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AT&T Wireless Reviews

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About AT&T Wireless

AT&T Wireless is the cellular branch of AT&T services. The company offers a variety of plan options to suit every customer's needs. Choices include unlimited text, talk and data plans, shared data plans and prepaid options. Customers can get a new phone from AT&T when they purchase a plan or continue using their current one.

Visit www.att.com/wireless
Pros
  • Several plan options
  • Includes streaming services
  • Wide range of coverage
Cons
  • Low limits before data throttling
  • Not the cheapest plans

AT&T Wireless Reviews

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    Page 56 Reviews 8025 - 8175

    Reviewed April 7, 2006

    When I moved last September (2005), I signed up to move my BellSouth home phone service online, partially because it was easy, but also because they promised a rebate of a MP3 player or Digital Camera. (I chose the digital camera.) To date, I still have NOT received the Digital Camera, although I have emailed and called numerous times. My last call on March 18, I was told it would be expedited and I would recieve it in three weeks. Today (three weeks later), I received a postcard saying they wouldn't fulfill it because I had already been paid for this specific promotion - NOT TRUE. I called again, and was told the same thing - that they would do a special request to re-review it and reprocess the rebate, and that it would take three weeks.

    It's annoying, unethical, etc. I shouldn't have to fight for a free rebate they promised me!

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    Reviewed March 11, 2006

    Changed BellSouth local service. Got conflicting information about voicemail and tried to make changes. The ping pong syndrome ensued - being bounced from person to person, department to department with no relief. *98 does not work. I call the Business Office, they tell me it was on the order, they send me back to Repair, then back to the Business Office. Boing, boing, boing!! Nobody takes time & resolves the problem. Broken promises, ignorant employees, non-responsive Management. Asked for a supervisor, employee says: I can't find one. Leave message for supervisor, no return call. Call again today. Spoke with arrogant, rude Supervisor who seemed annoyed that I was even taken up her time.

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    Reviewed Feb. 6, 2006

    I was use to paying about 130.00 or a little more monthly for my telephone bill. Then I added internet & DSL services in a package BellSouth had called complete choice. After a while I noticed slight increases in the bill. The amount of the bill was getting so out of hand it was getting hard for me to pay. Then I was told I was being overcharged for internet & DSL services. I was paying about 45.00 for the internet & DSL services then I was told it went down to 24.95 and they told me they were unable to adjust the charges for me because my telephone service has been interrupted.

    I have no residential telephone service and my bill is $552.76.

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    Reviewed Jan. 27, 2006

    I ordered a 2nd line in our house. The technicians never came into my house to hook up the wiring for the separate line. The line was turned on, but never worked in my house. Not realizing that the line could be on but not working, I received 2 bills and called BellSouth upon recieving each bill. They did not inform me that I had to disconnect my line even though I told them I don't have the line and didn't want a technician out to do the wiring. I disputed the balance on the account which they denied.

    BellSouth turned off the services to my main telephone line until I paid the account balance on the 2nd line that I disputed. I had 3 months worth of charges on a line I never got to use, and they denied any responsibility to inform me to disconnect the line that wasn't working.

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    Reviewed Jan. 13, 2006

    When obtaining phone service in Feb. 2002, I was required to pay a security deposit. Now, nearly 4 years later, Bellsouth has still not returned my deposit. After several attempts to remedy this, I was sent to an answering machine. I changed phone numbers at the one year mark and appearently, a major corporation like Bellsouth, does not transfer records from one number to another. Appearantly, the information is then purged and lost. I was told by three customer service reps, without knowing that old number, there is no way I can help you. Then, I found the old number and was told that without the actual account number there was no way they could help me.

    They have left me answerless as to where my money is and trying to make me feel as if it is my problem to solve. My responsibility in this is to pay my bill monthly, this I do. Yet, an amount of money that was legally supposed to be put into trust and returned to me, as agreed upon - has been lost and no offer to find it and return it is being made. The laziness and unwillingness to help by the customer service department of Bellsouth astounds me!

    I have potentially lost anywhere from $100.00 to $200.00 in my deposit not being returned to me. I have also endured the aggrevation of dealing with several Bellsouth customer service reps - which I'm sure most of their customers will agree is quite too much for this company to ask of me!

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    Reviewed Jan. 5, 2006

    In May of 2005, I notified Bellsouth that I was moving and would no longer require their service at my new address. The request was to shut service on May 31st. In mid-June after I moved, I logged on to the Bellsouth website and paid the May bill, which I assumed was my final bill. Recently at my new address, a collection agency tracked me here at Bellsouth's request and demanded in excess of $300 on my delinquent account. I contacted Bellsouth by e-mail and all they would give tell me (in a form letter) was the ammount, that it was for June, July, and August 2005, and that I would have to make arrangements with the collection agency to pay it off. Further attempts at correspondence with them has gone unanswered. Contacting the collection agency, all they are willing to do is receive payment and not try to resolve any dispute. They are threatening in nature and will not even attempt to cooperate in resolving anything.

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    Reviewed Dec. 29, 2005

    I am writing to dispute the amount of $85.06; Bellsouth continues to say I owe them. I have previously written to BellSouth disputing this charge. BellSouth is charging me for a service call that I never received. I reported a problem to BellSouth that my telephone service was unusable due to extreme static on the lines. I needed the lines only to use BellSouth’s DSL service; my telephone service was with Vonage. In short, the static did not interfere with receiving calls and me placing calls. I just thought that since I was paying for the monthly service I should be able to use it when I needed to. I explained to the representative that all the DSL filters were in place and the telephone line previously worked fine. A month later, I received a bill from BellSouth for $84.06.

    When I called BellSouth, they said a technician came to my residence to fix the problem. First, I never authorized a service person to check the problem and second, I work from home and no one visited. I refuse to pay a company, such as Bellsouth, for a service I did not receive. I expect to have this charge cleared from my records, but the keeping ignoring me and have now placed the amount with a collection agency.

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    Reviewed Dec. 22, 2005

    i moved and had my phone service moved, they transfered the service but there was a lot of static on the line so they sent out a repair tech. he said that the promblem was in the jacks that was in the duplex he said he had to change the jacks, my husband and i both asked him were we going to be charged for this he then asked did we have a charge on our phone bill that said maintance plan i told him yes 5.95 a month he then said well there is no charge for me doing this so he put in 2 new jacks, we thought the promblem was taken care of low and behold 2 hours later the same thing static, you could'nt dial out nor could you recieve calls, this was before hurricane wilma hit florida to be exact 2 weeks before that.

    I had no phone service and they sent me a bill for 205.00.

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    Reviewed July 26, 2005

    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.

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    Reviewed Jan. 28, 2005

    On September 14, 2004 i established local phone service with Sprint and after reviewing their plans and pricing decided to order a sprint bundle plan which was to include my local toll service as well as unlimited long distance and dsl. By November, i received a bill for $1110.13! Upon reviewing my bills i found that several of the charges for which i was being billed were from third parties which i did not authorize.

    I have made several attempts to get the matter resolved and have just finished emailing their customer service department for the last time. I find most appalling that i received yet another bill from Sprint along with a letter from collection agency now stating that i owe them 1285.20 which is another $175.17 on a line that was disconnected in November. Then, there is an issue with AT&T. While living in Charlotte, my phone service was provided through Bell South yet i was receiving bills from At&T. At one point i even called Bell South to inquire about these bills and the representative called AT&T who denied ever billing me. A month later i got a letter from At&T stating that there was an error in their system they were working hard to resolve it.

    To make a long story short, i am still receiving bills from At&T on that phone number which has been disconnected for over 4 months. Matter of fact i moved from Charlotte to Fayetteville on August 15th 2004 and the most recent bill i got from them was from October 14, 2004. The bottom line is this..who oversees these phone companies and what can be done about this? I have even had MCI cancel an order i placed to disconnect service in Charlotte, told me that they cancelled my disconnect notice and continue to send me bills! I've had it, please help!

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    Reviewed May 25, 2004

    My complaints are:
    1. Unacceptable call dropping.
    2. Poor reception or no reception
    3. Increasing dead areas in Oakland (surrounding)
    4. Incoming calls go directly to voicemail. Much of my work depends on the use of my cell phone. I am a mobile notary. Missing calls = missing income.
    5. Gross overcharges in December and January.
    6. Upgraded phone/plan for better service per store rep. Advised that company was working out "kinks" in service and will be up completely by end of December 2003.
    7. Service worsend with outgoing and incoming calls, often times get a recording "your call cannot be completed, number not in service." I have called my home and received this message.
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    Reviewed May 25, 2004

    I have never used my cell phone long distance or ever went over my plan's allowed minutes. I went to South Carolina from New York. When I received my bill it had $698.17 in long distance and roaming fees.

    I NEVER thought of this. I didn't know I'd generate such charges -- it was an honest mistake. I asked if I upgrade my plan and include National service, if the fees could be retroactive or waived. I've gotten nowhere. I have a cell bill which is normally never over $40 and now is $698.17!

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    Reviewed Jan. 5, 2004

    I had contract with ATT wireless for a year, $49.99/mo, including 2000 free night/wkend minutes One day they sent a bill for $746.52 (!) saying that the contract had expired a month ago, and all calls were billed at 60 c/min afterward. They have not notified me in advance that they were going to do that. It is responsibility of ATT to communicate any changes to the customer clearly and unambiguously. I have never been contacted directly and would have never agreed to any change in rates if I had, much less for a 15-fold hike.

    I have tried to resolve it several times with ATT customer service. I was offered to sign up for another year of service with them and then they promised to clear this charge! I'm seeking to have all calls rebilled at the agreed rate, which should bring the bill down to $49.99 The said they do it to everybody as a matter of business practice. I believe that ATT wireless tries to coerce customers to use their service and I wish more people knew about it.

