Anyone work for Cingular customer service? Need advice.

[Enigma2004]

This is my problem:
For the past month and half, in order to make a call in my area, I would have to attempt to call out at least 45 times in order for the call to go through, and when people call me, the phone refuses to ring and never goes to voicemail, only if I'm at home.
In the past 2 months, they've replaced my phone four times thinking that the phone was the problem, and also replaced my sim card twice.
After doing all that, I am still unable to get service in my area 80% of the time.
I called customer service, and they are aware of the problem and have given me some free airtime minutes to make up for the times where my call gets disconnected constantly.

Here is my big question:

Is it even possible for me to get out of the contract because 1) Cingular is aware of the problem and refuse to fix it in my area and 2) what is the point in having the contract when I am not getting service 80% of the time?
Everything was fine up until one and half months ago.

I have two accounts with cingular, and they all do the same exact thing when I'm at my home.

I Just don't see why Cingular is insisting that I must keep the contract when clearly, it shows that I am having major issue trying to call out and receiving calls.

Thanks guys.

[DeltaOne81]

You had a 15 day trial period during which you could opt out of the service if the coverage wasn't sufficient in your area. Perhaps you're still in it, but it doesn't sound like it . That is/was your way out. If you didn't take advantage of that, then, yeah, you're stuck with the ETF.

One thing you didn't say... surprisingly... is this a weak coverage area? Only a few bars? Or is this happening when you have a strong signal? I figure its the former, which would just mean they need more/closer towers. That costs 10s of thousands of dollars per tower, if not more, and as much as they'd like to make you happy, there needs to be a good # of customers (or potential customers) in that area to be worth their money.

One alternate option is to decrease to the minimum plan, usually $29.99, and set up FastFoward, which is $2.99 a month for unlimited call forwarding. Just set it to forward to your home phone, and plug it in the cradle. Then you can still use your cell when you're out and about in stronger signal areas, and at least have some use for it at home, and hope the coverage eventually improves. Its either that, or the ETF.

[Enigma2004]

Everything is perfect within the 15 day trial. I've had cingular for 6 months now and all the problems didn't start until a month and half ago.
Signal is always full in my home area.

[hojbjerg]

Maybe they disabled TMO roaming.

-
J

[Enigma2004]

No, when I call cingular's tech support up, even they admit that the towers have problems in my area.

[mikeeg]

Originally posted by Enigma2004
No, when I call cingular's tech support up, even they admit that the towers have problems in my area.

dont all cs reps say that to get you off the phone?

[blkballoon925]

Originally posted by mikeeg
dont all cs reps say that to get you off the phone?

It used to be that Verizon reps were instructed to lie to customers about the status of towers near their area. This could be the same for all carriers.

[hojbjerg]

Originally posted by hojbjerg
Maybe they disabled TMO roaming.

-
J

I should probably have explained it a little better. About 1 month ago Cingular closed down roaming with TMO in certain markets. So if you phone would say "Cingular Entend" in an area where you used to get a strong signal - you might have been roaming on TMO. I know this happend in Boston and also upstate NY.

Here in upstate we can still roam on ATTWS and Cingular's 850 MHz network is very good, so coverage is still great. I have only run into one spot where I used to get full signal where I can't get a signal now.

--
J

[DeltaOne81]

Enigma,

You still didn't answer the important question. Does this happen when you have low signal? Or does it happen regularly even with full or decent signal?

[jayselle]

Yes you can get out of the contract and not have to pay the ETF.

Dont either bother calling Customer Service, they are a joke and dont give a flying arse about you or your problems. It would take an act of God for them to do it too.

So here is what you do. Call Cingular and attempt to void the contract and make sure they notate the account for the reasons. Of couse you will be told they cant do that. Thats just fine. Cancel the service now or go to another carrier. Now contact the FCC and BBB and alert them to your situation. Shortly you will receive a $150 ETF in the mail. But you will also be contacted by the FCC and by Cingular regarding your complaints. Cingular will most likely void the contract at this point, about 95% of the time they will to avoid the negative complaint. But if they dont the FCC will certainly force them to. So either way you are fine.

