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Cingular Sued for Deception |
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Cingular Sued for Deception
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Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:16 am
Cingular promised to provide uninterrupted service to AT&T Wireless customers when it acquired that company in 2004, but instead it nickel-and-dimed them and degraded their reception in an effort to persuade them to sign new contracts, according to a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of those customers.
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Photo: Cingular Sued for Deception Photo 1 |
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The lawsuit claims consumers faced excessive fees, poor service, dropped calls and a network that has not been maintained, part of a campaign to push former AT&T Wireless customers to switch to Cingular.
Cingular bought AT&T's cell phone system in October 2004, after assuring federal regulators that the merger would be "seamless." But, the lawsuit contends, instead of the new and better services that Cingular promised AT&T customers, Cingular immediately began dismantling and degrading the AT&T network, forcing AT&T customers to move to Cingular's cell network.
That meant buying new phone equipment, moving to higher cost plans, and, in some cases, an $18 "transfer" or "upgrade fee." Some customers who tried to go to another company were hit with "early termination fees" of $175. Others who didn't want to pay or couldn't afford the fees have been stuck with riding out their contract with AT&T Wireless while suffering poor to no reception.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Washington on behalf of all AT&T Wireless customers who were deceived or overcharged by Cingular's actions related to the merger.
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| 1. Posted by Monarchs_Cry |
Fri Jul 07, 2006 3:25 pm |
sounds like some people didnt read there contract
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| 2. Posted by Jadall |
Fri Jul 07, 2006 3:47 pm |
Umm they could have and probably legally have shut the whole network off and made every customer merge at once sent them all free phones etc... I think a Lot of the cases were unfounded.. but being stuck in a contract with degraded service would tick off just about anyone.
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| 3. Posted by timmyjoe42 |
Fri Jul 07, 2006 4:07 pm |
I was an AT+T customer and the only issue I had was access to my voicemail changed. Instead of just calling the default voicemail phone number I was forced to call my own number and get in that way. It wasn't a big deal, but a tiny bit annoying.
The part that pissed me off about the merger was that AT+T told me I could upgrade my phone after a year if I extended my contract for another year. Cingular did not honor this and I was forced to switch over to Cingular at a higher rate plan to obtain a new phone without breaching my contract or paying full price.
Also incoming text messages were free with AT+T and now I am being charged for them, which has required me to get a text message plan to further increase my costs.
Call quality has never been an issue, unless I am in a basement or warehouse store.
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| 4. Posted by Jessie01 |
Fri Jul 07, 2006 10:43 pm |
Well the suits are a sham in their own right created by a lot of confusion between the services and alot of misconceptions of the networks and merger...cust who have TDMA accounts are no being forced by cingular to move they are being reccomended to move at no fault of cingulars...come 2008 services for that network will be gone thats a fact it's been a long time coming and cingular as a company has nothing to do with that happening...$18 upgrade fee's are waived for former att cust and they get the option to choose from many ''FREE'' phones for the accnt or at the very least get discounts on the more pricey phones avail to them ...shipping and handling is waived and activation fee's are waived ...it's not that cingular is degrading services in anyway...but the services are no longer supported to the extent of what they were..it's buisness ..the technology is old...ppl need to let it die...yes the plans are sometimes higher on cing..not all the time..pending on what promos cust had to begin with they may see it as being higher then what they are paying now...att gave them everything they wanted with contract renewals...add'nl mins ..free phones rerates on plans etc....as for free phone each yr with att...cingular kept that agreement...the specifics of that stated...free phone may involve contract extension or rate plan change...both applied to cust in the merger case...upgrade to cingular + rate plan change + contract = agreement kept...ppl need to stop whining and move on. 
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| 5. Posted by gcantisano |
Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:19 pm |
Oh, no, it's not just claims! There is not enough space here, to say nothing of what it does to my blood pressure to talk about what I have gone thru with Cingular! Suffice it to say that degraded reception, dropped calls, excessive fees, poor service, and a network that has not been maintained is a conservative list. And yes, early termination would have cost me $175 per phone on my 4-phone account -- non of which have had one single month with "uninterrupted service"!!