    I'm a part-time school teacher with $20K salary. I was paying them meticulously the entire year of the contract, by direct bank withdrawal. They have damaged my credit. They continue to harass me every day via collection agencies.

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    Reviewed Jan. 5, 2004

    AT&T Wireless terminated my service because I moved out of their area. The termination occured before September 12, 2003. On this date I contacted as to why my service didn't work and was informed of the termination. I paid all bills due at that time.

    In November I received my last bill showing a $175 disconnect fee for early termination. I complained the fee was removed but it left me with a credit of $74.41. I asked for my moneys to be refunded by check or charge back to credit card. I was informed by letter that the account had to be closed for 60 days before request could be made. I called and was told that date would be November 13, 2003. I called on the 13th and made a request. Then I was called a week later by the person processing the request who said it was not 60 days yet, request denied. Then I was told that I must wait till December 7, 2003 to make the request. (I have figured out what they are doing, they are waiting for two billing cycles past the last billing cycle that service was terminated)(My billing cycle ends on the 7th of each month). Also I was told that it could take up to 10 weeks for the refund to be issued.

    On December 8, 2003 I made the official request for the refund and now was told it could take 4-6 weeks to process. On January 5, 2004 I received a statement still showing my refund. I called to see what progress has been made and was told on the December 15th, 2003 they cancelled my request due to the account being closed due to fraud. I asked in a astonished voice "what fraud?" and was told I would have to talk to the fraud department. They looked at the account relized an error and said they would have to reopen the account to close it again with the right codes and again I will have to wait up to 6 more weeks.

    I have talked to nemourous people at AT&T; Wireless and received the royal runaround. They have two divisions - one analog and one G3 service. They transfer from one department to the other and no one has the ability to make decisions about the account. All I want is the monies I over paid this company, refunded. Also If they are going to terminate service they should terminate on billing cycle day not 3 weeks before and make you wait that period for a refund.

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    Reviewed Jan. 4, 2004

    I've been with AT&T; for three years and used to be impressed with the customer service they offered. Recently, I switched phones and plans. In order to activate the phone, I was put on hold for 1.5 hours, and after getting through, the customer service representative accidentally hung up on me. I then waited for another 1.75 hours to get through and activated my phone, although they didn't tell me that I would need an access code to use my phone. I then spent another hour on hold getting the SIMS access code. Total time spent on hold to use my phone was 4 hours, 15 minutes.

    I just received my first bill under my new service plan. It was for three times the amount. They charged me for minutes that should have been included and some calls were three times as long as actual call time. Additionally, calls that I had made were not on the bill. Three of my friends have experienced the same billing problems and its a nightmare to try to clear it up, even though the errors are AT&T;'s. I just tried calling customer service to clear this up and expected wait times were 20 minutes+. Go figure. I tried logging on to my account on the website and due to high volumes I couldn't access my account.

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    Reviewed Jan. 2, 2004

    I have had service with AT&T; for almost three years. My contract is set to expire in July of 2004. In the last few months I have received awful reception on my cell phone. I have not changed service plans to gsm. I recently need to make and receive urgent phone calls (one regarding my child, who'd had a major seizure) and missed the calls. I called the company to complain and disconnect my service. They said it was my phone. They said Nokia no longer makes those phones. However, in checking out new wireless services, I've seen Nokia phones that look almost exactly like mine. I have seen other people using what appears to be the same type of phone and theirs works great.
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    Reviewed Dec. 31, 2003

    When AT&T; upgraded their system, I was no longer able to log into my online account to pay my bill. I tried repeatedly (I even tried reregistering) everyday for two months, but all I got were error messages. Coincidentally, I was no longer receive a paper bill in the mail so I had no idea what needed to be paid. I also tried calling 1-800-888-7600, but either, received an automated message saying, "No one is available at this time. Please try your call again later" and was disconnected, or reached a customer service agent who said they needed to transer me to the billing department then hung up on me.
    After two months, AT&T; terminated the service on my phone and FINALLY sent me a bill ($354). I called AT&T; and got through to their billing dept. where I was connected with Andrea (emp. #51342) who took my VISA payment (for the full amount) over the phone. She was extremely rude when speaking to me and told me I would have to wait 1 to 24 hours before my service would be turned back on. When 25 hours passed and my phone was still not working, I called AT&T; again. I asked to speak with Andrea's supervisor/manager and was connected with someone who flat out refused to give his name. I was informed that Andrea had not reported the payment and I would have to wait another 1 to 24 hours because he just submitted a "request for reinstatement".
    By that time, I was livid and asked him to take disciplinary action against Andrea. He refused to do anything of the sort and told me that I can't tell them how to handle their employees. He began talking to me in a condescending tone and began to taunt me. I put the issue with Andrea aside and asked him if he had any intention of helping me with my service dilemma. He responded by saying he had no intention of helping me with anything and I was on my own. When I asked him to repeat what he said, he told me he didn't feel like there was a need to speak to me any longer or ever again. He then simply said "Goodbye!" and hung up on me.

    Because my phone was not turned back on until 36 hours later, I didn't receive the call from my infant's babysitter informing me that my baby was being taken to the emergency room for a high fever.

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    Reviewed Dec. 30, 2003

    I bought a new phone from AT&T; wireless on October 27, 2004. I questioned the rep several times as to there being a change in my monthly plan. She kept telling me there would be no changes except that the new plan would cost me an extra $5 per month. It has been a complete nightmare since my purchase date. I have never before gone 400 minutes over and dont believe that I did this time. I dont know what is going on but I need assistance to get to the bottom of this problem because each time I go into an AT&T; or call customer care, I get nowhere at all.
    I am eligible for a discount that I am being denied and they want to charge me for services I didnt use. I am very frustrated at this point and just want to go back to my original plan and pay what I would normally pay (which is approximately $50/per month. I shouldnt be responsible to check before dialing to make sure that I am not roaming into Tmobile lines (as I was told). I have never left my area. Why would I roam?

    This new phone bill is taking me straight to the poorhouse (where I already have a room).

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    Reviewed Dec. 29, 2003

    Note I sent to them: I have just spent one (1) hour on the phone on my day off with four (4) very incompetent pople in your service department. All I wanted was to change my husband's and my plan to a "Shared Plan." The first gal I talked to for a least 20 minutes took all the necessary information. We talked about new phones, she took my husband's information, etc. and them said I need to be transfer to where they did the "shared phones." I said please, please make sure they get all the information, I don't want to do this again.
    I then got the second lady. She had no information sent to her, so we did it again. She then said "I have to transfer you to the another department." At this point I was panicking...and rightfully so...the third person, Ann, also did not get the information and said we would need to start again (I am now 40 minutes into a call to schange my Plan and get new phones). We again did the dance. She them said I would need to talk to another department, but the lines were busy so I would need to hang up and call later. I now had missed an appointment and was being told to keep the faith and that when I called back in at a later date they awould have all the information.
    I then asked to speak to a manager. Her name was Teresa. All she did was make excuses, let me know that not everyone was competent (oh really!) and tell me there was nothing she could do. I felt no level of integrity or concern on her part. I was just another upset person to get rid of.

    Note, I have never been thrilled with the level of service from AT&T.; When I talk with my friends who have changed to Verizon, they laugh when they hear I'm still with AT&T.; At this point I feel you have violated the terms of the contract I have with you in terms of customer service. I am requesting that the contract be cancelled without any fees. If not I am going to be sending a very detailed account of my plight today to as many agencies who deal with complaints as possible. I am starting to search the website to gather a list of all the agencies including the media. I am so, so upset and frustrated that your people have made it impossible for me to complete a transaction after an hour of impersonal and incompetent behavior.

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    Reviewed Dec. 29, 2003

    I have been an AT&T; Wireless customer for four years (June 23, 2000) and the last two years have been HELL. I changed my plan at the recommendation of an AT&T; customer service representative (January 2003) and was LIED to. I was promised a certain amount of airtime when I called other AT&T; cellphone numbers and when I received my bill I had been charged for these calls. The problems didn't stop there! I called to speak to a rep about this and ultimately spoke to TWO RUDE SUPERVISORS who pretty much told me "Oh well, we can't honor that because the rep had no authorization to give me the promotion."

    Another problem occurred because the rep who switched my plans also did not give me the correct calling plan and I was charged with a truck load of roaming charges. Once again I called and spoke with a deplorable supervisor who did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to rectify the matter. I CAN NOT WAIT TILL I CAN LEAVE THIS HORRIBLE COMPANY!!!

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    Reviewed Dec. 7, 2003

    I am the victim of several blatant bait and switches by AT&T; Wireless. Their representatives misled both my fiance and myself on a minimum of three different occasions in the past month and they believe that the best possible solution to that charge is to apologize and then stick me with a bill for your mistakes.

    I ordered a second line for my fiance and was never once told by their representative that there was a $60 charge for the phone itself. I found out when an invoice came with the phone. A week after receiving the second phone I received a letter telling me that they require a $60 deposit for the second line. Again, after the fact.

    The second phone had the wrong area code and when I called to ask them to correct the mistake, they switched the area code of my original phone to the wrong area code, so then I had two numbers with the wrong area code. After about 4 hours on the phone with their customer service, they managed to switch the lines correctly. I have now logged over 30 phone calls in the past month, just trying to return the second phone to them, to no avail. I have never received an RMA and they say there is no other way to return the phone.

    The viewable used minutes on their website indicated that my original phone had reverted back to zero after the mistakenly changed the phone number on that phone, I called their customer service to verify that my minutes had indeed again started at zero and their representative assured me that I had over two hours left of paid minutes to use. What happened next? I got a $250 phone bill. I've never gone over $35 once in the past.

    They won't allow me to return the merchandise they sold to me, their representatives won't give out their last names and half say they don't have an employee number, so none of them has the faintest idea what last one promised to a customer. The last one actually told me, well you used the minutes so you have to pay for them, never mind that I used the minutes based on information given to me by their staff. It doesn't make sense that I would make a 67 minute phone call at 45 cents/minute when I had several other phones at my disposal. I have no intention of paying another dime to their company until they straighten this situation out.

