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Cingular - Billing Disputes

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Ed of Houston (7/26/05):
My 68-year-old mother recently received a warranty replacement phone, from Cingular Wireless, for her defective Motorola phone. After using the phone for a little over a month, she received her bill. It was for a whopping GRAND! $1000! ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS!

Her phone bill is usually somewhere around $80. She was being charged because her new Motorola flip phone did not hang up her calls when she closed it like her old Motorola flip phone. Apparently the phone also did not naturally hang up after either caller terminated the conversation.

Needless to say, she wound up being charged far more than the time she actually spent talking, to the tune of some $900. Cingular did acknowledge that in the 5+ years she had been a customer she had never before used so many minutes. And even though the sudden increase in usage was easily explained, Cingular claimed it was her fault and are completely unwilling to negotiate the bill in any way! They said the only way she can keep her service is to pay this bill in one lump sum!

Damages: My mom is a very mobile and independent person. Her business and safety depends upon her having a phone available at all times. Her budget just cannot take this hit right now.

Carolyn of Mullins SC (1/28/03):
We purchased a nationwide plan knowing we were going on an extended vacation to California and needed to keep in touch with family here. We were told we had nights and weekends free up to 3500 minutes. We received no written proof of this transaction, and called twice to be sure we had the free minutes and were told we did. We didn't have it in writing, so when our bill came when we returned, we were furuous when told we were charged for roaming charges to the amount of $2000. I think the employees of this company should be trained to know what they are selling. We also had a friend that traveled to alaska and believing they had free minutes were charged for the calls. they got half of their money back, we got none.

We were out a lot of money, all they said was sorry, your minutes only count when in S.C. Now the phone is worthless, but will keep it until our contract is up as they charged us $150 to turn in the other phone. i am afraid to use the phone long distance at all now, and plan to turn it in when the contract is up and not get another one.

Angela of Jacksonville FL (1/14/03):
I signed up for a 250 anytime minute plan plus 3,500 nights/weekends with no roaming or long distance. I have been using Cingular since 1996, not always on this plan. The last time I changed my plan, it was to cost me $29.99 per month for a gross bill of $38.00. My monthly bills have ranged anywhere from $45 to $198 with Cingular, which is a far cry from the $38.00 per month that I always anticipate.

Since June 2001, I have only paid the minimum $38.00 7 times. I became concerned at the amount of the monthly bills. Therefore, I began attempting to track my usage. However, as usual, the total minutes billed did not match my estimates. I was reading on the Internet some fine print about being charged airtime for checking your voicemail. In addition, when I requested the National plan, I did not sign a contract, therefore I was not aware of the $.40 per minute peak overlimit charge. I thought I was supposed to be paying around $.19 per minute or less. I have asked for detailed billing, but it still does not clarify all of the charges. I am concerned that Cingular is engaging in illegal billing activity. As a consumer, I would hope that someone is reviewing the billing practices of cell phone companies.

Colleen of Syracuse NY (1/4/03):
I signed up for a cell phone for my daughter for X-Mas in 2001. I signed up for the $19.99 a month plan with free nights and weekends. I was told that if I needed to up the plan to more minutes I could and I could also go back to the $19.99 plan anytime. I was planning a trip and knew I would need more minutes so changed the plan for one month. After the one month I called and changed the plan back to the original $19.99 a month plan. Each plan had free nights and weekends. After switching back to the $19.99 a month plan I received a bill for $600 for like 2000 airtime minutes!

I immediately called the company and was told that yes I owed this amount because when I changed plans my free nights and weekends were no longer included. Well, I tried to talk to a manager but was put on hold for 20 minutes or more at a time. Each time I would talk to someone their story would change. I would ask to speak to the person I had already spoken to and would be told that person had gone home even though I had spoken with them 20 minutes earlier! It was very frustrating and I finally told them to shut the damn phone off and I would not pay anything! I lost my temper because I could not speak to anyone with any authority nor could I get a straight answer from anyone! Very frustrating!