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| 6. Posted by c0mmand0b0y |
Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:17 am |
gcantisano, did you even read Jessie01's post? He's right on the money. TDMA is dying. Let it die
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| 7. Posted by elmo01 |
Sat Jul 08, 2006 12:49 pm |
Cingualr has issued a press release....
Cingular Wireless today refuted the points made in a lawsuit filed against the company by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.
"This lawsuit is completely without merit," said Joaquin Carbonell, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Cingular Wireless. "Cingular has spent nearly $10 billion in integrating and improving its networks in the 21 months since the merger was completed, leading to a significantly improved customer experience and the fewest dropped calls of any national carrier.
"Separately, we are considering our options with respect to the false and misleading statements made to the media by the lawyer that brought this case," said Carbonell.
Among the improvements made by Cingular:
- Broader coverage: Within days after the merger closed, Cingular opened access to both the Cingular and AT&T Wireless networks - including TDMA - to further improve coverage, offering home-on-home roaming, giving customers access to more than 45,000 cell sites - almost twice the number of cell sites either company's customers had before the merger. This action gave Cingular and AT&T Wireless customers access to more cell sites without roaming charges in more areas than ever before.
Cingular has since completed integration of the AT&T Wireless and Cingular TDMA networks, resulting in customers having access to more cell sites and broader coverage than either company had before the merger. Today, the company is hard at work integrating its GSM networks, with completion targeted for later this year. In fact, Cingular invested $6.5 billion in network integration and upgrades last year alone and intends to spend a similar amount this year.
- Fewer dropped calls: Cingular's GSM network has the fewest dropped calls of any national wireless carrier, as determined by information provided by one of the most reputable and well-respected independent wireless research firms in the country.
- Improved capabilities: After the merger closed, customers could make unlimited mobile-to-mobile calls to any Cingular or AT&T Wireless customer, saving them money. Network improvements have also allowed the company to add dozens of new advanced services, like listening to music and watching video. In addition, the company is currently in the process of deploying wireless broadband services and will complete the deployment in most of the top 100 markets by the end of the year.
- Fewer complaints: Call rates to Cingular call centers have declined by more than 30 percent in the last 18 months and are at their lowest level ever. Complaints to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), the Better Business Bureau (BBB), state attorneys general and state public utility commissions are down as well. Over the last two quarters, our FCC complaints have fallen 53 percent while the rest of the wireless industry's FCC complaints have fallen only 4 percent.
- Improved churn: The company's overall churn rate (percentage of customers leaving the company monthly) has continued to decline - from 2.6 percent (pro forma) in the merger quarter (4Q04) to 1.9 percent in 1Q06.
- Customer satisfaction: Cingular's customer satisfaction levels, based on information provided to the company by one of the industry's most reputable research firms, is at its highest level ever, improving more than 14 percentage points since the quarter when the companies merged and moving Cingular from fourth to second place in the category.
