General Reviews of Cingular Wireless Customer Service

Pros: Free mobile-to-mobile
Cons: Customer service, rates

I was originally using a Cingular GoPhone Pay-As-You-Go, because they had a $29.99 offer for the Nokia 6010 phone.

After I had started using it more than I had anticipated (over $100 in 2 weeks), I had decided to switch over to a plan from them, for $49.99 a month, with 400 minutes and unlimited night and weekends.

I called customer service to change my plan over, which they did. I later discovered that my account had been closed. I called customer service back and told them I had switched plans but my phone was disconnected. They recconnected service. I originally had about $58 in my account balance, but they could only recover half!

I am going to do a credit card chargeback on EVERY charge for Cingular, except for the phone I purchased. This will come back to bite them.

I just purchased a new phone from another carrier. I will not disclose the carrier, because I do not want it to sound like I am attempting to advertise for them, however I will write a review once I have everything set up.

Pros: NONE
Cons: Don't get me started...

A brief recap of my last three months:

Been on the phone with them for 15+ hours (mostly on hold)
Received harassing phone calls at both work and home
Gotten misleading letters in the mail regarding my account

WHY?
Three months ago they overcharged me $740 on my bill (yes, I said $740.00) and have not yet fixed it after 3 months, even though they admit to the mistake. They say, "crediting accounts often takes some time." Three months, really? Why? They sure as hell can charge you in 10 seconds! My phone is turned off now because the credit that hasn't been posted is showing as an overdue balance.

And I'm not the only one - every person I talk to has problems with them. Maybe that's why they have THE WORST customer service rating in the industry.

Pros: I hear they may be outsourcing many of their customer reps.
Cons: BAD SERVICE. Plus, many of their phones are overpriced&outdated compared to other co.

If you're looking for the run-around, nasty I'm-doing-you-a-favor customer service, and to be treated like a criminal rather than a customer- GO TO CINGULAR WIRELESS!!! One particular customer service rep: Gordon Cannon...unreal! I am an African-American, and unfortunately could tell immediately that he was black. His Uncle Tom approach to mistreating the customer was a perfect imitation down to the letter. I'm not sure what's going on with cingular wireless, but I'm putting my prepaid phone up for sale on eBay, and heading over to T-Mobile!

Pros: Great Support!!!
Cons: None.

When I first purchased my Cingular phone and called to activate it, the rep said my sim card was bad. She said a new one would be sent to me, instead of making me hold she called me back after she had the new sim card ordered, to y surprise I had the sim card in my hand the very next day. Cingular has excellent customer support.

Pros: Uh, I'm still thinking
Cons: They rip me off every chance they can and hope I won't notice.

There bill requires training in order to read. I got a special offer through my work and couldn't find any of the figures I was quoted for several months on any bill. I have spoken with customer service who told me the plan I was on didn't exist in a very sexy voice. I am paying about twice as much as I anticipated. This month they added roadside assistance to my bill and added a fee for each of my three phones for this month and last month. I don't even know what this service is. The phones are for my kids who don't drive. I will cancel this service when my contract terminates. I can't wait.

Pros: GSM network is great when it works. Best phone choices.
Cons: Lots of dropped calls.

I had been a client of AT&T wireless for about 4 years before this merger with Cingular and didn't have any problems at all (dropped calls, customer service etc.) Since they have merged, the number of dropped calls has gone thru the roof ! And I don't travel anywhere different now vs. then. To make it even more frustrating, lately I will call someone, hear it ringing, and then when someone picks up, the sound on my end cuts out. They can here me fine but I can't hear anything they say. So I hang up and call back and it usually will work. This is the case even on my wifes phone, so I know its not mine. I would say I have an issue on about 1 out of every 4 or 5 calls.

Pros: Ok phones, spotty service
Cons: Lousy, absolutely uncaring and irresponsible customer service.

I've tried several others (Verizon, T-Mobile, Nextel) and Cingular is by far the worst. The phones are ok, the wireless service is spotty at best and the customer service must use prison labor. Time and time again, I get conflicting and erroneous answers from different reps. My account was "accidentally" terminated and then sent to collections because they lost my payment. The bank verified that the check cleared three weeks ago, yet since Cingular could not find it, my account and credit report suffered. One of my many woes with Cingular. Be very careful about switching to Cingular.

FYI, Verizon customer service has stood out. They went out of their way to communicate and help me resolve a billing issue, even after I left for Cingular. What a huge mistake that was.

Counting the days until my time is up...

Pros: the phone was pretty, and took pictures
Cons: the phone did not work as a phone only as a camera

I had my phone for 2 days and had to disconnect. We had no reception at all while in our home. Thats understandable, what is not was the $393.00 bill we received from Cingular for the 2 days of, I hate to call it service, it took an act of Congress and numerous calls to their office, to have them reduce the bill to $32.76. If my calculations are correct that is $507.78 for 1 month of service. Stay away from Cingular unless you have time to kill.

