|
Home >
Cell Phone News >
Cingular / AT&T Receive Most Complaints In 2004 Says FCC |
 |
|
Cingular / AT&T Receive Most Complaints In 2004 Says FCC
|
|
Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:32 pm
Compiling FCC data in 2004, a Consumers Union report cited 29,478 wireless complaints received by the FCC, up nearly 38% from 2003. Billing problems were the most common, followed by number portability complaints, service quality, and contracts and marketing.
On the top of the list was the recently merged Cingular / AT&T Wireless with the most, at 289 complaints per 1 million customers. While receiving the fewest complaints was Verizon Wireless, at 76 per million. However, U.S. Cellular had the lowest number at 39 complaints per million.
The smaller regional carriers, such as ALLTEL and U.S. Cellular, had some of the lowest rates. But Cellular One was the second-worst rate for total complaints. ALLTEL announced plans to buy Cellular One.
"The staggering increase in complaints is further evidence that reform is needed in the wireless phone market so consumers can get a fair shake," said Consumers Union analyst Janee Briesemeister.
The results were based on 2004 surveys from subscribers of ConsumerReports.org. Accepting complaints, the FCC does not routinely publicize them by carrier. The Consumers Union filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain them.
Most Complaints On Billing:
1. Cingular / AT&T Wireless
2. Cellular One
3. T-Mobile
4. Sprint PCS
5. ALLTEL
6. Verizon Wireless
7. Nextel
8. U.S. Cellular
Most Complaints On Service:
1. Cingular / AT&T Wireless
2. T-Mobile
3. Nextel
4. Sprint PCS
5. ALLTEL
6. Cellular One
7. Verizon Wireless
8. U.S. Cellular
Most Complaints Overall:
1. Cingular / AT&T Wireless
2. Cellular One
3. T-Mobile
4. Sprint PCS
5. Nextel
6. ALLTEL
7. Verizon Wireless
8. U.S. Cellular
 News Feed |
Add to: Bloglines |
MyYahoo! |
Google |
Facebook |
Post a comment and discuss this story with other readers.
| 1. Posted by mr_incredible |
Wed Mar 30, 2005 8:49 pm |
Cingular and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. had the worst combined record for 2004, said CU, noting that AT&T Wireless had the worst complaint record two years running. Cingular acquired AT&T Wireless late last year.
"Cingular Wireless has a strong record of customer service. In fact, we recently introduced a number of significant initiatives to improve the customer experience," said Rochelle Cohen, a Cingular spokeswoman. "The combined companies ended the year with 49.1 million customers. While we take each complaint very seriously and are always striving for improvement, the number of complaints represents an infinitesimally small portion of our customer base."
CU said a major factor in the number of complaints about AT&T Wireless was the carrier's much-publicized difficulties in implementing wireless local number portability during 2004.
The FCC said it could not confirm the CU data because it cannot share somebody else's Freedom of Information Act request. CU said it had received the complaint information through a FOIA request.
|
 |
| 2. Posted by elmo01 |
Thu Mar 31, 2005 8:54 am |
I love statistics... you can massage them to read anything you want... they (att / cingular) have more complaints because they have almost twice as many customers as their nearest competitor....
look in said report and see if there is a per capita comparison.... not likely....
jsut speaking as the person who answers the phone for them
|
|
| 3. Posted by HiTekJeff |
Sat Apr 02, 2005 6:58 pm |
I love statistics... you can massage them to read anything you want... they (att / cingular) have more complaints because they have almost twice as many customers as their nearest competitor....
look in said report and see if there is a per capita comparison.... not likely....
jsut speaking as the person who answers the phone for them
I would agree with you there. Also, it's very important to note that not all people have choices. We live in rural area in Illinois, USA and we don't even have a major carrier. The one we do have is GSM based and they have contract agreements with Cingular/AT&T for free roaming, anytime minutes, etc. So, it would be nice to have choices for the best service, but many times options can be limited.
|
|
| 4. Posted by JSS |
Mon Apr 04, 2005 10:52 pm |
I love statistics... you can massage them to read anything you want... they (att / cingular) have more complaints because they have almost twice as many customers as their nearest competitor....
*cough* Cingular 49 million *cough* Verizon 44.5 million *cough*
not really the twice as many customers you said. percentage-wise that approximates to 10 percent-ish..i might add that Cingular wasn't the largest until mid-last year. Verizon was then the largest, still had industry low churn and still has publicly reported record adds in new customers....
care to guess why...read the original post.
|
|
| 5. Posted by TexasCSR |
Sat Apr 09, 2005 4:07 am |
I love statistics... you can massage them to read anything you want... they (att / cingular) have more complaints because they have almost twice as many customers as their nearest competitor....
