Issues with Suncom/At&t/Cingular in North Carolina

[sugarmag]

I, like many, was once an AT&T customer. Later, Cingular was my carrier for a while and now, since the beginning of June, Suncom has been my provider. I understand that with the merger between AT&T and Cingular, Suncom actually took over North and South Carolina. I was fully prepared to switch over to Suncom--everything looked great....until this morning....

This morning I tried to place a call to my boyfriend and received a message that he "wasn't accepting phone calls, message number 242cr." I called Suncom and they told me (initially...things change later) that its because he has a GSM phone and I still have a digital phone--no SIM card. But then, they had no record of my account becuase it hadn't been migrated yet. Cingular said it had been. When I call AT&T they tell me to call Suncom and Suncom tells me to call Cingular--you can imagine the vicious circle. All of that aside....after trying other Suncom GSM cell phones--I am STILL unable to call those numbers. I can receive calls from them and send text messages to those numbers but receive the same message if i call from my phone.

The frustrating thing in all of this is that no one can answer my questions or solve this problem (significant) because my account seems to be floating around in la la land. Has anyone else experienced this problem--more importnatly--are any other users having trouble placing calls to GSM phones? Or has anyone heard of htis issue? My hands are tied and I don't know how to proceed--any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Andy]

Tell them to let you out of your contract if they are unable to find your account and help you out, or, to help you and get their things straightened out. Ask to talk to a supervisor...sometimes great things can happen that way.
Overall I have heard many complaints about Suncom's service and their Customer Service.
Welcome to the Forums!

[sugarmag]

Thanks so much for the suggestion and the welcome. I actually did ask to speak with a supervisor but was told they couldn't help me either without access to my account. I haven't been very aggressive (yet) with moving upwards on the chain because AT&T insists they have to trouble-shoot MY phone...which means I need to call from a land line which I don't have (since I now (foolishly?) depend on my cell phone for everything). Here's the thing though--I don't understand why my phone--which accepts all other calls and makes all calls that AREN'T from GSM/Suncom phones--would even be a part of hte issue. It seems like it must have something to do with their service rather than my hardware. if i'm wrong in this, I'll amend my approach.

[Andy]

The best thing you could to would be to become more agressive. Obviously your phone equipment itself is fine if you can make/receive all other calls just fine. There's either something wrong with suncom's network or the way they route the call; it could also be something set up wrong with your account or both. Yes, they would need to gain access to your account to trouble shoot and fix the problem, but that'll happen faster if you start becoming more agressive with them. I have heard too many bad things about Suncom Customer Service, so you don't necessarily have to be nice to them; push them to speed up the process.
It is not foolish to get rid of your landline, in this case there's no reason for them to trouble shoot your equipment itself.

[yuvgotmel]

Originally Posted by sugarmag I, like many, was once an AT&T customer. Later, Cingular was my carrier for a while and now, since the beginning of June, Suncom has been my provider. I understand that with the merger between AT&T and Cingular, Suncom actually took over North and South Carolina. I was fully prepared to switch over to Suncom--everything looked great....until this morning.... This morning I tried to place a call to my boyfriend and received a message that he "wasn't accepting phone calls, message number 242cr." I called Suncom and they told me (initially...things change later) that its because he has a GSM phone and I still have a digital phone--no SIM card. But then, they had no record of my account becuase it hadn't been migrated yet. Cingular said it had been. When I call AT&T they tell me to call Suncom and Suncom tells me to call Cingular--you can imagine the vicious circle. All of that aside....after trying other Suncom GSM cell phones--I am STILL unable to call those numbers. I can receive calls from them and send text messages to those numbers but receive the same message if i call from my phone. The frustrating thing in all of this is that no one can answer my questions or solve this problem (significant) because my account seems to be floating around in la la land. Has anyone else experienced this problem--more importnatly--are any other users having trouble placing calls to GSM phones? Or has anyone heard of htis issue? My hands are tied and I don't know how to proceed--any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi,

I have not experienced your specific problem. However, you are not alone in getting the runaround with customer service reps. My bill had the SunCom logo on it. If I had any questions, the number to call on the bill was for Cingular. And the payment was being mailed to AT&T Wireless. I did go through the experience of one company telling me to call the other when they couldn't answer my questions. And I couldn't always get an answer from the company they were referring me to. What a mess!!!

