Cellular phone companies should not be allowed to merge. Because when they do, it just fucks everything up. I’m so sick and god damn tired of dealing with Cingular. It’s utterly frustrating and ridiculous what I am going through right now.

For the longest time I was with Cingular. After 5 or 6 years with them, I decided in Dec. of 2003 to switch to AT&T because I was unhappy with Cingular’s crappy service. I was able to port over my numbers and I was very happy with my AT&T service. But then Cingular and AT&T had to go and merge. Lovely.

Well in Dec. of 2004, I called an AT&T store to see if I can get a new phone. I was told at the time I signed up that I am entitled to a free phone upgrade once a year. Well it had been a year, so I called em up only to have them tell me that I had to go to a Cingular store and switch my account over to Cingular and I would get a new phone.

So a few days before Christmas, I went into a Cingular store. After waiting an hour, A Cingular sales person helped me to switch my phone over. He punched in my number, hit the migrate button and started filling out the information. But before he could get any further, I had to leave. I told him I would come back later and resume the process. He said fine and closed down the window.

So I came back the next day. However this time around, when they punched in my number on their computer, the ‘migrate’ button was now greyed out. I was told this was because the AT&T system which contains my information was down and that I should call back the next day.

So I left and called back the next day. Nope it was still down. So I called back a few days later. Still the same. I waited a week. Still the same. Finally I speak to the person who was originally migrating my account and he said it appears my account is stuck in limbo since my account migration was cancelled in the middle of the process. He said he would call customer service and get it resolved and he would call me back by the end of the day. End of the day arrives and no call. So I call him…and as I expected, he never called customer service. His excuse was that he got busy. So he said to call him the next morning and he should have an answer. I wait until mid afternoon and then I call him. Once again he said he got busy helping customers and he didn’t get a chance to call. I was pissed at this point. I told him “I am your customer. And I have been waiting a lot longer than the people who are standing in your store. So let them wait and help me figure this mess out.” He agrees and he says he will get back to me by the end of the day. End of the day arrives. No call.

So the next day I call the Cingular store and they said my sales rep would not be in that day. So I called the following day. Same thing. I waited until the next day and called. Same thing. So I asked the rep, “He was helping me resolve an issue. Where the hell is he???” Turns out he is on vacation! Gawd daym. I wanted to kill someone. The sales guy senses I am frustrated so he asks if he can assist me. So I fill him in on everything that has been happening. He says “I will resolve this for you. By today. I promise. And I will call you by the end of the day for sure.” Okay…I was finally starting to feel like someone is going to be helpful. So did he call me by the end of the day? NO! So I call him the next day and ask him what is up. I threw it back in his face that he PROMISED me he would call me. He said it’s a tricky situation and that he would not be able to fix it himself. I told him, “You know what…I’m fine with that. Just don’t promise me you can do something when you aren’t sure you can. And at least do me the courtesy of calling me and letting me know you couldn’t do it.” He apologized and refered me to someone else.

So I’m speaking to a supervisor now, who tells me she is aware of my problem and that she will be on my case from here on out. Keep in mind this is late January now, so an entire month has gone by and nothing had been done yet. So I asked her what she is going to do and how soon is it going to happen. She tells me she is going to contact the porting department at Cingular and also the customer service department, and that she would get back to me within a few days. Well I gave her a week and she had not called me back. So I called her back and asked for status. She said she had not gotten the issue resolved, but she has a contact in the tech department at Cingular who can probably fix my account and that she will email him. She tells me that I should probably hear back from her shortly.