*cough* Cingular 49 million *cough* Verizon 44.5 million *cough*
*cough* 50 million by the beginning of March. With the addition of SunCom, expect the numbers to rise.
Cingular aquired ATT midway through the 4th quarter. With 46.3 million customers combined we added nearly 3.5 million customers by the end of the 4th quarter. That's after the merger.
How many wireless companies can get 3 million customers in just about 2 months?
|
|
| 6. Posted by Samsung |
Sat Apr 09, 2005 5:37 am |
Doesnt matter how many customers any of the companies have, if you read what Allen posted it says PER MILLION. Hypothetically speaking if Cingular had 1 million customers and Verizon had 1 million customers then cingular still has almost 4 times more complaints then Verizon.
|
|
| 7. Posted by TexasCSR |
Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:24 am |
Doesnt matter how many customers any of the companies have, if you read what Allen posted it says PER MILLION. Hypothetically speaking if Cingular had 1 million customers and Verizon had 1 million customers then cingular still has almost 4 times more complaints then Verizon.
That I agree with. It's per million...I was commenting on the amount of customers we had.
I have nothing to do with statistics and any person doing the surveying can put whatever they want. I don't care if Cingular had 500,000 per 1 million complaining....if your service is fine, why should it affect you what some stats say?
|
|
| 8. Posted by JSS |
Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:49 am |
I love statistics... you can massage them to read anything you want... they (att / cingular) have more complaints because they have almost twice as many customers as their nearest competitor....
*cough* Cingular 49 million *cough* Verizon 44.5 million *cough*
*cough* 50 million by the beginning of March. With the addition of SunCom, expect the numbers to rise.
Cingular aquired ATT midway through the 4th quarter. With 46.3 million customers combined we added nearly 3.5 million customers by the end of the 4th quarter. That's after the merger.
How many wireless companies can get 3 million customers in just about 2 months?
first, i need for you to understand why i did the 'cough' thing. you had said that cingular had twice as many subs. my point was that was substantially not true and thus did not make your ''i love statistics/massage' position quite as valid. also, as xXxsamsungxXx had said, the complaints were per million so they were proportional. in the end, debating the complaint reate becomes moot becuase the numbers don't support this.
as to the cingular net adds, i need to explore the numbers. in a google search, i did find a number of sources that stated the total sub base after merger was 46.7 million. i don't know if this is correct but is a 400,000 sub difference. also, you had said that cingular added 3.5 mil subs in 2 months. actually, the 50 mil results are cingular's 2005 1Q results and comprise 5 months of net adds (if you are to take, as you did, the total number of subs added after the merger). the net add for verizon wireless in 2004 were 6.3 million. therefor comparably as the time cingular as added 3 million customers is almost 2 quarters, to answer your question of who else can do this, the answer is verizon. as verizon added nearly 3 million customers during similar time frames (source: http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA503580?spacedesc=Departments&stt=001 ). the results afterthe end of 4Q 2004, cingular added 1.7 million subs and verizon added 1.6 millions subs. almost a dead heat in subscribers.
it needs to be mentioned that while, yes, cingular is certainly adding subscribers, they also have churn rates at 2.3% (versus the verizon 1.4 industry low..i beleive tied with nextel) and with a higher per sub acquisition cost, profits will be way down and the network upgrades needed for the rather old AT&T network will not be too speedy and with the virtual dead heat in subscriber add as mentioned above, verizon stands to be a far better revenue generating machine and therfor more capable of net growth and upgrade (such as the new broadband access available in 28 markets).
while subscribers are a good thing, so is having the revenue to do business. it is about finacial position. why didn't verizon even lift so much as a pinky when the merger was mentioned.....cashflow and the seemingly low amount cingular could possibly have due to the merger.
|
|
| 9. Posted by TexasCSR |
Sat Apr 09, 2005 2:07 pm |
Ok.
It didn't matter to me the status of the merger or if the merger were to even matter. So maybe my numbers were wrong...who cares? I really don't care much for statistics as stated in my first original reply.
Yes I work for Cingular (by way of initially getting a job with AT&T Wireless and having my entire call center converted) Was I happy with it? No. Will I deal with it? Yes. Will I answer general questions on this board because it's not something I have to do but more or less a courtesy? Why not.
I am not getting paid to give advice. I do not wish to participate in debates over finances for companies in which I have no investment in.
