AT&T Service Issues After the Merge

Yours is the first of service getting WORSE after the merger, most have gotten BETTER. Can you try to get help at the nearest store? Try another phone model.

If not, a Class Action suit is NOT the best option, Small Claims Court is. But first, start working your way up the corporate ladder. There are lots of names, numbers and emails on their corporate web pages. Being a squeaky wheel is easier than legal action.

 

STEP 1: ELIMINATE ONE OF THE POSSIBLE CAUSES

Find other people with AT&T service and enquire whether their service has gone downhill. If you have TDMA service, you'll want to ask people with TDMA service, and if you have GSM service, you'll want to ask people with GSM service. Do a comparison and see whether it's the service or your phone. If you have GSM service, borrow someone else's AT&T handset and put your SIM card in their handset. If the problem goes away, it is clearly your handset that is the issue.

STEP 2: REPLACE THE HANDSET

Assuming your friend does not have the same issue, it is probably your phone. If you signed a contract and got the phone three months ago, it is still under warranty and you can have it replaced for free. Call 611 and arrange for a handset replacement. Usually this involves getting a phone through the post along with a way to return your existing phone (via post -- this called RMAing a phone, RMA standing for Return Merchandise Authorisation).

STEP 3: WRITE LETTERS

Write a letter to the Customer Relations department. Write a letter to the CEO of Cingular (you can find this information if you Google for it). Be nice. Do not threaten anything. State the problem, state whom you talked to, when, and what they said. Ask them to assign someone to take ownership of your issue, or if they choose, to release you from your contract without charge. Then wait. These letters are not answered immediately, so you are going to have to wait 30 or even 60 days for a response. If you include a telephone number or an e-mail address you stand a better chance of quicker response.

STEP 4: USE THE GOVERNMENT

Assuming the response is not satisfactory, you can write your state's public-services commission. In California it's the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC); in New York it's the New York Public Services Commission (NYPSC); in Iowa it's the Iowa Corporations Commission (ICC). The overseeing agency will probably be printed in very small print on your AT&T/Cingular bill. I don't know if the agency in Oregon has jurisdiction over wireless service; the CPUC do down here in California. Bear in mind that if you file an official complaint (say, the $175 early-termination fee), you must write a cheque to AT&T for $175 and forward it to the commission. If the case is decided in your favour the cheque is returned to you; if the case is decided in Cingular's favour, the cheque is turned over to them and cashed.

BillRadio is right. Class action lawsuits are expensive, they take years, and more resources than you have at your disposal. Small-claims court is faster, more likely to settle in your favour, and much cheaper, often under $100 to file the suit. Bear in mind that if you lose you can be compelled to pay Cingular's legal fees and that it will be entered as a judgment against you on your credit record, which is very, very bad juju. Also, bear in mind that if you go straight from "the customer service representative wouldn't help me" to "lawsuit", you have skipped several steps that could help and the judge is likely to tell you that you have other options for remediation. Finally, you have very little legal standing until you have cancelled your service and suffered the loss of your $175 or whatever it is. For a tort claim (the kind you would be filing) there must be demonstrable damages.

 

I agree with Zaphod up until points 3 and 4. That's when I just shell out the $175. My time is worth more than that amount, so I can do things like post to these forums. So unless there's an easy web form or something, someone else can write the CPUC about it.

I had to comment on this though, the "power cycle the phone once a day" recommendation. This is probably my favorite bogus recommendation that CSRs and techs make. It's been made often on boards as well.

I've been using CDMA, TDMA and GSM since 1997, never turn off my phones and don't have a problem. I'm convinced that when power cycling your phone "works" it's because the person doing it thinks it's making a difference and the problem, which was something else, goes away. Power cycling probably works in like 0.8% of situations -- someone goes through a tunnel and the phone doesn't reregister properly.

 

My best advice is have the store open a trouble ticket. This will get your problem past customer service and on to engineering. You should get a much better response to your problem after that.

 

I would agree... the number of hours it would take to do steps 3 and 4 would make it non-worthwhile, which is why I just paid T-Mobile off instead of spending all my time tracking them down.

That said, they are valid steps to be taken before a lawsuit. And the CPUC, at least, have e-mail response to issues, or you can call the ORA (Office of the Ratepayer Advocate).

 

sounds like tdma is kicking your butt, gsm has gotten better

 

Class Action lawsuits tend to be really good for the lawyers and you will end up with a $5 credit, 6 years from now...

