Maybe someone can help me with this. I have a year left on my Cingular contract. The thing is, every time I have had a phone or SIM card issue and taken my phone to a Cingular store in Louisiana, I have been told that they are not authorized to activate SIM cards or make changes to my plan for me because I'm out of my home area (I have a Tampa phone). It was a fight for me to get them to even sell me a new phone and put my old SIM card in it.
I find this ludicrous. If someone walks into a store and says, "Looky! I have a credit card and would like to spend far too much money on your overpriced products!" why should there be a battle for said person to do so?
I've been seriously considering breaking my contract over this issue because I need my phone to communicate with everyone, and if the SIM card goes bad (which has happened once before, but thankfully it was while I was in Tampa on a break), I will have to either wait until my next break to get a new one or fly to Tampa on a weekend just to get the damn thing replaced, which is extremely unrealistic. How do these people do business? I mean, I'm sure they have business customers who travel about the country and need their phones daily. What if their phones break?
The thing is, this replacement/repair issue is the ONLY real problem I have with Cingular. Other than that, their coverage in New Orleans is awesome, and their customer service people are pretty good, too. And they don't shut off my phone at random and demand $100 before they'll reactivate it, like Sprint. Plus, Rollover is an amazing invention.
I called customer service to rant, and the lady I talked to said that they CAN in fact replace SIM cards and such at stores out of my home area, so long as I call Customer Care beforehand to get some kind of authorization put on my account.
Does anyone know if this is true? Because I'm paranoid that my phone is going to break in the middle of the semester.
-pH
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Ran into this with Verizon at our local store. We lucked into one day when the manager was in the store. He basically said "Ah screw it" and did the "whatever" that we needed to get new phones set up.
That out of area stuff is screwy.
I think you should tell them that you're a hurricane evacuee and you'll go to the press with their bizarro antics and raise a stink. I bet they'll fix you right up.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Hate hate hate hate hate Cingular.
Hate hate hate it that they took over AT&T.
I had such good service from AT&T. And lower prices.
Hate.
Sorry. Carry on.
Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
My parents had huge problems when their phone died on a trip to my house. I don't know what cell phone type they have. We thought maybe they were all like that. But what customer service said, about Customer Care authorization, sounds about right.
Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
Icarus, I have the same feelings for Sprint.
pH, if the thing goes out again, just call customer care like they said. They are pretty good about that sort of thing. It is not worth changing plans over. I have had 3 different services over the years and I like Cingular the best. Wanna guess the worst?
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I have never found Cingular customer care to be pretty good about anything. They don't even have human beings available by phone 24/7!
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Sprint is definitely the worst. But now they've merged with Nextel. I asked a Nextel rep about the same scenario (phone or SIM card breaking in another state), and he said they would just take care of it at any Nextel store, anywhere. A Tmobile lady said the same thing, but I'm not entirely certain that she understood my question.
I examined my contract, and it looks like it would cost me around $120 to get out of it right now. So it looks like I'll probably just pray that I don't burn out another SIM card.
-pH
Posted by Coccinelle (Member # 5832) on :
I had a similar problem- my service was provided through my work and I just had to call customer service whenever I needed help. In fact, I find that calling the service number yields better results than going to a store as they're not working off commission and usually want to resolve my concern rather than sell me a newer phone.
I have been a customer with them for four years now and I've always had positive encounters with the customer service department. They can help you get through any of the in store hurdles. They've even overnighted a sim card to me when a store wasn't readily available.
Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
quote:Other than that, their coverage in New Orleans is awesome
Really?!? I have Cingular and live in the New Orleans area and I hit dead-zones all the time. Forget about living anywhere else in the state. I'm sick of climbing onto my roof to get a signal. Buying a new $100 phone has helped but I'm still ticked at Cingular.
But really, I have no advice. Whenever I go into the Cingular store I can hear three conflicting answers to the same problem. Drives me crazy.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Yeah, Shanna. I've always gotten great coverage from Cingular while I'm in New Orleans. I mock my friends who have Tmobile and Verizon. What part of town are you in most of the time?