Of course this assumes you have a valid complaint and there is a breach of contract. And it sounds like you certainly do. You are paying for a sevice you are not getting. Fifteen days isnt typically enough time to tell, not to mention I am sure Cingular was telling you it was temporary or would be fixed.

[ollywompus]

Originally posted by jayselle
Yes you can get out of the contract and not have to pay the ETF.

Dont either bother calling Customer Service, they are a joke and dont give a flying arse about you or your problems. It would take an act of God for them to do it too.

So here is what you do. Call Cingular and attempt to void the contract and make sure they notate the account for the reasons. Of couse you will be told they cant do that. Thats just fine. Cancel the service now or go to another carrier. Now contact the FCC and BBB and alert them to your situation. Shortly you will receive a $150 ETF in the mail. But you will also be contacted by the FCC and by Cingular regarding your complaints. Cingular will most likely void the contract at this point, about 95% of the time they will to avoid the negative complaint. But if they dont the FCC will certainly force them to. So either way you are fine.

Of course this assumes you have a valid complaint and there is a breach of contract. And it sounds like you certainly do. You are paying for a sevice you are not getting. Fifteen days isnt typically enough time to tell, not to mention I am sure Cingular was telling you it was temporary or would be fixed.

the problem with this whole line of reasoning is that lack of service isnt' a breach of contract... it says very clearly in the contract that lack of service in a given area is not ground for voiding the contract, and that you will still be charged the ETF... now, Cingular still might take the tack that they don't want the negative comments on record, but they don't legally have to, since you signed a contract stating that you would continue your account, even if you are in an area where there isnt' service... that's the purpose of the 15 day trial period...

[jayselle]

Originally posted by ollywompus
the problem with this whole line of reasoning is that lack of service isnt' a breach of contract... it says very clearly in the contract that lack of service in a given area is not ground for voiding the contract, and that you will still be charged the ETF... now, Cingular still might take the tack that they don't want the negative comments on record, but they don't legally have to, since you signed a contract stating that you would continue your account, even if you are in an area where there isnt' service... that's the purpose of the 15 day trial period...

This wont hold up under court nor will the FCC buy into it.

There is something about reasonability. Its not reasonable to put in a contract "Your service may never work, but thats just tough, you have to pay us anyways". I dealt with these types of things all the time several years ago when I was with the BBB. There were almost always resolved in favor of the customer. Typically consumers reporting to the FCC and BBB are doing so for valid reasons.

Another loophole is if ANYTHING changes in the contract except taxes you can legally get out. The FCC will enforce that as well. Last year a big one was providers charging customers a fee to upgrade their systems for portability. Customers who didnt have this fee in the original contract could void it.

Another quick example is if you buy a new set of tires it is reasonable to expect the tires will be able to handle running over pebbles without blowing out.

[kilo]

does the issue sound like "network congestion" to anyone? it's only in one area, and it's with full signal

I'd like to think that tech support had a better answer than "have some minutes", has anyone ever said they would "fill out a trouble ticket" and then a technician calls you back to try and fix the problem?

are you out in the "sticks"? do you know of any other Cingular customers who come to your same area that have the same problem?

Does the phone read "Cingular" or "Cingular Extend" when your at your home?

Do calls to *611 or 611 go through every time (not after 45 tries)?

You say you have to try 45 times, what happens during those 44 times? Does the front of the phone read a message? Does the phone call just end? Do you hear a voice that plays a message?

[DeltaOne81]

Good luck getting specifics, kilo . This guy's been very short on details and seems like he'd rather complain than explain.

[nxtw]

Originally posted by jayselle
There is something about reasonability. Its not reasonable to put in a contract "Your service may never work, but thats just tough, you have to pay us anyways". I dealt with these types of things all the time several years ago when I was with the BBB. There were almost always resolved in favor of the customer. Typically consumers reporting to the FCC and BBB are doing so for valid reasons.

The BBB is an outlet for whiny "I want everything now" customers to get what they want.

Originally posted by jayselle
Another quick example is if you buy a new set of tires it is reasonable to expect the tires will be able to handle running over pebbles without blowing out.

You can't compare tires and cellular service.