Has SunCom taken over all of the AT&T accounts in NC yet?

[sugarmag]

Today i was told (by an AT&T rep) that Suncom has taken over GSM accounts, but that digital accounts won't be transferred until the end of the month. I suggested that perhaps Suncom should know where to send customers if accounts haven't been transferred and was basically told there's just one number for everything.

I understand that contracts can be sold--but we shouldn't experience negative repercussions from that--at all. Nearly everyone I know who's been involved in the whole ATT-cingular-suncom thing is entirely dissatisfied.

[agentHibby]

You say you have a digital without SIM and GSM. Digital without a SIM card is a TDMA phone for AT&T. GSM is digital also. Sometimes is gets a little confusing. When you are on the phone with Suncom saying you have a TDMA phone and plan might help them out also.

[vger]

I would recommend going into a store. They should be able to find your account. However, you're probably SOL until SunCom controls the TDMA accounts on getting any kind of resolution. You could demand that they migrate you to GSM without changing your contract or charging you for a new phone -- that would probably fix any problems you are having.

[phila]

Believe me, I understand your frustrations. We started with a corporate account with AT&T wireless then to AT&T/Cingular and now Suncom. The problem is, we had international calling plans with AT&T wireless and Suncom is not offering that capability at this time, and oh yeah, we are required to switch to Suncom's network be the end of next week. I have been on the phone with both all day long. Finally, this afternoon, Suncom tells me our company is on a "list" of accounts they know they have problems with and the best thing for us is to take our business elsewhere. Cingular said sure they would take it, but we have to purchase all new blackberrys since the original ones were with AT&T Wireless and AT&T/Cingular. Our newest one was only purchased the first of June this year?!?
I am now searching for the possibility of finding other companies and accounts in NC/SC with the same issue and persuing class action legal recourse.

[Andy]

phila,
Unbelievable that they told you to go take your business elsewhere. If they said that then I would take it away from any company affiliated with Suncom.
Many other companies, Including Nextel, T-Mobile, and Verizon offer blackberry service.

[sugarmag]

The story gets better....I talked to Cingular and asked if I HAD to go with Suncom. cingular said that Suncom was allowing customers to choose another provider once all accounts were transferred without paying an early termination fee. When I called Suncom to speak with a supervisor and follow up with the terrible customer service from the morning, a very rude rep said she couldn't help me because she didn't have my account--even if they're my provider. I asked about the early termination info from Cingular and she said that it wasn't true--that "as long as [Suncom] is providing the same service as AT&T the contract can't be broken." When I pointed out that Suncom wasn't providing the same service if I couldn't make certain phone calls, I was again told, very rudely, that "if we don't have your account I can't help you." I understand that to a point--but the rudeness and the total lack of concern about my problem really spoke a great deal about Suncom's attitude--which is more than slightly different than Harry Connick Jr. projects. I've now decided that even if it means hours on the phone and lots of fighting--i will NOT be a suncom customer in 2 weeks--and i will NOT pay the termination fee. I have several friends who've also had issues--i.e. one guy paid his SUNCOM bill...but suncom said it was supposed to go to cingular and now won't refund his money. What a mess.

[Andy]

sugarmag, get away from this company! Like I said, there's other options for you.
Go up the chain and find a supervisor that will let you go out of contract without the Early termination fee. otherwise, file a complaint with the BBB or something similar.
Looks like Nextel and Verizon would be some of the services you could consider for your area.

[phila]

Sugarmag,

I feel your pain. Been on the phone (ping-ponged between Cingular & Suncom) for the past two days now approaching 8 solid hours. I have screamed at several different levels of management, supervisors, you name it. The latest deal is similar to yours, the people at Cingular (formerly AT&T Wireless) and Suncom told me they were not releasing any contracts even after they admitted they can not provide me with international roaming service, (which is on my current contract.)
Suncom finally said they would release the numbers for another carrier, but I will be charged EFTs for all the accounts we have. Also, since we have fairly new RIM devices, I wanted to get the unlock codes for the SIM cards, of course, they won't do that either. If anyone out there is happy with AT&T Wireless/Suncom and wants a blackberry, just let me know.

