Enough is enough. After going into the Cingular store in Watertown today, to fix two problems with Gina’s phone and service, I have decided that it is actually worth the contract buyout to leave Cingular. Things have gotten so bad, that I am willing to happily pay the $150 each to get away from these douche bags once and for all. Here is a little background….
- I used to be a Cingular customer a few years ago, but left and headed over to AT&T when I just couldn’t stand the deplorable service from Cingular any longer.
- AT&T was great, from service, to prices, to selection. Loved it all. Zero complaints.
- Unfortunately AT&T was then bought out by Cingular, and I was unwillingly yanked back in to the burning inferno that is Cingular.
At first things were ok. Coverage was decent, price stayed the same, my mobile to mobile network was expanded…overall, I felt good about the merger. That was, until I actually needed to actually deal with the Cingular folks and get a problem solved. Then it was right back to being bent over the table for some good old Cingular service. Right in the ass.
I had a simple problem, in that the screen on my phone had inexplicably stopped working. The phone worked, but the screen was black. Since all of my numbers were in my phone and none were memorized, this presented a bit of a problem in that I had no way to actually get phone numbers and make phone calls. Not to mention I had to answer all incoming calls blindly…which was AWESOME. No big deal I thought, I will just stop by Cingular and get a new phone. I didn’t even care which one, I would take whatever was on special and I would even extend my contract to do so. I had done this multiple times while with AT&T and the whole process never took more than five minutes and I always left happy.
Boy, was I in for a surprise.
Experience Number One
Instantly upon entering the Waltham Cingular store, I had my leg “sales humped” by the high school dropout working there, as he was clearly looking for a fresh victim to do the old cell phone-for-soul transaction. He only seemed mildly disappointed when I told him I was already a customer and I just needed a new phone to replace my broken one. However, his disappointment turned quickly into sick satisfaction when he called up my info and realized that I was an AT&T customer and “not a Cingular customer”, and happily informed me that “there was nothing he could do for me” before walking over to the next lamb ready for slaughter. Funny I thought…when I need to PAY someone, Cingular is more than happy to take my money and surely considers me a customer…but when I need something from them, well, I am a complete leper that they need to stay far far away from.
Needless to say, I left with broken cell phone in hand.
Experience Number Two
Never one to take “no” for an answer, I decided that I should at least try another Cingular store and see what could be done. The chances that I had randomly happened across one know-nothing knob at the first store seemed to be at least 50%. So we headed to Westboro, and the Cingular store on Route 9.
As soon as we walked into the store on the early Saturday morning, it was abundantly clear that we were interrupting the sales person’s morning “stare at traffic and drool while breathing through your mouth” time, and as a result he was clearly agitated with me before we even spoke. His story was much the same as the one I had heard in Waltham, but this time I was pissed and gave him some lip. I am not a big guy by any means, but I know how to talk and welcome confrontations with people like this, so I laid into him a little bit. Clearly un-fazed by my attack, and accustomed to the abuse (this IS Cingular after all), he motioned to a baggie full of used phones and told me that as an AT&T customer, I could choose from that selection. Mind you, the phones looked a lot like this, and prices started at $100. I sarcastically thanked him before passing on his generous offer and letting him know just how much I loved the Cingular “customer service”. I told him how great it was to have been unwillingly absorbed into this hell of a company. He responded by telling me that AT&T was bought out because they “didn’t make any money” and that I “wasn’t absorbed into any company”. Thanks for the corporate takeover lesson Jack Welch, maybe you can parlay that sort of business savvy into an assistant manager position at the Cingular store, or maybe even move up to the mall kiosk if you REALLY work hard. You definitely have the Cingular attitude, so the sky is the limit.
He also suggested that I buy a phone off of eBay which is exactly what I did.
Experience Number Three
By now I had kind of come to terms with being a Cingular customer. I likened it to having herpes. It was painful at times, it was a minor inconvenience, I could still function with it, and most importantly…there was nothing I could do about it. So I learned to live with it.
Then we moved. And soon after we moved, Gina’s phone started acting up, shutting off at random times and just generally being a nuisance. In addition, she oddly got no reception at the new apartment. Zero bars. None. This was particularly unusual given that we live in a major metropolitan area, and I got perfect reception and was also a Cingular/AT&T Customer.
So she did what any customer would do, and called “customer service”. After 25 or so minutes on hold, she was told that there was a “tower down in the area” and that they had “ordered parts” which “were on the way”. Apparently they were coming pony express, since days passed and nothing changed. I mean, frankly, I don’t even really believe the tower down story. I can picture the operators sitting around during that 25 minutes on hold, swapping excuse ideas until one of them jumped up from her chair:
“I GOT IT! Tell her a tower is down, and parts are on the way”
Followed by high fives, and the operator composing herself before getting back on the phone..
“Um, M’am? Yes, there is a tower down, and parts are on the way” (all the while desperately trying to suppress laughter.)
Since “customer service” was a dead end, we thought, let’s try ANOTHER Cingular store, this time in Watertown. Hey, we are gluttons for punishment. We are Cingular customers.
