Complaint Review: AT&T Wireless/Cingular - Anaheim Hills California

I, too, had the same problem. Here is the deal. I had lowered my rate plan to use my rollover minutes. I knew I had a little more than 1 month (August) left of rollover minutes and called to change my plan back to more minutes beginning the next bill cycle beginning Sept 4. The bill I received September 14 was over $700. I called and was told I had used the rest of my rollover minutes on August 19, and since my statement dropped on September 4, I was billed per call from Aug 20 - Sept 4. I told them no way, and they said yes. I asked if I could get any credit because I have been a customer since 1996. The CSR said I could have $50 off. I asked to talk to a supervisor who could figure it out, because I knew I had rollover minutes left. I was told I could not, and that if I insisted on speaking to the supervisor, I wouldn't even get the $50 off. She said she could see I ran out of minutes on Aug 19. Period. Mind you, I had just had a baby 2 days earlier, came home from the hospital that day and saw the bill. I was crying to the rep on the phone to please look into this for me. I was very emotional (hormones), but not rude. The CSR was very rude. I then asked if I could make payment arrangements of $250 down (which was close to my bill at the new rate anyway) plus payments of an additional $100 with each monthly regular payment. I was told this was OK. 3 weeks later, my phone was turned off. When I called, I was told that I agreed to $100 biweekly and did not make the payment. I said I would have never agreed to that because my husband only gets paid once a month and I am on maternity leave. Needless to say, I had to stay with the bi-weekly payments. The following bill, October, I saw a notation "rollover minutes expired this month = 350+". Still without a brain due to my delivery, I didn't figure it out. The next bill, November, I saw the notation "rollover minutes expired this month = 400+. Now, my brain is back. I called customer service and asked how I had rollover minutes expiring when they don't expire until 12 months after you don't use them. I was told because I didn't use them and the 12 months were up. Wait a minute! Just 2 months ago, you said I used all my rollover minutes by August 19 and had to charge me per call for the remainder of the month. How can I have unused rollover minutes expiring? I was on the phone for over 1 hour. The CSR kept coming back on the line telling me not to hang up, that she was looking into something for me. Anyway, they credited me the entire overcharge from August. The CSR couldn't figure out why the error happened, but it did. She was very nice. I really don't blame Cingular for their rude CSR, and I don't blame Cingular for trying to get more money out of me (it was probably not intentional since everything is figured by the computer). They are a corporation and almost every corporation tries to get as much out of us as they can, whether it be intentional or not. It's just the way things are these days. Yes, it stinks, and that is why we have to keep on top of our finances and not let them do it for us. I still have Cingular/At&T. For the most part (other than a lot more dropped calls lately), I have been happy with them over the years. And they did end up doing right by me. People have problems with every cell phone company and Cingular/AT&T is probably the best one out there. Hope this helps you.

I am writing with regard to a phone bill that I received in the amount of $547.08. I have been a Cingular Customer since January of 2005. I contacted at the rate of $39.99 per month. I participated in a program that Cingular had called roll over minutes. For two and a half years my bill was around $50 - $60 per month. On July 18th, 2007, my bill went from around $50- $60 per month to over $500. I was told that my roll-over minutes had been exceeded. While I acknowledge that it is my responsibility to keep track of the roll-over minutes, my bill had been more or less in the same range for 2 years. It had not occurred to me to check my balance of roll-over minutes. When I asked why a Customer Care representative had not called to inform me that I had exceeded my minutes, I was told that Cingular/AT&T took a pro-active approach to customer care, but that they did not have the man-power to call customers to give them a heads-up that their roll-over minutes had elapsed. I was told that my roll-over minutes printed on my bill. Since it had been 2 years that my bill had been the same, I did not even know where the roll-over minuteswere printed on the bill, nor was I even aware that they were printed. I fail to see how printing a number in small print on a bill is proactive. The Customer Care agent at this point made an adjustment in my bill, reducing the $547.08 to $370.25. I pointed out that this was still nearly $400 and that I could not possibly pay that amount all at once. I was instructed to call back after July 18th, 2007 to make payment arrangements. When I did I informed the Customer Care representative what would be manageable for me (an additional $50 per month for 6 months, and $70 the 7th month until the balance of $370 was paid. I was told that this was not possible. While I feel roll-over minute program is crafty way of setting customers up, and as a customer/ consumer, I feel tricked and ripped-off, I am a Stand-Up Man, and have come forward to take responsibility for my lack of scrutiny (although in all fairness to myself, I still would have appreciated a call from Cingular alerting me to my roll-over minutes status) and have made an attempt to make what I consider to be a reasonable and manageable payment arrangement. The corporation, AT&T/Cingular has refused my offer, stating that their policy cannot allow them to make this arrangement. To add insult to injury I was informed by a cheery Customer Care Representative that I would be liable for a $170 fee for early termination in breaking a contract with them, should I choose to terminate my account and seek cellular services elsewhere. I insist on being mailed a copy of the contract that I signed making me liable for this early termination fee. In addition to these grievances, In February 2007 I was promised a $50 rebate for the phone that I upgraded to; a phone, incidentally that was damaged. When I took my phone in to the store that I purchased it from (Fair Oaks in South Pasadena, CA), I was told that I would have to use my insurance to pay for it, that I could not prove that it was manufacturers defect. The phone had a hairline fracture ion the screen, which has expanded to the point where it is impossible to see any display functions. In short, my experience with AT&T Cingular has been nothing short of miserable. To recap, ATT&T Wireless/Cingular has ripped me off now on four (4) separate occasions: 1. Faulty equipment with a hairline fracture that led top the equipment being unusable. Refused to replace forced me to use insurance; 2. Did not send my $50 rebate 3. Charged me over $500 for a bill when my roll-over minutes expired and would not let me make a payment plan to pay it off 4. threatened that if I terminated services I would have to pay $170 for breaking a contract that I never signed.