Well it did not come as a surprise to me that she never called me back. TWO months had gone by and no call. So finally I decide to try calling Cingular Sales department(rather than the idiots at the Cingular Store). I did not want to deal with the people there anymore. So the rep I get on the phone looks at my account and tells me there is absolutely nothing wrong with my account and that he can port my numbers over to Cingular and send me new phones. What the hell!!! I just went through 4+ months of frustration only to have a Cingular Sales guy tell me that I could have done it over the phone the whole time. So anyways, I tell him what 2 phones I want and that I want the family talk plan. So he places my order. A week or so later, I still haven’t gotten the phones. So I called Cingular back and the rep tells me it hasn’t shipped yet, because they needed confimation of my birthdate. What the hell?!? Why they need me to confirm my birthdate is beyond me, when I gave them confirmation of my SSN, my address, etc. And why they didn’t call me back to ask for it baffles me. So I confirm my birthdate with the Cingular rep and he tells me my order will now be shipped out. I asked him to confirm for me what my order was for. He told me it was for 2 new Motorola phones. So that was that.

I waited a week and then I finally get a package in the mail. Guess what. It has ONE GOD DAMN PHONE in it! What the hell is wrong with Cingular. Sheesh. And it wasn’t even for my line(which is the primary number on our plan). It was for Jane’s line which is the secondary line. So I call Cingular and the rep tells me he sees no record of me ordering new phones. So I hang up and called back again. I got another rep who said he doesn’t see any order for new phones either. So I somehow have a phone in my hand that Cingular doesn’t have a record for. What a bunch of dipshits. So I called back the number back that I called to place the order, and the rep tells me that he shows that I only ordered one phone. I asked him, “Why the hell would I only order one damn phone when I have two phones on my account under the same family plan? If I only got one phone, as soon as I activate it, it ports over one number to Cingular while the other one is still stuck on the AT&T side. It doesn’t make sense!” So he tells me he will place an order for the 2nd phone and have that shipped out via FedEx 2 day. Well that was on May 13. So every day for the next week or so, I’m checking the front door when I get home for any packages from FedEx. So last Wednesday(May 18) I called back and spoke to another Cingular rep. I asked him where my damn phone was. He tells me there is no record of a phone being ordered. I’m ready to kill someone at this point. He tells me he will place the order for me. I tell him no thanks. I hung up and called back a few hours later. This time I speak to this guy who said there is an order for a 2nd phone and that it was shipped just a day ago(May 17). I asked him for a tracking number, but he said he didn’t have one, but that I should get it by Friday…Saturday at the latest. So I wait and wait. Come Monday I still have no phone. So yesterday I called AGAIN and spoke to this guy who once again tells me there has been no order for a phone placed. I let him have it. I told him about all of the BULLSHIT that I have been going through with Cingular. He tells me that he will place an order for that 2nd phone and that he will personally call me by Noon the next day with my tracking number. I told him, “Fine! Just do it and do it right!”

Well he just called me an hour or so ago. He tells me there is a problem with my account. He said he found out that I used to be a Cingular customer and then I ported my phone number to another company, and once that happens, I cannot port it back to Cingular. I told him, “I used to be with Cingular. And yes I ported my number over to AT&T. And then you guys merged with them. Now you are saying I can’t port my number back over to Cingular, which I am being forced to do if I want a new phone?” He said that’s correct. Christ Almighty! He said I could cancel my accounts and set up new accounts with Cingular but I would lose my phone numbers, and that I would probably have to pay an early termination fee since my contract with AT&T goes until Dec. 2005. He then tells me, “If I were you, I would wait it out until Dec. 2005, then cancel your accounts. And then sign up with Cingular.” HAHA! That’s a good one. How about this….I wait it out until December, then port my numbers over to a real cellular company where I won’t have to deal with stupid shit like this. Why the hell would I want to cancel my numbers and move to Cingular at the end of my AT&T contract when I could just keep my numbers and go elsewhere? Do they honestly think I want to stay with Cingular after all this bullshit.

Anyways I told him to send me a shipping label so I can send back the phone they already sent me and that I would wait it out for another 6 months or so, and then leave Cingular/AT&T altogether. Screw them! Dealing with Cingular has been the biggest pain in the ass for me. In my 32+ years, I swear I have never dealt with a company that has frustrated me as much as Cingular has.

:: had nothing better to do at 2:12 pm ::