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I KNEW IT!

judog2g

Aug 10, 2005, 1:21 PM
You may remember me from last week from a thread I started complaining about the fact that i couldn't check my minutes. My billing cycle stated on 7/24. Knowing that I was not able to keep track of my minutes I have been using my Verizon phone (thank goodness) and my cingular phone was has been used little to none except on the weekends and 3 nights ( I wrote the minutes used down). I called into customer service almost everyday until 8/5 and tech filed a ticket with no etr. I spoke to 9 reps and 4 sups.

I was finally able to check my minutes on Fri. 8/5 at 7:52pm est. My usage read as follows: 433 anytime min. remaining out of 450, 4,273 out of 5000 n&w min remaining, and 200 hundred rollover minute remaining. From the minutes that I ha...
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texaswireless

Aug 10, 2005, 1:26 PM
I don't think we ever heard where you are located and if you are possibly using "partner" towers which may not update to your *min# feature in a timely manner.
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homeslice5484

Aug 10, 2005, 1:35 PM
last month when they updated the MY ACCOUNT online, it said i had used 278 of 450 minutes and 1 minute of overage. I think the site was screwed up after the update. Anyone confirm?
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judog2g

Aug 10, 2005, 1:56 PM
Pretty much all the reps except on a**hole told me that this seems like a system issue. I just dont have the patience, time, or energy to put up with this. I worked for them so I know how jacked up the systems can be. This companies a f***ing joke. I know I would be responsible for these charges, but this blows.
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Kainoa

Aug 11, 2005, 3:35 PM
FOR VZW i dont have anyt problems i wrote down my minutes i used and called #MIN (#646) and it told me how many i used and it was correct
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judog2g

Aug 12, 2005, 3:48 PM
me neither!
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terryjohnson16

Aug 11, 2005, 11:05 PM
Will you head to T-Mobile? If, so, we are waiting for you to join the Get More family.
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judog2g

Aug 10, 2005, 1:51 PM
I live in northern new jersey. That is besides the point use some common sense. I didn't use all off those minutes first of all. I did the calculations from those dates and it totaled 10800 mins in that 15 day period from times 7am until 7pm (12 hours because of early evenings). That means I would have to be on the phone 6 1/2 straight hours for those days after 7pm. I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep everyday. I inherited two family businesses and believe me if you want to have maintain them you better not be on the phone that much I'm not a teenager.

I printed out the usage info for the website and went thru EVERY SINGLE CALL. The anytime minutes used came up to 135 and the N&W minutes used were 967 minutes. WTF is wrong with these...
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joachim

Aug 10, 2005, 2:38 PM
that sucks man
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texaswireless

Aug 10, 2005, 2:39 PM
NP man, sorry it doesn't work for you. Based on your previous message it said what you added up was accurate.

If you live in an area where you use "partner" or roaming towers the minutes show up as delayed in *min#.

I asked where you lived before to se if that was the issue. Just trying to help.
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judog2g

Aug 10, 2005, 3:13 PM
I appreciate your willingness to help but you don't understand the issue (Like another guy from Texas we all know 😈 ). I DID NOT USE 6,991 MINUTES. I'm not worried about delayed minutes from roaming partners not reported yet.
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texaswireless

Aug 10, 2005, 4:16 PM
Sounds good.

Lots of luck to you 😁
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Liam20

Aug 10, 2005, 1:41 PM
Well at least you HAVE the option to check your minutes with Cingular, may not be accurate, but its the thought that counts. 😁
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judog2g

Aug 10, 2005, 2:06 PM
I'm not laughing. Everybody I know from my clients, friends, family, and customers will know that cingular is just a smoke screen. I can't wait until Verizon passes them now.

What national carrier doesn't give u the option to check your minutes? Verizon, Sprint/nextel, and T-mobile's system is real time and updates immediately after a call is made, but cInGular takes 7 to 10 days to be accurate. Attws used to do it all the time before the on line customer service was set up. Their TDMA service offered no way to check. I seriously think that is a scheme and I surely reported it to the FCC.
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ralph_on_me

Aug 10, 2005, 2:13 PM
So your minute estimater isn't correct, but whne you print up your minutes of use it has you listed as 135 daytime minutes and that part is? It sounds like the only problem is with whatever is being used to count up these minutes, but the billed portion is correct. Is that the case?

