I spent the last couple of days trying to upgrade my *%$^*#(% cell phone.

[Madrone]

Sweet NSAT&T fucking jesus.

I'm a holdover from the AT&T wireless days. Never switched to Cingular, couldn't find a phone I liked as well as the one I already have. Until recently. (And just in time for Cingular's upcoming switch back to at&t - but that's a whole 'nother thread entirely)

I start seeing some sweet deals for PDA phones come my way. Blackberrys - FREE. Treo 650 FREE. So I start researching pda phones. Decide I'm not down w/ Blackberrys or Treos, I won't pay a brazillion dollars extra a month to download email (maybe) once a year to my phone. During my research I see something about WiFi enabled phones. Well - that piques my interest! With a WiFi phone I can hop on a hotspot and look up a map, check some messages, surf DU.... ;) - all not things I'd do often, but it would be kinda FUN and cool to do so when the opportunity arose. Not cool or fun enough to pay an extra brazillion dollars every month ... but definitely interesting for FREE. I find that Cingular is offering a new WiFi enabled pda phone - the Cingular 8125. So I start researching that. Looks good.

Lots of good deals available from 3rd party sites - one that even takes the phone price down to $50 after rebates. The problem is all of the sites seem to require a $60/month voice plan AND a $35/month data plan to sign up. Umm ... no. I'm NOT paying that. I hardly use my cell phone at all. And I'm cheap.

Long story short - over the last few days I have talked to Cingular like a brazillion times. ( 6 or 7, I lost count) Call number one connects me to a very nice man that tells me that I do NOT have to have a data plan for the phone, I can have the $40 voice plan, and that they'll price match the $150 I see offered on Wirefly.com. Sweet! But since I never do anything until I chew it over for a long time I said I'd think it over and call back. I call back and am connected to a very nice girl. This time I've found the phone for $50 after rebates at buy.com, so that's the price I quote her. She tells me that NO, they can't match the price, but they CAN give it to me for what buy.com's price is before rebates - $199.99. That's $50 more than I was prepared for - so I decline. And think about it some more.

I finally determine that the first guy must have thought I meant price before rebates - and that's what Cingular would match. That made sense to me, and seemed fair. It was only $50 more - and the last (and only) phone I got was a $350 phone I got for FREE so I figure I'm still coming out pretty damned good, even if I spend $200 now. I call back again and get someone else. This person tells me that NO - Cingular does not price match 3rd party websites. The only website they will price match is cingular.com. Well no SHIT. You ARE Cingular.com. How fucking dumb is that? Cingular.com's price on the phone? $349.

So now that's three different answers, three different phone calls. I figure I'll just keep calling back until I get someone that knows what the hell is going on. 3 more calls - all 3 say the same thing, they only price match to cingular.com.

Well, I figure FUCK Cingular. I'll buy it from Buy.com instead - give THEM my money. They only want $199.99. I try to complete my order over the website and it keeps jumping my chosen plan up to the $60/month option, and it won't let me complete the order without choosing a data plan. %$*^&%!!! Okay - so I'm keeping my cool and decide to find a phone number and place my call with a live person instead. After being on hold for awhile I get India. I tell the guy I'd like some help placing an order and he tells me that he's sorry, but they don't TAKE orders over the phone, and I can only place an order over the internet. Bloody hell!

Okay, so fuck it. I'll go to Wirefly.com. THEY let you call them and place your order over the phone. I talk to a nice lady there that's very helpful. She can't get it to go through w/o a data plan, but she asks a supervisor and tells me that I can just call Cingular and cancel the data portion of the service when I get the new phone. Fair enough. We spend a lot of time on the phone getting everything completed, and I think that finally things are all set. She gives me an order confirmation number and a tells me how to check the status of my order online.

I decide when I get home to check my status. It says there is something wrong with my order, and either a "very substantial" deposit is needed or Cingular needs more information to process my order. WTF? Okay - I call the wirefly.com customer service number given on the website. And wait on hold. For 45 minutes. A very sweet (but very clueless) woman with a thick accent answers. She doesn't understand my questions and repeats my order information without telling what is wrong. She then tells me I can check my order status online. I try again to explain what information I am seeking. She sweetly tells me again that I can check my order status online. I give up and hang up.

I call Cingular back again. A very nice man answers. I explain I placed an order through Wirefly, and that while I understand they are a 3rd party reseller I am getting a message stating that Cingular says there is a problem with my order. He places me on hold, comes back and tells me that there isn't anything he can do. I'm about to give up completely when he tells me that if I'm willing to be placed on hold again he can investigate it further. I agree. He comes back on the line and tells me that he doesn't know why the last 4 people (must have been looking at their customer notes) didn't offer me this BUT, while he can't sell me the phone for the $199 I requested that he can sell it to me for $349 and give me a $150 credit on my bill which basically does the same thing. :banghead: Since he doesn't want me to get my credit card charged twice (since the wirefly order is pending on my card) he says he'll put it on my bill, and I can just pay it online. Fine - although I have no problem charging the card - I have more than enough credit line to cover both. He puts me on hold again, then comes back and says that he's sorry, but it won't allow him to put it on my bill so I'd have to pay w/ a credit card, although he did already get the $150 credit places on my account. No problem. He tells me that he will transfer me to someone to finish my purchase. A very nice woman comes on the line, gets my credit card information and billing/shipping information, explains all the details of my new plan and my new contract. She asks me if I have any more questions - I do not. I thank her profusely for all of her assistance and hang up.

I go back to the order status page at Wirefly.com where I click the "Cancel my order" link they provide. It takes me to another page that says they cannot cancel orders over the internet, and that I must call the toll free number provided. *sigh* I pick up the phone and dial again - only to be greeted by a recording.

"We're sorry but our customer service department is now closed. Please call back tomorrow between the hours of 9am and 5pm."





:grr:

[Madrone]

1. No one cares about the hell I went through here?

I might as well just eat worms.

:cry:

[progmom]

2. that sounds like a nightmare!

:hug:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

3. Wow...and I thought Verizon was a bitch.

Of course, Cingular sucks around here so I wouldn't use them anyway.