Pros: None.
Cons: Dishonest service personnel and horrible customer service provided by Cingular wireless

I signed up with Cingular wireless and every thing was working fine for a while. Later, I was not able to receive any service at my house. At this point, I canceled my service and switched to another provider after speaking with Cingular. It was prior to my one year contract completion however, Cingular agreed that there would be no issues.

A few weeks later I received my last monthly bill and it included a $175.00 early termination fee. I immediately contacted the billing department who told me that I would have to pay the early termination fee. I then asked for a manager and spoke to him for another 10 minutes, he finally agreed to waive the fee.

A few weeks later I received another bill with the same termination fee. I again contacted cingular who told me that they would send me a new bill with the fee removed, however, that was not true. This is still on-going and they are claiming that there are no notes recorded about my conversation with the manager. I would never purchase Cingular wireless and would like to warn everyone about their dishonest customer service personnel

Pros: None
Cons: They rip you off on termination fees

I had an account with AT&T that I canceled July 2004. I canceled service July 17, 2004 and the end of my billing cycle was July 23, 2004.

As you know, Cingular bought over AT&T. In April 2005 -- 9 months after I canceled service with AT&T -- I received a bill from Cingular stating that I still owed $46.38 for "end of billing cycle" fee!!

This is outragious for 2 reasons:
1 -- My contract was with AT&T and it was settled and closed July 2004
2 -- I canceled my service BEFORE the end of my billing cycle date!

I've been on the phone with multiple agents and supervisors from Cingular -- the last one I talked you actually threatened to send this to a collection agency and screw up my credit report if I don't pay! This is freaking insane!!

I'm filing a complaint with Better Business Bureau...but save yourself the frustration and money and go with another wireless provider.

Pros: Service Area
Cons: Everything else billing, overcharges, hidden fees, customer service, tech support, actuall "full working" service, reception

Im giving them two stars only for one reason,I didnt have a dead zone while with them. Even at the cabin. The reception was crap, I dont know how many times i heard "can you repeat that" or "what?". the extra 30 bucks that was tacked onto my account every month even though i didnt go over my minutes. The terrible customer service ("please shut off your phone, turn it back on and then call us") okay yeah.. that may of worked the first time. The fact my VOICEMAIL hasn't worked since i've had the phone, and now that i want to cancel the account they wont let me until i come up with an extra $150 to pay for the cancelation in advanced.

DIRTY COMPANY!!

I honestly feel violated and ripped off. When I told the customer service rep I was planing on leaving and wanted to cancel, his reaction was so placid I was sure that 90% of his phone calls had ended the same way.

To think I made it through this email with out cursing.. amazing.
DONT GET RIPPED OFF!!

Pros: Works in densely populated areas.
Cons: Two cups connected with string would be clearer and more reliable than this service.

There is one thing this company does well: collect on bills. The cellular coverage in my area is spotty to nonexistant. When I called about the poor reception they suggested that I buy a new phone from them. When I told them that my reception is okay elsewhere they acted mystified. When I got upset that they still tried to sell me a new phone again, "Why do I need to pay you more money so that you will do what I pay you to do already?" they sent out a technician to check the service in my area... and a cell tower was indeed out! I'm still waiting for them to fix it.... and waiting... and waiting...

Pros: ask for any hidden charges for they will not tell you
Cons: taking over ATT now my bank account.

this month $36.00 for changing phone number. last month $40.00, month before $120.00.All due to charges that I was not informed about by sales department. Never was informed about other options that would save me money.

Pros: sadly enough there has been added benefit for me from the merger.
Cons: poor customer service and worst network problems.

I was an ATT customer and now find myself a Cingular customer. My problem is with customer service:

During the holidays I went over my plan minutes. There are two phones associated with the line. One line was charged 35 cents a minute and the other phone 45 cents a minute.

I called customer service to be credited for the second phone--only to be told that they always charge two rates for excess minutes on multiple phones on a singular line. I ask where on the contract does it state this--three reps no answer except that they always charge the additional phones 45 cents for additional minutes.

Finally I ask where I can write to get a better answer to my grievance and I was disconnected.

The sad part is that now I'm looking to change wireless carriers after three years with ATT and almost a full two years on my contract left.

Essentially because they have decided to focus only on sales not customer service, they have lost the $100 plus (multiplied by 20 months) a month of my basic plan and two subscribers for for the equivalent of less than $100.

Pros: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
Cons: Poor customer service. overcharging. monthly headache. company takes no accountability

It is my new mission in life to bring down this company.. i will tell every friend family member and stranger how terrible this company is. it is truly the WORST COMPANY that i have ever dealt with.. they never keep track of past call records. accuse you of making charges that you didnt.they are so rude on the phone and completely suck you dry until there is not one cent left in you!!! if you are wise you will take this advise and NEVER USE CINGULAR i recently canceled my coverage.. 300 dollars is a small price to pay to never have to deal with this idiots again