My point in this reply, feel free to research numbers and compare companies on your own. If you have a general question about service....ask me. If not, it's cool.
(after a little research my numbers were wrong. The 50 million mark was reached before the Q1 earnings were released though.)
|
|
| 10. Posted by JSS |
Sat Apr 09, 2005 2:54 pm |
fair enough. i would say that this wouldn't been the thread to be in to avoid the debate. i fully understand your position of just helping out once in a while, that's very cool. if you know a little bit of somethng that others could use, a good thing to do and your good for doing it when you do.
i don't mean this in a bad way but...well, posting in this thread had you were kinda stepping into a debate just by entering and if your intent was not to do so, you should have avoided the thread.
so, if your cool with it..we can let it die 
|
|
| 11. Posted by Colleene |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 1:12 pm |
Just wanted to add my 2 cents as well. The report states that Cingular has a customer complaint rate of 289 per 1,000,000 if I read it correctly... so, let's round it up to 300. 300 per 1 million = 3/10 of 1 percent dissatisfaction rate. Now, personally, I think 99.7% of Cingular customers not complaining is pretty good. I mean, Geico auto insurance has commercials about their 97% satsfaction rate. But I'm biased, I also answer the phones for them. 
|
|
| 12. Posted by Feeple |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 2:44 pm |
*ahem*
WE'RE #1! WE'RE #1!
|
|
| 13. Posted by TexasCSR |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:05 pm |
Wow 3 reps? We should PARTAY!!!!
|
|
| 14. Posted by Feeple |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:08 pm |
And Cece works not 50 ft from me, too.
|
|
| 15. Posted by TexasCSR |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:19 pm |
And Cece works not 50 ft from me, too.
I think i'm gunna have to get a few people here to join up as well. Good time killer.
|
|
| 16. Posted by Colleene |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:51 pm |
heh heh, more than that! The woman I sit next to got me on here, and there's 4 more on my team tempted to start posting!
|
|
| 17. Posted by Colleene |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:17 pm |
because we don't talk about phones enough at work, we need to do this on our offline time too.....
|
|
| 18. Posted by Pogo |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:23 pm |
It doesn't surprise me Cingular / AT&T got the worst rating. I'm sure problems were bound to surface with a merger in progress. Can't put too much weight in these polls with extra factors such as this.
|
|
| 19. Posted by TexasCSR |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:29 pm |
It doesn't surprise me Cingular / AT&T got the worst rating. I'm sure problems were bound to surface with a merger in progress. Can't put too much weight in these polls with extra factors such as this.
All polls are biased in some form or fashion.
|
|
| 20. Posted by TexasCSR |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:30 pm |
because we don't talk about phones enough at work, we need to do this on our offline time too.....
No joke. The way I think of it is, the more I know the more I have to offer people when I AM at work. Helps me from getting stuck on any one situation.
With a wealth of knowledge and others opinions why not take advantage of it?
|
|
| 21. Posted by BigRUSS |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:42 pm |
hey now 4 reps, and you also have to think about what these aliged "complaints" are
" i had to wait on haold for 5 min"
"the wouldnt credit my $4k in overege even though ive been a cust for 3 years"
"i dont want to have to pay the fcc taxes"
so um yea
|
|
| 22. Posted by TexasCSR |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:45 pm |
hey now 4 reps, and you also have to think about what these aliged "complaints" are
" i had to wait on haold for 5 min"
"the wouldnt credit my $4k in overege even though ive been a cust for 3 years"
"i dont want to have to pay the fcc taxes"
so um yea
 FCC Taxes? Regulatory Fee's. Apparently these people don't look at their home phone bill. These small fee's are tacked on there also.
|
|
| 23. Posted by Colleene |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:50 pm |
heh! had one of those today... whaddya mean I have to pay for 911!!!!!
|
|
| 24. Posted by KungPowKitten |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 11:05 pm |
I got one of those too. The guy had never heard of the FCC, he had gotten about 3-4 bills from us and was disputing the taxes and regulatory fees. He was like "well, Im going to check out this fcc website and see what they are about, because I dont want to pay anything else but my monthly service fees."
I had another lady argue with me because her husbands bill was 3 dollars more than hers. I dont think its possible at all to make customers happy, regardless of how far you go for them.
