me too,I gotta laugh, you know some of them think that, its funny ****!!!

who the heck would ask these question....they should feel... 🤭

*BG* Me too. "Why did I get these roaming charges??"

"Well, you went up to Ontario, Canada, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So Canada is a whole other country and is not covered in the US DOR Plan"

🤣 🤣

"Why would you guys charge for calls to canada?"

"...Becuase it's a differnt country."

"Even 1-800 numbers?"

"Yes, every phone company outside of canada charges for calls to canada."

"that's crazy!"

LMAO

I'd have probably asked "why would we not?"

Not really. Standar protocol. That's an upgrade fee. Existing customers pay it when they upgrade too. And working for Business Markets Group, you know that we are doing some things to keep AT&T customers on their plans, by selling them Cingular equipment for those plans! Consumers only wish they could do that... 😁

I keep reading about the $18 migration fee from ATTWS to Cingular. Personally, I think its ridiculous. When the day comes for many they're going to tell Cingular to stick it & they'll go to another carrier. Is is worth losing a percentage of your business for $18? Hell no! Waive it or lose $500 a year or more per customer.

These aren't new customers. They're already filling Cingular's coffers. They won't be going anywhere if they're given respect as the Cingular customers they already are, albeit with ATTWS contracts.

Cingular may have this as a rule, & I've read of some getting it waived & some who don't, but Cingular needs to ditch this charge or risk losing business.

I just don't see the thrill the employee posters get telling ...
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Cry me a river... Why do we charge $18 to Migrate? Maybe because we coughed up $41 billion to buy you whiners...

Do we owe ATWTS customers anything? Not a thing... YOU chose to be w/ ATTWS... ATTWS went belly up... Boo-Hoo...

Do you have to go to Cingular? No, You can go to any other carrier... If you're under contract you will be charged Early Termination Fees...

The $18 Is technically for equipment... It's the same as a Cingular customer getting a new phone... They pay the $18 fee...

You're obnoxious, and don't seem to understand the value of money...

Once again we coughed up $41 billion, you also wants us to give away phones for free and give you 6 months free worth of service because YOU chose a dying company?

I unders...
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speck said:
Cry me a river... Why do we charge $18 to Migrate? Maybe because we coughed up $41 billion to buy you whiners...

Do we owe ATWTS customers anything? Not a thing... YOU chose to be w/ ATTWS... ATTWS went belly up... Boo-Hoo...

Do you have to go to Cingular? No, You can go to any other carrier... If you're under contract you will be charged Early Termination Fees...

The $18 Is technically for equipment... It's the same as a Cingular customer getting a new phone... They pay the $18 fee...

You're obnoxious, and don't seem to understand the value of money...

Once again we coughed up $41 billion, you also wants us to give away phones for free and give you 6 months free worth of service because YOU ch

...
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And thank you speck & megs for saying what the $18 charge is really about. That's the info customers need to know, but the posts here & I suspect the customers too are not being explained this info.

Well when we are paying $300 for a phone from Motorola and giving it to the customer for 49.99 , then the cus picks a meager 39.99 plan and maxes out their N&W mins every month. Then calls us every month to ask about their balance. We are hemoraging money on that customer. What customers don't understand is that these new phones are very expensive and complex and we have to pay for them, then hope the customer will use that phone for 3 years before calling back and whining about a new phone. I don't agree with with the charge, but I understand it. Also, we have plenty of people migrating they want the Rollover Mins...so its not like a lot of people are not migrating because of the fee.

canddmeyer

ATTWS will stay till their hand id forced.Welcome here comes the pressure.

1)There are NO MORE ATTWS phones.Produsction was stopped.Inventtory was sold and runs out on or before Dec 31,2004.Better pray you have a good ATTWS that never gets broken.

2)Never need to change your plan.Cingular only has to honur the plan and promotion you had at the time of the Buyout.Ned to change your plan for any reason, such as account consolidation,account split, changing from one market to another, going from local plan to national plan.Any reasons like these and you lose ALL promtions cuz you lose them with any change and since there are no more new plans or new promotions, you can your ATTWS plan,but no goodies like mobile to mobile nig...
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1) No doubt about it. Hard to believe, but most everyone I know who has a battery go dead would rather take the freebie with the two-year contract than go purchase a replacement battery.

2) Cingular has similar offerings.

3) All companies make adjustments somewhere. We're just not privy to who got what most of the time. As for collections, IT'S ABOUT TIME, but all companies have this issue. Still, the cost of recovery is expensive, & most companies won't credit report or send to collections anything under $50, although that figure may now be higher.

4) I'll add this. Cingular got a gold mine with their purchase of ATTWS, with an established customer base & GSM too.

cingular makes adjustments for bill errors,not for people that want "JUST CUZ" how else you think they coud afford to pay 41 billion in basically a cash transaction?????