Oh yeah, for everyone's entertainment, I just came across a letter from Suncom's VP of Customer Service I received a week or so ago. Here is an excerpt from the wireless company that "GETS IT":
"...Please be assured that we will never take your business for granted or settle for less than your complete satisfaction. We look forward to getting to know you and providing you with the best wireless service - now and for many years to come...."

Without success, I have tried to speak with this person directly.

[Andy]

You have talked to this person directly?
Come on, eat the Early Termination Fee and leave, try to sell your handsets on Ebay or something to make up for at least parts of the ETF. This is ridiculous!!

[SQFreak]

Originally Posted by sugarmag I have several friends who've also had issues--i.e. one guy paid his SUNCOM bill...but suncom said it was supposed to go to cingular and now won't refund his money. What a mess.

That sounds like SunCom to me! SunCom is quite possibly the most pathetic excuse for a wireless company ever. Their coverage isn't particularly good (though it is third best where I'm living now, next to VZW then Alltel) and their billing is awful. Really awful. I say this as a customer of theirs (Hickory, NC-based account) since January. I've decided that the only way to deal with SunCom is to send them a triple or quadruple payment one month (because chances are they'll only actually process two) and keep paying the exact amount of the bill after that, so that if it takes them an incredibly long time to process a payment or they reject a payment for no reason, you don't get slapped with too many late fees.

[htaylor2005]

Hi! This is my first post here...
I have been trying to get out of switching to SunCom and this site has been helpful in planning my attack. But alas, I have lost the battle. I just got off the phone with SunCom, switching my service to them (against my will and my better judgment) tonight since AT&T/Cingular cut my signal off 3 days ago. I had a family issue, so I wasn't able to call SunCrap until tonight. Anyway, I was a loyal AT&T customer for 5 years. I loved, loved, loved them. I never had any issues with AT&T, not with billing, service, coverage, phones, etc. Then, they traded me to SunCom.

I asked if I had a 15 day trail period. The CS Rep's response (although he was very nice, I must give him credit for that!) was that "SunCom bought AT&T and your trial period would have been used with them already." Really? I didn't know SunCom bought AT&T. If that were really the case, my service would have improved rather than gone to whatever it is.. it's not even service.

I am going to file a complaint with the FCC and the state attorney general's office since the service is sub-standard. The biggest concern is that I am my mother's primary caregiver and she must be able to reach me anytime (as she did when I was an AT&T customer) and anywhere. During the past month, on the SunCom network, I get voicemails for calls that never made my phone ring. She calls me and goes straight to voicemail. I don't even get notified of the voicemail messages for hours later, after a few have accumulated.

Does anyone have suggestions for documenting terrible coverage? They show that their signal is strong in my area. Whatever. I suggested that they drive here and check it. This is nowhere near the strength and reliability that I have been accustomed to for 5 years. AT&T was the only provider that even had a signal (and it was a perfectly strong signal) where we live. We live sort of in a valley, lower than the surrounding areas.

Is there really an evaluation period in cases of mergers like this? We (consumers) must have some rights in very small print somewhere.

Can we make the service provider check the signal at my house?

[sugarmag]

Well, it seems that Suncom is really as bad as I initially thought they were. In all areas--coverage, customer service, offered plans, etc.

How DO we get out of this? I agree that we shouldn't be obligated to go with a terrible company just because of hte merger. I plan to spend some time on the phone today battling htis out. I just received a letter from Suncom with my account number and alerting me that my account will be transferred this weekend. The same account number they couldn't find just a week ago....

Does anyone have ideas for hte best plan of action? I refuse to end up with this company.

The one catch I might have found is that I had free roaming with AT&T...but on the letter I just received, it says Suncom will charge me 89 cents a minute for roaming minutes. When I asked about leaving Suncom, the rep told me I couldn't if they were providing the same service AT&T did. Obviously this is a departure....

any other ideas???