Back on topic though...did anyone bother to realize that the reason the complaints are the highest is because 1: people complain over the dumbest stuff, such as being charged for a text message they sent out and then claim "they never sent it out." and 2: att and cingular's complaints were combined because the companies became one.
|
|
| 25. Posted by JSS |
Tue Apr 12, 2005 11:20 pm |
Back on topic though...did anyone bother to realize that the reason the complaints are the highest is because 1: people complain over the dumbest stuff, such as being charged for a text message they sent out and then claim "they never sent it out." and 2: att and cingular's complaints were combined because the companies became one.
1) then the complaint rate would be consistant with all carriers if that were the criteria as these are services and issue with all carriers. the only way you could make a claim of that nature was imply somehow that cingulat/at&t customer were that much more dumb which would be erroneous.
2) the complaint rate was the aggregate total ofthe two carriers but was still based on complaints per million so the actual size ofthe accarier shouldn't factor. if size created satisfaction issues, then verizon only being 5 million customer behind would be getting a comparable proportion of complaints. since verizon is getting the fewest, size cannot be a factor.
as the study stated, the lions share of complaints were from at&t's inability to execute WLNP. even prior, at&t was still the celular cellar dweller in satisfaction.
|
|
| 26. Posted by Feeple |
Wed Apr 13, 2005 3:37 am |
Honestly, I think Cingular as a company deserves it. That's no slam against us in the trenches. I know the majority of us (most likely all of us who even post here) try to our job as best we can. It's in the corporate stuff that's gotta change.
Stuff just for NCCS:
They changed the QA again. If you read it carefully, it now possible to get a 0 on the call, and still "Raise that bar" (meaning you wne the extra mile for someone.)
If that weren't bad enough, we've also got to deal with handle time, transfers, calls out, and God forbid, offline account research. It's there to keep some folks from abusing the system, and I respect that, but shouldn't QA's "resolve the call" be the only real stat to worry about?
|
|
| 27. Posted by mgoblue |
Wed Apr 13, 2005 7:28 am |
Heh. Revenge of the service reps...
|
|
| 28. Posted by Colleene |
Wed Apr 13, 2005 9:38 am |
lol.... I also am not happy with the quality assurance changes. I'm not comfortable with "perfect call or fail" mentality. We're people, we aren't perfect.
|
|
| 29. Posted by TexasCSR |
Wed Apr 13, 2005 11:45 pm |
I personally don't care for most complaints. Will this keep some people from choosing our service? Perhaps. Will it matter to the company? No. Can't win em all.
In my opinion...BFD.
|
|
| 30. Posted by ismawan |
Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:32 am |
Well, as a customer, I believe that complaints are natural. Yet, I also learned a bit about business, and I realize there are few "devil" customers who keep complaining no matter what we do. So let them go, they are not worth to be served.
As to the debate about statistics, well they are just statistics. The lesson learned is : there are still many rooms for improvements. Failure in basic and simple service such as : call drops, undelivered text messages, unsolicited advertising messages, all must be minimized.
I hope all the operators learn a lot from that survey, to increase our (customers) satisfaction. Only that way the whole industry will prosper, and everybody happy. Just an opinion.
|
|
| 31. Posted by JSS |
Thu Apr 14, 2005 8:53 am |
and i think you hit it on the head ismawan, the industry should always be looking to improve regardless of who is the top dog. haveing been in customer service for a long time, i can tell ya that cellular is more brutal than most and expectations are commonly greater than can be acheived.
that being said, that just means that carriers need to look at these service gaps and see them as opportunities to build from and not as the anchor some make it out to be.
I personally don't care for most complaints. Will this keep some people from choosing our service? Perhaps. Will it matter to the company? No. Can't win em all.
hmmm.
|
|
| 32. Posted by canuckCSR |
Sat Apr 16, 2005 4:33 am |
Wow, reviewing all of this is sort of fun.
You see, up here in Canada, we have call centres for all kinds of U.S. based wireless companies ( I'm in one that started as an AT&T Wireless site, and while now working primarily with legacy AWS customers, has a huge focus on moving subs to Cingular. ) And it really feels like a spectator sport - those of us working the phones know all about this stuff - we just can't get our hands on any of it, for the most part. TexasCSR 's point of simply being around to learn and answer is cool -I'm in!
