Grrr... lost cell phone

[catnapper]

Hubby lost his cell phone and we can't find it anywhere. We have been looking since Christmas Eve and its not showing up. So we went to the AT&T dealer - now Cingular. Know what they told us? They can't help us. If we want a new cell phone to replace hubby's lost one, the other two phones on our plan (mine and the one the kids all share) will have to be replaced too... you see, since Cingular bought AT&T they are replacing all the phones to go with the "cingular network". Well la-dee-da!

GRRRR!

To add insult to injury, we'd be buying THREE new cell phones instead of one, PLUS signing a new TWO YEAR agreement! To me that feels like extortion or blackmail! So here we are, we can just have hubby use the kids' phone and the kids are out their cell phone and pay the $9.99 monthly fee for a phone that no longer exisits, or switch over all three phones to a MORE expensive plan with Cingular. I am furious right now! They try to make me feel better by saying "well the phones would be free with a mail-in rebate" Yeah, that akes me feel soooo much better about being blackmailed.

I can't wait for June -- when my current contract is over and I can skip town on AT&T.... or is it Cingular?

[tatsxxx11]

OMG! Honestly, these cellular phone companies can be a REAL pain! I had ATT...ONCE! I had absolutely NO coverage! I had to drive 5 miles, to this one bend and MAYBE I would get 1 bar's worth of service! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW??? Went to Fla to an area they said was in my coverage area and used my phone endlessly. Came home to a 400.00 bill! Seems that one small area within my covered area was not covered! LOL! They refused to let me out of my contract until I spoke several times with a supervisor. The contract states I AM entitled to reasonable coverage! Switched to Verizon and I couldn't be happier! Courteous, very helpful and the coverage is terrific. I hope you can speak to someone....If you make enough of a fuss and state your case, often they'll relent. As my husband always tells me, tell THEM you will be notifying your dissatisfaction to JD Powers!

[moosmom]

I recently got a new cellphone for what I THOUGHT was going to be my new job. I signed up for 2 years with T-Mobile. It's not bad. I get 600 free minutes monthly, can talk to my kid free cuz she also has T-Mobile, plus free weekends. I've saved alot on my long distance calls alone. Haven't had a problem with the reception either.

I once had Cingular and hated it because I was like the guy on the commercial, "Can you hear me now? Good." "Can you hear me now? Good." I finally ditched them.

[catnapper]

LOL... we had T Mobile and hated the service. I guess the different regions have different service? I just got off the phone with AT&T (cingular?) and they are Fed Ex-ing a replacement phone for the AT&T service. It'll be $30, but at least its not the couple hundred Cingular wanted us to shell out.


Hubby decided that he NEEDS a flip hone (which is what I told him he wanted last year when we got the phones! ) so we upgraded to the flip phone. He would have had a new non-flip phone for as little as $10, but since we are getting a new toy, we might as well get the toy he really wanted!

I feel better knowing his phone will be replaced without as much fuss as the AT&T/Cingular store in the mall made it look like. Though we WILL be shopping for a new provider in June.

[DJFyrewolf36]

Hey Catnapper, I can tell your hubby about all the latest and greatest toys....er phones lol. I work for a 3d party contractor for Cingular/ATT. Trust me, this merger is screwing us up too!!! I dunno if this will make you feel better but I can kind of explain why Cingular wanted you and EVERYONE to sign up with new plans and new phones (especially if your phone is a few years old). Cell phone technology is changing. Used to be that everything ran on what is known as a TDMA system. Since people wanted to send data as well as voice messages on cell phones they (at least att/cingular) upgraded to GSM Service, which sends data a lot faster and it also supports more users. ATT/Cingular wants everyone to switch over to GSM devices so they can phase out TDMA service and upgrade. So basically, if you change one little thing on your plan (new phone etc) they make you switch over to GSM. Its part of my job to handle the switch lol. Hey, maybe if you call ATT/Cingular and get ahold of an NBO rep, you might just talk to me hehe.

Oh, and expect similar technology switches from ALL carriers. And the two year agreement thing is pretty much standard now. They (cell companies) make a lot of money on early termination fees. ATT/Cingular is $175 PER LINE CANCELED!!!

