live with that too. It won't take me long to figure out if I like the service. But no where on Cingular's site or in their store do they mention that, except on the receipt.
Anyway, I used my wife's Verizon phone and my Cingular and drove around looking at places I would go and the coverage and the Verizon phone won (in Northern NJ). I used the phone a bit, but less than 30 minut...
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DucatiBoy said:...
I bought a Sony T637 on Friday to try out the service. No one I know has anything other than Verizon, but it had bluetooth. So I figured that I had a 14 day return policy, I could give it a shot.
Well, once he printed out my receipt, I noticed that there was also another stipulation at the bottom that said and less than 30 minutes of talk time. Ok, I can live with that too. It won't take me long to figure out if I like the service. But no where on Cingular's site or in their store do they mention that, except on the receipt.
Anyway, I used my wife's Verizon phone and my Cingular and drove around looking at places I would go and the coverage and the Verizon phone won (in Northern NJ). I used the
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I depends, was it an idirect dealer. I am assuming so since they had nextel. You can get indirect dealers that will try and do things like that. they hope you will forget or something. it is really dishonest. but if it were a Cingular retail store, i wouldnt worry about it. but what i would do, is call CS on you cingular phone(611) and tell them to note your account that you tried to bring it back, and they said the system was down. This will cover your tracts if they try and pull something. Dont take this as being a Cingular thing however. any indirect dealer for any company can try and pull this kind of stuff. they loose money when you disconnect.
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Ah, but I'm only allowed 30 minutes of airtime before they will no longer accept it back. I'm at 25 minutes now. And I have heard horror stories about their wait times, I would hate for them to add that to my air time and then I couldn't return it. I'll try calling them via a land line now and see what they say.
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a lot of companies do not charge you airtime for 611 calls. I'm not sure about Cingular though. It's just my opinion, but they know that it's very common to have to wait for help on thier lines, it seems only sensible that they wouldn't make you use your call time waiting for them to fix the service you paid for.
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correct about 611 airtime...
the problem is, this is almost certainly an indirect agent, and they will go by the life time call timer on the phone to determine how many minutes you used...
again, good luck. if they gave you a phone that had already been returned, you could be in trouble
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the problem is, this is almost certainly an indirect agent, and they will go by the life time call timer on the phone to determine how many minutes you used...
again, good luck. if they gave you a phone that had already been returned, you could be in trouble
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I called them via a land line just to be sure, and they just noted on the account that I was canceling. I still have to go back to the store I purchased it from to return it.
Hope they don't give me too many hassles. I asked the guy if there was a 30 minute maximum and he said that the store wasn't allowed to have that policy, if they were contracted to sell Cingular service they have to obey by their rules. I'm still under that, but it seems sneaky that they would try to enforce this policy when Cingular headquarters says it's against their policy.
Hope they don't give me too many hassles. I asked the guy if there was a 30 minute maximum and he said that the store wasn't allowed to have that policy, if they were contracted to sell Cingular service they have to obey by their rules. I'm still under that, but it seems sneaky that they would try to enforce this policy when Cingular headquarters says it's against their policy.
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that's not entirely true...agents CAN change the return policy TO A POINT...Agents purchase the equip from cingular and resell it to you...some agents have seperate contracts for equipment purchases...if you signed an agent contract stating that you could only use 30 mins then that stands w/ that agent, you signed that contract...just as if an agent has a 3 day equipment return policy, it stand b/c you CHOSE to purchase equip from an agent...moral of the story, DON'T GO TO AGENT STORES
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jsatt18 said:
that's not entirely true...agents CAN change the return policy TO A POINT...Agents purchase the equip from cingular and resell it to you...some agents have seperate contracts for equipment purchases...if you signed an agent contract stating that you could only use 30 mins then that stands w/ that agent, you signed that contract...just as if an agent has a 3 day equipment return policy, it stand b/c you CHOSE to purchase equip from an agent...moral of the story, DON'T GO TO AGENT STORES
That's a good point, and I would agree with the contract thing. If it was something I agreed to, I should honor that.