The FCC stats? 1. How many million subs are there in the U.S.? and fewer that 300,00 complaints in total? I just can't help but see this as petty - who had more or less of such a trivial number. Who goes to the FCC, anyhow? Reps out there: How many calls have we taken where the caller is a lawyer, or apparently has some kind of Bat-Phone direct-line to the Attorney General? How many nut-jobs have spent at least a half-hour on the phone disputing less than a dollar of legit charges? I know personally that some of the worst complaints against AWS / Cingular come from customers of AWS who felt they should immediatly have benefits such as rollover - "You advertise it, back it up! - (when you have a 5 year old Ford Taurus in the driveway, and see an ad for the new F-150, does that mean you will all of a sudden have it in thedriveway? - no joke - not verbatim, but a bit of a 'conversation' I had with a subscriber the other night. ) Besides the peoplewith truly valid, and likely high-cost cases, who really spends the time escalating to the FCC? Seperate nuisance and valid claims -then you have a real statistic.
Anyway - thanks for reading the rant - I just came upon this thread, but as TexasCSR offerred, I'd be glad to answer what I can.
Diggin' debate!
-CanuckCSR
CHEERS!
|
|
| 33. Posted by Feeple |
Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:42 pm |
Hey, I had someone try and use Rollover minutes like currency.
As to the number of nutjobs: I take, on average, 35 calls per day. I'd say that about 7 of them had normal, everyday questions. The others are nutjobs. Complete nutjobs.
|
|
| 34. Posted by Colleene |
Mon Apr 18, 2005 6:13 pm |
only 35? Pull your weight ya slacker! 
|
|
| 35. Posted by Samsung |
Tue Apr 19, 2005 6:33 am |
lol, when I was taking calls I would take anywhere from 75-135 calls in an 8 hr shift, depending on how stubborn people wanted to be some days (Yes without punting people).
|
|
| 36. Posted by mkoboots |
Thu Apr 21, 2005 7:19 pm |
When I call most of the reps are great, especially the canucks! I wish I knew how to route my call to canada instead of oklahoma city. yesterday a rep kept me on the phone for 21/2 hours, mostly on hold while "she talked with a supervisior", everytime she came back she gave me the same answer I got in the first 5 minutes..I realized she just didn't know the answer, and finally I found someone you just took care of it in two minutes.. no way was she fielding 135 calls a day!
In all that time she wouldn't transfer me to someone else..
I'm a customer with kind of a long term problem with cingular,I always feel a little bad when I call because I become a faceless nutjob. the reps sure make me feel like one anyway. But I don't think I am:) At least I understand taxes and I don't shout.
The company would sure have an easier time if they just simplified phone plans and the bills. The website is impossible compared to my other online accounts. I use voip and the vonage website is a breeze.
|
|
| 37. Posted by TexasCSR |
Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:11 pm |
only 35? Pull your weight ya slacker!
That's average for me. I get the nutcases that Feeple doesn't get. Most, 43 last Monday.
|
|
| 38. Posted by BigRUSS |
Thu Apr 21, 2005 11:27 pm |
have any of yall had a lady with the last name fong???? asian lady who just will not shut up?????? talk about nut job shes the queen of nut jobs
|
|
| 39. Posted by Samsung |
Fri Apr 22, 2005 2:42 am |
have any of yall had a lady with the last name fong???? asian lady who just will not shut up?????? talk about nut job shes the queen of nut jobs
lol... fong!
|
|
| 40. Posted by canuckCSR |
Sat Apr 30, 2005 3:52 am |
Aw! no posts here for over a week!
Just thought I'd come around, see who's talking about what...
|
|
| 41. Posted by Orangeblues! |
Sat Jun 18, 2005 2:16 am |
I am also an unfortunate victom of the cingular takeover, now a cingular employee, for how long? who knows?? to the person or cing rep (former AWS) who posted previously about Suncom additions, those are divested markets & do NOT belong to Cingular, And for the new cingular reps now, why don't you talk about how Cingular is cutting towers for existing AT&T TDMA & GSM customers to try and force them to migrate to cingular, & if under contract & still charging ETF's when we know they can rarely make any decent calls now. we ALL know what cingular is doing, remember Stan Sigmans motto is "Grow the Business" money money money, thats all they care about, not service!! Oh yeah what a great company Cingular is, there attrition rate is 70%, their reps have usually no more than 2 years tenure while AWS has rep mostly 8-15 years tenure!! your a fool to defend them, I don't know what job you do, but I know, I already make too much money for Cingular & they will "CAN" you as fast as they can! atleast at AT&T we were trained to help our customers, cingular won't even allow any adjustments! I know you know this. Oh yeah & in my center alone (former AWS) we are already seeing 50+% attrition rates! doesn't this tell you something, I hope they just lay us off & we can have are DECENT severance packages, but you watch you will be officially cingular on 1/1/06 & prob let go the next day w/o any severance!!
