If anyone out there is reading this and contemplating getting a new cell phone, I implore you to not use Cingular as your carrier. I just had a terrible experience with their customer service dept. that I would like to share.
A couple of weeks ago I ordered a Motorola Razr for my wife for Christmas on Amazon.com. They were running a deal where you sign up for a 2 year plan with Cingular and you get the phone for free. I jumped on the deal, because the Razr is a pretty cool phone and it was free, so I figured I couldn't go wrong. I had Cingular on my own cell and have never had a problem.
So, last Monday, I get a call from Cingular telling me that someone found the phone and that I should call him so that I could get it back. I thought this was strange, but I called Cingular and they gave me the guy's number. I called the guy's number but his mailbox was full and I had to leave a callback number. So I did and the guy never calls back. A couple of days later I called again and this time someone answers. He tells me he doesn't have the phone, but he knows who does and he gives me another number to call. I call that number and I get a business and the guy that answers knows nothing about it and tells me to call back tomorrow. I call back tomorrow and get a answering service. So, I leave a message for someone to call me back if they know anything about the phone. And today, I called the original number again, only to get the callback number message again. At this point its been almost a week that I've been trying to track this phone down and I'm no closer to getting the thing than I was before this whole ordeal started. So, I decide to call Cingular wireless to relay my frustration with trying to get my phone.
The woman I talk to listens to my story and tells me I don't know what you want us to do about it. We didn't ship you the phone and we are not responsible for lost or stolen phones. So, I tell her that I think Cingular is somewhat responsible here because they are the carrier and they are getting the money every month and they should have taken control of the whole situation as soon as the guy called their customer service. So, I ask to speak to a manager.
The manager is even less help. He basically tells me the same thing and that I need to deal with Amazon not Cingular. Now, here is my suggestion to Cingular for handling lost and found phones. When the guy called in to report the phone found(a very cool thing to do, btw, he's just trying to do the right thing) they should have told him to drop the phone off at a Cingular store and have the Cingular store either ship it to me or have me come and pick it up. Am I crazy for thinking this is a reasonable thing to do? Instead they have me calling people all week long without getting anywhere. All they had to do was take a tiny bit of ownership for the problem and everyone would have been happy. Instead they decide to take no responsibility at all and when they are told that they point the finger and blame everyone but themselves. That is not customer service. I even told the guy, "Have you ever heard the expression, 'The customer is always right?'" To which he replied, "Yes I have and that is not always the case." At this point I'm so mad I'm cursing at this douchebag and I tell him I want to cancel both phones that I have on Cingular. He tells me, "Not unless you start acting professional." WTF??? I'm the customer and I tell him your fucking company is the one that is acting unprofessional. He proceeds to begin cancelling my service and tells me there will be a $150 early termination fee for each device. I tell him that under the circumstances I think that fee should be waived. He replies that he is not going to waive any fees. So I tell him, "Man, you're fucking unbelievable. FUCK YOU!!!" and I hang up and call Amazon.
The girl at Amazon is very nice and she simply reports the phone as stolen and tells me she is going to ship a new one next day at no extra charge. HALLELUJAH!!! Now that's good customer service. She immediately took ownership of the situation and rectified it without asking any further questions. A plus plus for Amazon, F for Fucking Assholes for Cingular. Unfortunately the girl at Amazon wouldn't let me cancel Cingular without the termination fee, but the bottom line is I'm finally gonna get this god-damn phone!!
As soon as the contract with Cingular ends I am switching carriers. I would recommend the same to anyone who is currently on Cingular. Let's send a message to these motherfuckers. The customer is too always right asshole and we have fucking options, so take your self-righteous fucking attitude and shove it up your fucking ass!! I'm gonna take my business elsewhere!! You don't seem to understand. I have friends and they have friends and the power of negative word of mouth is something you don't wanna fuck with. When that fucker is standing in the unemployment line I will be laughing my ass off, because the people do have the power and we vote everyday with our money. Your company will go down. Mark my fucking words.
Well, now that I've got that off my chest, if anyone knows of a carrier with good customer service please let me know as I will be shopping around and changing in the near future. Thank you and FUCK CINGULAR!!