My "beef" was that there was nothing in the contract I signed, nothing in the store po...
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You shouldn't be negative towards agent stores. Yes there are some out there who don't tell you the fine print. I do. I make it very clear what they can do during their 14 day trial period.
As others have said, we implement a 30 minute talk time period with a new activation or upgrade. My company sends all returned phones back to get refurbished regardless of talk time, and even if they have been activated with no talk time. Agent stores loose money when a new phone has to be sold at a refurbished price. The reason we have time limitations is to prevent a bunch of inventory and cash flow from being hung up from the manufacturer and Cingular. There is no need to talk any longer than the time alotted as you will know immediatly if you like ...
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As others have said, we implement a 30 minute talk time period with a new activation or upgrade. My company sends all returned phones back to get refurbished regardless of talk time, and even if they have been activated with no talk time. Agent stores loose money when a new phone has to be sold at a refurbished price. The reason we have time limitations is to prevent a bunch of inventory and cash flow from being hung up from the manufacturer and Cingular. There is no need to talk any longer than the time alotted as you will know immediatly if you like ...
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Iselltheshitoutofphones said:...
You shouldn't be negative towards agent stores. Yes there are some out there who don't tell you the fine print. I do. I make it very clear what they can do during their 14 day trial period.
As others have said, we implement a 30 minute talk time period with a new activation or upgrade. My company sends all returned phones back to get refurbished regardless of talk time, and even if they have been activated with no talk time. Agent stores loose money when a new phone has to be sold at a refurbished price. The reason we have time limitations is to prevent a bunch of inventory and cash flow from being hung up from the manufacturer and Cingular. There is no need to talk any longer than the tim
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i am an agent for cingular and i've worked for 2 different agents, the first did the whole 20 min. talk time bs...the new agent i work for follows cingular's rules exactly.
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both very good points....it's gonna help you to check the lifetime call timer before messin with these guys. Does anyone know if this person can get a statement from Cingular stating his calltime usage. I don't recall it being stated that it must be 30 min of airtime on the contract or the phone....it could be open to interpretation.
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I did check the lifetime call timer on the phone. I kept an eye on that when I noticed the 30 minute max deal.
Right now, I'm at 25 minutes and 20 seconds. I also now have the phone off, just in case.
When I called Cingular directly, they said that I used 10 minutes as of today. I don't know why those numbers are different, but it could be that I called other wireless numbers there and maybe they weren't counted or something. Also I used them over the weekend. I didn't use any anytime minutes and only 10 minutes of the nights and weekends. Maybe it just takes them a couple days to register the minutes. But I used the phone last on Sunday.
Weird. And no one is answering the phone at the store. These guys seem to be getting m...
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Right now, I'm at 25 minutes and 20 seconds. I also now have the phone off, just in case.
When I called Cingular directly, they said that I used 10 minutes as of today. I don't know why those numbers are different, but it could be that I called other wireless numbers there and maybe they weren't counted or something. Also I used them over the weekend. I didn't use any anytime minutes and only 10 minutes of the nights and weekends. Maybe it just takes them a couple days to register the minutes. But I used the phone last on Sunday.
Weird. And no one is answering the phone at the store. These guys seem to be getting m...
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Good boy for checkin the call timer. As for the minutes it sometimes takes the system a little while to catch up if the minutes are used on the weekends and during the billing cycle changeover.
30 min. of talk time sounds like something they'd do to ensure that they get their money by you not cancelling. They'll try to draw you outside of that 14 day time period too if you're not careful. But since they're required to go by Cingular's policies get a copy of Cingular's return policy and take it with you.
Now if we can only change your taste in motorcycles we'll be doin good đ¤Ŗ
30 min. of talk time sounds like something they'd do to ensure that they get their money by you not cancelling. They'll try to draw you outside of that 14 day time period too if you're not careful. But since they're required to go by Cingular's policies get a copy of Cingular's return policy and take it with you.