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    Reviewed Dec. 3, 2003

    On Tuesday 11/25/03 I signed up to transfer my existing cell phone number from AT&T; Wireless to Cingular. I was told that the process should take no more than 6 hours to complete. Now after 8 days of talking with Cingular Customer service, AT&T; Customer Service, AT&T; GSM specialists, AT&T; PAG Dept., etc, I still do not have a working cellphone.
    The reason? AT&T; Wireless refuses to release my old number to Cingluar. AT&T; has been completely unhelpful, telling me that "their systems are down and there's nothing they can do to help me." Oftentimes, I get a fast-busy signal when contacting AT&T;'s customer service lines. Othertimes, it will route me through the automated system only to tell me, "ALL CIRCUITS ARE BUSY. PLEASE TRY YOUR CALL AGAIN LATER"-- this after waiting on hold for 30-40 minutes.

    I am furious with AT&T; and can only imagine what they're going to charge me on my next bill. I hope that if enough folks complain about AT&T;'s severe lack of compentence then something will be done. I've already filed with the FCC and have been assured that AT&T; will receive substantial fines for their lack of preparation for cellphone number portability (3+ years since AT&T; has know about the compliance date of 11/24/2003).

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    Reviewed Dec. 2, 2003

    In April of 2003 I called to cancel cell phone service on a phone that my daughter was using but that I was paying for. I was informed that I had missed the close of the billing period and that there would subsequently be 1 more months service billing, that the phone would remain active until May 27 at which time the cancellation would take effect. I informed my daughter and she ceased using the phone sometime during the month of May.
    I was on a direct draw from my visa account and I noticed that they then had debited my account in the following months, 5/16, 6/16/ and 7/16. Each time I called, each call lasting 30 minutes or more, I was told that someone had dropped the ball and that there would be a credit issued but it would be 60 days after termination of service, so the 60 days never seemed to happen because each time I called started another 60 day wait period.
    I finally got a fax number, sent copies, as requested, of my Visa statements, Subsequently my daughter, not me, received a call saying that credit would be issued. Nothing happened. Again I faxed the information, adding a note to "please call me". I was called and informed that a check had been sent, I had not received it, and since it had not cleared she would stop payment and issue another check. That original fax was dated October 7, 2003.

    To date, I have still not received the credit due. I have carbon copies of my transactions with this company to be sent to the Public Utilities Commission and also to the California State Attorney Generals office. I am not going to let this go. AOL was recently fined for this very practice. My thought now is to run this through small claims court and to sue for an amount sufficient to clear the debt owed by them to me and for all the time and frustration to date.

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    Reviewed Dec. 1, 2003

    I ordered a GO phone on their website. They claim the offer has "no strings attached, cancel within 30 days if you don't like it". I have made 6 phone calls and was kept on hold for over 3 hours each time and have never been able to find anyone who can handle a return or cancellation. I feel AT&T; wireless is defrauding the public. The service is clearly not what they claim.

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    Reviewed Nov. 30, 2003

    I received $62.37 in roaming charges in "Extended Area" service areas along the NY state thruway. Roam charges have never appeared when "extended area" appears on the phone - only when "roam" appears. Therefore it is impossible to use the phone and know what your charges will be. AT&T; refuses to refund saying that part of the interstate is not covered by their service.

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    Reviewed Nov. 25, 2003

    I just want to let someone know about the quality of service that I have received through AT&T; over almost the last two years. To start off, it has been HORRIBLE at best! The first part of my service was great until about April 2003. That is when everything went downhill from there and it is quite apparent that this organization could care less about the quality of service it provides.

    In December 2002, I had switched my cellular phone service from the Nationwide digital plan to a GSM Network plan because I was given a brand new Sony Ericson phone for Christmas and that was the service that was required to use that phone. From the moment that I switched that service, I began having reception problems in areas that I had never experienced before. I was staying mainly in the central Arizona area and it was only a minor inconvenience at the time.

    I travel frequently for business and in April, 2003 I was in Salt Lake City for a period of two weeks and this is where it became not just an inconvenience, but a hindrance. I was staying in downtown Salt Lake City and was using my cell phone quite freqently for business related calls which were consistently getting dropped or I had no service at all. After about a week of frustration, I went into an AT&T; Wireless store to find out what the problem was. The store manager told me that this was a common occurance with the GSM network. That just fueled my frustration because had I been told that ahead of time, I would never have switched my service over and would have returned the phone.

    Now I have got a $300 phone that is absolutely worthless. The manager was able to come to a resolution for me, however. She was able to sell me a used phone (the largest phone on Earth!) for $20 and switch my service back to the digital network so I could communicate. That was great until I got my bill.

    As I stated previously, I was on a nationwide plan. She switched me to a regional plan and my bill was over $600! I called AT&T; customer service and was on hold for almost a half-an-hour. Once I was able to talk to a Customer Service Representative (mind you I don't think your organization understands customer service is) she was short and explained to me that it was my fault this had happened because I should have realized that the manager of the store would have placed me on the same type of service plan that I was previously on. After I disagreed and tried to explain to her again what happened (I really decided to give this woman the benefit of the doubt and assume that she just didn't understand the problem) and she became combative.

    I then told her that I wanted to cancel my service. She said great and began the process. She, who mind you is representing your organization, did not care that I was going to take my business elsewhere! Without having another cell phone carrier, I decided that I was going to wait until I got another carrier, as to not disrupt my service. After talking over with a few people, I was advised to call back and let a supervisor know what happened. This time was a completely different experience. I spoke with a very nice customer service represenative and she transferred me to a supervisor who cleared the whole situation up.

    It took about two and a half hours to get done but I was relieved that I did not have to switch carriers and pay for an invalid bill. I wish that is where the story ended. The $20 phone that was sold to me by the manager of that store in the Gateway in Salt Lake City was awful. The phone book was inadequate and the phone was heavy and large. When I got back to Arizona, I checked with an AT&T; Wireless store to see what I could do.

    The selection of Digital Network phones was exactly two phones, one of which was the one that I already had. It seemed to me that AT&T; is trying to force people onto an unreliable network! I pretty much decided at this point that I was going to cancel my service with this organization at the end of my contract in February, 2004. My girlfriend was able to give me her V60 phone and I went to switch my number onto it in the same store that I went to in Arizona on Shea. When the salesperson asked my why I was switching, he didn't care, which didn't surprise me. After using the V60 for about a week, I noticed that I was having service problems again. My girlfriend had warned me about this phone and I wanted to take the risk because the size was much more convenient. When I went back to the store to inquire about the phone thinking that there was a manufactural problem with it, the same saleperson told me that there was a manufactural problem with this phone and many customers return that phone.

    Just as he told me this, on the other side of the counter was a customer purchasing this exact phone! I asked the salesperson if he was going to inform that customer that the V60 may have a defect with it and he said that he is not allowed to! Nice policy, AT&T;! I then had to purchase my third phone with AT&T; and had three phones that were of no use to me at all. All in all, I had almost $700 worth of useless equipment and your company could care less! It does not stop here. The phone that I have been most recently sold, is the same phone that I had to begin with, the base model phone that is usually free when ordering new service. Because I had already had an upgrade on my service plan recently, I had to pay $150 for the worst phone available. If I had been smarter, I would have just opted out of my contract and switched carriers. I didn't and purchased the phone.

    Just in the last couple of months, I have been traveling to Orange County, CA and my service has worsened. Not a big surprise! Dropped calls and every other call doesn't even go through. I am in one of the more densly populated areas of the United States and this is the type of service that I am getting. I went into an AT&T; store in the Irvine Spectrum to find out how to finally opt out of my contract. After telling this entire story to the salesperson, he appologized and told me that for the amount of usage that I have, the current phone that I have is the worst possible phone. Not a surprise here, either.

    I was then told that I would have to pay $175 to get out. I was thinking about it and called AT&T; Customer Service again. This time the first person that I talked to was great. She did tell me about an option that I could swtich my service plan to another person and I would not have to pay for the cancellation fee. I explained to her that I wouldn't switch this service to my worst enemy and she laughed. Even your customer service people know about the level of service that you provide. Amazing!

    She then transferred me to Chris, a Resolution Specialist. I had a brief discussion with him. Apparently the Resolution Specialist only specializes in one resolution - the customer is wrong and that is it. After all that I have been through, he couldn't even waive the cancellation fee, which brings me to where I am now. I am currently in the process of switching my service and keeping my number. I can only hope that this law allowing customers to keep their cell phone numbers when switching service is going to stimulate a better customer service enviornment. This is probably precisely the reason why your Resolution Specialist has only one resolution; a last-ditch effort to squeeze every last penny out of their customers and to try and force them to stay if they do not want to pay the cancellation fee.

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    Reviewed Nov. 24, 2003

    I have been a customer of ATT Wireless and my cell phone is constantly cutting off no matter where I am. I can be in my city of Tucson or in downtown Chicago and it will cut off. I have complained to ATT and they had me purchase another phone. I am still having the same problem 3 phones later plus they committed me to another year contract. I called them to complain and to tell them that they are not keeping their end of the contract and therefore I should be able to terminate the contract. Instead of terminating it they are trying to get me to buy yet another phone and commit to a 2 year contract this time.

    Do I have any rights when they are not keeping their contract comittment? I have had it with them and I want out of the service. News as of 10/28/03: I got suckered into getting another phone and if that is GSM and supposidly better than what I have. But of course I am having the same problems. I have been calling them for the past 2 weeks to get a shipping label and return the phone per the agreement they sent me. I cannot get through to them. Either I am on hold forever or they say their system is down and they cannot access my files. Of course the 30 day return fee is steadily approaching and I cannot reach them.

