Cingular Wireless AT&T merger a rip off to consumers Atwater California

Sounds like they are feeding you a line of bull to force you into a new contract. They sure had no problem providing us with a replacement AT&T phone which works.

This is just an another example of Cingular's BS. They don't have any clue about Customer Service as they have proven with the way they have treated AT&T customers. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next two years as contracts expire and people flee to the competition.

Cingular needs to go back to school and learn basic business skills. Screwing customers will only screw themselves in the long run.

Sorry you got caught in their web of deceit.

I tried for over a week with the insurance company and they said they do not have anymore AT&T phones. As the AT&T phones do not work on Cingular they quit stocking them some time ago.

So if an AT&T phone dies you are basically screwed. Cingular sole purpose is to FORCE people onto a Cingular contract and phone. They DO NOT care if it is wrong or anything else.
File complaints with the FCC and FTC. I refuse to let my complaints die, I just keep them going until I get out of this nightmare!\Debbie, Reno, NV

Didn't Cingular tell you to contact the insurance company to replace the phone? If they didn't I would call them and DEMAND to revert back to your AT&T plan and return the new phones.

I am a longstanding AT&T Wireless customer. According to Cingular we are STILL AT&T Wireless and will remain such until we "migrate", which I refuse to do. Last month one of the phones on our share plan was lost. When we contacted Cingular we were given the direct number to the Insurance Company. The phone was replaced with the exact same model phone as the one lost. We were not required to get a Cingular phone, migrate or agree to a new two-year contract. This particular phone is for a type of service that Cingular does not offer. It works on the AT&T system that Cingular bought out.

We purchased the original phones in July 2004 and specifically wanted this type of service because the GMS service in our area is horrid. If Cingular discontinues this service then THEY breach our contract for failure to provide the service our phones require to work.

You should have been directed to contact the insurance company and your phone should have been replaced with an identical model. They really ripped you off.

On a side note, we are in an unusual situation with Cingular and I am sure they don't like it. When we bought our phones last year AT&T knew of the merger, yet they sold us phones that would not work on Cingular's network. They expect us to comply with the two-year contract. We contracted for this type of service and Cingular has to provide it or they are in breach of the contract. But that is not the end of the story.

About a month after we purchased our phones, AT&T sent us a letter stating that they did not receive our signed copies of the contract (we have our copies). They included new contracts to sign with a starting date a month after the phones were purchased. I think they realized they messed up and tried to correct the problem with new contracts (they are definitely different contracts). I just ignored the letter since we know the salesman had the originals and no way was I signing a new contract with new dates.

We will be changing to another provider soon and it will be interesting (and fun for me) to see how Cingular deals with our account. 1) If we have a contract, I can prove that Cingular is in breach of contract because they do not provide the same service we signed up for less than a year after the supposed contract date.. (Not all of our old services work now), or 2) We don't have a contract. I have a letter stating that AT&T never received copies of our contract, so they can't prove we have a contract.. Either way, they won't be getting the early termination fees from us.

I will NEVER migrate to Cingular. They ripped off all the AT&T customers with this merger. IN the meantime they are making it harder and harder for us to pay our bill. We can no longer pay online (the option is no longer available when we log in) and I have to call several times to pay by phone (mysteriously our account info is not available most of the time so they can't accept our payment) I think they are trying to force our payment to be late so they have a reason to disconnect our service. Then when we try to get it turned back on they will force us to migrate and blame it on our late payment. Crossing my fingers, so far I am one step ahead of them and determined to win.

Good luck if you attempt to get your old service back. Its definitely unfair to allow some customers to replace AT&T phones through insurance and force the migration and purchase of new phones to others.

I'd be very interested in a class action lawsuit.

Cingular Wireless has billed me twice already for the 'month in advance' part of their agreement. Once when I first opted for their service through Bell South and again when I asked for the bill to be split last year. I have my bills showing this.

They continue billing me for the month of July when I discontinued my service with them saying I owe them for the month of July. I discontinued service with them on July 20th although the service was supposed to run through August 3rd. I can prove they are lying quite easily. They know this but continue to tell me that I'm wrong and I still owe them money. I refuse to pay them any more money and they are threatening adding it to my credit report. It just kills me that they can do this although they know it would be a lie.

I am, at present, researching small claims court since it is under $5000 but a class action suit would do more for a large number of people than just myself.