Cingular Deducts from N/W for Mobile to Mobile Calls

WASVI

Junior Member
Feb 9, 2002
23
0
0
I wanted to let you know of a situation that is slightly irking me right now because I have spent the last 2 hours either on hold or talking to Cingular customer service representatives. I am on the $39.99 / month plan which offers 5000 Nights/weekend minutes and unlimited Mobile to Mobile. Because I needed to spend a lot of minutes on the phone this month I decided to finally check my usage, and I realized that when I called a Cingular customer during the day, the minutes counted as M2M minutes; however, when I called the same number after 9 PM, it started to subtract from my limited N/W minutes.

Originally, I was looking at my "current usage," and noticed the abnormality, and the first CSR told me that unless I had a bill in front of me, he couldn't do anything to help me.

I made a second call with a bill in hand and was told by the CSR, that's the way it's supposed to be, and that any calls made at night will be charged as nights and weekend minutes. Not quite believing what she said, I made a third call. Looking at my bill, she was similarly astonished by the accounting of minutes, and put me on hold to talk to her manager. After a rather long wait, she came back and reiterated that any calls made at night regardless of whether it's to a cingular customer will be charged as a night time minute. This shocked me because in my long time on hold I was able to listen to all their advertisements, and one of their ads even specifically says, that you are able to make unlimited night time calls to other cingular customers. In addition, I was even able to browser to a page on their website that also specifically mentions the ability to make unlimited mobile to mobile calls:

Link 1

And

Link 2

I pointed these out to her, and she replied that she was sorry that I was mislead, but that's just how it is. I asked to speak to her manager, but she told me that he was already out of the office, even though she had supposedly talked to him just 5 minutes prior, and would transfer me to their "resolution" department. After 20 minutes on hold, I was told the "resolution" department wasn't picking up the phone, and that after further consultation with her fellow employees she decided that I was being incorrectly charged N/W minutes, when I was making M2M calls. She told me that a request would be sent to the billing department, and it would take 2 billing cycles to take an effect. I asked her if I would be able to find out the billing department's decision and she said, "no," which sounded remarkably like she was just trying to get me off the phone and have me call again in two months.
 

James Bond

Diamond Member
Jan 21, 2005
6,023
0
0
Nothing makes me more angry than bad tech support/service.
It's annoying because they always have you in a position with so few options. They tell you something, you know they are lying, they know they are lying, and they know you know--unfortunately, they also know that there is nothing you can do to prove it.

At the company I used to work for, I was a phone tech. Whenever someone got pissed and requested to talk to a manager, we just told them that the manager would review their situation, then give them a call back... if necessary. Basically, that means if it is a huge issue they will get a call back, but 99% of the time, they didn't. In most cases, they would have to call us back eventually, and wait through our 25minute hold times.

 

JohnAn2112

Diamond Member
May 8, 2003
4,895
1
81
Yeah, it sucks. Especially on Saturdays and Sundays. That's 2 full days that the minutes are deducted from your N&W minutes rather than being "free" for mobile 2 mobile.
 

erub

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2000
5,481
0
0
Ok, this only applies to people on the aformented 39.99/month plan. All plans 49.99/higher include unlimited N/W. 5000 N&W is 166 minutes per day (2 hrs 46 minutes), starting at 9 pm, or 166 minutes per day on the weekend. Do you not need to sleep? I don't think even on the weekends I have used 2:46 in one day, my phone battery doesnt last for that much talktime plus typical 12-14 hrs standby, and its a pretty good one. If its really affecting you that much you should up your plan to 49.99, or switch providers.

They set it this way because a couple years ago people had more N&W than M2M (which was an additional cost addon). Now thats not the case anymore, but only affects people on the 39.99/month plan.
 

WASVI

Junior Member
Feb 9, 2002
23
0
0
Originally posted by: thirdeye
So did you go over your minutes because of this?

I actually caught this before I went over on my minutes, but now I have ~1500 minutes left and 2 1/2 weeks before my billing cycle ends. I'll probably be using skype or something like that to try and save N/W minutes.

Another funny thing that the CSR told me was that if I go over on my N/W they will charge me $0.45/min instead of deducting from my anytime minutes, which seem wrong to me, but who knows. It sucks because I have like 4000+ rollover minutes banked.

Originally posted by: erub
Ok, this only applies to people on the aformented 39.99/month plan. All plans 49.99/higher include unlimited N/W. 5000 N&W is 166 minutes per day (2 hrs 46 minutes), starting at 9 pm, or 166 minutes per day on the weekend. Do you not need to sleep? I don't think even on the weekends I have used 2:46 in one day, my phone battery doesnt last for that much talktime plus typical 12-14 hrs standby, and its a pretty good one. If its really affecting you that much you should up your plan to 49.99, or switch providers.

They set it this way because a couple years ago people had more N&W than M2M (which was an additional cost addon). Now thats not the case anymore, but only affects people on the 39.99/month plan.

I *think* the huge use of minutes will only be a temporary situation (My friend is going through a very traumatic situation), otherwise, I'd probably just upgrade my plan.
 

krunchykrome

Lifer
Dec 28, 2003
13,413
1
0
Im am cancelling my service with Cingular in a couple months, including my mothers plan that I pay for. Im switching everything to Tmobile, and before I do so, IM gonna contact Cingular and tell them every problem I've had with them that has forced me to switch carriers.
 

Svnla

Lifer
Nov 10, 2003
17,999
1,396
126
OP, I am in the same plan of $39.99 a month with 5000 N/W minutes.

I am no longer in contract with Cingular and when I called them a few months ago to cut off the service, they gave me 500 extra anytime minutes for no charge plus free 100 text messages a month. I didn't even have to sign onto any contract either. In other word, I am in the same plan of $59.99 but pay only $39.99.

One thing that I like is their rollover minutes. I think I have about 5000 minutes accumulating.

If any of you are not under contract, give them a call and say you want to drop them, they will bend over backward to keep you.