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    Reviewed Nov. 20, 2003

    Had been an AT&T; wireless customer for a few years. I go to the S. Jersey shore area as I own a home there. Had to go outside to the middle of my yard to answer or make calls 75% of the time. When my plan was over Feb 2003, I went to the Philadelphia store to complain about the bad service. I was assured they were working on this problem and it will be fixed this summer (2003). It was not and I had purchased another phone at the manager's suggestion. I told them I was going to cancel and they said I would be liable for an early cancellation fee of $175.00 because I have a contract. I told them they have a contract to provide service and they didn't.

    I was called by Victoria at AT&T; consumer affairs and was told the same thing, after explaining I had no service most of the time. I told them I will not let this go if this charge goes through. It did. I called AT&T; and got "Tanya" who told me they can't guarantee that I can answer a phone indoors; absolutely ludicrous! I have filed a complaint with the FCC and will post on my 10,000 member union bulletin board NOT to purchase any AT&T; product especially wireless. The representatives smugly suggest I did something wrong and the contract must be honored. When I tried to get copies of my bill in early October, I could not sign onto the website, although my account was billed through October 20th. I needed copies of my bill for the FCC. This company is not consumer friendly.

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    Reviewed Nov. 18, 2003

    I was without cell service for weeks since a representative deactivated my SIM card. SInce AT&T; has been going through a conversion with their system, acouunts could not be accessed, therefore, card could not be activated. I need compensation in terms of paying for a service I was not receiving.

    I use my personal cell phone as a district administrator for a school district responsible for the welfare and safety of over 97,000 student snad 2,000 employees. I need to be able to be contacted at all times. The interruption of service was far reaching. Additionally, I was no able to reach family in an emergency. All of this coupled with the time and frustration dealing with ATT&T; representaives over the weeks has caused me undue stress.

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    Reviewed Nov. 15, 2003

    I switched from TDMA to GSM in July after coming back from the war in Iraq. I figured that it was tim eto update my phone and my service. I went ahead and bought a $200 phone and updated to the new service. Ever since I did this the service sucks. I get no reception about 50% of the time and the other 50% of the time my calls get dropped. Also, when AT&T; resets its service, it also resets my phone. It turns it off automatically and then it turns on. This is done even when I am on the phone.

    I have called AT&T; several times and they refuse to do anything about this. When I do get through to them they tell me that their computers are down and that someone will call me back. No one ever calls me back. All I want is to switch back to TDMA and have AT&T; provide me with a phone since the one I have I can no longer use and the $200 that I spent basically went down the drain.

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    Reviewed Nov. 12, 2003

    I purchased a phone for myself, and one for my daughter. I used my phone for work and it was critical that I had service. The first month I missed 85% of my calls. When people did call, it went directly to voicemail half of the time. AT&T; explained that while they sold the GSM service, it was not yet active in all of the areas the original service was. They switched me back to PDMA. That was fine and I had no more complaints. Recently, I relocated out of the area for work. The company I was working for closed, and I moved to Northern California. AT&T; has no service in my area.

    They tell me I have to honor my 2 year contract because they don't guarantee service everywhere! I can either pay $350.00 early termination or I can reduce my bill to $40.00 per month and pay it for six months. Even the IRS understands having to move to support your family!

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    Reviewed Nov. 10, 2003

    I was an AT&T; Wireless customer since 2001, and I had bought a Nokia 8265 phone directly through AT&T; with a 2 year service plan back in October of 2002. Back in June of 2003, I realized that in the few months prior, I was going over my minutes quite a bit because of my new job and I was travelling quite a bit. I then decided to increase my minutes, but stay on my current rate plan, which was the AT&T; Regional Plan. However, I was told that it was impossible to stay on that plan, since it was no longer offered by them, and in order to increase my minutes, I would have to switch to a National Plan. Furthermore, I would be charged roaming for any calls outside of my area, which I wasn't charged for with my previous plan. Anyway, I switched plans so I could get more minutes to use.
    When I opened my latest bill in July, I was shocked to see that I was being charged for many calls that I made as I traveled south to visit family back in April and May - THREE MONTHS prior to changing my rate plan!
    I was furious, so I kept contacting their service department, and I was first told that they put a new policy into effect where "if any customer calls asking to be reimbursed for any problem whatsoever, the representative could not issue a credit." Of course, I never take the first person's word for it, so I called another time, and I was told the same thing! Then, I asked to speak to a so-called "supervisor" and she told me that I could opt-out of my current contract for free, or I could pay the charges for the calls (which added up to around $100).

    She even had the nerve to tell me that it would be cheaper for AT&T; to lose me as a customer, than to keep me on my current rate plan, because they were using everyone else's towers to provide my roaming service. I was outraged! Unfortunately, nothing was ever able to be resolved, and I paid AT&T; in great disgust and cancelled my service with them. I will never use anything even remotely related to AT&T; EVER AGAIN. I now have Cingular, and the service couldn't be better.

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    Reviewed Nov. 3, 2003

    Our contact with AT&T; wireless ran out in August and we had given them a $400.00 deposit to start the account. There were consistent flaws in our billing, and finally 2 months before our contract ran out, we stopped paying our bill, knowing we had a $400 credit at this point (realize this was just a bad idea from the beginning, but it was very frustrating).
    Since we did not pay our bill, we found, too late, that even though our contract was up we could not terminate our service with them without paying them what we owed, which was $350. Then they would terminate our service, and send us our $400 in two months. Initially they told me if we did not pay our balance due, our account would be turned over to collections. When I replied saying that seemed illegal since they already had more than what we owed them, he turned me over to a very unpleasant supervisor. He informed me that as of now our account is still active, since there is still a balance due. He said that because of "AT&T;'s dedication to customer service", they do not pay employees to do things like terminate accounts, so the computer will terminate our account at some point, but he has no idea, and no way of finding out when that will be.

    Until our account is terminated, we cannot get our refund and be finished with this, and we receive paltry late fees that the computer sends out monthly. He told me he had no idea when the computer would terminate our account, and if it waited long enough that the late fees caused our balance due to exceed out deposit, our account would then be sent to collections. It is infuriating, and I absolutely refuse to send them $350 for them to have and earn interest on for two months, and it's also difficult for me to believe that they have no way of terminating our account, and sending us our remaining balance.

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    Reviewed Oct. 28, 2003

    I purchased a two-year contract from AT&T; Wireless which expires in August of 2004. From the beginning I had problems but they have escalated to the point my phone is out of service more than in. My phone barely works within a 10 mile radius of my home. I have spoken to AT&T; four times over the issue, and their response is I can terminate my plan and pay the $175.00 fee. They are so quick to point this out that I wonder if they count on this to increase revenues and make Wall Street happy.
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    Reviewed Oct. 18, 2003

    I have been a customer of AT&T; for years and since 2001 as a AT&T; Wireless Customer. I first got my service when I lived in Oregon. Service was fine and when I moved to Riverside, CA it was ok as long as I lived right next door to their tower. I have since moved. As soon as I moved I called the customer service dept. to report that I was receiving no service at all! They changed my plan and said that this would help. When I called them back a couple of months later I told them I still did not receive any service. They told me it was because my phone was outdated and that I needed a new phone to pick up their special digital service. Everytime I spoke with them I told them I did not want a new contract and they said that was ok.

    When I got the new phone and the 100.00 charge for the phone it did not work any better maybe even worse. I then moved closer to their tower and still received no coverage. When I called I spoke with a service rep and refunded my total charge for the phone as he said they should have never sold me another phone. They should have cancelled my service. So he cancelled my phone and I paid my last bill then they sent a bill for 175.00 early disconnect. I called them and told them that I was not going to pay for an early disconnect because I had my phone for over two years. They said that when we spoke in April of this year my contract renewed. I did not renew my contract. I have called several times and I always am put onhold for 45 min. to an hour they send you to the complait resolution dept. and these folks basically tell you tough, you can not talk to a supervisor.

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    Reviewed Oct. 14, 2003

    I started with the AT&T; Wireless Free To Go phone, which is a prepaid wireless. The rates were so high (85 cents a minute at times) that I decided to choose the Go Phone. What a mistake. I ordered the Go Phone for 69.99 with my visa check card.

    When I got the phone and called to get set up, I was told "Go Phones are not available in your area." I asked them why the website did not pick up on my zip or state, then not allow me to order? That would only seem logical. I finally switched my phone to a regular plan, and 3 months later I still don't have my refund. I called, and a lady said nastily, "It will be 3 to 4 billing periods before you see it." Oh, so I'm out the cash in my checking account. All in all, I've been really happy with the coverage I get here in Alaska. It never goes down or says it can't find a signal.

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    Reviewed Oct. 13, 2003

    I purchased a cellular phone from AT&T; wireless. I had been an AT&T; wireless customer for some time. The new phone was a Motorola T-720 that is run on the GSM network. The phone had to be sent in for repairs so I switched back to the digital service while the phone was being repaired. When I got the phone back I reactivated the GSM services. When I activated the phone I found it did not send or receive calls at my home or my workplace. The GSM network has not yet been implemented here. When I bought the phone I lived and worked in a different area that did have services. I called AT&T; and explained my situation to them. The woman I talked to said that my options were that they could terminate my contract with no fees since it was neither sides fault that the phone did not work or I could migrate back to a digital plan.

    I no longer had a digital phone and after spending $300 on the Motorola phone I could not afford another phone. I opted to cancel the contract. I assumed this was done until I received non-payment bills in the mail and notice that my contract and service was terminated. They charged me $175 early termination fees. I called today to discuss this with AT&T; after I paid the entire amount due. They said there is nothing they can do and I have to be charged the early termination fees. It appears that they have no idea who would have mis-informed me that they could terminate my contract without fees.