-pH
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
You should have started this thread a couple of days earlier. I just took out a two-year contract with Cingular on Dec 20....
FG
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
I learned Cingular agents are horrible, and even the cingular reps on the customer service line said they have been known to lie to get business. Try to find a store directly owned and run by the company.
Posted by smitty (Member # 8855) on :
I've had better luck with Cingular agents than the company ran stores, but then, I'm friends with the agent I did think it was odd when Kell's phone died, they wouldnt' replace it with a new one; they gave her one someone else had turned in with problems (supposedly tested). After the 4th phone, we gave up and paid the price for a new one.
New we both have RAZR's Best service and phone I've ever had!
Posted by aretee (Member # 1743) on :
We hate cingular. I've had the same problems you have had...We live one hour from Houtson and 2 hours from Austin, but we are in the Austin area. We never go to Austin, but we are in Houston almost weekly.
Hate cingular!
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Well, they're sending me an upgraded phone to replace the one that snapped in half. But I still think it's highway robbery that I pay $4 a month for insurance and still have to shell out another $50 to get the replacement phone. However, that's the case with all cell phone companies, as far as I know.
I'm trying to figure out if there's another way to contact Cingular and compain without going through Customer Service.
-pH
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Farmgirl, I think you have thirty days to try it out. You can cancel within thirty days of signing if you find out their service sucks in your area. But if they have good coverage and you don't travel a lot, you'll probably like them.
I really do like them. I just really want to bring their attention to this SIM card replacement issue.
-pH
Posted by smitty (Member # 8855) on :
pH, we ran into that at work. Why pay insurance on it, if you still have a big payout??
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Last time I broke a phone (it was in my purse when I was quite literally forced to walk a mile or two through a tropical storm because our car flooded), I ended up just buying a new one anyway. As I told the Cingular people, "Why the hell should I pay $50 to replace a phone that cost me $1 when I signed the plan?" At which point, they tried to convince me that the phone was actually worth $189. I told them it was a piece of crap phone, and I wanted a new one, and that was that. I will not pay $50 to replace something that cost me $1.
-pH
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Yay, Cingular! They told me not to expect my new phone until at least Wednesday of next week because it's a holiday weekend, and they were expecting it to take three days.
Instead, they overnighted the phone to me.
I guess the man who yelled at me from outside my bathroom window was the FedEx man. Oopsy. Sorry I hid from you, Mr. FedEx man!
-pH
Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
Artee, you are in neck of the woods! I live south of Austin.
pH, my hubby found a way around that insurance problem. He liked a more expensive phone than the one they gave away with our plan so his cost us about $150. When it started shorting out recently, he called to add insurance. A few weeks later when it really did crap out, he only had to pay the $50 to replace it. We haven't been paying for insurance all this time, just the month before he got the new phone and then he canceled it again. Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
*LOL* That's awesome, Mandy!
Unfortunately, my phones die without warning. This last one, well, I dropped it and a piece chipped off, and the next day it broke in two while I was tucking it against my shoulder.
This new phone seems much more sturdy. And it's already survived one dropping. I'm a klutz. But it seems to be built much more like my original Samsung, which was indestructible and kept working even after being fully immersed in water when I dropped it in a puddle.
And the new phone lets me make my own wallpapers from pictures on my computer! This is what I have on my phone now.
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
So it looks like I'll probably just pray that I don't burn out another SIM card.![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
I did think it was odd when Kell's phone died, they wouldnt' replace it with a new one; they gave her one someone else had turned in with problems (supposedly tested). After the 4th phone, we gave up and paid the price for a new one.![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Kiss]](graemlins/kiss.gif)
![[Blushing]](graemlins/blushing.gif)
I'm a klutz. But it seems to be built much more like my original Samsung, which was indestructible and kept working even after being fully immersed in water when I dropped it in a puddle.