Cingular/AT&T Responds To Class Action Suit
Do you feel like Cingular’s service quality has fallen significantly since their merger with AT&T? You’re not alone. A class-action lawsuit was filed in 2004 in a Seattle district court, alleging that former AT&T customers who didn’t transfer service to the big Orange experienced terrible call quality and spotty service. This may all be a bit of a moot point by now, but Cingular/AT&T issued a written rebuttal last week, maintaining that the suit was "completely without merit" and are moving for a dismissal of charges. If the case does, in fact, proceed, it could have significant ramifications for cell contracts as a whole, agreements that are notoriously limiting for consumers.
[Via tulsaworld]
I thought their quality went up since their merger with AT&T wireless or are we talking about AT&T the company?
All I know is I’ve been subjected to more dropped calls and random outages (including sim errors) since the recent merger than I every had when it was just Cingular.
The whole thing so far has been a mess. I love Cingular … and I wish it would have just stayed Cingular.
THEY ARE HORRIBLE. I came from verizon, I knew I was going to be giving up some call quality, but what I have had is total garbage….dropped calls, failed calls, broken up calls…I LIVE IN NYC, what a joke. “fewest dropped calls”, what a joke
We were with the old AT&T Wireless just before they were acquired by Cingular. Since we already had GSM phones, we thought that the service should improve. But we were sadly mistaken.
The acquisition was partly a scam for Cingular to torture customers of the former AT&T Wireless into purchasing new Cingular-badged phones, even if only the identical model for big $$$$. We finally got them to confess that they were actually stealing AT&T Wireless cell towers to make the service better for compliant suckers who just rolled over and shelled out their money for the ‘new’ Cingular GSM phones that in reality were no different.
At first Cingular tried to lie and claimed that their SIM chips wouldn’t work in the AT&T-badged versions of phones, even if the models were the same. To test that unlikely claim, we had a few AT&T phones unlocked. Of course the Cingular chips worked just fine in the AT&T versions! Then the next lie was that the AT&T versions could not handle all of the frequency bands that the Cingular versions could handle–another LIE.
Finally, after we had caught Cingular in too many documentable lies, and filed fraud complaints with the FTC and a couple of state AG’s, they capitulated and provided new Cingular-badged replacements ‘free’–but we still had to sell our souls for 2-year service agreements on our part.
The class-action suit against Cingular is packed full of merrit. Of course those crooks would deny their obvious guilt!
geez all i hear from cingular customers that complain is verizon is better. T-mobile is cheaper. If Verizon is so damn good then go back to verizon…oh wait thats right if they were so good you wouldnt of left them and went to cingular anyways. People say that cingular forced them over from AT&T and the phones wouldnt work, any (most) unlocked phones will work on just as long as they are GSM, in some way or another. We combined the networks. And yes the new phones work on both towers (integrated) instead of just one set of towers. And the fewest dropped calls title that we got was from an independ research company, is it true, mostly of course no service provider can promise coverage all the time. But just because we were titled with the fewest dropped calls everyone bitches about having one. We arent saying they arent gonna happen just not as much overall than anyone else. We have rollover, M2M, we charge roaming charges in the US unless a network error. Example Verizon Wireless : my friends family had/has their nationwide FT plan with (no roaming) but they came to a state that doesnt have verizon coverage they were charged .69cent a min. Example Cingular Wireless, i roamed off Gsm towers in kansas were there were no cingular tower or service no per min charges. i guess what im trying to say is every has their perks but cingular is the best
You’re out of your mind saying Cingular is the best…And Verizon Coverage is NATIONWIDE, any .69 per minute charge within the US was an Error, which happens EVERY SINGLE MONTH on most every cingular bill I see.
We would expect a pack-of-lies advertisement from a Cingular employee. We know what we experienced and what Cingular’s own support people finally confessed after we outflanked their stupid cover stories in our contacts with them. Yes Cingular deliberately sabotaged call quality for those who had AT&T-provided and AT&T-LOCKED GSM phones. There was no roll-over, no full cell tower coverage, and no decent treatment by Cincular, UNLESS we agreed to their flim-flam of selling us ALL NEW PHONES that happened to be LOCKED to Cingular. We just said >>NO
Additionally,
We filed formal fraud complaints against Cingular, and eventually got our “big payoff” in the form of new free Cingular-locked phones to get us to drop the fraud charges. These are public events documented in public records, so rather than try to spin a tale on contrary pro-Cingular lies, just look them up and read the whole pathetic account for yourself! Talk about drinking the company cult koolaid.
And yes, Verizon has had its moments of pure evil too. And yes, we have gone after them too for gaming the roaming minutes billing in their favor to the tune of several hundred dollars in a single month of fraudulent charges. They too were trounced in court for that one in a class-action suit. Dirtbags all.
Just had my annual argue with cingular for me free gsm phone that works on the gsm network. First they could not find that clause in my plan… then they found it but my phone was not available … tried to pass off a piece of trash … then a supervisor said my account had ” expired” and as such I would get NO phones … funny thing thought the expiration date was a couple of months after they gave me my last free phones … which as you all know would be a violation of their own rules to extend contracts every time a phone is given … the supervisor said yes that is the policy and somehow they filed to extend my plan .. get this .. on all three of my lines …
Any lawyers invovled in the class action want to add another plaintiff let me know …. have about three years of billing errors as evidence … as well ….