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    Reviewed Oct. 6, 2003

    I have been with AT&T; wireless since 6/29/2002. At the time I entered the 2 year contract with them, it was with the understanding there would be an early termination fee would apply, but I did not understand that included not receiving service at all. I have failed to receive service within 2 miles of my home since I purchased the phone.
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    Reviewed Oct. 2, 2003

    I subscribed for AT&T; wireless service in April, but since the GSM coverage was horrible I disconnected the service within the first 30 days (April 21st). I had paid a security deposit of $800 and $160 for the equipment. The cell phone was returned to AT&T; and reached them on May 4th. Since then I have been trying to get the deposit and equipment charges refunded but to no avail.

    Each time I call they say that they have raised a request and would take 4-6 weeks but nothing happens. Its been almost 5.5 months and still I haven't received my money back. I have raised a request again for the same but have little hope. Most of the customer service representatives are not concerned with the problem and at times even rude. Seems as if I am asking for a favour and not my own hard-earned money.

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    Reviewed Sept. 25, 2003

    I signed up for a new Verizon long-distance account and was told to contact AT&T to cancel. When calling the company they used the usual selling tactics and convinced me to sign up for a new plan. After thinking about it I decided that it wasn't a good idea and so had the plan blocked by Verizon the same day. On the next, which should be last phone bill from AT&T there is a charge for the phone plan that I signed up for. Knowing that the plan never went into effect I called them to have the charge removed. They refuse to remove the charge because I signed up for it and they have a 30 day prepayment for that plan. I feel that the charge should not be on the account because they never provided me with any services after I switched to Verizon.

    Considering that she did not even have the courtesy to inform AT&T that she had changed her mind we have a hard time seeing how a one-month minimum charge is out of line.

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    Reviewed Aug. 1, 2003

    I was required to pay for security deposit ($200) when I subscribed for AT&T; Wireless service on April 25th 2002. The security deposit was supposed to be refunded back to me after one year of service and within that year I maintain a good payment history. However, the security deposit still has not been refunded back to me since I began to request them 3 months ago. I have been calling and sending emails to them but they still have not refunded my security deposit.

    When I called and emailed AT&T; Wireless Receivable Management (1-800-544-3859) to request the refund of my security deposit, I was told (2 times) they will send me a check within 4 to 6 weeks time, which they didn't send. I was told they will credit it back to my discover card account (2 times) and should be reflect in my credit card account within a week, which they didn't do. I was told they will credit back to my check card on 7/15/03. I check with my bank and AT&T; Wireless lied to me again. Different AT&T; Wireless representatives told me different things. I was denied to speak with their supervisor. Some of them even argue with me as if they were right and I was wrong. I'm tired and getting more and more frustrated of reapeating the same thing over and over again whenever they didn't keep up to their promise.

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    Reviewed July 30, 2003

    I have been a loyal customer with AT&T; Wireless since February of 2000. I have never had any complaints with the customer/phone service until just recently. About 3 weeks ago my Nokia phone which I upgraded to about 18 months ago broke. It was displaying all sorts of weird hyroglyphics, flashing on and off and not picking up a signal a lot of the time I wanted to make a call. I brought my phone down to an AT&T; Wireless store in Danvers, MA. I spoke with who appeared to be the manager on duty and explained my problem. The only explanation he could give was the phone was "old" and was no good anymore, saying I would need to purchase a new one.

    I was aware that my selection in picking out a new phone with my traditional "digital" service was very limited. The store only offered 4 phones that were compatable with digital service, none of which were to my liking. The store offered a wide variety of much better, more equipped phones that were only available by signing up for a new contract with their new GSM service, which even the salesman I dealt with admitted was still under development, resulting in less coverage. Now here's the catch. I have the option of either buying a better phone with inferior service (in comparison to my old service), or I can purchase an inferior phone (in comparison to the phones that were available on this new service) that has the same excellent service and coverage that I had prior to my phone being "old" and no good.

    Reluctantly, I agreed to sign up for the new GSM service to get the phone I wanted (the Motorola T720), after being assured by the salesman that if I was not satisfied in any way, I had a 30-day period to return the phone, hassle-free and go back on my old plan. The salesman said that in a year or two, their GSM service would be just as good or better then their digital coverage plan. What does that do for me? I don't care about 2 years from now, I care about now. If I had a free choice to get the product and service I wanted, this wouldn't matter, but I didn't. I had to sign up for a service I didn't want to sign up for in order to get the phone I wanted without changing carriers.

    And let me talk about this new GSM service for a minute. It's HORRIBLE! I probably got half a dozen to a dozen dropped calls in the 18 months I had my last phone. In the 12 days I've had this new phone I've had more then that. I cant get a signal in my home half the time, and when I'm at work most of the time. Why would AT&T; Wireless offer a service to its customers that is so inadequate compared to its other services, and even more important then its competitors' services. Needless to say I'm bringing this phone back to the exact place I bought it and severing my ties with AT&T; completely, this includes my long-distance home plan. AT&T; has lost a loyal customer and until now avid permoter of their products and services. I don't believe Sprint will have the same crooked business dealings.

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    Reviewed July 28, 2003

    I have been a customer with AT&T; Wireless for over 5 years and I have changed my cellular number 2 or 3 times. Every year I try to cancel, they offer me free minutes, free month, etc. Every time I call to complain about their service, they tell me that they are repairing something, a tower is down, or they have no service in a certain region. But when I update my service, they tell me it is national and they cover or the highlighted areas. Well, I live in NJ and work and travel in the NY State area and that is highlighted on their maps, yet when I travel on the NJ Parkway or Turnpike, I have almost no service. When I travel Upstate NY on 87 North or the NY Thruway, there is no service.

    My wife had a car accident and she was stuck on the Parkway in NJ with no service. I called to inform them of what happened, and they said that they are sorry to hear that, but I am under contract until October 2004. If I want to cancel I must pay $170. They are crazy. The area I am in and the area my wife was in is highlighted yet no service was available. That is cheating the consumer and I want to end my service NOW!

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    Reviewed July 28, 2003

    We purchased a 2-year contract with ATT wireless and 20 months has elapsed send intitiation of the contract. Our phone service had been good up until the month of May. Then we started having alot of disconnections, our phone doesn't ring when it is suppose to, we get RIV20 codes, and also when we are connected the connection is really poor. Now we are even getting no service and roaming at our home [not out of town]. We requested the service dealer to check it out, and nothing was found wrong but we were alerted by ATT customer care in 2 separate locales that our phone is outdated. This is the same phone we had at the start of our contract.
    This problem represents a gross inconvenience since we depend on this service for our home-based business. Last week my daughter was in a car accident and she was unable to contact me, receiving an out-of-service message. This problem was addressed to many ATT representatives all whom try to resolve it by selling me a new phone or replacing my outdated phone if I commit to an additional one year contract with them. I noticed on 4 different occasions in ATT phone marts other customers with the same identical problem and complaints. One cellular phone dealer told me ATT had upgraded their wireless equipment, therefore the older model will not function properly. An ATT representative gave me 3 options; 1] buy a new phone, 2] sign up for one more year service with them 3] pay $300 to terminate the remaining four months of my contract with them.

    I feel this is not fair, I have been timely with my payments and held up my end of the contract and feel they should hold up their end and provide a continuance of the same service I had at the initiation of the contract.

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    Reviewed July 25, 2003

    I was charged for a phone ($149.87) on my April invoice that I did not order, receive nor have. I have called every month from the first bill I received with the charge for this phone on it. Each time I call they tell me this has to be investigated first. It is now the end of July and another call was made to ATT regarding the charge still being on my bill. I was told the same thing. This has to be investigated. Four months I have been getting the same response. I was on hold this time for 38 minutes just trying to get someone to talk to.

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    Reviewed July 24, 2003

    Approximately 3 months ago I purchased 2 cell phones, which included a 1-yr. (parts & labor) from the OEM, from a local AT&T; Wireless Store here in San Diego along with signing a 1-yr. wireless service contract on a family plan for myself and my son.
    On 07-20-03 my Motorola model 720G cell-phone that I purchased less than 3 months ago from the AT&T; Wireless store developed a software glitch on its main menu screen. Simply put, it died. When I contacted AT&T; on 07-21, 22, 23 and again today the 24th they said there would be a $49.95 shipping and handling fee to forward my "in warranty" defective cell-phone to Motorola for repair with approximately a 2 to 3 week turn-around and/or I myself could forward the unit to Motorola for repair and spare the $49.95 shipping & handling charge with AT&T.; When I inquired about a loaner cell-phone, while mine was in for repair, AT&T; said they do not provide any rental or loaner cell-phones. I could purchase a new phone from them in the meantime while my phone is awaiting repair.

    I contacted other (competition) cell-phone sales/service providers and they said if I had purchased and signed with one of them and that my cell-phone is still under the OEM warranty to bring it into one of their stores and it would be exchanged with a new unit from stock. I have learned after numerous calls that AT&T; wireless does not share that same customer service philosophy as their competition. In conclusion I will be without the usage of my cell-phone for the duration of the repair and yet still mandated under the wireless service contract to pay the monthly minimum service charge without the benefit of a cell-phone.

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    Reviewed July 20, 2003

    I have had my wireless phone for exactly 40 days. Today I called At&t; customer care number to try and upgrade to a better quality phone. The phone I have know is cutting in and out during my callers conversations. I was told I could only upgrade for the full price of a new phone. I then told Alisa that I would like to cancel my service because I am not happpy with the quality of my current phone model 3560. She told me I would have to pay a $170.00 cancellation fee due to the fact I have had the phone over 30 days. This is only 10 days past the time limit. I am a single parent of two children and feel I am being completely ripped off. If I choose to pay the cancellation fee, I then would have to pay a new company for the price of their plan and phone. I would think that At&t; would be more willing to satisfy their customers who are not happy with the services they are being provided.

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    Reviewed Feb. 4, 2003

    I read with horror the stories about customer's problems with Cingular -- not so much about Cingular -- but at the ignorance of the consumers.

