CellularONE incompetent billing, Consumer Letter

On Friday February 25, 2000 I officially cancelled my CellularOne account #. I did so only by reason of extreme frustration in trying to get the account balance reconciled with CellularOne. The frustration is explained as follows; with a spreadsheet attached, clearly showing where the communications with your company fell apart.

Enclosed please find a check for the amount of $23.94 to be applied to Bill Date: 1/21/2000. This amount is the average monthly amount balance on my account from Bill Date: July 21, 1999 through Bill Date: November 21.

A simple name change on this account has cost me in excess of four hours of my own time, significant personal anxiety trying to do the right thing with a problem I did not create, and waiting for seemingly endless minutes in the customer support holding queue; on at least three occasions over the past three weeks, waiting to reach someone at CellularOne about the problem. As of the completion of this letter I am finished with this issue and not wasting any more of my time trying to repair this account problem that CellularOne created.

In June 1999 I received a cell phone as a Father's Day gift. The account (##) was opened in my wife's name with invoices sent to our home in her name; and always paid promptly.

In November of 1999 we decided; to make things simpler, we would change the account to be in my name, the phone after all was mine. This is when the problems started. All we wanted to do was change the name on this single account numbernothing else was required.

We contacted CellularOne, told the person exactly what we wanted to do and why. Several days' later paperwork was received at our home for both of us supposedly required in order to make the name change. When I completed the surprisingly large amount of confusing paperwork; along with providing a copy of my driver's license, I was suspicious that something didn't seem right for a simple name change so I wrote across the information Name change ONLY for this account from (wife's name) to (my name)", so that whomever saw this change might understand and verify what should be done.

Several days later my wife and daughter decided they would change their separate accounts into a single shared line account which was another idea they thought would make their lives easier. This was also done incorrectly causing my wife's account to be over billed with the wrong service plan the following month. She paid the first bill and was issued a credit for the following month once she noticed there was an error in the account. They have both also recently terminated their accounts with your company due to all of this account mismanagement.

Beginning with the bill date of 12/21 the balance on my account was incorrect. I paid the correct amount on that bill and expected all would be well the following month. The following bill date of 1/21/2000 had a new account number AND a total due of $372.63now I'm an unhappy customer with a genuine problem; not caused by me, that needs resolution, not excuses, going from one person to the next until the end of the chain is reached! Your service people need to be empowered to make things happenI had to start all over again with no less than three people on one of my calls.

When I contacted the customer service folks after SEVERAL pass-off's to different people I finally found the new account was indeed in my name; with the wrong plan, an additional telephone plan attached, a previous balance of nearly $300. And; insult to injury following, with a disconnect notice reaching my home within a few more daysthis is enough!!!

I am planning to forward a copy of this letter and attachments on to the Better Business Bureau for notification. This kind of shabby account management should not be allowed to happen to anyone.

For all intents and purposes this account closed on January 21 when the first inappropriate invoice was delivered to my home and I began trying to resolve the issue. I will not respond to any charges subsequent to my attached check in this letter (which I don't feel obligated to offer).

The personal frustration and wasted energy I've expended trying to resolve this problem; created through no fault of my own, has now come to an end. I have performed significant good faith efforts to resolve this issue without any reasonable response from CellularOne and am now considering this closed.

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