How is that an FCC issue? BBB maybe, for us running a crappy website, but not FCC.
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judog2g

Aug 10, 2005, 2:25 PM
I am talking about the current usage. I printed out the current usage call detail from the website but I also check thru media net, *646#, and 611.

The star services that cingular uses to track the air time is an FCC issue i was informed.
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ralph_on_me

Aug 10, 2005, 2:32 PM
The detailed usage was correct though, right? I think you said that somewhere in here. That's the part that will show up on the bill, so hopefully it is and the main problem isn't with billing but with whatever other means we're tracking minutes by.

There's no telling what could be screwing it up. We're shown current usage through what we use at work, but I don't trust those numbers either. I hope something can be changed, since it will make my job easier, but I can't see the FCC being able to do much.
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drumminf00l

Aug 12, 2005, 8:06 PM
The star services is not an FCC issue, Jamster is an FCC issue, MQube is an FCC issue, not the star services. It clearly states on every text message sent to your phone, "See cingular.com for limitations applicable to this service" when you go to cingular.com and check your minutes, it clearly states that the minutes are not real time, they are delayed, b/c cingular has to wait on other companies to report usage to us, thats the way the billing system is set up, not an FCC issue,
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joachim

Aug 10, 2005, 2:41 PM
Verizon Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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iloveMOTOV300

Aug 10, 2005, 3:46 PM
Keep calling them to get this fixed. Then drop them like the bad carrier that they are!
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AdamDavid85

Aug 10, 2005, 5:36 PM
Read the fine print. What you get with *min# is an ESTIMATION of your minute usage to date that is updated about once every 24 HOURS. Depending upon when you used the phone last, you may have checked your estimated usage before minutes you already used were added to that tally. It amazes me that with all the horror stories everyone spews 24/7 about wireless carriers, nobody bothers to read these things more carefully...
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wolfspider73

Aug 10, 2005, 9:15 PM
calling in every day is not going to get the issue resolved either. it's a waste of your valuable time. Once a troubleticket has been filed, that means the issue has been escalated to our NSC. It's not customer care that gets it fixed, it's our technicians and systems gurus. If they've provided you with a troubleticket number, you can call all day everyday, it won't speed things along.

Secondly, it was never designed nor intended to accurately predict your bill. Because your phone is capable of and designed to roam on partner network's towers to increase the range of your device, that partner carrier has up to 45 days to report those minutes to us. Wireless is a compromise. In exchange for greater freedom, you trade off some certainty. Yo...
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judog2g

Aug 11, 2005, 8:57 AM
"technicians and systems gurus"
🤣 They are out to lunch. You are giving them to much credit with those titles.


"In exchange for greater freedom, you trade off some certainty"

I don't know what type of patriot you are giving up freedom for anything. I pay for certainty, not freedom. In our Constitution (a forgot document it seems) freedom is supposed to be our God given right.

"You want certainty, stick to landline service".

No, I'll stick with Verzion wireless.
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wolfspider73

Aug 11, 2005, 4:52 PM
good grief what a ridiculous statement ... "I don't know what type of patriot you are giving up freedom for anything. I pay for certainty, not freedom. In our Constitution (a forgot document it seems) freedom is supposed to be our God given right." ... I'm not talking about personal rights and freedoms, nor does this have ANYTHING to do with patriotism. The freedom I was referring to, since we are on a site dedicated to mobile phones and mobile technology, is the freedom to place and receive phone calls while not tethered to a landline. Wireless, as a technology, is a compromise. There are limits to what you can do, natural and physical barriers to wireless signal. Also, technology is prone to failure and system glitches. If you want to del...
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bluesnot

Aug 12, 2005, 1:32 AM
Yeah.. I couldn't keep a straight face while reading that post either.
Patriotism and cellular phones? Perfect computer systems and machines? Anything manmade can never be perfect. Especially computers.
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judog2g

Aug 11, 2005, 8:41 AM
AdamDavid85 said:
Read the fine print. What you get with *min# is an ESTIMATION of your minute usage to date that is updated about once every 24 HOURS. Depending upon when you used the phone last, you may have checked your estimated usage before minutes you already used were added to that tally. It amazes me that with all the horror stories everyone spews 24/7 about wireless carriers, nobody bothers to read these things more carefully...


