Switched to Cingular... Big mistake!

[gtslow]

So my parent's contract ended along with mine, I decided to start under a new company. Big Mistake. One thing about me is I'm brand loyal, and I don't care for cheap substitutes. That what this P.O.S. Samsung P207 is. The phone is gorgeous, but looks aren't everything. The buttons feel alright, but not nearly as good as my 2 year old sanyo's. The menu sucks, and the web button is right in the middle of the direction arrows so i keep nailing it... then it takes like 10 seconds to disconnect from the net.

Probably the biggest thing I use my cellphone for is emailing my girlfriend in japan to her cell phone. I could not get this to work. It says that the text is unreadable when it gets to her phone.

I live in eastern washington, where all wireless companies have MANY local numbers. So when i get my phone in the mail (yes made the mistake of ordering online), I end up with a seattle number. Really inconvenient because no one can call me locally. So I assume I will just get a new number....

About this time I'm a bit frustrated, so i call up my "friendly" cingular rep... I first try to address my email issue, and ask if i need to set up a different email account to make my email issue work, he says that isn't the problem and I need to pay for international text messaging.... I repeat to him that i said email, and he says i need international email and that the emails won't get to anyone out of the country w/o this service. (This guy sounds like a moron). I repeat to him the emaisl were recieved, they were just unreadable. So I tell him that I will just address this issue later and that I would like to change my phone number. He says that I can't do that and its the only number available in the area. About this time I am fuming and have a huge case of buyers remorse. I ask for a transfer to someone that can help me cancel my account with my 15 day money back guarantee. ... Then the jerk hangs up on me.

A++ for Cingular customer service...

Long story short, Cingular sucks, and I'm going back to sprint to get my own account not at all attached to my parents. Any suggestions for newer, reliable most likely sanyo camera phones??

[xchpstang]

5600 or 7400

[FloorMatt]

Can't go wrong with the 7400......the price on the 5600 might scare you away, though. Do you have a Sprint Store or retailer nearby? (to play with the phones)

[gtslow]

Can't go wrong with the 7400......the price on the 5600 might scare you away, though. Do you have a Sprint Store or retailer nearby? (to play with the phones)

Yeah there is a sprint store near me. Is there a place i should look for a good deal? Thanks

[Marlon_JB2]

I know someone who will disagree with your opinion of your Samsung Phone.

Can't go wrong with any of Sanyo's current lineup. I recommend the 7400 if you can afford it. 7300 if you can't. ;) 8200's about to be discontinued, but if you don't feel bad about that, go for it too.

[gtslow]

The phone itself is cool, and I'm sure i would get used to it. The main problem is that they won't/can't change my number to something local and I am unable to get email to work with my girlfriend. The customer service just sucked as well. Sprint's new Fair and Flexible plan looks great, $50 bucks will snag me 300 anytime minutes and unlimited net.

[dewmik]

I love the speed that the 7400 charges the bat. Like from 1 thingy to full charge in 2 hours

[jules]

couldn't you have just told them you needed a 509 area code?

[gtslow]

They told me the only number available in my area was that number. The guy was an asshat and i'm sure i could get it changed. Fact is, it wasn't working for what it was intended and I don't like being treated poorly as a consumer.

[imtravis]

I know the feeling about Cingular, that's one reason why I dropped 'em. I'm currently working with Cingular business reps trying to get their stupid xpressmail enterprise edition running, and they take forever to try and solve it. It took me like 20 mins to get Goodlink up and running, and it's taken over a week, and still haven't gotten xpressmail working. I'm definately not a Cingular fan. That's why I'm dropping SBC from my house.. going with cable and Vonage..

[gtslow]

Heck, it was my mistake to even switch from sprint to begin with. Why fix something that isn't broken?

[lennyj17]

That why i tell people stick with who you know, And all i know is sprint and verizon......I will not go back to verizon.......been with sprint since 2002 and know how they operate and what to expect, now if i went to cingular or t-mobile i would probably be pissed of in heartbeat b/c i seem that their billing is not simple as Sprint......I hope you learn from this...........People never gain from being carrier hoping rhelics, My friend in Philly has been with 5 carriers in 2 year, all b/c they didnt offer something like the other, he finally broke down and came back to sprint and stayed put.............

[Ced91071]

So my parent's contract ended along with mine, I decided to start under a new company. Big Mistake. One thing about me is I'm brand loyal, and I don't care for cheap substitutes. That what this P.O.S. Samsung P207 is. The phone is gorgeous, but looks aren't everything. The buttons feel alright, but not nearly as good as my 2 year old sanyo's. The menu sucks, and the web button is right in the middle of the direction arrows so i keep nailing it... then it takes like 10 seconds to disconnect from the net.