    I avoided getting a cell phone until I found the offers irresistible. But after having friends receiving $1,200 bills I made sure I understood the fine print. The best plans are for local service only. This means if you use them out of the area (or purchase a plan in an area with poor coverage) you will incur roaming charges at around 70 cents per minute! (Ouch!)

    I wouldn't even consider using my phone outside my plan's calling area and can use a phone card if I travel.

    I also bought my phone at a national chain that I knew I would honor an exchange or upgrade without the hassle one might find from an independent agent.

    Armed with all offers available from the different companies, the knowledge of coverage in my area by each company, the technology and price of the phones offered -- I was able to get Cingular to give me their best plan (1000 anytime rollover minutes; no roaming in plan area; long distance included; detailed billing; and all bells & whistles like voicemail, ID, etc. -- all for $40/month!)

    Cingular matched a competitor's offer of waived activation fee of $36 for new service. At Best Buy (yes I know), I was able to get an amazing phone with the latest technology (and special edition face plates) for free (after rebate)!

    I had a few things to tweak with Customer Service in the first month, but I have been genuinely happy with Cingular.

    The other thing I'm aware of is that many of the companies have "districts" for customer service. I talked to other wireless customers (in my area only) to ask them about coverage, billing problems and general advice -- which helped me a lot in making a decision. Some companies are stronger in certain markets over others.

    I know that if I live in an area that has no/poor coverage or is oversubscribed, I would either wait until circumstances improve -- or at the very least find a plan that has no "roaming" or a 30-day trial period without any penalties or fees. You will also pay more for less "anytime" minutes in these areas because of the no roaming fees.

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    Reviewed Feb. 1, 2003

    I upgraded my cell phone on September 15, 2002. It promised a $50 rebate which was to be processed within 6-8 weeks. After six weeks, we got a letter stating that the rebate was processed incorrectly. I called them and they said that the letter was sent in error and that it would be processed.

    I have repeatedly called this company and I have written two letters to the president of the company. I have also filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General. This was referred to the Bureau of Consumer Protection in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Over the months, a customer rep has called and told me that there will be a check at the end of the month.

    I just received a letter from Young America stating that I was not a customer. I called and they said to ignore the letter and that I would receive a check in 20 days. Why do they keep promising the check and promote customer dissatisfaction? I have been waiting four months for this rebate?

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    Reviewed Jan. 28, 2003

    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 furious 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.

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    Reviewed Jan. 17, 2003

    We cancelled the service with Cingular last month, and we have the contracts that show that on all 10 of the phones their contract have expired. We faxed all the contracts to Cingular but they claim that someone from Hospice made a verbal agreement for such 10 phones, however the person that they mentioned was not authorized at all to make any contracts in behalf of the Hospice and never communicate that to the Hospice. They are trying to make us pay more that $2000 of cancellation fees.

    We are a non-profit organization with a very tight budget, we cannot afford to pay $2000 cancellation fee, considering that we have the written contract that support our position.

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    Reviewed Jan. 16, 2003

    Cingular Wireless has a $2057.00 charge on my credit reports that is not mine. This charge has caused me not to get a good interest rate on my home loan.

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    Reviewed Jan. 14, 2003

    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.

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    Reviewed Jan. 13, 2003

    I signed up for cell phone service with Cingular on May 31, 2001 and then cancelled my service contract on June 2nd because of bad reception. I then signed up with AT&T; on June 3rd. Last week I happened to purchase an online credit report, and I have a charge from Cingular for $1,600 that has gone to a collections agency.

    Now I'm desperately trying to prove that I cancelled my contract with them so I can get this thing taken off my credit. I have receipts for the initial charge and refund for the phone from Cellular Warehouse but I phoned in to cancel my contract. My credit has been damaged and I'm wondering if I can sue them.

    Tamra had better read that contract carefully.

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    Reviewed Jan. 10, 2003

    I purchased two cellphones and Cingular service on a two-year contract. I had just lost my job and needed a cell to be contacted by potential employers. Since I was operating out of my home I noticed the signal was weak to non-existent at my home for the first few weeks. I published the cell number on all the 160 resumes I sent out. I called the place where I bought it and they said the problem would be fixed within a few weeks. It was not. For several consecutive months I called Cingular directly. Each time I was assured a repair ticket would be written and fix the problem. I am also finding there are more places I can't get a signal then places I can, as I travel. I am also hearing from many sources that this is a common problem with Cingular.

    I have to leave home daily and find a spot to get messages. I can't change service because of the publishing of the numbers, on the resumes, since a new service will have a different number. I have two very expensive paperweights.

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    Reviewed Jan. 4, 2003

    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 jeopardized 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.

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    Reviewed Nov. 6, 2002

    When I first signed on with Cingular Wireless they were actually Pac Bell Wireless. After one year and eleven months. I decided to change providers, because their service is just terrible to say the least. I was under the impression that my contract had expired after one year, so I thought there would be no problem with cancelling the contract. Then about two weeks later I received a bill which I assumed was a closing bill for my last month,however much to my surprise I was charged an additional $150.00 because they said I terminated too early. They also said that when I had my phone number changed because they had given me a number that was not a local number and I kept getting long distance charges. So they changed my number to a local number. Then they became Cingular Wireless.

    So when I cancelled they told me that because I had changed my number that it renewed my contract for two more years. I would have never signed a two year contract. When I did sign the contract it was with Pac Bell not Cingular. I feel I was seriously mislead. After I received this bill I have sent them four letters requesting that they send me a copy of the two year contract that I signed and that I would pay the bill even though I disputed it. To this day they have never acknowledge my request, and I refuse to pay the bill.

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    Reviewed Oct. 17, 2002

    I had a Cingular Wireless account for two and half years on a one year contract. When I called to cancel my account because I was moving from San Francisco to New York, the customer service agent told me I was still under contract and I would be charged a $150 termination fee. I spent several unsuccessful months trying to get the problem resolved. They would agree with me that I originally had a 1-year contract, but their position was that I signed up for a 2-year contract when I got an upgraded phone. I thought this will be easy to resolve, because I had never upgraded my phone - I was still using the one I originally got with the plan. No dice.

    When I requested proof of a new contract or upgraded phone they would say things like "it's your responsibility to keep any contract you sign. We don't keep contracts." Eventually they shifted their position away from the upgraded phone story to one where I spontaneously called up and asked over the phone for a new two-year contract. The most frustrating aspect is the Cingular black-hole - any letter that I would write would not be responded to. When I would call they would act like I had never called before, and would end the call with something like "I'm going to send this to our resolution department. They'll contact you within two weeks."

    Obviously, I would never hear from them again, and the whole Kafkaesque routine would start again the next time I would call. I eventually just let them send it to the collection department. I had a similar thing happen with Household Credit a few years ago and it took me eight months to get it resolved. It was not worth it. I spent a huge number of hours getting them to correct their mistake. I just don't have the time anymore.Extreme stress and frustration. I'm a student and I could pay the $150, but I can't just throw money around for no reason. I also feel they win if our system allows them to skim money from people by blackmailing people using a threat of a negative credit rating.

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    Reviewed Oct. 12, 2002

    After about 9 months of unemployment following the Dot.Com meltdown, we fell a couple of months late in payment on our cell phones. That is not a difficult thing to do, since even Cingular can't explain our charges to us. When I managed to find another job and started trying to catch up on our bills, my wife insisted that her cell phone had to be high on the list because of the need to be reached when something came up about one of the kids. Accordingly, we cut corners elsewhere, paid her up to date and got the phone turned back on.

    Three days later Cingular shut it off again without warning, during the weekend when our ten year old son was away and was instructed to call mom's cell phone in order to be picked up. The reason - because I had not yet paid my separate cell phone account up to date. Using the same logic they I have no doubt that Cingular would have shut off our electricity, gas, water, and regular phone service if it had been in a position to do so. Since they're not regulated, I'm surprised they haven't thought of it yet.

    We managed to discover the problem and take the steps necessary to get our boy home. The consequences on the measly $103 in arrears to Cingular are difficult to measure, and the $55 per month additional expense of having my cell phone active again is not going to break my back. But my plan was to minimize unnecessary spending until all our other bills were caught up to date, rather than risk losing the house, getting cars repossessed, having utilities shut off, driving without insurance, or telling the kids to gorge themselves at school because we couldn't afford to feed them at home. Cingular's policies put my family at risk. I take some satisfaction in that Cingular has had to reduce its own workforce by 60% in the past year and a half, and hope that they have to reduce it by another 60% in the coming year and a half, starting with the executive offices. I will do my part by switching to another cellular carrier at my earliest convenience.

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    Reviewed Sept. 25, 2002

    The local service doesn't work. You pay for phone service but the phone is always saying NO SERVICE or WAITING FOR SERVICE. I have gone to the local shop twice in the last two weeks,but the help smells like they just walked out of a bar, not to mention I started asking around and found out that these people are known to retaliate. I can't imagine Cingular would allow this behavior, but they do! Needless to say in a small town you have to watch for these types of people. So now I'm stuck with 2 phones that don't work and Cingular could care less as long as they get their money each month. I'm really up a creek. For obvious reasons I can't let these people know just how upset I am because I don't care to have them causing trouble for me. I don't know what happened but this store isn't what it was just a few weeks ago.

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    Reviewed Sept. 12, 2002

    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.

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    Reviewed April 15, 2002

    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.

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    Reviewed April 2, 2002

    Cingular is the most irritating company I have done business with to date. They are constantly turning my phone off and charging my account $20 to reinstate my service even when payment arrangements have been made. They're constantly accusing me of being a liar, and stating that nothing has been entered into their computer. Not only that, but our monthly billing is constantly over the contract amount. They are currently charging us $142 a month for three phones!

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    Reviewed Jan. 15, 2002

    This isn't actually a complaint, but I am tempted to purchase a cell phone at www.usfreecellphone.com. The deal on the site seems wicked good.