[AHDuke99]

when i am in winston-salem, my phone (cingular) runs on suncom towers, thus i have to dial the area code for local calls, but when i'm in charleston, i am on cingular towers. if suncom took over all of NC/SC, why then would cingular still have cingular-only towers around here?

[z00m]

This is terrible.
VA callers went through the same afew months back when Cingular bought all Suncom users. Search this forum for suncom for other tips.
Has anyone got through to Cingular / Suncom upper management?
Or has a direct mailing address for the Billing/Accounting Dept or CFO who I believe are responsible for the Early Term Fees & waiving.

But those getting the runaround, switch to another carrier if u can - plain & simple.

[guy2]

Remember its hard transfering people.My sis has Suncom in NC and loves it.It will take them a little time to get everything straightened out after that they have said it should work the same as your old ATT.People are too quick to rush to judgement.Suncom has some great plans exspecially the unplan if you talk alot and they have also just introduced the national plans.Just my thoughts.

[DarrylLeeOHS30]

Although they've been causing some trouble with the whole cingular/AT&T thing, with having bouncing customers around, they may start to make up for it by re introducing the national plans.

[NCcell]

After reading many of the ATT&T to Suncom ordeals of other members, I am posting my trials and tribulations experienced so far: 1.) of the 3 cells on my family account the voice mail connections are made without ringing and letting the person know a call is incomming 2.) the sim card change took 12-14 hours to work 3.) Suncom invoiced me for $35 for three phones activation fee but AT&T charged one time $36 to begin....I got charges droped from $119 to $12.14 4.) very tired of listening to Harry on the 8 attempts to call customer service. 5.) still don't know what the final billing will be from Suncom 6.) Suncom dropped off 100 minutes from my AT&T 900 minutes and they acknowledge the error but won't change the website listing. I don't think Suncom had a game plan to make all these changes smoothly and now they have opened a can of worms in all phases of communications with new prospective customers. I am hanging on for improvements but my knuckles are turning white. Our family use of cell phones is stricly for voice usage only and Suncom is botching that up. Keep those cards and letters comming on this thread so I can keep updated on what is getting better or worse. Thanks, Regards NCcell.

[z00m]

Funny you should mention Harry Connick Jr.
Isn't it ironic listening to Harry talk about Suncom's guarantee Truth in wireless.. We get it ..
I wonder if Harry would use Suncom ? Or not

[NCcell]

My lastest turn on 7-28 a text message from Suncom warning that phone service is a stake? Called to have harrassment for card blanc instant payment for some $250. I reported NO WAY. Send me my mailed statement and at least display on the Suncom website billing all the billing details. The website is still blank this AM. I'm prepared to notify NC Attorney General of this attack on Suncom customers. This is a heck of a way to run a railroad!

[cryogenic]

Originally Posted by NCcell My lastest turn on 7-28 a text message from Suncom warning that phone service is a stake? Called to have harrassment for card blanc instant payment for some $250. I reported NO WAY. Send me my mailed statement and at least display on the Suncom website billing all the billing details. The website is still blank this AM. I'm prepared to notify NC Attorney General of this attack on Suncom customers. This is a heck of a way to run a railroad!

Holy cow.. so you went from $12 to $250 almost magically? I always knew those guys were completely incompetent imbeciles, but jeez. This thread just proves how incompetent.

[sugarmag]

Well...the saga continues. As I write, I'm holding for technical assistance. It seems that randomly now--for several days, I have been unable to receive phone calls. Suncom's responses? 1. Turn your phone off and on. (I've done this.) 2. "I"ll transfer you to technical support" (where I've been disconnected twice and have held for a combined one hour and 26 minutes).

No matter how often this happens, Suncom insists that its nothing out of hte ordinary and I'm obligated to honor my contract. So far I've received two months free, and my plan is to keep racking up the months until the either let me out of my contract or the contract expires.

I can't believe the situation we're in--trapped by a company with crappy customer service--no matter what Harry says.

And to those who've asked us to cut them some slack--I'm paying for a service I'm not receiving. Wouldn't anyone be upset by this? They should have been prepared. If they can't handle the business or hte issues, they should get OUT of hte business.