If you have problems everywhere not just in an area here or there, you should get another handset.

 

Huzzah to ZaphodB!!! This is one of the kindest, most thoughtful and helpful posts i have ever seen! There is no obligation of a Forum Moderator to give this much detail and explanation.

We have all been given a gift of his time and experience, and I have never read a more complete review of cellular problem resolution. I hope "the Jerk" will take this information and use it to his advantage.

I also agree that there is only so much time a person should be expected to devote to any consumer problem. However, if i were to drop the issue at any certain stage, I would make sure that I have kept a record of all attempts to resolve the problem, then NOT pay any ETF. If it should show on my credit report or any collection papers, I can attach an explanation of my attempts to fix the problem.

Unless one has a bad attitude, i have seen most problems resolved by escalating no more than one or two steps.

 

Thanks for the kind words, BillRadio. I actually expanded this, made it carrier-neutral and posted it as a sticky in the General Wireless forum.

 

Well, as a Northern CA user with an ATT GSM phone, I have had excellent service. My concern is the network dependability AFTER Cingular sells its network. But right now, it is fine.

 

I have a friend in San Francisco that was talking to me the other day. She said that she got a call from ATT and they told her that they were trying to get rid of the type of phone that she had. They offered her a new phone and a better plan with Cingular if she was willing to swicth of course she took the bait. The thing was up until then she was having alot of problems with her service. It is all better know though.

 

No, you are not the only one!!!! I have been searching frantically for others who are having similar issues when I came across your posting. I have been with Cingular for years (about 7). Since the merger was official with ATT back in Nov, I have had nothing but issues. I never had signal problems, dropped calls, network busy messages, or dead air until the day the merger was official. I have had those problems mentioned ever since, not to mention the billing issues which I have finally got resolved. I have called cust serv and they told me a similar thing. Power the phone off and then back on to get the latest downloads. I never had to do this before. I have been on the GSM network since August and was on it before when I lived in NC. Never had to turn the phone off and back on. I leave my phone on all the time. I used to have a full signal throughout my house and now I have to go outside to get a full signal. There are many parts of my house where I get no signal at all now. This sucks because we use our cells as our home phone. I also have the dead air happen everyday. I will be talking and the person on the other end can't hear me or vice versa or it will just disconnect even with a signal. Please let me know what you plan to pursue, I want this resolved. The people at Cingular just don't seem to be hearing me when I complain at least once a week on the phone or at their stores!

 

You do need to periodically cycle all cell phones. It's like a computer -- yes, it will technically keep working for a long time, but as time goes on the performance goes down.

It sounds to me like you were on a Cingular tower before and now you are on an AT&T tower which is providing inferior service. You may also be the victim of interference between two strong towers. Ask at the store if your phone is programmed to prefer AT&T or Cingular; whichever it is, ask them to reprogram it to prefer the other.

If Customer Care isn't being responsive, you need to escalate this issue. If you haven't talked to Technical Support, demand to be transferred. If you have talked to Technical Support, make note of your ticket number. If you still get no satisfaction, climb the corporate ladder. Write a nicely-worded letter to Customer Relations. Write a nicely-worded letter to the CEO of Cingular. He has an entire staff whose job it is to take care of this. Believe me, when word comes from the Office of the CEO to fix this problem, all of a sudden scripts and bureaucracy disappear. Include names and promises and attempts so that you get routed to the right department -- nobody wants their name on a complaint letter that the CEO might see. He won't see it, but his staff will. You'd think more people would write to the CEO, but I guess not...

Dealing with technical problems, whether it's your computer, your cable TV or your cell phone, is immensely irritating, and it doesn't help when the people you call are bound by scripts and rules.

 

I've got the GSM Charter plan and since moving to So.Calif. the service has been spotty for me at best. It's worst in my home, where I often have to walk outside and around the corner to even get my phone to work (old Sony Erisson t68i). But my roommates also have poor reception in our house (Buena Park) and they each use a Nokia 6200.

I heard somewhere that Cingular SIM cards are a larger 64k and that is one of the reasons they want you to upgrade (and sign a new 2 yr contract). Apparently my card is searching for towers in exactly the wrong sequence. Not sure if that's the case with my roommates' phones.