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If anyone out there is reading this and contemplating getting a new cell phone, I implore you to not use Cingular as your carrier. I just had a terrible experience with their customer service dept. that I would like to share.
A couple of weeks ago I ordered a Motorola Razr for my wife for Christmas on Amazon.com. They were running a deal where you sign up for a 2 year plan with Cingular and you get the phone for free. I jumped on the deal, because the Razr is a pretty cool phone and it was free, so I figured I couldn't go wrong. I had Cingular on my own cell and have never had a problem.
So, last Monday, I get a call from Cingular telling me that someone found the phone and that I should call him so that I could get it back. I thought this was strange, but I called Cingular and they gave me the guy's number. I called the guy's number but his mailbox was full and I had to leave a callback number. So I did and the guy never calls back. A couple of days later I called again and this time someone answers. He tells me he doesn't have the phone, but he knows who does and he gives me another number to call. I call that number and I get a business and the guy that answers knows nothing about it and tells me to call back tomorrow. I call back tomorrow and get a answering service. So, I leave a message for someone to call me back if they know anything about the phone. And today, I called the original number again, only to get the callback number message again. At this point its been almost a week that I've been trying to track this phone down and I'm no closer to getting the thing than I was before this whole ordeal started. So, I decide to call Cingular wireless to relay my frustration with trying to get my phone.
The woman I talk to listens to my story and tells me I don't know what you want us to do about it. We didn't ship you the phone and we are not responsible for lost or stolen phones. So, I tell her that I think Cingular is somewhat responsible here because they are the carrier and they are getting the money every month and they should have taken control of the whole situation as soon as the guy called their customer service. So, I ask to speak to a manager.
The manager is even less help. He basically tells me the same thing and that I need to deal with Amazon not Cingular. Now, here is my suggestion to Cingular for handling lost and found phones. When the guy called in to report the phone found(a very cool thing to do, btw, he's just trying to do the right thing) they should have told him to drop the phone off at a Cingular store and have the Cingular store either ship it to me or have me come and pick it up. Am I crazy for thinking this is a reasonable thing to do? Instead they have me calling people all week long without getting anywhere. All they had to do was take a tiny bit of ownership for the problem and everyone would have been happy. Instead they decide to take no responsibility at all and when they are told that they point the finger and blame everyone but themselves. That is not customer service. I even told the guy, "Have you ever heard the expression, 'The customer is always right?'" To which he replied, "Yes I have and that is not always the case." At this point I'm so mad I'm cursing at this douchebag and I tell him I want to cancel both phones that I have on Cingular. He tells me, "Not unless you start acting professional." WTF??? I'm the customer and I tell him your fucking company is the one that is acting unprofessional. He proceeds to begin cancelling my service and tells me there will be a $150 early termination fee for each device. I tell him that under the circumstances I think that fee should be waived. He replies that he is not going to waive any fees. So I tell him, "Man, you're fucking unbelievable. FUCK YOU!!!" and I hang up and call Amazon.
The girl at Amazon is very nice and she simply reports the phone as stolen and tells me she is going to ship a new one next day at no extra charge. HALLELUJAH!!! Now that's good customer service. She immediately took ownership of the situation and rectified it without asking any further questions. A plus plus for Amazon, F for Fucking Assholes for Cingular. Unfortunately the girl at Amazon wouldn't let me cancel Cingular without the termination fee, but the bottom line is I'm finally gonna get this god-damn phone!!
As soon as the contract with Cingular ends I am switching carriers. I would recommend the same to anyone who is currently on Cingular. Let's send a message to these motherfuckers. The customer is too always right asshole and we have fucking options, so take your self-righteous fucking attitude and shove it up your fucking ass!! I'm gonna take my business elsewhere!! You don't seem to understand. I have friends and they have friends and the power of negative word of mouth is something you don't wanna fuck with. When that fucker is standing in the unemployment line I will be laughing my ass off, because the people do have the power and we vote everyday with our money. Your company will go down. Mark my fucking words.
Well, now that I've got that off my chest, if anyone knows of a carrier with good customer service please let me know as I will be shopping around and changing in the near future. Thank you and FUCK CINGULAR!!