[suncomsux]

Oh don't I know it! Glad to see we are not the only ones. We received voicemails on all of our phones Friday that the cutover was being done and we needed to change our voicemail greeting, there would be no interruption in service. Monday morning, we arrive in NY for a customer event... only to find out that nobody can call us!! We could call out, but anyone calling us would get the message "your call cannot be completed as dialed", or "the number you have reached is not in service"... first hour on the phone with Suncom, they tell us we have to activate our voicemail... sorry, can't do that, as you have to be able to call your phone number to do that. Then they tell us the phone has to be reprogrammed, so we go through that... no dice. Then they tell us we have to bring the phones into a Suncom retailer for a software update... BS. So we get to someone else in tech support that is honest and tells us the cutover should not have happened and we might not get full service back for WEEKS! So, here we are on Thursday, and we can now get incoming calls, but if it goes to voicemail, they get the error of "your call cannot be completed as dialed", real nice. On the phone with Suncom for 6 hours Thursday. I explain how much business we lost in NY due to our customers not being able to get to the event, as they had to call us for a passcode... of course they didn't care. I tell them that we want out of our contract (6 months left) and that our contract was with AT&T... he says no dice, that unless the service is not offered through suncom as it was through AT&T, the contract sticks... well hello??? OBVIOUSLY the service is not the same, I have no stinking voicemail!!! So I tell them they can get our ETF's out of our butts and put in for the cancellation. I also explained to them that they don't have the phones we need (PDA's with Win Mobile 2K3) and they said they would be getting something soon... helping me now? Not much. So I finally get in touch with another woman who once again tells me I have to reset the phone... go through another hour of this, and I tell HER that I want out of the contract, our phones don't work... she proceeds to get snippy with me and tell me that they do indeed work, it's just the voicemail that is broken... Well, if there is not voicemail, the phones don't work, period!!! She gets very ugly with me and hangs up on me. I call back and speak with a very nice CSR, explain the situation, she brings on someone in contracts, bottom line... we are out of our contract. We have so far lost 4 days of business, no way were we going to pay $525 for 3 phones, when they cannot tell me when or if they will ever work again. This has been a week from hell...

Stick to your guns people!!! They cannot tell you that you have the same service you had with AT&T... the phones actually WORKED with AT&T, big difference there!!! Fight it as hard as you can... if the service is not working, you have to be able to conduct business and find a reputable provider. Don't let them try to hold you to anything! Let them charge the $175 ETF, then make them try to come after it... document everything. Make copies of the newspaper articles showing what happened... I find it hard to believe they are going to actually hold anyone to their contract after this fiasco.

I wish you all luck... These people are the biggest joke ever!

Their Suncom, and they are GOING to get it

[sugarmag]

Thanks so much for sharing all of that. It gives me a ray of hope.

A Sprint rep told me to call the utility commissioner too.

What newspaper articles are you referencing? If you can and its not too much trouble, could you post a link?

Thanks,
Jess

[suncomsux]

Hi Jess, here are a few articles. Also, I might suggest calling the TV station in your area and talking to their "troubleshooter" on this... I am sure they probably have other calls and might be interested in doing a story.

http://www.wfmynews2.com/news/local_...?storyid=41194

http://www.newsobserver.com/print/sa...-9056182c.html

This is the funniest one!!! Where Suncom says service is restored, but it isn't
http://www.newsobserver.com/print/mo...-9062002c.html

BTW, I STILL have no voicemail! I cannot WAIT for my service to start with Cingular

Good luck and keep me posted!!!!! Keep calling back until you get someone that will listen to you!!!!

We filed complaints with the BBB, UC, as well as put a nice note on Harry Connick Jr's fanclub site

[sugarmag]

I'm out! As of this afternoon, a suncom rep finally agreed to cancel my account without an ETF. After being told there was no chance of that happening, that the issue was my phone, and that they were providing "good" service--someone must have finally saw all of the angry notes in my account and decided it was time to be rid of me. I guess that's the key--make htem miserable and they'll let you leave.

Thanks and good luck to all!