Before the merger, when I asked an ATT rep if the firmware in my phone could be upgraded, she said to call back on a landline (since I was on my cell), but I never got that done since the wait was always too long in the phone queue.
These days, however, their only solution is for me to get a new phone.

 

Another story - a friend has been a very loyal and very happy ATTWS customer for many years. She was asked to move by her company to a new city and she agreed. Neither ATTWS nor Cingular offer service in this new city. When she called ATTWS to let them know, they said she would NOT be allowed out of her contract! She was quite surprised, how can they hold you to a contract when they offer absolutely zero service in the new area?

 

My experience with ATT/Cingular recently in Portland OR has been less than stellar. There have been more frequent instances recently of incoming calls going to directly to voicemail - something that never happened last year. It has not got to the point where it is a serious problem - it is more of an irritant now but there seem to be no question that network performance is worse now than before. Hopefully it is an aberration - my contract is coming up for renewal in July and I will reconsider CDMA carriers at that point. I have been meaning to escalate - maybe I will when it happens again.....

 

Some companies, if they own a license for a market yet have built no towers and do not offer service, will consider the area to be "served" by them by virtue of owning a license alone. Perhaps this is the case?

 

Not sure ... how would one find out? Since they will not provide service (to current customers or potential new customers) ...

 

On the main Wireless Advisor page, if you type the ZIP code into the provider search field, you will get a list of the companies that own licenses (but not necessarily serve) in a given market.

 

Done. As suspected (by me) neither ATTWS nor Cingular are listed (but T-Mobile, Verizon & Sprint are) in this zipcode area.

Now what?

 

Good question. Even if legally they have language in the agreement that allows them to charge the $175 fee, it is not very proper of them to do so.

I guess the options are to continue to call and complain until the fee is waived. I know for a fact that Sprint will let anyone out of their contract without penalty provided they show proof (utility bill, for example) that they have moved out of the service area.

Writing a letter at PlanetFeedback.com may help.

As a last resort, your friend might try and find someone willing to take over her contract, called a change of responsibility, that would free her from the agreement and pass it along to someone else.

Good luck!

 

I had major problems with AT&T rottenservice whenI first moved to LA a year and a half ago. I called the Calif PUC and filed a formal complaint. Then I e-mailed the VP at their executive office. I also went to the AT&T website and cced the e-mail to every corp exec I could find. Within 3 days I must have gotten at least 5 calls asking what can they do to make me happy. Isaid let me out of my contract NOW and disconnect the service! They did and even credited my last months bill! I had GSM adn TDA with them ant itwas the WORST! Back east in Florida they were just ok! Went with Verizon and could not be happier!!!!

 

if it is a motorola it is a known problem, and you must power cyxle the phone every day

 

Motorola flip (clamshell) handsets.



Please note that for the dropped call to occur, these three things MUST occur:



Phone has not been power cycled in more than 3.03 days – (phone has not been powered off/on in slightly more than three days)
An internal timer (Receiving Timing Adjustment) rolls over (resets) while on a call – (timer in the phone resets itself – note this is invisible to end user)
A receiver timing adjustment is being made at this same instant – (an internal process is made in the phone’s processing system, also invisible to the end user)

 

i think i have a solution for you.

if you look at the monthly statement you get in the mail, on the back of it it says that cingular has the right to terminate your contract if more than, i think, 50% of your usage within 2 months is roaming.

now, cingular roams with t-mobile, which is listed as a provider in your area. if you make some simple calls there, it would be 100% roaming usage, since cingular has no network there.

in 2 months, they will cut your service off. and the best part, it doesnt say anything about early termination fees!! check it out, it is in your statement!

 

I've heard that Cingular never invokes that clause...though maybe that will change now that they own ATT.

 

I agree with the above. I can also offer another remedy: the Better Business Bureau. I had AT&T service, and it was just awful. They wouldn't let me out of the contract. So I wrote to the BBB, and a few weeks later AT&T wrote me a letter with an "executive" phone number I could call. When I called, a person answered--I didn't have to go through computers or anything. They asked what I want. I said I want out of the contract and they said ok. And this was for free (unlike small claims court) and took almost no effort (again unlike small claims court).

 

I am also part of the group, that does not have the time or energy to write letters, I am just about paying the ETF and moving on. I have not had to do it for quite some time since I have had great service with Verizon. But I walked away years ago from PacBellWireless GSM , ATT TDMA, and LA Cellular ( a long time ago )