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Cingular Wireless rip-off changed plan without permission Springfield Missouri
We have just been billed 900$ for 1700 minutes overtime on our Cingular Wireless service.
When we called to ask what was going on, we were told that our cellular plan had been changed, and we weren't consulted about it.
Our plan was originally just like the 75$ plan, which is the 800 minutes anytime and 5000 nights and weekend minutes. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it was roughly that plan, though they don't offer it anymore.
We were put on a 300 anytime minute plan, and that's it, and it cost 40$ for the actual plan itself. We were 1700 minutes over according to this plan we had no idea we were on (as I said before, we were not consulted about it whatsoever), and accrued 900$ in overtime minute charges.
I'm going to look into filing a class-action lawsuit against Cingular for this, however, I am more then willing to just let it stand at being erased off of our phone bill and our plan re-adjusted WITH OUR CONSENT.
If anybody else has had this problem, of if somebody can tell me why this happened, I am more then willing to listen.
In the meantime, we HALF to pay the 900$ even if it is considered THEIR fault. We cannot afford 900$ on one income plus having a baby on our hands. We barely make enough money to cover our car and insurance costs, and don't even live on our own, we live with our PARENTS! How can we afford 900$ ?
Colleen
Burlington, Ontario
Canada
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Debbie
Merced,California,
U.S.A.
THIS IS THE GIT DOWN...
#4UPDATE Employee
Fri, January 14, 2005
As a former employee of this hell on earth, in California, I can tell you that you are not alone in this scam. They even scam their own employees! One young lady was on an employee plan and separated from the company. Instead of telling her she could no longer have the EP, they changed her plan to the 19.99 50 MINUTES ONLY-NO NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS within hours after her leaving, no notice and without HER consent. She recieved a bill for over 800.00 dollars, and was told by the company that she was on her own. They REFUSED to rerate or discount any of the bill even under these circumstances and was 'blackballed' thru out the company so that no other manager would assist her in this.
How this may have happened to you is this' When those plans were archived (no longer available) and your account was rerated or worked on, the dumb a*s agent may have accidently dropped the plan from the account. since it is no longer available in the system, she should have gone to a manager to change it instead of placing you on a pp close to your own or their choice. But after 90 days I beleive the old plans were no longer available to the manager, so you were stuck. Now how is that for B*S? The least they could have done as I have in that case once, was call the customer and own the mistake you made and then discuss and put them on a plan as close as possible to their old on and then credit them for 3-6 months for the price difference. That made everyone involved happy.
But it is just too much like right!
Debbie
Merced,California,
U.S.A.
THIS IS THE GIT DOWN...
#4UPDATE Employee
Fri, January 14, 2005
As a former employee of this hell on earth, in California, I can tell you that you are not alone in this scam. They even scam their own employees! One young lady was on an employee plan and separated from the company. Instead of telling her she could no longer have the EP, they changed her plan to the 19.99 50 MINUTES ONLY-NO NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS within hours after her leaving, no notice and without HER consent. She recieved a bill for over 800.00 dollars, and was told by the company that she was on her own. They REFUSED to rerate or discount any of the bill even under these circumstances and was 'blackballed' thru out the company so that no other manager would assist her in this.
How this may have happened to you is this' When those plans were archived (no longer available) and your account was rerated or worked on, the incompetent agent may have accidently dropped the plan from the account. since it is no longer available in the system, she should have gone to a manager to change it instead of placing you on a pp close to your own or their choice. But after 90 days I beleive the old plans were no longer available to the manager, so you were stuck. Now how is that for B*S? The least they could have done as I have in that case once, was call the customer and own the mistake you made and then discuss and put them on a plan as close as possible to their old on and then credit them for 3-6 months for the price difference. That made everyone involved happy.
But it is just too much like right!
Nicole
Jacksonville,Florida,
U.S.A.
Fight back! Ask for verbal and/or written proof!
#4Consumer Suggestion
Wed, August 06, 2003
I went through a much similar situation with Alltel, and after 3 years have finally resolved the issue. hopefully,cingular isn't as screwed up as Alltel. Anyway, when I asked them for proof, they could not provide me with anything in writing or verbally. it turns out that someone got my info and added themselves to my account. what you need to make sure of is that if they give you a new account number to "solve" your problem, that they completely wipe out the old account number. that is where I got into trouble. they were sending me two bills a month. To make a long story short, don't pay the $900 without asking for proof. by law, any changes to someones account need to be verified. if they don't provide you with this proof, the account is unverifiable, and you are not responsible. if for some reason they do not want to resolve this for you, contact the FCC, attorney general of your state, and the BBB (I know, they suck!). if it goes into collection, which it probably will, dispute it directly with the agency claiming it was a fraud account. if it goes to your credit report, dispute it directly with all three of the major bureaus (experian, equifax, and transunion). they are good about resolving these types of situations.
don't just lay down and take the abuse. cingular is hoping that you will just pay it to avoid the headache. it will be a lot of headaches, but eventually you will triumph. and that feels good.