Read this you pinhead: THE ESTIMATION IS ABOUT 4500 MINUTES OFF! The estimation should be actually lower than the amount of minutes that are showing used. If you have read the fine print it will tells you that.

Why would the service show you an over estimated amount mi...
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iloveMOTOV300

Aug 11, 2005, 9:10 AM
Cingular reps love to over charge thier customers because they hate thier jobs and their customers and they could care less about whether or not they are doing something wrong. Just take a look at some of the posts in the Shop Talk forum. The reps love being evil to customers.
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ralph_on_me

Aug 11, 2005, 10:25 AM
That has to be the dumbest thing I've read in awhile. We can't just click a button and make you use more minutes or magically purchase ringtones you didn't authorize. Reps get pissed at customers because the customers are so mean to them in the first place. They're yelling and screaming at someone who didn't cause the problem, which only makes them want to help less.
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judog2g

Aug 11, 2005, 10:50 AM
Let me guess, you're a rep.
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ralph_on_me

Aug 11, 2005, 10:53 AM
Look in the profile. I'm an Agent.
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judog2g

Aug 11, 2005, 12:29 PM
😲 Whoa! Excuse me. You'll have Stigman's in no time. 😉
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iloveMOTOV300

Aug 11, 2005, 7:13 PM
Cingular is a company. A bad company, but still a company.
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lil_britney

Aug 11, 2005, 12:06 PM
FYI
If you call into care and talk to reps like you do online no wonder nobody is lookin into your issue, calling people pinheads and idiotic primates probably isn't goin to work in your favor.
No doubt there is an issue with the online view minutes but if you're callin up yellin at reps about the overage on your bill that hasnt printed yet no wonder they can't help you (or even want to help you) 🙄
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judog2g

Aug 11, 2005, 12:33 PM
I spoke to someone that will take care of it if . Sorry to ruin your fun. 😢 Now get back on your calls! 😎
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cellhound

Aug 14, 2005, 4:06 PM
ahh .lil_britney your a sight for sore eyes. but the britney spears obcession has got to end . pleeeaaassse . . .
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captainplooky

Aug 11, 2005, 3:06 AM
And to think most of the reps here harp on and on about how they gladly charge people for overage minutes despite protestations from the customer that they never did or could have used the minutes. It's as though they get some kind of sadist-like joy out of it for whatever twisted reason.

I understand that some customers will be dishonest about this - but I also understand that it would appear that Cingular has and continues to charge people for resources they in fact never used. Just like how they extend contracts, add features, and the other fraudulent practices they conduct on numerous occasions - if not daily.

Too bad though not all customers have the tenacity to discover such foul-play and are browbeaten by drones into believing...
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iloveMOTOV300

Aug 11, 2005, 9:08 AM
No need to duck my friend, because the FANTASTIC FOUR are here to save the day! We have Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Nextel. Cingular customers can take a sigh of relief because they don't have to tolerate thier tyrant anymore. Switch to one of the FANTASTIC FOUR today!
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judog2g

Aug 11, 2005, 9:27 AM
captainplooky said:
And to think most of the reps here harp on and on about how they gladly charge people for overage minutes despite protestations from the customer that they never did or could have used the minutes. It's as though they get some kind of sadist-like joy out of it for whatever twisted reason.

I understand that some customers will be dishonest about this - but I also understand that it would appear that Cingular has and continues to charge people for resources they in fact never used. Just like how they extend contracts, add features, and the other fraudulent practices they conduct on numerous occasions - if not daily.

Too bad though not all customers have the tenacity to discover such foul-play and
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iloveMOTOV300

Aug 11, 2005, 9:52 AM
That is one of my reasons for going back to prepay, with prepaid they can't charge you for something you didn't do!
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Georgia1

Aug 11, 2005, 10:18 AM
If you can prove that Cingular is overcharging and not correcting it, well, you should file a class action lawsuit, and cingular will be repaying that plus more to the customers.
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JephMan

Aug 11, 2005, 10:25 AM
Negative, read the T&C
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Jldnr77

Aug 11, 2005, 1:56 PM
Incorrect. He said CLASS ACTION lawsuit. No matter what your T's & C's say, if it can be proven a certain business practice is being performed regularly that shouldn't be, a class action lawsuit is not bound by the T's & C's because it's usually filed by another group in the interest of the customers anyway, so that group isn't bound by any terms or conditions anyway
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ralph_on_me

Aug 11, 2005, 4:34 PM
"You and Cingular agree that you and Cingular may bring claims against the other only in your or its individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any puported class or representative proceeding. Further, you agree that the arbitrator may not consolidate proceedings of more than one person's claims, and may not otherwise preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding, and that if this specific proviso is found to be unenforceable, then the entirety of this arbitration clause shall be null and void."