The account has been turned over to a collection agency and every bill that comes is of course higher than the last. I think the last bill I received was for $800. I don't know what to do. I can not afford an attorney nor will I pay $800. I feel totally ripped off! The consequences are that my credit is being jepordized by a company that is taking advantage of people! I really want my daughter to have a cell phone in case of an emergency but I refuse to be taken advantage of and pay a bogus $800 bill.

Colleen is making a big mistake. She should pay the bill, then sue the company in Small Claims Court to recover her payments and costs. Her present course leads only to more trouble.

Lisa of Gravette AR (9/12/02):
I had 4 phones with Cingular Wireless. We all lived in the state of Arkansas and could talk unlimited to each other. This was great for about 12 months into my contract. My first bill they sent me that was incorrect was for $2600. I was very upset. I called, was on hold for at least one hour. I then was told they would have to send it to a auditing department. They told me it would take 10 days to resolve the problem. The next phone bill was only $1600.00. I normally have $100.00 phone bills. This continues for 5 months. I was overcharged in the end $280.00. I knew I had to pay it because they would send it to collections. I didn't feel I could go to an attorney and that cost me more. I found this web site and decided to least warn people of this company. They were rude and not caring at all with my situation.

Hours on the phone was the most upsetting. I now know what they mean about going "postal" I threw my phone across my yard after being on hold for one hour and finally getting someone, telling them my problem and then I lost the signal. The feeling that I had no control over the situation that I was just waiting for them to tell me how much I owed them. I was able to get out of my contract without paying a penalty.

Tamie of Wilsonville AL (10/3/02):
I have been overcharged every month since February, and paid the bills, averaging $220+ for one phone. I even upped my minutes to 1000/mo for $69.99 and just got my bill -- $188.65 for under 600 minutes! I cannot afford these bills. Every month I think it will be straightened out. Everyone I talk to has similar problems.

Cindy of San Antonio (4/15/02):
I purchased 2 cellular phones w/service in Oct 01. I cancelled w/in 30 days. I moved and now have just received all of these bills for service which I have never used and they are saying I owe them $705.48 as of January. I never realized that I was still being charged, I never received my mail due to the friends I was staying w/never gave it to me. I am curious what I need to do to rectify this current situation.

Paige of Noblesville IN writes (7/23/01):
I was not told about roaming charges at all when I signed up for free long distance..the company finally agreed to eliminate the roaming charges but now want to charge me for any overage ... taking away one charge but adding another!

I am extremely upset with their desceptive practices, I cannot trust them...the rep would not send me their new terms in writing until I agreed to them first! I was duped and tricked!

Deborah of Nashua NJ (6/14/01):
I have a nationwide calling plan with Cingular Wireless (Digital Edge USA) with 550 prepaid minutes/month at a flat rate of $70, no roaming or long distance anytime, and the calls can be placed from anywhere to anywhere in the US.

Cingular applies minutes that I incur outside of their "local" coverage area (i.e., roamer minutes) to the following month's bill, on the premise that these calls don't show up in their system right away, as they are from other carriers. Cingular does not adjust the current month for any unused minutes in the month in which the calls were ACTUALLY MADE. As such, I get double-billed for these minutes; once in the unused pre-paid minutes for the month in which the calls were placed, and then again when the calls show up in the following month.

This practice causes my airtime for the next period to exceed my limit of 550 minutes, resulting in additional fees and taxes over and above the pre-paid charge. This practice also leaves the consumer completely in the dark regarding how many minutes to expect on their monthly bill ... my cellular telephone only tracks calls in real-time, when they are actually made, not when they might show up on my Cingular bill.

It seems to me that Cingular should be going back and retroactively applying roamer minutes to any unused time from the month in which the calls were ACTUALLY PLACED, rather than billing them against a period in which they did not occur, and do not pertain to. I have complained about this practice to Cingular's customer service department with no satisfaction (I was treated rudely and laughed at by their representative, Ms. Kara Hannah, for making the suggestion).