I hate cell phones...and now I sell them

If you have any other issues though, PM me or IM me and I'll be sure to investigate things as best I can. Those store reps can be really really annoying. Hey, at least your hubby doesn't want the new Motorola Razr!!! That thing is $499.99...

[Laura's Babies]

Most of us on the Lower Mississippi River have Cingular cell phones. While the coverage/recpetion on the Lower Miss is not what it is on other rivers, it is still the best coverage we can get. Those that have come out there with other carriers always end up switching to Cingular. What amazes me is the ones that can walk around INSIDE the boat talking on their cell phones... I can only do that when the boat is in Baton Rouge and I still might loose the call if I go in the wrong direction. I have only had Cingular cell phones and have never had a problem except for the one time my bill didn't show up and the next thing I knew, they called me and was fixing to discontinue my service.. I fixed that glitch REAL quick!! Out there, cell phones are a MUST have, especially on crew change days. They help us have faster and more efficient crew changes to be able to talk to the boat from the middle of nowhere on the bank.

[Tonya]

Guess who owns Cingular? The lovely company that I work for...SBC. Surprised?!

Dj's right...it's sort of for the better, so they can phase out the old system. I NEVER use the stores. I always go through the company directly. Those stores are practically not even affiliated with Cingular. They're all about selling and money...more so then Cingular.

I've always had AT&T because I hated Cingular. Now that the two have been combined together, I'm happy because the network should be better and I get an employee discount.

[Tonya]

Kim, I called my boss yesterday to see if they'd came through with the employee offers yet. He said "Well, yeah...they did...but I think you want to wait." I said "Why?" And he said "Well, they offered free Cingular phones to the employees, and the upgraded phones at a low price, plus some employee discounts on the calling plans. So, all of us AT&T users made the switch. AND now our lives are a living hell. Our phones aren't working, our bills are all screwed up......I think you want to wait this one out...the transistion is horrible..."

So, I'm going to wait until they work out their bugs first.

[catnapper]

LOL Tonya! Are you not surprised? The phone we ordered from AT&T customer service was FeedExed that night and we got it one day after we ordered it. Curious about the phone, we headed to the mall. The Cingular dealer had the very same phone (gee... funny that only two days earlier that same Cingular store had NO phones that would work on the AT&T network.) and that same phone was one they HAD to have a 2 year contract for. That, and we got it for HALF the price the Cingular store was asking for it. But the Cingular store was offering a "free" handsfree cord with it (which is ever so useful to have on a phone that has speakerphone cababilities! )

[kuhio98]

Your story makes me so glad that I am "cell phone free".
My work keeps trying to give me one and I keep refusing. They just can't understand why I don't want to be reached 24 hours a day.

I was at a salad bar at a local restaurant a while back. An idiot on a cell phone was asking "Do you want carrots? Celery? Onions?".... He was making a salad for someone restaurant. Unless they were in a wheelchair, there is no reason for this.

Okay, I'm through ranting. Can you tell how much I hate cell phones?

[SparklingDiamond]

Reminds me of last year, my mom got a new cell phone and I wanted to go to the fair. She decided to give me her brand new cell phone on the day she got it, and expect me not to loose it. Well, I lost it. I told her it was her own fault because she should have known not to give it to me. (I loose everything) We never got it back, but she got a new one (which broke). Ok, I'm done.

[Corinna]

I have Cellular one and I have had very few problems but maybe thats becouse I have a bulldog of a rep that gets on the phone and tells the company what they are going to do for me. Never try dealing with the company direct go to a rep. When we had analog phones (four years ) switced to digital last summer. The analog got out better than any thing the hubbys bosses had. (new digital full packages) The bosses were always using his phone. I haven't had but a couple problems but they were proven to be weather related (blizzards really mess up towers) we have the western 45 any thing west of the Mississippi is f ree No roaming. and Tim has the primary phone and I have a buddy phone. 3000 mintue on his I get 800 but I switch to his if I run out. He has caller ID and voice mail the only feachers , I have non ant it is $70.00 a month so I got rid of our long distance on our home phone all it really is for now is internet or messages on machine if I'm off line.
I am one of those people who hate the phone,I put in a phone for me to call out not for people to call me. So very few people have my cell number.