I am an original AT&T customer. Ever since Cingular took over the service has been terrible as compaired to what I had before. Every time I call in they say it is because I need a new phone. I have a Nokia 6620. The phone itself has actually been extreamly reliable. My options are to take a Razor flip or switch to a new plan … My $99 a month unlimited incoming and outgoing cannot be switched over to Cingular. So much for seamless! Now the are going to be AT&T again. Service? Hasnt changed for me. Still drop more calls. Phone feature that I lost? Still cant use them. Why? AT&T, Cingular and AT&T do not want to honor a contract they made. Anyone who was on the original $99 a month plan and was “Forced” off it should join this class action! How do I join it?
As far as Service. I am familiar with Verizon, Sprint, Nextel an of course AT&Tingular. My phone works, His doesnt. Her phone works, mine doesnt. There was even a place only Nextel worked. Just depends where you are at the time of the call. I seem to drop alot of calls standing still.
all i know cingular is good for me and NEVER had droped call in my last 2 years, yet maybe they do get bad service some times their service works for me and accualy you can compare services, every one with the ine that work for them.
I have a couple of questions.
Preface: I’m on the old ATT unlimited talk for $99/month – completely unbeatable when you use 8000 minutes a month and there are no roaming or long distance charges. Lately, my call clarity sucks.
Does anyone know that if I was actually on a cingular plan that my reception would be better or the same?
Also, I can manually switch my network to T-Mobile and my phone works fine and seems to work better, but are there any ramifaction for that? (I hear they may kick me off my plan if I start connecting to T-mobile network everytime). I’m in the Phoenix area if that helps.
YOU NEVER HAD A DROPPED CALL IN TWO YEARS, YEAH RIGHT. YOU MUST HAVE BEEN STANDING IN THE SAME POSITION FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS.
I have been billed every month for over a year for IM charges. In July of 06 I called and added MSM option, yet I still charged the regular rate. On more than two occassions Supervisiors have promised to credit my account and add the MSM option. It still hasnt happened.
ATT / Cingular has the worst customer service Ive ever expericened.
Is there any agency to report there billing practices to???
Cingular has done nothing but scam it’s customers on everything from rollover minutes to rebates. I used to be an employee at the AT&T rebate centre, and it was pretty much our policy to make it as difficult as possible for the consumers.
I was with Verizon and never had any problems. Now in 10 mile freeway strech in Los Angeles, 5 dropped calls, then as I am speaking with Cingular it says network busy and disconnects.
I have gone back to the “lack of customer service store” where I traded my phone number to Cingular, because after my conversation with them that day, they called my office and told them to tell me to take the phone to the store that that is the problem. The store told me to call 611. False advertising
what ron chavarria said in the 16th post here, is the most incoherent post I have ever seen. I don’t even know if that was english
I am truly sadden by the clarity of cingular / AT&T. It is truly terrible. Drop calls, poor to unbearable clarity, in fact, sometimes I can not even understand what the other person is say on the other end due to unbearable interference.
My company phone with cingular is truly terrible. I have a personal phone with Verizon and it is clear as day compared to my cingular company phone. Most times I have to use my personal phone (Verizon) to call my customers because cingular is just plain unclear.
I wish my company would change services. It’s that bad.
Your site is perfect!
We had Cingular which we cancelled in 2002. Their billing system was terrible. Sometimes they would charge us a late fee even though we ALWAYS paid on time. Now, FIVE years later a collection agency is saying we owe overw $1000! We had never received any bill or notice, now five years later our credit history is toast. Can we be involved in this lawsuit? Can someone contact me at victim93@aol.com? Thanks.
I’m am just sick and tired of the beaureucratic bullshit that Cingular and the new at&t is putting us customers through. It should be against the law to keep re-branding and switching from one name to the other( along with these changes come bad customer service and every possible consumer mistreatment). I have had enough. I’m glade they are being sued good for their butts.. I can’t go through this any longer I’m switching carries and is going to leave it at that, they will not see another dollar from me.If we the consumers stick together and band the new at&t and Cingular they will be force to get their act right. I propose a boycott on the service. What do you think?
When AT&T went to Cingular we went with them (from Sprint) and even took family & friends who had (and hated) AT&T. For the last two years Cingular has been AWESOME. Not one dropped call at all. But we did have to keep going back for new sim cards for the p.o.s phones they gave us. No biggie. But now we upgraded to the 3125 six months ago, which wasn’t cheap even with the trade up, and for the last few weeks everyone on our network either doesn’t GET a signal or we’ll have two bars, take two steps and get nothing but a dropped call and vm when trying to call the person back. I called and got a cranky guy who said all he could do was put a push to the phone. Didn’t work. I asked them if our contract was up because it said it was on the website and I was told since it’s in my husband’s name he can’t tell me that. So hub’s called them AGAIN yesterday and now they’re playing “it’s the sim card or the phone” and I know it’s not because EVERYONE on our network is having the same problem. I printed out the page that said our contract is up and I want to get rid of them, but hub’s is giving me a hard time about it since he rarely uses his & doesn’t see a problem. When I call them to fix it I get told they can’t do much because it’s not in my name. We already went thru hell with Sprint and had we known AT&T was even considering coming back to Cingular we sure as hell wouldn’t have upgraded our phones – we would have waited it out and then switched.