Now if we can only change your taste in motorcycles we'll be doin good đ¤Ŗ
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disturbed1 said:
Now if we can only change your taste in motorcycles we'll be doin good đ¤Ŗ
Ouch, slammin' the Ducati... đ They are not for everyone, but they are cool machines. I have had a few bikes:
http://www.thehickey.com/pictures/motorcycles/steve.htm »
I like them all though.
Sorry for the off topic....
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it's cool....I'm just not a hardcore racer, I like my hayabusa just fine. I do like the 999 though, very smooth.
Now if only they'd make a bluetooth system for my Shoei so I don't miss important calls while I'm ridin.
Now if only they'd make a bluetooth system for my Shoei so I don't miss important calls while I'm ridin.
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disturbed1 said:
it's cool....I'm just not a hardcore racer, I like my hayabusa just fine. I do like the 999 though, very smooth.
Now if only they'd make a bluetooth system for my Shoei so I don't miss important calls while I'm ridin.
Me neither, I'm actually quite a whimp on it compared to some I have met.
It's funny you mentioned the 'busa, my buddy who hosts that site has one.
http://www.thehickey.com/pictures/motorcycles/jay.htm »
It's an awesome ride as well, very different from the ducati, but very cool.
Ride safe, keep the rubber side down, and sorry for going off the cell phone topic (for all you non bike people). đ
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i would go to the place you bought it on your day off and wait there all day until their alleged "return system" is back online. and make sure you mention something to every customer that comes up about how they should go visit a Corporate Cingular store, becuase these guys are shady. Bring a lawn chair if you have to. đ
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I called them up today and asked it their computers were up and operational. When he said yes, why, I asked him if he could handle the return of a cell phone. He said yes so I went down there.
This guy seemed very nice and everything went smoothly this time. He did check my phone to see how many minutes I used, to make sure I didn't go "over" the 30 minutes. I hadn't and I didn't want to make a stink about it. But they aren't allowed to do that. So no big deal. This guy was very nice. Maybe their computers were down, maybe they just wanted to make me do it twice to make sure I was serious.
That happened to me a couple years ago, I bought a video card for my computer and when I got home and opened the box, there was no video car...
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This guy seemed very nice and everything went smoothly this time. He did check my phone to see how many minutes I used, to make sure I didn't go "over" the 30 minutes. I hadn't and I didn't want to make a stink about it. But they aren't allowed to do that. So no big deal. This guy was very nice. Maybe their computers were down, maybe they just wanted to make me do it twice to make sure I was serious.
That happened to me a couple years ago, I bought a video card for my computer and when I got home and opened the box, there was no video car...
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Just to clarify on the 30 minutes usage thing...
authorized agents are almost always allowed to participate in as much or as little as the main carrier's gaurantee as they are comfortable with.
usually, an agent is just protecting their bottom line because they have a hard time moving "used" eqipment.
authorized agents are almost always allowed to participate in as much or as little as the main carrier's gaurantee as they are comfortable with.
usually, an agent is just protecting their bottom line because they have a hard time moving "used" eqipment.
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I would agree, but if you saw how well I took care of this phone for the 5 days I had it, you would be hard pressed to tell if it was used. I wanted to keep it in as nice shape as possible to avoid problems with a possible return. But what you said makes sense.
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of course... "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're NOT out to get you."
they might have been crooks... I'm glad all seemed to work out for you
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they might have been crooks... I'm glad all seemed to work out for you
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If you have more problems with them, then i would go to the Cingular retail store and tell them to cancel you out. then, take the phone back, and simply drop it off. make sure you have the mote that you returned the phone. they arent getting paid if you disconnect, so they are going to want the phone back. just make sure they let cingular know that you returned the phone, or else they could put liquidation damages on a bill, and send it to you. i know it sucks, but that is the name of the game with any carrier, and any indirect dealer that is crocked.
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