Complaint Review: Cingular Wireless - Schaumberg Illinois

I just wanted to express my disappointment with Cingular Wireless/Motorola, Inc. My mother's and my first experience with owning our own cell phone and it's been nothing but a HORRIBLE SERVICE in all aspects . . . and without resolution.

Almost the entire time we've owned this phone, we've had nothing but trouble: people call and we can't hear them (static / broken), we call people and they can't hear us (static / broken), phone calls drop, we can be standing next to the person and make a call with no results, we make phone calls and they automatically fail, we call and the phone service tells us that we have the wrong area code . . . and they're wrong. I could go on, but these were our major concerns.

We've called Cingular Wireless. We've gone back to the store where we signed up for this service on numerous occasions. We've exchanged the phone a couple of times. They've reprogrammed the phone. Problems still persist. One replacement we received had someone else's phone number. All messages coming through were for some guy who had traded his phone in due to major problems. I've emailed Cingular Wireless / Motorola, Inc. on numerous occasions. I get answers but the problems are never rectified. They've had me do troubleshooting. Didn't work. They even had me reset our phone informing me that we wouldn't lose any saved information. Now we can't retrieve any messages that have been left for us and we can't delete them.

They've suggested that we send the phone in for repairs, but have not offered any compensation or free mailing. Trying to find an actual ADDRESS for Cingular Wireless / Motorola, Inc. is impossible. All I get are phone numbers and email from their websites. When I call the toll-free numbers, I have to waste time going through a million prompts trying to locate a human being, as is the same when trying to find assistance with questions via email.

Everyone I know and everyone I see on TV (reality and non-reality shows), their cell phones work. I've never seen anyone experience the problems that we've dealt with. It's ridiculous.

It was a total waste of money and it has been stressful. Thank god that we've not had an extreme and / or life-threatening experience where we have needed this phone. We would have been stranded. Many times, (due to the problems), I've had to pull over and use a payphone.

This has been an unacceptable experience with Cingular Wireless / Motorola, Inc. Thank god our contract expires in November (2004). We will be looking for another cellular provider.

I've been working with the BBB, but not getting much accomplished. A man who works with Cingular Wireless (Executive Appeals) cc:'s me nasty letters he forwards to the BBB. He also offers to terminate our contract for an extra $150.00. I will be sending him a "personal invite" to come to my home, use my cellular phone and see how far he gets with this piece of garbage!

I didn't want anything out of this except to have the problem rectified. An upgrade in our phone. We got nothing. We had to do the running around and we have gotten no where.

Jacquelyn

Cleveland, Ohio
U.S.A.