I’m glad this post exists. I am currently still on the “old” AT&T network with a Nokia 6800 phone- a phone that was “well before it’s time”. I love the flip out qwerty keyboard, as I text alot- seeing as the phone quailty completly sucks, it’s all I’ve got.
I feel like Cingular is trying to force me off the “Legacy” AT&T network by reducing the number of towers I can connect to. Tons of dropped calls, “Dead zones”, fast busy ringtones when hanging up, “Network busy” errors. Cingular forced me to change my plan, I had the old $99 plan, and they didn’t offer anything remotely close to it. If any other provider out there offered a phone like the 6800, I would switch in a heartbeat- I have no ties to AT&T/Cingular, my contract ended months ago.
It’s sad to say, but it makes me feel slightly better to see others are sharing in this problem- I thought I was going crazy.
Thanks for this post, I hope we can hang Cingular/AT&T out to dry. Then once we’re done with them- CoNcast (ahem, Comcast) should be dealt with next.
For laughs, check this out: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v381092WjGNGM3d
I’m ready to jump on the Class Action Train. In one year of my phone costs, I can buy a decent used car ($13, AT&T/Cingular just extended 13 of my contracts before asking if I wanted to, and then tells me that if I want to upgrade any phones, I have a 24 hour window to do so, then we’ll be ineligible for an upgrade for another 21 months. Oh, really? Well thanks for making sure I was OK with it.
We own a business called Todd’s Carwash. Unlimited wireless communication is important. About 7 months ago we decided to convert our account to a business account because we had 13 lines and needed a more efficient way to manage our plans than Family Talk plans, which averaged about $550-600/mo for 700 min per group. Overages were never a problem, since M2M is unlimited. Because we had more than 10 lines, the cheapest plan we could get was a 7,000 minute pool for all lines to share for $415/mo +each addl. line. After all the MEdia options and tax was added up, the bills began to total about $1,100 a month. On the first bill for $1,450, I thought that since it was a prorated month that it would go down to maybe $750, $800 at the most. Our monthly bill has never gone below $1,100 since. At $13,200 a year to talk on the phone, it’s time to rethink.
A week ago I decided that FamilyTalk just might be worth the hassle If I will save $500/mo. I have to perform a “Transfer of Service” and get a completely new account, something I didn’t have to do when going from personal-to-business (all I gave them was my Tax ID). After the transfer was completed, I got a call telling me that I’ve been automatically signed up for 13 2-year agreement extentions on all the lines.
I had two arguments. I didn’t consent to them renewing any contracts, and I have been suffering with buying phones at full price and am soon due for an upgrade, which I was hoping would be for a BlackBerry Curve. “I haven’t heard of the Curve yet. Another carrier might have exclusive rights over it and we may not get it”. “This isn’t the issue. The issue is that you allowed 13 contract extentions to go through without first reading me any Terms and Conditions for Transfer of Service.
Nothing was accomplished to my benefit in that call besides my new account, 13 unjustifiably extended contracts, and the FamilyTalk plans. I’m ready to sue. I’ll be forced to buy two more years of service from them. At our new rate of about $720/mo plus tax, I think we can find something better to invest $17,280 in.. maybe court costs.
A7 are you still on this discussion? If so, how do you file a formal fraud complaint? I’m also sick and tired of this abuse. My husband and I signed up for a family plan with AT&T in Sept 2004. A month later the company was taken over by Cingular. A few months after that my phone broke. I couldn’t get a replacement phone because we were still on the “AT&T plan”, but they offered to sell me a new Cingular phone (at full list price), switch our plan over to Cingular, and that would have required my husband to also buy a new phone (at full price) in order to keep a family plan, which would have cost us hundreds of dollars, because we were still within the first year of the contract so we weren’t yet eligible for an upgrade. Instead I bought a used AT&T phone on EBay for $100.00. It’s worked fine but I agree that the AT&T service is terrible. Now, in March 2007, my husband’s AT&T phone broke. So he went to the Cingular store, and they gave him the same story, that if he wanted a new phone he’d have to switch our plan to Cingular and I’d need to buy a new phone too. He desperately needed a replacement phone immediately, and I was out of town, so he bought a new Cingular phone and Cingular plan. So for the past 2 months we have been paying for 2 plans. Today I finally went to the Cingular store and they told me that to get a phone comparable to the one I have I’d need to spend a bunch of money. My only other option is to pay for a service to unlock my AT&T phone to put it on the Cingular plan my husband is on, and pay a transfer fee. Either way it is costing me more money and Cingular/AT&T is making money by taking advantage of its customers.