|
|
| 42. Posted by canuckCSR |
Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:33 am |
I'm an out-sourced 'former AWS' - now Cingular employee. Also, a Canadian. And I must say that by and large, Americans get an outstanding deal on wireless service, regardless of the provider they choose. (Example: I pay close to $45 /month for 50 anytime minutes for the month, unlimited N&W, and nothing else - no free Long Distance, all kinds of roaming, never any mobile-to-mobile... ) Between pure competition and sheer population density, only ONE thing amazes me: why does MY ragged old phone (a CDMA Samsung A660 - almost a year old,) work better between high-rises, under streets, in buildings, garages, and tunnels...why does it work so much more reliably than any of my caller's phones?
|
|
| 43. Posted by Samsung |
Mon Jul 04, 2005 3:04 am |
I'm an out-sourced 'former AWS' - now Cingular employee. Also, a Canadian. And I must say that by and large, Americans get an outstanding deal on wireless service, regardless of the provider they choose. (Example: I pay close to $45 /month for 50 anytime minutes for the month, unlimited N&W, and nothing else - no free Long Distance, all kinds of roaming, never any mobile-to-mobile... ) Between pure competition and sheer population density, only ONE thing amazes me: why does MY ragged old phone (a CDMA Samsung A660 - almost a year old,) work better between high-rises, under streets, in buildings, garages, and tunnels...why does it work so much more reliably than any of my caller's phones?
Man your getting ripped off, I get 350 anytime minutes, free N&W still no longdistance but its 20$ a month (retention plan ) Oh Canada gets all the good cell phones man, Never had a problem with any phone I have ever owned, but I get people from the states who have 10-15 exchanges a year lol
|
|
| 44. Posted by pcdude |
Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:10 pm |
Nextel is worst company in:
Most Complaints On Billing
Most Complaints On Service
Most Complaints Overall
In the 5 years being a Nextel, Cingular,
Att and T-mobile rep.
|
|
| 45. Posted by Colleene |
Wed Jul 13, 2005 1:03 am |
yep, Cingular is such a badly run company that we bought the wonderfully run AT&T when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. If you don't like your job go find another one and quit whining.
|
|
| 46. Posted by canuckCSR |
Fri Jul 22, 2005 4:08 am |
Who could possibly hate this job? Sure some days really take a cheese grater to your ass - callers and coworkers can do that to you anywhere, though. Come on, - how great is capitolist society that we've created jobs that entail sitting all day, answering the phone, and 90% of the time, easily resolving every issue tossed our way? I love this job! Tonite, during queue time revised my essay, made plans for the weekend, made my fantasy ball picks for the next 5 days -ad i was getting paid! I remember the jokes we told each other on the team, but not a single caller. Who in this job ever takes work home? ...and I've been on the soapbox long enough.
|
|
| 47. Posted by Samsung |
Fri Jul 22, 2005 4:37 am |
Easy job, just boring, thats why I applied to get off the phones
|
|
| 48. Posted by canuckCSR |
Fri Jul 22, 2005 4:51 am |
xXxSamsungxXx !!! You're still up? It's late here - didn't think anyone was around!
|
|
| 49. Posted by Samsung |
Fri Jul 22, 2005 4:52 am |
Dude i've only been home for a couple of hours lol. Im always on late.
|
|
| 50. Posted by Samsung |
Fri Jul 22, 2005 4:53 am |
someone has to control you cingular reps lol
|
|
| 51. Posted by canuckCSR |
Fri Jul 22, 2005 5:04 am |
Yeah - I know that well. Sometimes it feels like an old Victorian book - the streets are dark, no one nearby is awake - and there we are , fresh off of shift!
|
|
| 52. Posted by Samsung |
Fri Jul 22, 2005 3:50 pm |
lol, I know I guess we are on different hours the most of the mobiledia world
|
|
| 53. Posted by Unhappy Camper |
Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:33 am |
I've been a cingular cust. for approx. 3 mos. I will tell you, I am about ready to pay that 150 dollars to get out of it. Three hours on the phone with their complaint department. Even they didn't want to talk to me on my cell, cus of the bad service. Then some "tech" tells me I have a bad phone. If I send it to them and they determine my phone is in fact bad, they'll charge me 150 dollars for another phone. The same stinkin phone they sold me for 50 dollars 3 mos ago. So far I haven't even gotten the 50 dollar rebate for that "bad" phone. If they had shown any kind of customer appreciation, I would feel different. But the feeling I got is, they got my money and me over a barrel. They couldn't care less now. And if the guy that answers the phone for them is still on this string, let me say, I'm not impressed. Well, not well impressed. As far as I am concerned, cingular is less than useless. I work in customer service. And service this is not.
