Complaint Review: Cingular Wireless

September 23, 2004

Summary

I am in receipt of a letter from Lisa Brown. She refuses to give me a credit for the two disconnect fees charged due to their mistake of sending the bill to the wrong address and for the three weeks we had no service due to their putting restrictions on our service. I would like the BBB to retain my complaint for 3 years. I intend to file multiple complaints in every city to notify every BBB and consequently as many people as I can about this reprehensible company and their illegal tactics. I intend to take Cingular to small claims court in the middle of October when I return to Florida. Thank you.

Details

My service was disconnected because we didn't receive a bill. When my wife called Cingular they stated the bill had been returned to them. So she mailed a payment without a bill. In the three years she has done business with cingular, she has never been late. The payment arrived on July 5th but was due on June 29th as the bill had been sent by Cingular to the wrong address. This was verified by a Cingular representative. On July 4th, the phones were disconnected. The phones remained disconnected for a period of two weeks (wife) and three (mine) weeks. During all this time, there was no service to either phone. I called Cingular and they made every type of excuse and lie such as the phone is broken, it needs a new simm card, your not in our calling area etc. I requested a credit and they denied it.

Now they say they want two reconnect fees, which is ridiculous. My wife's phone was disconnected for 2 weeks after they received payment (we share the account. However, the phone worked fine until they shut it off. Finally, I spoke with a fellow who identified himself as Christopher Ingram on July 7th. He admitted the phone 'has restrictions barring all outside calls' which is what I truly believed from the get go. He said he took it off. Then I requested a credit for the 3 weeks since I have had no service and he said sorry, you have to pay. Why should I have to pay when I have received nothing - no service? They are just thieves and bullies.

Furthermore, now when I tried, it's back to no service so obviously he got pissed off and put it back to restriction mode barring all service when I complained and threatened to file a complaint. I am so fed up with this rip off company; please help me with our account (phone number (407) 443-9976 and (407) 765-7561).

I received the new bill and they are charging us $78.88 for two reconnect fees plus taxes. My wife called for several days and spoke with someone named Cesar Davila who jerked her around. I called on 8-4-04 and requested a credit for the reconnect fees. I spoke with Marsha Patrick and explained to her that the bill was sent to the wrong address, that they admitted this, that my wife sent another payment in, that it was received 5 days after the bill due date, and that there were two reconnect fees (for one account) and that I wanted a credit.

She said she couldn't do it. I said you mean you wouldn't do it not couldn't do it. I said you have the opportunity to fix this problem or escalate it' and she chose to escalate it. I spoke to someone identifying herself as Sharon Lason (a supervisor). I again explained the entire story and she said also she couldn't waive the two disconnect fees. So I told her I would file complaints with the public service commission.

I spoke with the office of the president of Cingular with a lady named Lisa Brown. I explained to her that my service had been disconnected due to a mistake on the part of Cingular. That the representative from Cingular had admitted that the bill had been returned and that is why we hadn't paid. Furthermore, they stated that the money took them 2 weeks to receive, which is ridiculous. More likely, they received it and misplaced it or did nothing with it. I told her I wanted the two outrageous reconnect fees waived and credit for the 3 weeks without service. She said she'd review the account. Later on she called back and claimed that we had been late in April. This is untrue as my wife has been consistently on time with her payments (remember we're talking about my wife's account, not mine). I told her I would continue to file complaints until the problem was resolved to my satisfaction. Apparently, both she and Cingular don't care. The next time they disconnect the phone when I don't pay this rip off bill, as far as I'm concerned the contract is terminated. Please help us resolve this nightmare, from this horrible rip off company. Thank you.

Henry
orlando, Florida
U.S.A.