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| 8. Posted by Jessie01 |
Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:10 pm |
On top of the previous comment that i posted there was also info sent to attws customers stating that they would have a 30 day period after the merger that occured acctually on Nov 14 2004. This letter that most cst did not read clearly stated that any cst wishing to terminate service within this period and would not be assessed the ETF. Any cst there after would be charged. Therefore all the whinners that are upset about the charges all you had to do was contact customer relations and they could have worked out a deal. This law suite has no bearing and i will be suprized if Cingualr does not win this matter
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| 9. Posted by cellphoneguy |
Mon Jul 10, 2006 1:41 am |
the lawsuit will never hold up. cingular does not charge a 175.00 ETF if they mess with your service and degrade it. they are a billion dollar company i think they are just a bit smarter than that. and the service did degrade when the merger happend for the att customers but for the better of the new cingular service. technology gets upgraded all the time just like everything else. think of a music record thats not made anymore and you break it. then you go to the store to buy another one and they tell you that they dont make records anymore and they only have cd's. what are you gonna do? file a lawsuit because you cant use the record anymore? thats what i thought. cingular provides customers with options but the customers cry about them because "IM GONNA GET LESS MINUTES IF I UPGRADE.....YOUR SCAMMING ME!!!!!!" this is not the case ATT gave customers promo everything. nights and weekends for free and bonus minutes and you wonder why they are not in business anymore? think about it. the contract has nothing to do with a rate plan and NO WIRELESS COMPANY GUARANTEES SERVICE BECAUSE IT IS WIRELESS!!!!!! think of a string tied to your cell phone antenna and the other end is tied to a cloud. then the wind blows and the string moves and a call drops. thats service. cingular is the biggest wireless company out there for a reason. how many million customers do they have? god they've gained 10 million sence the merger. why? because people like thier options. the only customers that att has left are the cry babies that expect like 1500 minutes on a 39.99 plan. t-mobile offers plans like that. BUT THIER SERVICE SUCKS!!!! AND IS ON NETWORK ONLY! anyway im sick of waisting my breath telling people to stop crying. have fun loosing the lawsuit and having to pay for cingulars lawyers too because thats in your contract  . have a nice day.
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| 10. Posted by timmyjoe42 |
Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:39 am |
On top of the previous comment that i posted there was also info sent to attws customers stating that they would have a 30 day period after the merger that occured acctually on Nov 14 2004. This letter that most cst did not read clearly stated that any cst wishing to terminate service within this period and would not be assessed the ETF. Any cst there after would be charged. Therefore all the whinners that are upset about the charges all you had to do was contact customer relations and they could have worked out a deal. This law suite has no bearing and i will be suprized if Cingualr does not win this matter
I received no such letter. I read all my mail for fine print just like this.
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| 11. Posted by dogie fresh |
Tue Jul 11, 2006 3:04 am |
I was an ATT customer and very sad about the merger, i wish cingular change its name back to ATT, i moved to cingular since the last october. My personal point of view cingular has an exellent service and coverage. I live in Miami and when the last 2 hurricanes hit, cingular was the only network on, great for them, but here comes the issues: cingular charges for incoming texts messgs, ATT didn't. cingular makes too difficult for equipment upgrade ( 2yrs for being ellegible ), With ATT i used to upgrade my phone every 9 months with an ext. contract, rate plans are little bit higher and do not dare to go over ur mins cuz they will ripp u off with all those fees, otherwise if u use ur plan wisely no problem.
Also they taking too much time for network upgrades such as UMTS rollout and new cellphones availability. This network in compare to other mayor carriers has the best service over all, but i guess they have a lot of presure from being the 3rd in the nation to become the No. 1 now, those little issues can be fixed and provide the premier service that all cingular customers we expecting
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| 12. Posted by steva11 |
Tue Jul 11, 2006 3:05 pm |
i agree with most of it, especially UMTS. how long have we been hearing about this!? and still, they can't promote it because it's not widely available.
but there will be no company like ATT wireless. cingular is on par basically for fees/rate plan/upgrade options, with all the other carriers. many people say they leave cingular due to the fact that they cannot keep the exhorbant promos on their account. but no other carrier will give them plans like those!
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| 13. Posted by Jadall |
Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:05 pm |
very good point all of you.
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| 14. Posted by Jadall |
Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:09 pm |
oh yeah that is in the contract someone mentioned it is in there I remember reading it something about if you lose the lawsuit you pay for cingular's lawyers.  that would be funny.
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| 15. Posted by Pogo |
Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:02 pm |
The lawsuit doesn't have any grounds to stand on. This is just a class action case put together by lawyers greedy for money.
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| 16. Posted by Jessie01 |
Wed Jul 12, 2006 11:24 pm |
There are gaps in
service within the service areas shown on coverage maps, which, by their nature, are only approximations of actual coverage. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE YOU UNINTERRUPTED SERVICE OR COVERAGE. WE CANNOT ASSURE YOU THAT IF YOU PLACE
A 911 CALL YOU WILL BE FOUND.
and to further long that for all the TDMA customers.....
