Jeremy.Deats@gmail.com wrote:
>>From the article....
>
> "Q: What causes churn [unhappy customers]?
>
> A: There's a variety of things. It could be just a better rate plan
> that someone else is offering. It could be that someone else is
> offering a phone that they think is really cool that you don't have. It
> could be customers who felt like they had a billing problem, and they
> decided they wanted to churn off.
>
> A lot of it is network perception as well. Our research has pretty much
> shown us that the quality of the network is probably at the top of the
> list, at least the perception of the quality of the network.
>
> You ask your friends and family, 'Hey, I'm thinking about going from
> Verizon to Cingular, what do you think?' ... If they say network is the
> biggest thing, we want them to think about us...."
>
>
> It seems to me Cingular's biggest failure is customer service. They
> strive to provide a strong network, and here they seem to boast about
> that bring their #1 priority. I believe it's their only priority. They
> don't want to provide support for the devices they sell (and treat like
> their equipment), they don't even have a clue about how to get their
> rate plans correct for data service. They have an array of support
> departments that do not communicate with each other. They have clerks
> in their retail stores who are confused, provide false information and
> are often over ignorant about the companies products and services.
> Which indicates a lack of proper training and poor management from the
> top down.
>
> Cingular wants to do the same thing that all cell providers do, they
> want to "bait and hook" new customers with new phones to get them under
> contract, then as long as their network is strong they feel they are
> doing their job... Screw post-sales customer care, you got a problem
> with one of "their" phones, good luck getting explaination. Sure,
> they've locked the phone on their network, they've gone in and made it
> so you can't load anything they haven't approved.... but forget about
> getting support on a device. Learn to read the manual.... Often even
> Cingular branded product manuals provide misleading or false
> information and customer service doesn't have any information (see
> sections in Cingular 8125 and 2125 User Guides on "how to use the
> device as a modem").
>
> A a user, frustration peaks when you need a specific feature on your
> handset and you have nowhere to turn because it's Cingular branded and
> Cingular is failing to provide any level of support for that device,
> it's in that moment you realize the true beast that is Cingular (and
> the cellular industry in this country in general).
>
> - They hook you into a contract
> - They take your money for service
> - They set you up with a device they are unable to support, even when
> it has their name of it and is their brand.
> - They are confused by their own service plans (speaking of data plans
> specificly) and are unsure which devices qualify for which plans.
>
> In my experience Cingular isn't unlike the rest.... but their customer
> service is by far the worst I have experience with any industry. No
> organization, they just plan suck.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> SMS wrote:
>> "http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/hEHIQU5VIUTQ40/Cingular-Makes-Customer-Service-Push.xhtml"
>
I'm on verizon so I don't want this to sound like I'm not a verizon
hater. Verizon does the same thing with there phones. (Bluetooth) Is
there biggie here. Then there was the time they did a flash upgrade to
my phone but did not inform me that the flash also took away my mp3
playback. And another is a town approx 15 miles away has no coverage,
*611 tells me to go back where the no service is and update my phone.
Hello, How can I update my phone when there is no service ?

There C/S sucks. Yeah, there quick to help, but when they find out there
not helping they tell you things like take the phone in to have it
serviced. Case in point. Told to take it in and get the fw upgraded.
Tech says to come back in about an hour. come back. Nothing done. Why ?
The unlock code was changed and he did not know how to bypass it. The
lady behind the counter said he did not need the code. She then showed
me how to get by it. And she was not a tech.

My last problem was how I got charged for 4 calls to 411 and at the same
time a call was placed to 411 there was a overlap of another call being
placed. That took me about a week to get correct.

10/22/06 is my renew date. Can't wait to say cya after 12 yrs.
The one that was the kicker was asking them when I was due for my
contract. She gave me the date, I was told if I got out early it was
going to be 175.00 But at 45.00 with tax X 3 months left = 135.00 she
said I could not pay the 135.00 to get out early. Figure that one out.

For the past month and until this expires I just make calls to my home
ph and use 995 mins out of my 1000 min plan during am peak mins just to
use up my mins.