BST & SBC

SBC was sitting on a bunch of cash, and not all of it came from their Cingular operation. I read about the "just cuz", but doubt it's made any difference as to where the $41 billion came from.

On a different subject, what surprises me most about Cingular reps is a posting I saw on a CWA blog about the 70% employee turnover rate at what I believe was their Tulsa center. Mindboggling to me, especially for a union job. Mismanagement or job stress, I dunno, but the turnover rate is the worst I've heard for any job. I found that post most intriguing. Anyway, wish y'all the best.

you will always see that in a call center environment.

You're right... I have forgotten that Cingular customer's that came from ATTWS do not have the "re-education" our Legacy Cingular customer's have...

So the $18 Migration/Activation/Upgrade fee... Whatever you want to call it is for the phone... and standard for everyone even legacy Cingular customers...

One thing though... ATTWS was dying... ATT Broadband died as well, they were not sold for short term profit... They were buried due to horrible management... The tactics that were used for ATT Broadband was buy out everyone competing with you in markets that you have no foothold... This puts the company in debt... The same tactic behind ATTWS... This tactic can work by making up for it in profit revenue by the customer base... In the ...
(continues)

So your saying 41 billion for Brand recognition, pretty expensive for a name can only use for 6 months

It wasn't just for the name... What my post indicated was that the name was the reason it was so much... The network and customer base could have been purchased for about 34 - 37 billion maybe less, had it not beared the ATTWS name... It's the name that jacked it up to $41 billion dollars...

Let's take an example... When Microsoft had their buyout spree... They purchased no name companies for a couple hundred thousand... But other companies w/ recognized brand names sold for millions... Even if the assets were similar in some instances the same.

Does this clear things up for you? I'm no teacher and won't go into basic Business or Economics w/ you but this is a simplified version.

ATTWS charged a $15 discounted activation fee aswell, but also made you pay $9.95 for the shipping, where as through cingular you don't. Most carriers charge a fee when you upgrade. If $18 is too mouch money, you could always go to another carrier and pay the full $36 🙄

ATTws was sold at about .50 cents per dollar spent in building the company. AT&T preferred share holders got the benefit of the spin off but shared holders who invested money after the spin off lost 40% of their invested principal.

The company was "JUNKED" for at least the entire 2003 and now after the merger with Cingular the new company has been "JUNKED" as well. The good thing is that Cingular has Bellsouth and SBC as parent companies to keep it afloat.

ATTws was dying quickly bleeding operating income at 20% in only 3 months from December 2003 to February 2004.

ATTws was bleeding about 130,000 customers per month from March 2004 to July 2004 (there after I didn't have any access to data).

ATTws was on the verge of dissappear...
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Look, I deal with the business customers who had no choice BUT to go with AWS because all other carriers had terrible rates for businesses. And now with Cingular charging a fee just because they now own the company is rediculous. In my opinion, the customers shouldn't be charged because it is technically moving to the SAME COMPANY!!

Not really. You shouldn't expect loyality credits from migrating customers as they weren't loyal cingular customers anyway.

You say "just because"...That is the nature of business, if you don't like it, you can go to another carrier, or get out of the business world.

let me sum things up in a civilized manner for everybody to try to stop the bickering:

- With every company, there are good customer service reps (CSRs) and bad CSRs; some companies (like ATTWS and Cingular) get a reputation for bad customer service for a reason - they have bad processes and or systems that result in errors, confusion, and sometimes misleading information for customers.

- Like there are good and bad CSRs, there are also good and bad customers. Some customers are always trying to cheat the system and save a buck. Others are either too lazy or ignorant to understand the terms of the contract. At the same time, there are well-meaning, educated customers who truly understand their contracts but the aforementioned sys...
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la_blue_devil said:It is like invading a country and forcing one's own system of government on those people.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

Dude, that's WHY you invade someone...

I agree with about 90% of what you said.the only thing I would dispute would be the "activation fees".There is only a activation fee if a customer tries to cheat the company by taking a new activation pricing for the web offers, then call in as to the fee, which they in fact know, as it tells them all that information prior to completing the order.

If they are a existing customer whether its cingular or the former ATTWS, they are not paying a activation fee, for attws customers, it used to be called the "UPF" upgrade processing fee of $15.00, and in addition a $9.95 for shippping and handling fee, where the cingular customer pay a $18.00 upgrade fee, which combines the upgrade and shipping into one fee, less then attws was FYI.

There a...
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they are essentially upgrading, and there is a fee for that. they are getting out of any obligation with ATTWS, and they do not NEED to migrate.
So, then they go to verizon and pay $35 to activate, or T mobile or sprint??