It has been pointed out to me that this was disclosed in the agreement that I signed when I entered into the contract with Cingular, and as such, it is legal for them to perpetrate this billing practice on their customers. However, in my opinion, even though it may be legal, that doesn't make it ethical or right. Is there any logical reason why a reasonable comsumer should have to accept this type of billing practice?

My cell phone bills for the last two months, and on one other, prior occasion, have been between $100-140, when they should have been about $75.

Jasmine of Los Angeles (6/4/01):
My Supervisor and I went to Cingular to inquire about opening a new account. We had two problems with the process. First, we inquired about a business account. We explained that we had very specific needs, as we travel a lot and conduct a great deal of business on the phone from all over the country. The representative shared that Cingular had the perfect phone to fit our needs. It was not and we had to battle with them to exchange the phone without charging although the representative lied about the functions this phone had.

In addition, when we initially made the purchase, the Associate explained that Cingular offered flexible plans to fit our specific needs. He went on to advise us that we should select the Local plan for home and switch to a national plan when we travelled. We decided to do this as he emphasized repeatedly the fact that this was a simple and cost effective process. Moreover he assured us that there were no hidden fees if we chose to switch the plan.

Two months later after trying to switch the plans the way we'd been told we could do, we were advised against this action because of the fees that would accrue for roaming charges if the cycle had not been completed. I tried to inquire regarding the matter to see if another plan may fit our needs but to no avail. I explained that we wished to cancel the service as the terms of the contract had been totally misrepresented and falsified. Cingular Wireless agreed to cancel the contract but insists on us paying the $150.00 fee, which we feel is completely unfair.

We refuse to pay the fee as the Sales Associate who sold us the contract was new on the job (only a few days with the company) which I was told by the Manager early on after an earlier descrepincy with the phone. We have had the service for two months and have had nothing but problems from PacBell.

Kelly of California MO (2/8/01):
Once again I've spent nearly TWO HOURS on the phone trying to straighten out my cell phone bill. We purchased this phone in St. Joseph Missouri for use by our son in St. Joseph, in our hometown (California Missouri), and all points in between. We purchased the phone and service with Southwestern Bell Wireless (now Cingular) after careful research. We were assured time and time again during the purchasing process that use of this phone in St. Joseph, in our hometown, and all points in between WOULD NOT result in roaming charges or toll charges.

However, each and every month since purchasing this phone we have either had to call the Cingular office or go to the retail store to straighten out billing problems. We have been and continue to be billed roaming and toll charges even though we were ASSURED usage in the areas described WOULD NOT result in these charges. Granted, each month the charges have been removed and the customer service rep has promised the problem has been fixed (after I spent hours on the phone), but we continue to have problems.

When I have to spend TWO HOURS on the phone trying to fix a problem that has been ongoing since July 2000, something is seriously wrong. I called the customer service office at 4 pm CST on Jan. 25, 2001, and spoke with Frank. After he checked things over and over again for over 45 minutes, I grew tired of waiting and finally asked to speak with a supervisor. Frank flatly refused to allow me speak with a supervisor! I was forced to hang up and call back immediately. I then finally spoke with a supervisor named Gary who saw the problem and promised to fix it and call me back with the correct billing amount. I waited over an hour to hear from him (after he promised to call back in 5 or 10 minutes) and finally had to leave for a meeting that I was already late for. He finally called an hour and a half later and left a message on my answering machine that he would call the next day (1/26) but he never called back.

To say that I find this type of treatment unacceptable would be an understatement! The time and effort I have been forced to put into trying to correct something I'm not even at fault for is ridiculous! I have contacted Cingular through their website (email) at least six times and called their office several times, only to be put on hold. Nothing I have done has helped! They WILL NOT contact me regarding this billing dispute!

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