|
|
| 54. Posted by canuckCSR |
Sun Oct 16, 2005 1:16 am |
we have a complaint department here?!
wow, 2 years here, and i still learn new things.
yeah, odds are good that the device is defected, but no way will we charge $150 to replace it. the priority warranty exchange fee if $14.99. if you prefer to have it done for free, contact the manufacturer directly, but be prepared to wait much longer for replacement - cingular provides exchange service as a courtesy, hence the fee. i can't imagine any provider is much different. still, sorry about the miscommunication. just call customer care from any device BUT THE ONE YOU'RE HAVING TROUBLE WITH - some basic troubleshooting will be done, and an exchange can arrive in a couple of days.
|
|
| 55. Posted by macksrs |
Sun Oct 16, 2005 6:34 pm |
i'm an independent agent. i hear these complaints about cingular all the time. when asked the customer tells me that they got their phone by replying to some mail out or over the internet. i kind of hold back on this but it would be better if they had an agent. they keep me from getting a commission but want me to help them. as you can see, i have a lot of incentive to do this. i take care of my customers and my churn rate is way below 1%. customers just want personal attention and as long as they are my customer they get it. they kindly get scolded when they come in with their phibe bill and complain about how they were treated by CS. i tell then that's my job and that's what i get paid for. i,m their agent. if i can't explain the bill properly, since there are so many different rate plans that i never heard of. i call CS for them and identify myself as an agent and together we always, always, solve the problem for the customer and 90% of the time without a credit to the phone bill.
My advice to the customer - GET AN AGENT -
|
|
| 56. Posted by elmo01 |
Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:34 am |
i'm an independent agent. i hear these complaints about cingular all the time. when asked the customer tells me that they got their phone by replying to some mail out or over the internet. i kind of hold back on this but it would be better if they had an agent. they keep me from getting a commission but want me to help them. as you can see, i have a lot of incentive to do this. i take care of my customers and my churn rate is way below 1%. customers just want personal attention and as long as they are my customer they get it. they kindly get scolded when they come in with their phibe bill and complain about how they were treated by CS. i tell then that's my job and that's what i get paid for. i,m their agent. if i can't explain the bill properly, since there are so many different rate plans that i never heard of. i call CS for them and identify myself as an agent and together we always, always, solve the problem for the customer and 90% of the time without a credit to the phone bill.
My advice to the customer - GET AN AGENT -
you sir probably have a cellular following of biblical proportions...
|
|
| 57. Posted by TheTroll |
Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:06 am |
i'm an independent agent. i hear these complaints about cingular all the time. when asked the customer tells me that they got their phone by replying to some mail out or over the internet. i kind of hold back on this but it would be better if they had an agent. they keep me from getting a commission but want me to help them. as you can see, i have a lot of incentive to do this. i take care of my customers and my churn rate is way below 1%. customers just want personal attention and as long as they are my customer they get it. they kindly get scolded when they come in with their phibe bill and complain about how they were treated by CS. i tell then that's my job and that's what i get paid for. i,m their agent. if i can't explain the bill properly, since there are so many different rate plans that i never heard of. i call CS for them and identify myself as an agent and together we always, always, solve the problem for the customer and 90% of the time without a credit to the phone bill.
My advice to the customer - GET AN AGENT -
People like you are almost a myth in the cell phone industry, I never hear a customer tell me "I talked to this rep in the store and he was incredibly helpful", All I ever hear me is "That store rep was incredibly rude, I asked him a question and all he did was brush me off, Then he told me I could call customer care to get a free Palm Treo 650 and a 19.99 plan with 10,000 daytime minutes" (well, maybe that's a bit of a exageration) , Time and time again I'll see a store rep adding commissionable features to every account they access etc... I find tha comission can cause some huge problems.
But I've gotta congratulate you on a job well done, people like you are what keeps this industry afloat.
|
|
| 58. Posted by Bob459 |
Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:52 pm |
Doesn't surprise me at all since this company is deceptive and unethical. They'll do anything to scam customers out of their money.
|
|
| 59. Posted by TheTroll |
Tue Oct 18, 2005 3:18 pm |
Doesn't surprise me at all since this company is deceptive and unethical. They'll do anything to scam customers out of their money.