    AT&T rebates are of dubious value. We recommend against buying any AT&T service that gives the company the unilateral power to decide whether or not it will honor its commitment.

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    Reviewed Dec. 23, 2001

    I am supposed to be able to get out anywhere in the US but In a small town like Big Spring Texas I cannot get out on my service, while everyone else I talked to can. What is up with this?

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    Reviewed July 23, 2001

    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 deceptive 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!

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    Reviewed June 14, 2001

    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 consumer 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.

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    Reviewed June 4, 2001

    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 traveled. 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 discrepancy with the phone. We have had the service for two months and have had nothing but problems from PacBell.

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    Reviewed April 2, 2001

    Here's my nightmare: In the beginning of March, my 80-year-old father got his phone bill from Sprint. He only uses Sprint, for local and long distance. His bill, for approximately three years, has been $8 or so a month. He hasn't ever had a problem until AT&T entered his life.

    AT&T added a page of long distance charges to my fathers Sprint bill totaling $170.27. My father mailed the bill to me because he got so upset he thought he would have a stroke over it. I told him Id call and take care of it. After three weeks, seven Customer Service Reps, two Supervisors, seven solid hours, and a dozen excuses, I'm no closer to resolving this.

    I will try to give you a concise version of events: 3/13/01 7:30pm Called AT&T at 1800-222-0300. Spoke to Tony. Told him these calls were not my fathers and he transferred me to Ms Brown. Ms Brown told me I had to order a wire check with Sprint or call 1800-222-3000 to order a wire check from AT&T. She wasn't sure though, if the customer would have to pay for that.

    I called Sprint and spoke to Jennifer in the Repair Dept. She told me that Ms Brown was incorrect. I should call during business hours and get Customer Service to order a CMI to investigate the charges.

    • 3/14/01 3:35pm Called Sprint at 1800-339-1811 and told them the story (for the fourth time). They transferred me to an AT&T dept. Back to them, I was told that both the wire check and CMI excuses were not correct. They said I should call AT&T Customer Service again.
    • 3:50pm Spoke to Monique at AT&T Customer Service. She told me shed have to call me back because their computers are being updated. She promised it would only be 45 minutes.
    • 5:00pm Called and demanded to speak to a Supervisor. Was given to Craig Gentry. He surmised that the problem could be with the recent change in area codes. He suggested I call Bell South in Florida at 1-904-780-2355.

    I explained that Ive wasted enough time trying to get AT&T to fix their own error. I shouldn't have to make all these calls to different companies and investigate where AT&T made the mistake. He agreed and had a conference call with BellSouth in Florida. Well, BellSouth wouldn't even talk to me because they told Craig that it is an AT&T snafu. AT&T tried numerous times to push their mistake onto every other phone company. I refused to let Craig off the line now. He transferred me to Kevin Morgan, supposedly a Supervisor in Hollywood CA. We went over everything for an hour and a half. He thought that when the area codes were changed in Florida, my fathers was the same number as a Sprint Wireless phone. My father was being charged for those cell phone charges belonging to a different customer.

    He said Id have to now call Sprint Wireless.

    • 3/15/01 3:50pm Called 1800-339-1811 and spoke to Patricia. She transferred me to the Business Office. I spoke to Coritha there. She suggested changing my fathers phone number altogether since AT&T cant seem to fix this. My father would have to call though, to authorize this. In the meantime, shell get AT&T to take off the charges.
    • 4:30pm Kevin at AT&T said the charges of $170.27 will be removed. He gave me Confirmation #NC******. It will be about a week before Sprint gets the order and takes off charges. Also, he will note the problem on the computer so that my father will no longer get these erroneous charges. I thanked him profusely and thought all was well.
    • 3/18/01 AT&T sends my father a letter (dated Sunday, the 18th) stating that they have reviewed the charges and they are correct as is! The name on this letter is incorrect and the phone number they are referencing is also incorrect:
    • 3/29/01 My father receives a letter from Sprint stating that they will be turning off his phone service if they do not receive the past due balance by 4/8/01. In a panic, he calls me.
    • 7:30pm Chris with Customer Service says I should call 1800-222-0300. Ive explained that MAYBE AT&T has the information mixed up. MAYBE these charges belong to the area code they have on my fathers letter? I did AT&Ts; job so that this might finally be resolved. I, myself, called that phone number on their letter and, SURE ENOUGH, the gentleman there said he uses his phone for business calls.
    • 7:40pm Spoke to Pauline Chadwick at AT&Ts; Long Distance Billing for Business Dept. She gave me Confirmation #NB*****. She said there's no promise that they will take off charges though. She said shed call me back in a few days, after she gets an answer from someone else.

    I asked her for her direct line or extension since Ive gone through this over a dozen times now. Not to hold her accountable (God forbid!), but just to allow me to reach someone who knows the story so I don't have to repeat whole complicated mess again. She told me, No, you cant get me again. Just dial the 800 number. I then asked for a supervisor and she refused, saying, No, there's no one else you can talk to here.

    As of this date, I don't know what to do or who to turn to. I feel that AT&T has no interest in taking care of this. If I cant investigate and tell them whom to charge, they will not bother. I tried everything. I cant spend any more time or aggravation on this. Also, I made the long distance call to the number on my fathers letter. Ill have to pay for that; I don't understand why AT&T didn't call it and find out for themselves. They do not cooperate at all though. I feel this is a form of extortion. They can tack any amount or any calls on someones bill, then refuse to look into it and correct their own error. What is a consumer to do now? I feel they expect me to pay the $170.27 just to be sure my fathers phone isnt shut off. After all, he IS elderly and in poor health. I find it hard to believe that they can do this to people.

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    Reviewed Feb. 8, 2001

    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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    Reviewed Nov. 27, 2000

    I recently bought a new AT&T; "Free 2 Go" prepaid wireless phone which was being promoted at my local 7-11 convenience store. The purchase has been nothing less than a disaster! To begin with, the advertising was deceptive. They had large posters all over the store with big numbers advertising the price of the phone to be $69.00, which includes a free card for $25.00 worth of service. It turns out that the $69.00 price is BEFORE a mail-in $30.00 rebate. A fact which is stated in small print on the ads, and is clearly designed to be misleading.

    So I paid $100 for the $69 phone. And decided to buy $100 worth of air-time while I was at it. Then I discovered my mistake! After activating the phone, and signing up for the National calling plan, I discovered that my air-time was being billed at $0.65 per minute! Way more than I ever would have imagined! In addition to that, when roaming out of my home area, my phone is nearly useless! In one area, I could not place outgoing calls, because no matter what number I dialed, I would recieve a message stating, "You must first dial a 1 (one) when calling this number". This happened no matter what I dialed. I tried dialing the number with a 1, and the area code, but still got the same message. I tried it with just a 1. I tried everything! I couldn't dial an operator, or "Customer Care" because no matter what I dialed, I got the same message.
    When I called "Customer Care" on a land-line phone, I spent over 3 1/2 hours holding, being forwarded, discontected, and ignored. On representative forwarded me to another cell-phone company who doesn't even provide service in the area that I was in. They were astonished to receive my call, and that AT&T; wouldn't help me with my problem. Their customer service was great, but they were ultimately unable to help me, because I wasn't actually in their coverage area, or on their network.

    Another AT&T; rep. kept forwarding me back to the menu system that connected me to her, where I would have to enter my phone number, and personal information all over again, go through numerous prompts, and menus, only to be reconected back to the same person, repeatedly! I never did get my problem solved, and my phone is still totally useless when roaming. I have spent a total of 6 hours playing phone-tag with AT&T; trying to get it fixed, but to no avail. I have found AT&T;'s customer support to positively horrible, and their product is totally sub-standard!

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    Reviewed May 1, 2000

    I received my phone bill from Alltel. In it was a bill from AT&T for $297.40 for two phone calls to someplace called Chad. I called AT&T and talked to a guy name Vinny. He said the calls were made from my computer and I'd have to pay the bill.

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    Reviewed March 20, 2000

    I got a mailed solicitation for cell phones. We had been thinking of getting some anyway so I called. I talked to several different people there, not wanting to rush in to anything. Their trained professionals helped me select a plan for me from the places I would be calling. I agreed to it and they mailed the phones.

    I went to the mall and talked to other AT&T people and was told I couldn't call the places they said for free. Only one small area. Also to cancel the contract would cost $200 per phone after 30 days instead of $10 per phone per month of the 12 month contract. I was suppose to have 500 more minutes and a big calling area.

    I would not have ordered these phones if I had been given the correct information. Now I just want my money back but instead of just taking the phones back to where they came from, I must wait for a certain mailing label from the company and they estimate the time for my refund of $207 at about 30 days. I was misled and even though they had me pay for Fed Ex, they are only paying for regular mail and holding my money up. I wanted to go in person to make sure they don't say there was damage etc. I end up paying about $30 for four days of cell phone use.

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    Reviewed March 18, 2000

    I have 2 phone lines in my house. When I switched to AT&T I requested to have each line set up on the same calling plan (7 cents/min and 25 cents calling plan). They agreed. Several months later after using the calling card while traveling on company business, I realized I had been charged 72.5 cents per minute for each calling card call made.

    I called AT&T to complain and expected to have them gladly remove the excess charges. After a personality conflict with one supervisor "Monica", no one else was permitted to override her decision to help me. I e-mailed the company only to receive another "I'm sorry" response. I am willing to fight the big boys if that's what it takes to prevent excessive consumer charges and the lack of record keeping these companies have in these situations.

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    Reviewed March 8, 2000

    Billed for a bogus call from my phone on billing cycle 1/28-2/28 to an international "Chad" number which is an adult entertainment charge. Billed for $197.16. On Feb 7, 2000, I called AT&T and told them this call was not made by me. They were advised I would not be responsible for this call. They could check my previous records and it will show this is not my practice.