Upon arrival, the bland, and clearly homosexual (his sexuality is important not as a negative, but to give a better visual of the scene), khaki-clad manager was obviously bothered to be working on Labor day, and even more bothered that he had to deal with anyone. Instead of actually doing anything for us, he briskly picked up the store phone, dialed customer service for us, and handed the phone to Gina before sauntering off to prey on other would be customers. We could have done this from home.
After sitting in the Cingular store for literally 30 minutes on hold with NOTHING happening at all, we gave up.
During that thirty minutes that Gina was on hold (which included the manager’s phone ringing with an EAR PIERCING version of Kelly Clarkson’s new single) I decided that it was a good time to update my billing address to reflect my recent move. I figured it would be easier to update it in store, since I too had sat on hold for 25 or so minutes with “customer service” the previous week before I too gave up and hung up.
WRONG.
He typed in my phone number, and then in one swift motion, smirked at me, closed the browser window, and told me “you are an AT&T customer, I can’t even TOUCH this” before sashaying away. I gave him my Westboro speech regarding the customer service of Cingular, to which he replied “it’s tough when your company gets bought”. I did everything I could to resist punching him right there in front of the family he was helping. I did however, deliver a short monologue on how I hated Cingular and that because of the appalling “customer service” that we were going to another company. I made sure to inform him that it was actually worth paying $300 to never have to deal with them again, and I made sure to do it in front of whoever was in the store contemplating a purchase.
——–
I don’t know how else to really articulate just how bad the service at Cingular is. Every “customer service” rep, every store employee, everyone at Cingular, has ZERO interest in customer satisfaction or retention. They literally don’t care if they lose customers, and they REALLY don’t care about making AT&T refugees feel welcomed under the new company umbrella.
I CANNOT wait to leave them, and plan on doing so this weekend.
UPDATE - Cingular Sucks Yahoo Group RSS
More sob stories at everydayhogwash.com
December 14th, 2005 at 7:44 pm
I feel your pain. I had a similar experience with them and posted about it here.
http://chadrodgers.blogspot.com/
December 23rd, 2005 at 12:38 pm
Your mom is a stupid, ugly, fat, skanky, “jesus”! YOU STUPID CLOWN FART! Just kidding, i don’t like to make fun of people’s moma’s!. :p
January 6th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
I’m also a former AT&T Wireless customer having huge issues with Cingular, also documented on my blog. I stole your Cingular image to include with my own post. Let me know if you have an isse with that and I’ll take it down.
January 17th, 2006 at 3:06 pm
My sentiments exactly - Cingular is the worse cell phone company ever. I, too, was an AT&T customer that got caught in the Cingular buy-out. Now that everything has totally become Cingular, the service sucks - I get calls dropped constantly — customer service sucks - they are are rude as can be and especially when they see I’m an old AT&T customer — no more customer service after a certain time — they now have emergency number to call. The plans suck - and I could go on and on. In order to leave Cingular, it now cost $179 buy-out contract, rather than the old $150.
July 14th, 2006 at 9:29 am
I hear you about Cingular sucking - and it stinks even more that you were yanked back into the company after paying to leave them.
They are the anti-Christ, as far as I’m concerned. Comcast ranks right up there with them, but Cingular is a quiet evil.
August 10th, 2006 at 1:04 am
your dumb ass! you should of not left Cingular in the first place. your an idiot for even thinking that a Cingular store would be able to help you. Your just a needy idiot that wants things done. And ofcourse with that attitude no one wants to help you. You are a AT&T refugee, so deal with it. you dont like it… Tough! thats life. Some other company is going to fuck you in the ass no matter what. Remember, money talks, bullshit walks. So before you complain about your own stupidity, you AT&T idiot, check your self before you wreck yourself. People like you get taken advantage everywhere. Cingular is just the first company, sure enough im going to find another website with you complaining about something stupid like… The salvation army and how there prices tear you a new ass hole. fucking idiot. I laugh at fags like you.
November 4th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
get Cingular OUT OF Business.
It’s the WORST
December 18th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
I found this site because I googled “cingular sucks.” They advertise themselves as having the fewest dropped calls- that is because you CAN’T GET CONNECTED in the first place!!! IF YOU ARE IN THE DC AREA- DO NOT GET CINGULAR- you cannot connect from a large part of the city. IGNORE WHAT THEY TELL YOU- CINGULAR SUCKS!!!
February 22nd, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Thanks for writing this very true and entertaining blog! I am currently on hold with Cingular right now (and have been for approximately 80 minutes now). So this gave me a reason to smile because I was getting pretty angry as my blood pressure was rising! So you made my morning! Thank you!!
March 7th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Please, take my advice and GET OUT NOW! I had AWFUL service, so I cancelled.