Do you really think that cingular would be able to get away with actually 'Scamming' people? EVERY issue that I've ever encountered where someone thinks that we are ripping them off has always been caused by Network Problems, Misinformation, or poorly educated reps. Why do so many people think that a major corporation would go around and add invalid charges to someone's account? I'm thinking that a company that has 50+ million customers wouldnt have to rip people off to make money.
To avoid a good 90% of all problems, one must educate themselves on their service, and us Reps are only human and we can forget stuff so it dosent hurt to call in again to verify what the previous rep told you.
I do appologize on behalf of cingular wireless, and I wouldnt be surprised if you did have some problems with us. Things have been a little messed up since the merger. Policies are changing on a daily basis and it can sometimes be hard to keep up, and a lot of the time we are not even informed of a major change until weeks later.
Bob459,
If you wanted a hand getting something resolved, feel free to post your issue and we'll see what we can do for you
|
|
| 60. Posted by BigRUSS |
Tue Oct 18, 2005 3:40 pm |
butch and moan bitch and moan , is that all you people do??? i be when yall go out to eat they spit in your food, if you want to blame somone blame yourself for
A) being to chap to get a deent phone IT WAS FREE FOR A REASON
B) not reading the contract fully
C) you have 30 days to return your phone w/o any pinalties , if it didnt work for you aftere 2 day WTF didnt you return it, instead of keeping and acting like a 5 yearold complaining for 2 years , you have to be 18 to buy a cell phone that SHOULD make yo an adult, act like one
|
|
| 61. Posted by Bob459 |
Wed Oct 19, 2005 3:06 am |
My problem is addressed in another thread. I wonder if anyone else had a similar issue.
But it was only the end of a long series of dissapointments.
I'm sure there are plenty of customers that complain just because they are complainers. But you shouldn't group everyone into that category. Some might have legitimate gripes.
Russ, the world is not as black and white as you'd like to believe. Some would say the customer is always right. You seem to think they are always wrong. I think the truth is somewhere in between.
|
|
| 62. Posted by canuckCSR |
Sat Oct 29, 2005 2:46 am |
Bob, Russ, I won't take a side. One of the earliest lessons I remember from management school is this phrase: "The Customer's Perception Is Always Correct." This allows the customer to be 'right,' while allowing the service rep the dignity of knowing they've got the customer's blind-spot in mind. Put another way; The customer is very seldom right, (had they read the fine print, they would know they've lost the fight before it began;) but we in Service have to recognize this over-indulged public.
A Challenge:
If you are tired of being berated and run down by customers, then very suddenly leave the company. Leave a letter, or explain in your exit interview that you've had it with taking so much junk so consistantly, when so many call centers pay so much better (and require you to have much less tech knowledge - ) grab that better job.
There is no reward for longevity.
|
|
| 63. Posted by Capt. Cingular |
Fri Jan 06, 2006 9:10 pm |
Doesn't surprise me at all since this company is deceptive and unethical. They'll do anything to scam customers out of their money.
Do you really think that cingular would be able to get away with actually 'Scamming' people?
I absolutely believe it, and I work there. "FREE UPGRADE!...(tiny print) with $18 upgrade fee." Look at the Welcome books they get. On page 3 it gives the distinct impression that every plan comes with 7p-7a nightime minutes. Only on page 10, in teeny-weeny print, is the truth revealed that it's 9p-6a.
I had another woman call and read me a flier she got from us. I had her read it THREE times. It said she had been chosen to receive "free" Roadside Assistance, but if she didn't call to cancel it within 30 days, she would start being charged. Oh, why, think you for thinking of me! What a load of sh*t!
You're charged for your phone from the date of shipping/sale, not the date of activation, no matter what your rep tells you. Your return date is also 30 days from the date of shipping, no matter if it takes you two weeks to actually get it.
Look how many reps sign on here to blame the customers and act like Stanley Sigman's poop doesn't stink. You're part of the churn!
We're working for con artists!
|
|
| 64. Posted by Shermann888 |
Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:42 pm |
Bottom line Cingular "Customer Care" is atrocious. They're reps misrepresent information, they are either hiring incompetent/low intelligent people, or they are just a bunch of liars. My friends and family feel far more satisfied with other carriers. Good riddance to ATT/Cingular!
|
|
| 65. Posted by elmo01 |
Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:57 pm |
Bottom line Cingular "Customer Care" is atrocious. They're reps misrepresent information, they are either hiring incompetent/low intelligent people, or they are just a bunch of liars. My friends and family feel far more satisfied with other carriers. Good riddance to ATT/Cingular!
what information was misrepresented?
|
Post a comment and discuss this story with other readers.
|
|
|
|
