Complaint Review: Cingular Wirelesss

Back in July of 2005 I called into Cingular Wireless to migrate my service from AT&T. My boyfriend and I wanted to both migrate over and join a Family Plan. I spoke with a customer service representative gave him both of our numbers and he signed us up for the plan and ordered our phones. The phones arrived the next day. I called that day to activate the phones and migrate service. At this point I'm told we can not be on the family plan because we have different area codes. I clearly gave the customer service representative both of our numbers and told him that we wanted them migrated. The bills that I am receiving show that the agent assigned us two random numbers. That was the first Cingular mistake, signing a customer up for a plan incorrectly.

Because we could not activate the phones I advised the agent to cancel the account. I had to ask for Cingular to send shipping labels two separate occasions before I received one in the mail. When I received the label in the mail I called Cingular and explained that we had two phones and they had only sent one shipping label. They said it would be fine to put both phones in the box and send them back. I shipped both phones back about 3 weeks after we received them because we had to wait for shipping labels.

This account was never activated, no service was ever used, and both phones were returned to Cingular over three months ago. Since July I have been receiving bills for service I never used, activation fees for phones that were never activated, and charged for phones that were sent back using the company's shipping label.

Since July I have called and spoken with countless Cingular agents. There has been at least 15 phone calls, and at least 10 hours spent disputing these charges and explaining my situation. I have been told my situation was taken care of and that I would be credited. There are notes on the account. Each time I would get a new bill charging me for another month of service. I have been told that my phone was received. Why has my account not been credited? I received a letter today from a collection agency. Cingular has actually written off my account! They claim I owe $828.26 for an account that was never activated and phones that were returned over 3 months ago.

I am a former AT&T Wireless receivables management employee and am well aware of the inner workings of cell phone companies. I know the terms and conditions and am careful to comply. I have done nothing wrong here and am being unfairly charged. I myself had many a customer call in with exactly the same situation. What can be done? How do I fix this situation when Cingular refuses to help?

I want Cingular to credit back the entire bill. I should never have been charged one dime for any of this. I would also love to see them reprimanded in some way for taking advantage of innocent customers and causing them endless hours of pure madness and frustration. I know I am not the only one.

Ann
Chicago, Illinois
U.S.A.