    Billing 2/28 to 3/28--my bill was credited for a "MISDIRECTED CALL" for $104.13, they were still asking me to pay $93.03.

    This is a scam. I will not pay. Another letter went out to AT&T. They were also advised I would be contacting Consumer Affairs. There should be some type of law to protect the innocent consumer.

    Unfortunately, AT&T has been refusing to back off these charges to Chad, which are the result of a scam supposedly aimed at adult site visitors.

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    Reviewed Feb. 24, 2000

    My husband and I got our phone bill three weeks ago. The bill was from AT&T for $800. We don't even have AT&T long distance. When we called them they said it was internet related. We called AOL our long distance provider and they said that it was not. They could prove we were not even on the computer when these calls happened.

    AT&T then said they were regular 900 calls, but they would cut the price in half. We refuse to pay anything, we did not do this. Every time we called back AT&T they changed the story. First they say they are internet related calls, then when we tell them we can prove they weren't they change the story. Finally they said it was going to investigations.

    I called back myself and talked to a woman named Ida in the Massachusetts office. She said we were cleared of the charges and a credit would be made to our account, it would take up to two billing cycles to hit our account. She even gave me a confirmation number. I asked her if a lot of people were having trouble with these calls to Chad Africa, and she told me no because AT&T had an account with this company, and other companies like psychic hotlines.

    Just two days ago we get a phone call from Vincent in investigations with AT&T saying they are reinstating the charges. When my husband told him we already had a confirmation number clearing us of the charges, he said that was only a credit while under investigation. Now he says that we do owe the money. He told my husband I misunderstood Ida, and that there was no way that she told me that AT&T even has accounts with companies like these (adult porn).

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    Reviewed Jan. 2, 2000

    AT&T over sold the service in New York. There are too many users, thus the system is often saturated. The effect is that people trying to call me get a busy signal even when I am not using the phone. If I was using the phone, at a minimum the caller should go to either call waiting or to voice mail. The caller gets a busy signal, or a message that says I am unavailable to take calls.

    This is a pure lie to cover-up their poor service. This was ongoing from October 1999 when I got the service until now. I called, wrote a letter, sent various emails and the response I got was incredibly blunt. I was told "the service is not guaranteed to be reliable" and one person even referred me to the terms and conditions of the agreement stating that they were not liable.","This is my only phone.

    I am currently seeking a post-MBA job and have been unemployed since September 1999. In spite of the fact that my family and friends have a difficult if not impossible ability to reach me on my cell phone using a few tricks I told them (hitting redial multiple times), I do not know what prospective employers did.

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    Reviewed Jan. 1, 2000

    From May 17 through 28, 2000, I was involved with a family medical emergency that took me out of my home state of New Hampshire. I needed to stay in touch with family members. The only way to do that was to use my AT&T credit card.

    I very seldom use this card. The last time I recall using it, I was in England and needed to call my daughter's doctor as she has a very serious medical condition which requires constant medical supervision. The card was abruptly canceled after my second call to the US. I was unable to keep in contact with my daughter's doctor because of this.

    Upon our return, I called AT&T. Their reason for canceling was "unusual use." I was furious that AT&T indiscriminately discontinued the use of my card and potentially put my daughter at risk because of it!

    I also had another phone card from my local carrier, Bell Atlantic, which I now use and a card from my employer that I do use somewhat frequently. During my most recent medical emergency this past May, I used my Bell Atlantic phone credit card. I knew there was a surcharge for using a phone credit card and the rates were a little higher, although I had no idea what the rates were. These rates are not published and not easily accessible to the average consumer.

    I get a special rate from AT&T of ten cents per minute 24 hrs a day, 7 days per week. I assumed the card rate would be somewhere in that vicinity. Boy, was I wrong. My phone bill amounted to $444.00 for that one month.

    I was completely dumbfounded and overwhelmed at this charge and immediately called AT&T because I thought it was a mistake. I learned (after the fact), that because I used another phone company credit card I was charged at much higher rates. I argued that if I go into a Sears store and choose not to use their credit card, I would not be charged (penalized) a higher amount for my merchandise.

    I also explained my horrible situation in England when AT&T indiscriminately canceled my card for 'unusual use' and that is why I am very reluctant to use the AT&T card. I protested that rates for credit cards are not advertised and if I had known about the excessively high rate, I would have found another method (perhaps purchasing an AT&T phone card).

    The AT&T representative did offer to credit my bill $100.00, but that would need special approval(I'm not sure if I have that credit yet). I still think the bill is way too high and I asked to speak with a supervisor. The AT&T representative refused to let me speak with a supervisor, stating that is all that could be done.

    I beg of you to intervene on my behalf. My daughter's hospital stay/surguries are over $100,000 and she has another surgery scheduled in July. Because this was of an emergency type medical issue and was done at an "out-of-network provider", the insurance company is not wanting to pay for it. Her medical supplies cost me over $100.00 a week and nursing visits at $90.00 per visit are 2X week.

    My salery is only $34,000.00 gross per year. Because my daughter is 18 (she still lives at home), her father is no longer financially or legally responsible to help with her care. I am financially devastated, plus she wants to go to college in the Fall. I really need help in reducing this phone bill.

    I am angry the pnone companies to not adequately inform customers about a) high rates using a phone creidt card; b) can indiscriminately cancel your card at their discretion for virtually no reason and w/out checking with the customer. My vacation was ruined because I could not stay in touch with my daughter's doctor. I was humiliated in front of my family and friends because I was told my AT&T card was no longer active.

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    Reviewed Jan. 1, 2000

    We were on the AT&T One Rate Plan at $.07/minute at our previous address and telephone number. When we moved to our new house I re-established the same service with AT&T at our new number effective 2/1/00 and confirmed that I would be on the same One Rate Plan at $.07/minute. Well, I received my first bill approximately 1 1/2 weeks ago and I was shocked to see I have been charged REGULAR RATES!

    Upon conversations with a couple of Customer Service Reps., and a message from a Manager, they have no record in their file of my request for the One Rate Plan and will not adjust my account. The last Customer Service Rep. I spoke with, Terry, said she feels that my complaint is extremely legitimate and she agreed with me when I told her I was not planning to pay my bill until I receive an adjustment. She was going to specifically speak to her Manager about my situation and have her Manager call me back. Her Manager left a message that she would try back, but left me no way to contact her directly.

    Last night and again this morning I tried to get some sort of acceptable response through their online customer service, but received the same results. A customer service rep. wrote back that they reviewed the notes in my file and cannot make an adjustment. I specifically requested direct contact information for someone above the Manager level with whom I could discuss my situation. I am awaiting a response.

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    Reviewed Jan. 1, 2000

    While in Florida recently I used my calling card to call home. When the bill came it totaled $131 for 11 calls, some averaging over $3.00 per minute! I called AT&T and got no satisfaction. Their attitude was, "Those are our charges". Come to find out, if you do not have AT&T as your home long distance provider, they charge a fee of $4.95 for connection per call, plus very high per minute charges.

    I called my local phone company, Bell Atlantic, and they said they would remove it from my bill and return it to AT&T. So, now my fight is with AT&T. I have used this same calling card for about 15 years and never have I incurred these outrageous charges. I was NEVER notified by either my local phone company or AT&T that if I did not have AT&T as my home long distance carrier would I be subject to these outrageous charges. Can they do this?

    They should be required to notify the consumer of these rip-off rates. I use Excel Communications as my long distance carrier and have been very happy with them. After talking with them I found that if I had their calling card the charges for those same calls would have amounted to $38.00. Is there anything that can be done with AT&T where they never notified me of these automatic charges and outrageous rates?

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    Reviewed Jan. 1, 2000

    I have had service with AT&T wireless for 14 mos. About 4 mos ago I started receiving billing stating that I was roaming in Fredericksburg VA, (if you go to www.attws.com you will see Fredericksburg is clearly in the Home Rate Area)

    I called to have the situation resolved and was told that Fredericksburg was not covered, and I would have to FAX documentation to them showing them why I thought Fredericksburg should be. (It didn't matter that I have had service for 8 mos or so at that time and my previous bills had calls in that area that were not billed at roaming rates, or the fact that it was on their web site.)

    I talked to 3 alleged supervisors that would resolve the situation, but in fact did nothing. I placed appx 50 calls to customer service trying to resolve the problem. Finally I was able to get AT&T to credit the account for the overcharges, at which time I was told that I would probably get billed incorectly again because Cincinatti Bell did the billing for them. I don't know if the threat of class action lawsuit meant anything, but at least this month I was not billed for roaming in my Home Rate area.

    Unfortunately the poor service did not end there. Starting July 3rd, AT&T voice mail system has been unreliable. I called to complain and was read a prepared statement that "We are working on it" It is now July 27 and they are "still working on it". All I want to do at this point is cancel this service and be done with it. At this point I have spent over 2 hrs trying to accomplish this task. It appears that once they have you, they make it IMPOSSIBLE to get rid of them,

    I have spent at least 20 hrs on the phone trying to resolve these matters. I have been stressed out from dealing with the representatives of AT&T that are totally clueless of the services that they offer. I work for a large Net company and I am on 24 hr call by phone, the phone service has proven to be unreliable (Often the phone would not even ring and with the voice mail problems I would not know that I had been called) all of this causing co-workers to be agitated when they finally reached me through other means.

    Every time the voice mail indicator goes off erroneously I worry that I missed a call and that it was escalated beyond me. I was told today by a representative that regardless of all of the features that they offer, that I should not be basing business on this phone.

    We suggested to Mike that if he really wanted action, he should sue AT&T in Small Claims Court. His response was:

    What it really sounds like is AT&T has you in their back pocket. Obviously you condone overcharging, and incredibly poor customer service. Thanks for the lip service.

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    AT&T Wireless Company Information

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    AT&T Wireless
    Website:
    www.att.com