This obligation shall survive termination of your service with Cingular. Cingular is not liable to you for changes in operation, equipment or technology that cause your Equipment or software to be rendered obsolete or require modification.
And for all those who have a class action lawsuit and MAY have to pay cingular......
Cingular will pay all AAA filing, administration and arbitrator
fees for any arbitration initiated in accordance with the notice requirements above. If, however, the arbitrator finds that either the substance of your claim or the relief sought in the Demand is improper or not warranted, as measured by the standards set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b), then the payment of all such fees shall be governed by the AAA Rules. In such case, you agree to reimburse Cingular for all monies previously disbursed by it that are otherwise your obligation to pay under the AAA Rules.
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| 17. Posted by Cptech31 |
Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:37 am |
You know i always love it when customers say they are going sue i had one customer that really got to me this was back when i was a blue rep. I informed the customer go ahead and sue at&t wireless has a building full of lawyers waiting to hear from you next thing i heard was click
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| 18. Posted by gerio |
Sun Jul 23, 2006 7:50 pm |
imany people say they leave cingular due to the fact that they cannot keep the exhorbant promos on their account. but no other carrier will give them plans like those!
Then how is it that my Mother has a Cingular plan that is 5 years old and an incredible deal to boot? The local reps have told her that what she has was the bestest plan Cingular ever had and to not give it up until she absolutely has to. If she loses her current phone and gets a new one, she'll lose that plan. And, unfortunately, when they discontinue TDMA service in this are, she'll have to give it up. No problem, I'll give her my old Razr (assuming I can teach her to use the thing!) and put her on my Family plan.
Geri O
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| 19. Posted by H82typ |
Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:29 am |
Comments: Cingulars fewest _reported_ dropped calls. I've had them, I just didn't report them. Couldn't take time to call cc. Every time I call, its a 20 to 30 minute call... GSM is allegedly better- not in my case. My tdma was so reliable I got rid of my home phone! If Cingular had extended the ROR to 90, even 60 days how many clients would have been screaming...
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| 20. Posted by wannabe |
Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:11 pm |
i really just hate the customers who call in just to say that they are suing us. umm wouldn't it just be cheaper to pay the etf and leave for another carrier with a lower grade network??? but what would i know, i just think before i act.
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| 21. Posted by QD |
Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:09 pm |
I think I read or heard somewhere too, that it was all going back under SBC? Was that the parent company? Don't get too comfortable yet...
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| 22. Posted by telecomm |
Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:23 pm |
All I can say is ITS ABOUGHT TIME! I manage over 400 cellular phones and without warning shortly after the merger the TDMA network started being striped of the 800 MHz band. I spoke with my account executive who did not know why the TDMA network was not working my account executive informed me Cingular does not agree to FORCED MIGRATIONS. Not sure, you cannot call this exactly that A FORCED BY NETWORK DEGRADATION. If I called Business care , I would hear, (GSM has Better service) (And it should if you took half the network away) the move was on to (Blue GSM) Now you have to go Orange and all devices need to be replaced because Cingular will not give out unlock codes for phones.
No matter where I went, the same answer TDMA is not as good as GSM. Well hears a question what if you do not use the advanced network features and all you want is a PHONE you are stuck buying much more than needed.
IF TDMA is such an old technology, why is it that there is still working ANALOG networks?
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| 23. Posted by Cptech31 |
Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:27 pm |
the reason analog is still around is due to the fcc makeing carriers keep the service but come to feb 08 the fcc order will go away and tdma and analog will go to the way side. on gsm you can have text message and medianet feature removed and blocked from the account you can also get a basic gsm phone also with out all the features that gsm offers.
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| 24. Posted by steva11 |
Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:51 pm |
yup. analog will be gone when TDMA is gone in '08
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| 25. Posted by Kvalich |
Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:49 pm |
Yeah cingular will soon be called att wireless again but its only the name changing
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| 26. Posted by TheManator |
Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:46 pm |
I bet you a million customers will say:
"Service was so better when you guys were Cingular".
But we've all heard that before.
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