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A customer's indictment

Cingular Wireless sales practices

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Lori of Moriarty NM sent us a copy of her letter to Cingulair:

May 2, 2001

Mr. Ed Whitacre
Executive Complaint Group
Cingular Wireless
175 E. Houston St.
San Antonio, TX 78205

Dear Mr. Whitacre,

I subscribed to a wireless service contract with Southwestern Bell in February, 2000. From that point until I moved to New Mexico and changed the service plan on November 27, 2000, I was satisfied with the service I received. After I moved and changed plans, the service has been unacceptable. I have had numerous problems with my account from not having service at all, to being billed for roaming charges which I was told would not apply to my new plan, to having my service interrupted completely.

The level of customer service I have received from your firm has been intolerable. I’m sure you can review my account and see the number of times I have had to call the customer service group in order to get reasonably simple things corrected. Because I am aware of several instances in which I have called that have not been properly logged in your system, I am giving you a copy of the notes I have made regarding these phone calls. They follow:

• 11/27/00 Spoke with Margie (??) and explained to her that I had moved to New Mexico and that I needed to change my plan so that I would not be charged roaming fees. I told her I traveled frequently and needed a plan that would allow me to call from Chicago, Dallas, Albuquerque, California without roaming fees. She suggested the USA Passport which had 600 minutes none of which were subject to roaming charges.
• 12/16/00 Spoke with SWBW to tell them I was not getting service in Albuquerque. Was told that the rep was going to e-mail Margie and have her call me back. Never received a call. 12/28/00 Still not getting service in Albuquerque. Spoke with Megan (for 45 minutes) who was unable to help me and did not put me through to a manager upon my request.
• 12/29/00 Spoke with another customer service person who also was unable to help. She forwarded me to a technical service person who was helpful, but my phone only worked for about 30 minutes after his assistance. He told me he would call me back and let me know how to permanently fix my phone. Never called back.
• 1/2/01 Spoke with 2 customer service reps. They were reluctant to let me speak to a manager despite my requests. The last one said she would have a manager call me.
• 1/2/01 Donna (a manager) called back and said she would check on the problem and get back with me. I told her the customer service was unacceptable and having no service was even more unacceptable. I also told her I would be canceling my contract with them if the problem wasn't rectified shortly and would not be paying the termination fee due to the lack of adequate customer service.
• 1/3/01 Donna called again. She explained that my service was guaranteed as long as I lived in Dallas and if I was only traveling to Albuquerque that my phone would work. We discussed that this did not make sense since my phone itself would not know whether I lived in ABQ or was vacationing. She attempted to cancel my service and I explained to her that #10 paragraph 2 of the contract stated that I would be entitled to a refund of my service fee if did not receive service. She said the contract stated that I had to live in the area in which I signed the contract. I asked her to read that part to me. Said she would have to find it and I would hold. I held for 20 minutes. She returned to say that she had spoke to the technical rep and he had explained the issue. I then asked if she had found the language in the contract we spoke about. She had not. She should have been up to speed re: my account since she called yesterday and was aware of the problems. After about another 10 minutes she read #10 paragraph 1 to me. These 2 paragraphs seem to be contradicting themselves. I told her I would not pay the cancellation fee, but that I would think about it for a couple of days as to whether I wanted to cancel the contract or not. Her name is Donna, ex. 6377.
• 1/30/01 Spoke w/ 3 people regarding billing. I was told on 11/27 when I changed my account to USA Passport that the plan included 600 minutes for $55.00. I specifically asked about roaming and if there would be any roaming charges. The rep told me no. Today, the first rep told me there were only 60 minutes included in no roaming portion and that I had to pay the bill. I asked to speak to a manager. I told her the problem and asked if she was a manager. She said she was in revenue management. She transferred me back to customer service to see what they could do about the bill. I spoke to Ethel who said their system was down and she would call me back.
• 1/30/01 Never received a call back from Ethel. Called and spoke with Linda. Very helpful. She went over my account. Said that I should have never been sold that particular plan since I would only be able to use 10% of the minutes. Credited the roaming charges and said she would make a reminder for herself to write off the next month's roaming fees as well.
• 4/17/01 Linda has not written off my roaming charges as she said she would. I received notice in the mail that my early March payment had been damaged (I kept a copy of the notice as well as mailed it in with my replacement payment). Also received notice that my payment was overdue (due to the damaged mail) and my service would be turned off. Tried to place a call yesterday and my service was turned off. Spoke with Tracey who transferred me to Karen. Once again explained all the problems I've had and that their customer service rep misrepresented the plan she sold me and that I would never have purchased a plan in which I could only use 10% of the minutes. Told her of my conversation I had with Linda. Also told her I wanted my phone turned on within the hour. After 45 minutes of being on hold and speaking with Tracey and Karen, my phone was activated. Karen told me a manager (Linda) would call me back today to discuss my plan. As of 5/2/01 Have not received a call back. 5/2/01 My service has once again been turned off despite the fact that my replacement check that was originally damaged in the mail has been received. According to the bill I received dated 4/9/01 (received sometime during the week of 4/23/01), my roaming fees have not been credited.