Probably the biggest thing I use my cellphone for is emailing my girlfriend in japan to her cell phone. I could not get this to work. It says that the text is unreadable when it gets to her phone.

I live in eastern washington, where all wireless companies have MANY local numbers. So when i get my phone in the mail (yes made the mistake of ordering online), I end up with a seattle number. Really inconvenient because no one can call me locally. So I assume I will just get a new number....

About this time I'm a bit frustrated, so i call up my "friendly" cingular rep... I first try to address my email issue, and ask if i need to set up a different email account to make my email issue work, he says that isn't the problem and I need to pay for international text messaging.... I repeat to him that i said email, and he says i need international email and that the emails won't get to anyone out of the country w/o this service. (This guy sounds like a moron). I repeat to him the emaisl were recieved, they were just unreadable. So I tell him that I will just address this issue later and that I would like to change my phone number. He says that I can't do that and its the only number available in the area. About this time I am fuming and have a huge case of buyers remorse. I ask for a transfer to someone that can help me cancel my account with my 15 day money back guarantee. ... Then the jerk hangs up on me.

A++ for Cingular customer service...

Long story short, Cingular sucks, and I'm going back to sprint to get my own account not at all attached to my parents. Any suggestions for newer, reliable most likely sanyo camera phones??

Dang buddy, I was about to do the SAME thing..............................I will learn from your issues. Let us know what phone you DO decide get.

[toddc79]

cingular may blow... their customer service is hit or miss... but as far as (digital) coverage goes it blows sprint out of the water at least where i've been so far... the only service i've had to date, (verizon/tmobile/sprint) that's worked inside my house and not dropped calls like crazy... funny thing is the cingular/sprint/verizon towers are all about equal distance away, im not a big fan of gsm other then the sim card makes swapping your phone so freaky easy, i change phone's almost on a daily basis, so much easier then going through sprint cs and doing a esn swap.

works great for me... love the free 7pm n&w (courtesty of at&t) miss the unlimited data and text messaging, but what good is a phone that doesnt work or had very sporadic service and frequent dropped calls... i used to talk maybe 200-300 minutes total with sprint cause i was so sick of service and had so many issues making/receiving calls, im averaging 3000-4000 minutes a month with cingular monthly (incl n&w minutes...) since it actually works decently.

oh yeah, the billing in arrears is nice too... pay for service after you actually use it, actually makes it look like they have a reason to do a credit check... this is all from a former at&t account, no deposit for me (sprint made me do a deposit, only gave me one line)... i had the ability to do up to 4 lines with cingular/att, all just more reasons why im satisfied.

[Quill]

First, in my experience, people ***** about CS no matter what carrier you're with. I've seen this kind of crap with Sprint, Cingular and Verizon.
Second, for anyone to decide not to try another carrier because of ONE PERSON'S experience is incredibly short-sighted and utterly illogical. If you're thinking of trying something, try it and find out if it works for you.
Third, if you have no luck with reps, do the same as you would have done with Sprint: keep calling until you get someone who can help you. It doesn't matter what carrier you have, you must be persistent and determined. That's just how it is.

I am not surprised that things got effed up. I learned when I signed up with Sprint in 2001 and when my in-law's got Verizon in 2003 that the best way to start new service is to go to a corporate store and do it all there. I have not had a single problem with Cingular in nearly six months after porting my number and later my husband from Verizon.

Patience. This is a cell phone company you're dealing with, not Nordstrom.

Now, if the crappy CS continues and you have to spend more than an hour on the phone -- I'd recommend going to a corporate store -- to get the very simple thing you're asking for, then cut your losses, return the phone and cancel the account.

Good luck.

[FloorMatt]

First, in my experience, people ***** about CS no matter what carrier you're with. I've seen this kind of crap with Sprint, Cingular and Verizon.
Second, for anyone to decide not to try another carrier because of ONE PERSON'S experience is incredibly short-sighted and utterly illogical. If you're thinking of trying something, try it and find out if it works for you.
Third, if you have no luck with reps, do the same as you would have done with Sprint: keep calling until you get someone who can help you. It doesn't matter what carrier you have, you must be persistent and determined. That's just how it is.

I am not surprised that things got effed up. I learned when I signed up with Sprint in 2001 and when my in-law's got Verizon in 2003 that the best way to start new service is to go to a corporate store and do it all there. I have not had a single problem with Cingular in nearly six months after porting my number and later my husband from Verizon.

Patience. This is a cell phone company you're dealing with, not Nordstrom.

Now, if the crappy CS continues and you have to spend more than an hour on the phone -- I'd recommend going to a corporate store -- to get the very simple thing you're asking for, then cut your losses, return the phone and cancel the account.

Good luck.
:good:

Everyone can and will have different experiences with all of the carriers out there; judge what you want to do on your own experience (try it out) and b y reading other people's experiences (look for similarities and differences).