I think that covers class action lawsuits, but it goes on from there. As JephMan said, read your T&Cs. If somebody overrules the Arbitration clause then Cingular gets to sick their lawyers on you instead. Je...
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iloveMOTOV300

Aug 11, 2005, 4:44 PM
why bother taking Cingular to court? It is just cheaper to cancel service and pay the ETF. They will take the hint.
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captainplooky

Aug 11, 2005, 6:07 PM
Actually that portion of the contract is not valid and thus can be excluded. That is why they add:


if this specific proviso is found to be unenforceable, then the entirety of this arbitration clause shall be null and void


Kinkel versus Cingular is one such lawsuit that challenged this and was taken eventually to the Federal level where it was found that:


We conclude that the prohibition on class arbitrations is unconscionable.
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ralph_on_me

Aug 11, 2005, 6:14 PM
That part also says that Cingular doesn't have to abide by arbitration either. Cingular is bound to arbitration as well, unless the courts say it doesn't apply for whatever reason. I'd rather deal with an arbitrator when fighting a large company if I was the little man in a situation. (No bedroom jokes from the last sentence please)
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iloveMOTOV300

Aug 11, 2005, 7:25 PM
(No bedroom jokes from the last sentence please)

🤣

that last part was great!
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judog2g

Aug 11, 2005, 10:47 AM
Thats why I can't wait until the bill cycle end date. 😉 I saw it happen to people, but I didn't care enough to be a whistle blower. I just wanted to get the customer off the phone. Sad, but that how I felt when I worked there.
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ralph_on_me

Aug 11, 2005, 10:52 AM
From what I've read, that isn't the case Plooky. His minute estimater is what is incorrect, but he hasn't been billed for anything. I could have misread something, but that's what I've gathered.
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wolfspider73

Aug 11, 2005, 7:16 PM
we don't apply the charges, we merely deny the credits. 99.95% of the time, the bill is correct, and the customer's argument amounts to, "nuh unh". Is there a perverse joy in telling a customer who is calling you every name in the book that there are no errors to correct? For some people, yes there is. At the same time, if there is an error, we fix it.
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JephMan

Aug 11, 2005, 10:00 AM
I am a little curious. Have you actually received a bill with these stated overage charges?
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judog2g

Aug 11, 2005, 10:33 AM
JephMan said:
I am a little curious. Have you actually received a bill with these stated overage charges?


No, I have not. My cycle ends on the 23rd. If this glitch continues on this current pace I wouldn't be able to dispute these charges until the end of September. I say that because I'm unable to see the bill from the last billing cycle online(which ended July 23rd), nor have I received a paper bill. Before you know, with my account as back up as it will be, will be cut off for nonpayment because I REFUSE to pay without having chance to dispute the bill. That will be the last straw.
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JephMan

Aug 11, 2005, 11:17 AM
Well, hopefully; and I think it is, a system glitch and your bill will come in as normal without overage charges.
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judog2g

Aug 11, 2005, 12:26 PM
Thank you for the kind words. 🙂 I will get this resolved.
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drumminf00l

Aug 12, 2005, 2:35 PM
What part of the country are you in judog2g? Several parts of the country, mainly the NE, but also other parts of the country experienced a system error over the weekend that affected the minutes. The system was basically adding last months minutes in with the current months, showing huge overages on customer's bills that weren't supposed to be there. They've been doing sweeps throughout the week to fix the issue, but not everyones account is fixed yet. That may be the reason you're seeing huge overages on minutes,
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judog2g

Aug 12, 2005, 3:32 PM
I live in norther new jersey. 15 drive from NYC.
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drumminf00l

