Complaint Review: Cingular Wireless - Greensboro North Carolina

I am pleased to report that the upper level Administration of Cingular became involved and has replaced the two phones that were not working properly in this area. Since those phones have been replaced, I have had no problems except for the standard "holes in service areas" that one has with all phones. To defend myself with the question of being aware of whether or not a phone was going to be satisfactory or not, these 2 phones - the ones in question - were delivered on one day and then being transported to a state university site where they stayed for the next 12 days at a medical conference. They were not used at the conference except for very brief times when meetings were not being held. There were several times calls failed; however, communication was managed. Upon returning to my regular and normal routine I then began experiencing the multitude of problems and contacted the local office and customer service advising them of the issues. I believe that the problems with the phones stemmed from the location, the corridor of travel and the extreme use I have for phones. My geographic location does not lend itself to good phone reception. I am located at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains and have interference from foliage, land formation and the lack of enough "towers" in the area. Part of the problem I experienced came from a CSR who failed to understand that there was a problem and that I was not attempting to scam the company. Once the that level as successfully passed administrators for the company did move to resolve the problem. Ironically, I have allowed my company to work with Bell South Mobility and Cingular in the past by doing a joint venture in advertising and personnel recruiting. My company is always looking for staff and sends out mailers to licensed personnel in a 3-state area. I allowed BSM to place a flier with my mailing advertising their phones and rates. So I really have had no problems in the past. This time around I allowed myself to become annoyed by a CSR who was unreceptive, failed to understand that there was a problem that needed to be resolved. That resolution has happened; therefore, I am satisfied.

I work for Motorola and have noticed that every once in a while our products get the blame for the poor coverage areas that exist in almost any cellular network. Although I do not work for the cellular group of Motorola or am in any way specifically familiar with the models you mention, I came across this site that has objective information and consumer feedback for almost every cell phone out there: http://www.gsmarena.com/index.php3?sRedir=http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_v600-reviews-382.php It would seem that the Motorola V600 received excellent feedback from users and scored highly on in the consumer polls. Unless you had extraordinary coverage with some other brand of phone in the same area, chances are pretty good that your problem was coverage and not the product. Either way, I hope you get your problem resolved. Since you seem to have several people in your company, have you thought of using Nextel instead? Most small businesses prefer the 2-way radio convenience and can save quite a bit of money in the process. Might be worth checking out. Good Luck!

I'm quite shocked and surprised to see all these negative comments about Cingular. I've been with Cingular for over 7 years now (since they were BellSouth Mobility DCS), and I've never had any problems with them. Every time I've had to contact them about something they have always been extremely friendly and very helpful, and have always taken care of any concerns I've had. There have been several times when they have gone out of their way to make sure I was happy and things were taken care of. One time I accidentally dropped a phone in the toilet (yes, in the toilet), and it of course died. I took it into the Cingular store and the guy gave me no problems at all. I didn't have the insurance, but he gave me a new phone (same make/model) for the same price as the insurance deductible ($30, I think) anyway. It wasn't time for me to renew my contract or anything where I could have gotten a phone at a reduced price, and he didn't make me extend my contract any. He was just being nice. I agree with the Cingular employee on a couple points on this one. Did Donald try to exchange the phones before the end of the 15-day trial period?...and how could he use his phones as much as he says he does and not realize they weren't really good for his purposes before the 15-day trial was up? The trial period is mentioned in the contract and on their web site, and I'm sure it's probably posted on a sign somewhere in the stores also. The last time I got a new phone (about a year ago now) I kept it for 15 days and decided I didn't like it. I took it back on the 15th day, informed them that I didn't like the phone, and traded it for a different one. I had no problems and no questions asked. All you have to do is return it in good, resellable condition along with the box, manuals, etc. that came with it. My current phone is the V400, and I'm quite happy with it. I've used several different brands/models of phones (Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, Samsung, Kyocera, LG), and I must say that this V400 is my most favorite out of all I've ever used. I never have problems with dropped calls or no signal. I've traveled up north to visit family with signal the whole way, except for a few places in West Virginia. I've traveled through the Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Albemarle, and Concord areas of NC several times and have never had problems with signal. I don't really use the camera much, and it wasn't a feature that made the sale of the phone. I thought the camera was cool, but I was more interested in other features of the phone. Donald really shouldn't expect it to take pictures well. The main purpose of it is to be a phone, not a camera. Also, camera phones are still a relatively new thing and it'll be a while before they can take *good* pictures. Most of them only take VGA (640x480) resolution pictures, and they've only very recently started coming out with ones that take megapixel resolution pictures. The camera is there for more of a "fun" factor than anything else. Anyone who is wanting to take good pictures should be using a camera...not a camera phone.

A few notes here. The upgrade policy that is in place allows for customers that meet certain monthly billing criteria to receive an "exception upgrade." This means that you may obtain an exception and process the upgrade if you are within three months of your agreement term end. Regarding the handsets, customer's opinions on handset models are relative. While the features and service I receive and enjoy from one model may fit my needs, they may not fit someone else's. The V400 and V600 are great products and are in high demand. I am the regional manager of 23 locations and have not seen a huge return rate on these models; nor have I received many complaints. I do however happen to agree with you in my opinion that these models do not have the battery life or reception of some of our other models. For a heavy user such as yourself I would have recommended something different. Again, That is my personal opinion, many may disagree with me. I'm interested in finding out when you tried to return the handsets to the location; I saw that it wasn't mentioned. We have a 15 day satisfaction guarantee that allows you to return or exchange the product if you are not happy with it. This is clearly posted in the locations as well as on the agreements you sign. I'm curious as to how a user that spends 8,000 minutes a month fails to realize within even a few days that the reception is not up to par. That equates to roughly 4 hours a day on your cell phone which happens to be about the same minutes I use. When I demo various models, I know within the first day whether or not the handset will work for me. Did you try to return the handsets within the 15 days? Not that you have done this, but many consumers also fail to remember that these are WIRELESS phones, not landlines; they are not and will not be perfect. Any company that tells you they have PERFECT service is lying to you. We have our tough spots like anyone else but dump alot of money into the networks to improve them which is what makes us better. Calling in a trouble ticket will also help to test the switches and towers in the zones where you may have coverage issues, it at least makes the network department aware of the situation. And last, the "cutesy camera" is just that. The cameras are not made to be $500 5 mega-pixel items. It is a cell phone, the camera is a great added feature for those quick moments you'd like to capture and share with someone right away, not for professional photography.