*First Phone Call*
I spoke with this sickly sweet girl named Candy (what an appropriate name). I explained to Candy that my service was horrible and that I wasn’t getting voicemails or phone calls when I was in Jacksonville or Birmingham and seeing as I am there most of the time, that wasn’t going to work. I explained the whole someone trying to get in touch with me because they were having a baby and needed me to drive them to the hospital story… she said I could return the phone, no problemo. I was skeptical, and she didn’t seem to be playing with a full deck, so I called customer service about an hour later
*Second Phone Call*
I spoke with Vonnie, who had a had this deep, overly sexual voice. Maybe before Cingular customer service he had been a phone sex operator. Anyhow, I asked him to read back what Candy (I bet she spells it ‘Candi,’ she seemed like one of those)had noted on my account. He did and reiterated the fact that I would not be charged a dime. He just told me to go bring the phone to the Cingular store. So, after switching to Verizon (which is a million times better, I might add) I head to the store. And if you’ve ever been to a Cingular store (this one, being the epitome of the Cingular store experience) and dealt with those people, you know what kind of torture it is..
*Store Visit*
I go in the store and of course there is a wait and some of the “customer service” agents sitting around doing nothing. After watching some poor old man get suckered into buying the latest and greatest phone because his phone had stopped working and knowing that he will never use 75% of the features that phone has on it, it was my turn… I get this little ray of sunshine named Julie. Let’s just say customer service is not her forte… I’m not really sure what is, but since I try to see the good in everyone, I will assume there’s something positive about this woman tucked away somewhere. Anyhow, I tell her I have cancelled my service, and that’s when the claws came out. She grabbed the phone from me and dismantles it. She shows me this little red dot and claims that the phone had ‘water damage.’ I have had a phone take a bath before, and I would have known if my phone had been submerged in water. How am I to know she didn’t lick her finger and touch the damn little dot herself? (Trust me, I wouldn’t put it past these people). So after explaining that no, I had no idea that dot was there and no, I was not aware my phone went for a swim (that dot could have been red from day one, I wouldn’t have known), I was told I couldn’t get my money back, but that I was “one lucky little girl for not being charged anything.” Julie is lucky she still has a job after calling me “one lucky little girl.” But it’s fine, as long as I never have to deal with you people again… my Verizon phone rings (it’s my Daddy) and as I get up and walk at the door, free of the Cingular bondage, I tell him what FANTASTIC service I am getting with Verizon and how wonderful my phone is…
*Three Months Later*
I get online, pay some bills, and check my account balance… overdrawn by 80 bucks. After having a minor panic attack, I call Suntrust to find out what a mysterious $233 charge on my account is… my jaw hits the floor when they tell me Cingular. At this point, I am madder than hell, but have to wait ’til the next day to call them. I call and speak to Erica, a nice woman, kind of plain, probably lives alone with 15 cats and likes to cross stitch trite sayings on pillows, of which she has about 100. She tells me she will call the Cingular store and get back with me. I am doubtful I will ever hear from Erica again, but I let it go. I call this morning and speak with Yvette (which happens to be the name of the claims adjuster who was fired for not handling my car accident case in a timely manner… just my luck). Oh, let me tell you, Yvette is a real GEM. She tells me that the charge is for ‘liquefied damages.’ Kinda obscure, don’t you think? Well I did, so I asked her to explain to me in detail what these charges were for, exactly… she then tells me that ‘liquefied damages’ mean that the phone CAME INTO CONTACT WITH LIQUID. Well, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I decided that explaining what liquefied damages really means would be a lost cause and resorted to beating my head against a wall, which is probably more productive. Next, I ask her to remove my bank account information from their computer system. She tells me that’s not allowed, which bought her a front and center ticket to hell hath no fury like Rachel. I explained to her that I supplied Cingular that information and she WILL remove it at my request or I will have her job by 5 p.m. today (it had some colorful language and embellishments that I will refrain from repeating, after all, I am a lady). Well, apparently she heard that little message loud and clear and took my account information off. She said that someone would call me back today about the matter (they better). I asked her for copies of all information about my account, and she told me I had to have a subpoena to obtain such records (odd, that I can’t have records on my OWN account?)
Whatever happened to the customer comes first?
Or is right for that matter…
I imagine that in hell the only cell phone service provider is Cingular, which makes hell an even more frightening concept than I ever imagined…
How does one little person stand up for herself against the mass conglomerate (dare I say monopoly?) that is Cingular, AT&T, and Bellsouth?
I suppose I will await my phone call from the always delightful Erica.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Man, Cingular sucks…they niffed off $ 900 dollars from. First they gave me a plan which didnt exist anyhow they changed it after two months with out telling me. When the bill cam i saw teh plan was changed. Anyways, they persuaded me thrice to accept their new plan. But this time i had it, they again changed my plan …they take away features without telling anyone. And now I saw the bill…..I had biggest shock of my life $878…I mean come on how do they make it so big ….its the biggest cell phone scam. We should all get together and sue them.
June 7th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Cingular sucks!!! I hate then mire that anything in the whole world. All of this stuff is sooooooo very true!!! If you are thinking of getting cingukar, then don’t!!! They trap you in 12 contracts and you will never ever escape!!!