Carol
Lutz,#2Author of original report
Mon, September 19, 2005
September is almost over and they just (09/16/05)fixed my wireless capability to call my home and office. Gee....it only took five months!!!! Of course the service has not improved, it's still as awful as ever! I still have static and garbled conversations, failed calls and dropped calls daily. They still send their nasty little notices regarding payment, late charges and threatened cutoffs. I just received my latest bill on the 15th of September and it states that late charges will begin to accrue on September 28th. Cingular ignores your problems, gives you nothing for the inconvenience you've experienced,demands payment for service that is less than 50% of what we are paying for, in spite of the fact that they can breach (supposedly with just cause) THEIR portion of the contract. And.....don't you DARE be late on your monthly payment or they will use blackmail tactics to get your money! There is no doubt that I have OVERPAID under duress for a service (if that's what they can call it) that has caused me a loss of business, inability to communicate with my office or home for almost six months (almost half of my contract time)paid the FULL PRICE, and wasted a minimum of 20 hours per month trying to get phone problems resolved. I think I would feel better about flushing my cash down the toilet than paying this pathetic excuse for a phone service. What is really sickening to me is this contract garbage! Since they have the deeper pockets, you are subject to their terms. If you don't agree to their terms, you pay anyway or they damage your credit rating! How do we all get together to make something happen with this situation? Also, thanks for your comments. Thanks for the link Tony, I checked it out and T from Plantersville I appreciate your support. I know this is NOT a one person issue. There are others with the same or similar problems. I am not a vengeful person, but I certainly do not approve of an incompetent organization not providing what they promise,forcing you to stay through the contract term, pay full price, and jeopardize the success of your own business.
Tony
Reseda,#3Consumer Suggestion
Thu, September 08, 2005
Cingular has tried and continues to try to use this tactic again and again. They have already lost their case in California and will son lose again in Washington. At the bottom of this post I will include a link to an article that tells you about these cases. In that article are links to two seperates law firms that are involved in persuing class actions against Cingular. I strongly encourage anyone who comes across this post to contact these 2 firms and speak to them about your dispute. (I apologize ahead of time to Brian if my next statement is incorrect and he is in fact just a confused consumer.) But chances are that Brian works for either Cingular, Cingular's PR firm, or Cingular's legal firm. Brian's job is to browse the internet looking for forums, sites and/or discussion groups and kill any momentum of potential Class Actions against Cingular. That is how these people do business. That is why you as consumers MUST contact law firms involved in suing Cingular. This company makes their money strong-arming people by threatening to destroy their lives over what amounts to anywhere between $480 to $1500. They provide the worst service in their industry (by far), they gouge prices, they have horrific customer service, illegal collection techniques, etc, etc. And they do it because they understand that the threat of having you credit (your financial life) ruined for $480 to $1500 is not going to be worth it. Please HELP STOP THEM. The link to the article I mention is below: http://www.braytonlaw.com/news/legalnews/030405_cingular.htm
Brian
Mineral Ridge,#4Consumer Suggestion
Sun, August 28, 2005
When you sign the contract, you waive your rights to such action. In your terms of service, "You and Cingular agree that YOU AND CINGULAR MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN YOUR OR ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class or representative hearing." Bottom line, if you try to file a class action lawsuit, it will be dismissed without prejudice as your terms of service clearly state that any disputes are between you and the company only.
T
Plantersville,#5Consumer Comment
Thu, August 25, 2005
My husband and I agree with you 100% If you are looking to do a class action suit, we are behind you all the way. See our report 08/24. We even found out that they are not even servicing a number of their towers from one of the stores employees. This is why we have so many problems retrieving voice mail and making calls. We have done a lot of research and found that on this web site alone there are over 400 complaints, not including the rebuttals. There are over 256 on Compaints.com and an astronomical amount with the BBB; which in review of 1 location they made effort on only 159 of the 211 complaints for credit/billing resolving 52 and efforts on only 43 of the 65 complaints for service resolving only 22 of those. This was only one location mind you. We have spoken to all of our family and friends who use to be with AT&T Wireless then forced to Cingular or were/are Cingular customers, they all say the same thing, "What can we do about it? There has to be something?" Even my own husband has commented time after time for the past several months, "How do you start a class action suit? There has to be more of us out there!"