For people who are upset about the 18.00 discounted activaton fee or migration fee, just did a search through some of our competitors: Nextel has a 15.00 upgrade fee if you order a phone through cc, plus s/h, and if you go into a store the upgrade fee is 35.00. For Verizon every two years if you sign a new agreement, you get a 100.00 discount off of your phone. And with T-mobile they said there is no fee to upgrade, i find that hard to believe but straight from the horses mouth. So nextel is more expensive than the 18.00 Cingular charges and Verizon is a rip off, We offer discounted equipment pricing every year and you get discounts on either a 1 year cotract or a two year contract. What we all need to realize is that this is a place of busi...
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Of course not, but that's because Ford doesn't have a charge for using their cars 🙂

You have to pay to get your oil changed, you have to have it inspected, you have to have regular checkup's to maintain your warrenty, these are all cost associated with owning a Ford or any other car, you can't go into the dealership and say, i spent 30,000 on this truck 6 month ago so i should get free maintenance. Or i have been driving Ford's for 20 years so i should get tires every year. Once you buy the car, it is up to you to maintain it, if there is a warrenty issue, there is a fee for the labour, which in the wireless world would be out 14.99 warrenty fee. 🤣

Not trying to agree or disagree with the $18 charge, but many auto dealers now are providing free maintenance with a new car purchase as an incentive to sell more cars.

la_blue_devil said:
Not trying to agree or disagree with the $18 charge, but many auto dealers now are providing free maintenance with a new car purchase as an incentive to sell more cars.

Good point but the cars are subsidized by the Federal government, as they are considered a neccesity of life, whereas the wireless phone is considered a LUXURY and not subsidized, but in fact taxed upon more by the county, state, and Federal governments.

Sure they do. You buy their cars.

But cars and wireless are different. Ford makes a product that you buy... a vehicle. Wireless service provides a service. However, to use this service, you must have a phone... produced by... a MANUFACTURER.

It's my opinion that the service providers should not be selling phones or doing anything related to equipment. Customers should be responsible for their own equipment. Oh wait. Legally, customers are responsible for their own equipment. The service providers hold no warranties on the equipment... but they are still expected to provide equipment. *sigh*

What a dirty word... responsibility.

13) Why can't I get moto Razr V3 for free? I've paid you over $80,000 a year on my one line account w/ a rp for $39.99!!!

14) I play golf w/ your VP! He said I could get all fees waived! Don't make me call him...

15) What do you mean you can't give me nationwide unlimited minutes for $5/mo?! Another carrier would do it because they value their customers!

16) What do you mean you can't make me a ringtone? How hard can it be? I figured if you wanted to satisfy me as a customer you would make me a ringtone! I am more important than 20 million other people!

(This last one was an actual call, It took every last inch of will I had not to laugh at him)

17) What do you mean you don't do wake up calls. Your supposed to supply my needs

(true call. My friend got it. I told her she should have said she would be happy to give him a wake up call the next day).

14) Dooood... you'd be better off playing golf w/ the vp of MOTOROLA and calling him for a phone. sheesh.

hehe

Can't make him a ringtone? You should have said "Poof, you're a ringtone! bwahahahahahaha"

I had a customer tell me they thought Canada was in their plan, local plan. And they also told me Canada is a part fo the US so it should be... 🤣

paulbear78 said:
Sir, would it be too much trouble if i ask you to run to a store and purchase another prepaid card?

I wonder how the guy responded to that?

my guess was ****, **** SON OF BITCH< BASTARD, the usual!!!

I love my cusotmers...I love our reps. I just got to give a customer a rerate because an Orlando rep told the customer if they port out in the middle of the cycle it will be prorated and the rep noted it! THANX PAL! Made that call easy! I will still probably get dinged by C&A though.

True Dat!

🤣

Just accept the compliment and move on

Thats the **** 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 😈 😈 😈 😈

That is so incredibly norbid. hehe 😈 😈

lol hilaroius. im gonna remeber that one. 😈

🤣 omg thats horrible.. lol.. how do you ppl keep your job??? 😛

Thats actually a nice idea but our Caller ID is based on what the customer enters into the system, and if they enter in a fake number or something not recognized then caller ID comes up as all 9's

Policy states that you ask them three times if there is a wireless issue you can help them with, if not you will have to release the call...you say that three times then release. Thats all...or warn them for foul language or just release the call right away, Quality does not monitor calls under 1 min...usually qualities parameters are 3-7 minute calls are all they monitor...rarely do they monitor calls outside of that time limit. Thats why we never get credit for that hour long gut buster where you turn a customer who hates us into a customer who loves us! Also I have never had quality monitor a call where I read dead air scripting...never in all the years I worked here...I usually don't bother anymore.

i'd say, hmm, well maybe you should look into hitting puberty or something? hormones might work! 😁

But omg, what if he really was that old? oh no, how embarassing.. 🤭

yeah that could have been bad, judging from the response I doubt it

what do they usually say to that?

The customer will generally thank me, then commence to beating the hell outta the kids, while I overhear the exchange anbd cheer them.