Cingular Wireless , Told Me Lie Please Read, and Beware of them. Atlanta Georgia

Cingular does offer an unlimited text message package but it is Cingular to Cingular only. Messages sent to other providers will be billed additionally.

Some of you have said that unlimited text messaging has never been an option through Cingular. I can assure you that this is incorrect. My man & I have been Cingular customers for over 6 & 1/2 years. When we opened our accounts, our contracts provided for free unlimted text messaging. We have had no problems for over 6 & 1/2 years.

Soon after Cingular was taken over by AT&T, my man & I received texts from AT&T saying that our "promotional" text option would be over as of June 1. I immediately called to complain and have been fighting with AT&T since. I will NOT give up on this.

We have been EXCELLENT customers for the entire time, we have NEVER been even one day late on a payment. Not even when I went out of state and had 2 bills for more than twice the normal amount. The charges were completely due to my actions. I take full responsibility. And I expect Cingular/AT&T to take responsibility and treat their customers with respect and not try to rip them off.

One reporter suggested filing a complaint with the FCC. That will definitely be my next step if my letter to the CEO does not produce the appropriate response from the cellular service provider.

Good luck to you

Rhonda, you probably misunderstood the offer. Cingular has never offered an unlimited plan. There is , however, a promotion that offers unlimited messaging for THE FIRST MONTH, but after the first billing cycle the plan only includes the standard number of messages. I'm still not exactly sure why the race of the reps is relavent. Often times, consumers hear what they want to hear. Is it possible that you were not as receptive to the information they tried to give you because you believed they were less knowledgeable than yourself?

My son and I switched to Cingular Wireless last summer. We were told by the owner of the store that service in our area was excellent (we live in the boonies) with 10 new towers just recently erected. When we got home with these new phones, we found that we had no service at all! For 3 weeks, I was never able to use this phone unless I was driving about 20 miles from home.

I called Cingular and explained the problem and they were very curteous and helpful. We cancelled the plan and went back to our old provider. Within a week, we received our final bill! A whopping 28 pages long with a due bill of $798.00! WHOOOAAA!!!

After repeated phone calls, this matter was finally resolved, or so I thought! We wound up paying $65.00 for text messages sent and received by my son! We were also told that unlimited texting was included in our plan. The store where we purchased the plan and the phones cancelled ONE phone but decided NOT to cancel the other and someone in the store continued using the phone!

When I received additional charges, THANK GOD, I was able to prove that the phones had both been returned on the same day! Watch out for those small stores! They seem to tell you anything! NO NEW TOWERS HAD BEEN ERECTED!! NO FREE TEXTING!! AND we never received the $50.00 gift cards that we were promised as part of the promotion!

Perhaps you have some sort of racial bias toward the customer service department of this company based on the fact that in two instances you mentioned the assumed race of the representatives you were speaking with.

"She is African American, and sounds very smart."

"I was laughed at for believeing such a thing by customer service, who is a male, probalby [sic]African American."

It is important to keep in mind that Cingular Wireless (AT&T) is not a charity or non-profit organization. This is a business you are dealing with, and quite obviously this business is not giving away free text messages. It's probably a good idea to investigate with your child and find out just how many text messages he sent (at 10c per message).

I have been a customer of Cingular Wireless for over ten years, and I have never had a billing problem. I too have had expensive bills (from $400 to $1000) and after evaluation I found my excesses were to blame. It's always easy to blame the company when we don't understand that our own actions are usually the culprit.

If your child is text messaging into the hundreds of dollars he most definitely needs to find a new hobby.

Nicole
Beverly Hills, California

I use to work for them and I watched one day as one employee was walked out of the buiding for not paying her bill. in addition to this in future the new billing system that they are putting in place is no joke. if you allow your account balance go past the late date on your bill your account will shut off withing 5 days of that date and you will get billed a fee of 36.00 reconnection which they will not waive. and you will get told that you should have either paid your bill on time or you should have called to make arrangements to pay your bill and if you miss your payment arrangement you get no more arrangements for 6 months.

When I renewed and changed plans about 1 year ago, they did have an add for unlimited text messaging. Both my brothers got it. I'm curious as to how much they are paying.

On the website, I see the plans are new from what I was offered, and more expensive.

My cell phone was stolen one and a half months after this, my son had already used the insurance on his Razor, so they couldn't help me with the stolen phone. I closed the main account, and i'm still arguing with thme about what was told to me. I closed my son's account, and we now have Cricket.We are both very happy, but I still have a huge bill to pay, which I guess I might have to, cause Cingular doesn't believe it ever said anything to me like Unlimited Text.
If I end up pating it, it will be very slow, so it doesn't break the bank.

I have 2 lines w/ Cingular. If they had unlimited text messaging I would be all over it as my teenager uses text as thier primary form of communication. The largest text package they offer is 3000 messages for $19.99

There is, however, a promotion they have been offering with their data packages for the last couple of months. If you buy one of thier packages you get unlimted text and data for 1 month.

Is this, perhaps, what you might have mistaken for unlimted text messages?

I have 2 lines w/ Cingular. If they had unlimited text messaging I would be all over it as my teenager uses text as thier primary form of communication. The largest text package they offer is 3000 messages for $19.99

There is, however, a promotion they have been offering with their data packages for the last couple of months. If you buy one of thier packages you get unlimted text and data for 1 month.

Is this, perhaps, what you might have mistaken for unlimted text messages?

I have 2 lines w/ Cingular. If they had unlimited text messaging I would be all over it as my teenager uses text as thier primary form of communication. The largest text package they offer is 3000 messages for $19.99

There is, however, a promotion they have been offering with their data packages for the last couple of months. If you buy one of thier packages you get unlimted text and data for 1 month.

Is this, perhaps, what you might have mistaken for unlimted text messages?

There is a fee for unlimited text messages, somewhere around $10 a month (I don't have it, so I'm not sure of the exact fee). The girl you spoke with on the phone should have added that to your plan.

Unlimited text messages only cost 10 cents each. This I know because I do text message at times. How may text messages in a month did your son make to rack up a $700+ bill?

Double check your bill. Maybe you are being charged for something other than the text messages to have such a high bill. Hopefully you will find something you can fight.

If they will lie to the employees they will lie to the customer. They fire us if we don't pay our bills...so get don't get a job with them.