Aug 12, 2005, 7:58 PM
Then thats what the problem was, its a known issue that is currently being resolved, the charges should be fixed by the time your bill cuts, and anyones account that was charged in error for overages will be credited, there was an e-mail sent out earlier this week about the issue, so anyone who calls in with the problem, we are filing tickets on the case and crediting for any errors caused by the glitch.
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drumminf00l

Aug 12, 2005, 2:45 PM
So your going to leave a company (and pay ETF)for an issue that more than likely you won't even pay a dime for? Its a known issue, you haven't even gotten a bill for those charges, I could understand more if you had gotten a paper bill for a 1,000 dollars and now had to wait for us to credit it, but you haven't even recieved a bill yet. Its a known issue, and with your cycle date being the 23rd we have plenty of time to fix it. Do you think every other carrier is perfect, that their systems never have glitches. I'm sorry that your minutes are messed up, and I do understand that it can be a little crazy when you saw it at first, it was a billing system error, Cingular isnt out to steal your money, and you havent even been charged for it......
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judog2g

Aug 12, 2005, 3:46 PM
I just don't have the patience. I've had Verizon for about 19 months and I only had to call them twice. Its not worth my time. I finally was able to view my last months bill(my cycle ends on the 23rd of the month). The website is 50/50 all the time. It just seems like it AT&T wireless all over again. I remember the same issues before i quit. They are not addressing these same system issues from October 03'. That is what ultimately brought AT&T wireless as we knew it down. They need to get those problems fixed before they want to deploy these new technologies, or they will suffer the same fate.
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drumminf00l

Aug 12, 2005, 7:56 PM
You think Verizon never has issues.....

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2 ... »

Now i'm not sitting say Cingular is king of the world, but every carrier has it problems. Do you not think that Verizon went through the same things when they intially merged all those small companies, or that Nextel/Sprint won't have issues? Give me a break, a minor glitch in the system which cause a FREE service to give inaccurate readings which is now in the process of being fixed is no the downfall of Cingular, or any other company for that reason 😕
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davidg4781

Aug 15, 2005, 11:41 AM
Would he have to pay an ETF? Cingular is the one that breached the contract. In such a case where he wants to leave, Cingular would either have to fix the problem with little inconvenience to the customer (being on the phone with them for more than 20 hours isn't little) or pay the customer an ETF. It's only fair.
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judog2g

Aug 15, 2005, 11:58 AM
This issue still has not been resolved. I wouldn't be surprised if this want into the next billing cycle.
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drumminf00l

Aug 15, 2005, 12:19 PM
Breached the contract? Nowhere on the contract does it state that Cingular will provide the customer with real-time minute appraisels. Like I stated in previous posts, at the bottom of every message send when someone checks there minutes it states "see cingular.com for limitations applicable to this service" and on cingular.com, guess what it says,

There are delays in reporting and processing call records. Airtime usage on the Cingular network is normally reflected in the Minutes "Used" categories within an hour, but could be further delayed due to technical reasons. Further delays may apply to roaming usage, which is based on call records received from other carriers. A delay of a minimum of two to ten days for roaming usage is usual a...
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ralph_on_me

Aug 15, 2005, 12:23 PM
Cingular doesn't even guarantee you'll have service, so they're definitely not in breach for the minute estimator.
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davidg4781

Aug 15, 2005, 12:26 PM
I wasn't talking about breaching the contract by not providing accuarate minute estimates. If I'm correct (I read the original post a few days ago, so didn't really read it again) he was charged for minuted that he didn't use. That would be considered a breach of contract.
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ralph_on_me

Aug 15, 2005, 12:39 PM
He hasn't been charged for anything, his minute estimator is over but when he calls in to CS they give him the correct amount of minutes. The bill hasn't come in for this period yet either.
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davidg4781

Aug 15, 2005, 12:41 PM
Oh, well, then that's different. I've had the problem where I was charged incorrectly for overage. What happened was, my free NW weren't being counted as free and it pushed everything up. That's what I thought may have happened.
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ralph_on_me

Aug 15, 2005, 12:44 PM
That stuff happens, but it usually gets corrected within one billing cycle. Most wireless carriers have clauses stating it may take up to two billing cycles to reflect applicable credits.
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davidg4781

Aug 15, 2005, 12:58 PM
Well, if they fix it, that's fine. It's when they don't, which almost happened to me, is when I would expect them to pay the ETF.
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