As you can see, there are many problems with the level of customer service your firm provides. There is no follow-up from your customer service reps. Only once have I received a call back when I was promised one. The customer service reps are not knowledgeable about the types of plans you provide or how to troubleshoot problems.

Probably the most serious problem of all is in the deceptive sales tactics the customer service reps apparently use. Despite the fact I made my needs for a new plan very clear to your customer service rep, I was sold a plan in which I was only able to use 10% of the minutes; only 60 of the 600 minutes I was sold. I am positive that no one, including myself, would purchase a plan in which only 10% of the minutes could be used unless there was some sort of misrepresentation, either intentional or not, by the customer service rep.

I would hope that this was an isolated incident, but after looking at the complaints posted on the Consumer Affairs website, there are apparently very similar problems with other customers as well. This is a very serious problem as it borders on, if not actually crosses into, deceptive practices. As I’m sure you are aware, there are specific laws against this practice.

This issue is clearly addressed in section 17.46 of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act: the failure to disclose information concerning goods or services which was known at the time of the transaction if such failure to disclose such information was intended to induce the consumer into a transaction into which the consumer would not have entered had the information been disclosed; O'Hern v. Hogard, 841 S.W.2d 135 (Tex.App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1992, no writ).

Clearly, I would not have purchased a plan in which I had to pay for 600 minutes, but was only able to use 60 of the minutes unless the specifics of the plan were misrepresented or not disclosed. I went to great lengths to explain my situation and needs to the representative and feel I was mislead. My conversation with Linda on 1/30/01 confirmed that the rep had noted in the system that I had told her I moved out of state. With this knowledge, again, she should not have recommended the plan she did.

I think I have been extremely patient in dealing with the problems I have had, but I do not intend to spend any more time dealing with these issues. We are all busy people and none of us have time to waste dealing with unacceptable service. My request at this point is for you to cancel my service contract immediately and write-off any early termination fees that may generate, as well as any roaming fees that are still outstanding on my account. Considering the poor level of service I have received and the frustration in dealing with wireless service that does not work regularly, I think this is a very reasonable request. I am enclosing a check for my basic service through 5/9/01, but I do not intend to send payment for any of the roaming fees I was charged.

There is a $2.90 late fee on my latest bill. I am not sure if this is due to the payment that was damaged in the mail or if I was actually late in paying a bill, so I will pay this as well. As I have said, I travel frequently and often do not get my mail timely. It is possible that my last payment was in fact late. I am sending copies of this letter along with formal complaints to the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Affairs, and the Better Business Bureau.

If this is not handled to my satisfaction within 30 days from the date of this letter, I will be filing a complaint under the Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act as well. I regret having to take these actions, but I feel I have made every effort to get this resolved without success. If you would like to speak with me, please call me at the above number

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