Cingular False Advertising

I was told when I renewed my contract (bought 2 new phones) that I had cingular to cingular (no charge). Every month my bill was the same price; than I received a bill for $690.00; when I checked the bill I was shocked that I was being charged for cingular to cingular calls. And it showed my son had over 1200 text messages which was b.s. How can he send text messages when he is on the phone talking (times did not mesh)? Than the following month it showed 426 text messages (yet he sent & rec. no more than 20). Something is wrong!!! But back to the billing me for cingular to cingular when they advertise all over the t.v, radio & mailings that it is free. I have tried to work this out with cingular and it took them over a month to make a decision on my complaint and they didn't even have the courtesy to call me or write me and let me know what the decision was; they shut off my phones without ever notifying me of the results. They offered to give me a 50% credit well, that's not good enough. I want what they advertise. I have kept every mailing that shows cingular to cingular is free and I have the names, dates of every person I have tried to work this out with. Since they do not have the courtesy to call me I have handled it on my own by fileing a complaint with the state of florida & the better business bereau and I am sending a complaint to the FCC.

Your kid is lying to you....

You can actually send text messages while you're on the phone on most phones and remember Cingular charges for incoming text messages as well as outgoing (which sucks) and when somebody else sends a text message to your kids phone it doesnt matter whether they're on the phone or not...

50% credit on a charge that you're probably responsible for is pretty damn generous if you ask me.

As for mobile to mobile minutes...they arent counted if you're on the correct plan and contract except for during the nights and weekends period if you somehow manage to use more than 5k and you're on the 450 min plan...this is automatic and system wide...if it was really jacked up for you it'd be jacked up for a LOT of people and HoFo would be blowing up. You can clearly see for yourself on your bill or online whether or not mobile to mobile is on your account...if it isnt and you signed a 2 year contract it should be a pretty easy fix...if it is then well..you're reading your bill wrong and not realising that your non mobile-to-mobile calls are adding up to more minutes than your plan contains or you're just well..wrong. I'm leaning toward the latter being the case.

Check these things out and if everything is right suck it up and pay your bill and pay more attention next time.

reasons why you dont give a 14 yearold a cell phone
1) 1200 text messages = $120
2) kids have no concept of time, hince $300 in overage min
3) no matter how innocent you think you kid is they will lie to your face about charges weather it be $60 in ring tones $75 in internet usage or 1200 text messages.
4) children cannot be trusted if you naive to get you child a phone then BLOCK all PPU (Pay Per Use) features on the phone or just get then a prepaid they way when they talk to much they have no phone to use till next month

your son probably did send 1200 texts.. its extreamly easy to do when you use aim on your phone.. could be done in a few days actually. as for the free cingular to cingular calling.. its only if you have mobile to mobile (which im not sure if you do or not) but if you dont.. you will be charged.

each aol instant messege send is .10 cents and received.

Back to the mobile to mobile issue.

Chances are you were mistakenly placed on a rate plan without m2m in it. M2M is a promotional feature that doesn't come automatic with ALL rate plans. You have to have a plan that has that feature. If you make any changes to your plan after your contract is up and do not wish to extend your contract, you'll be given the exact plan you want, but without mobile to mobile.

As far as the text messaging:
1. Don't give a 14 year old a phone.
2. Monitor the usage
3. Block all text messaging and internet charges because Russ is right. The child will have no concept of what they're using.

We will only offer 50% of the charges back because you:
1. Can monitor your usage on the account
2. Are responsible being the account owner

We can fix the mobile to mobile issue if it's in fact a mistake. Call us, get into detail on the issue.

Points to ask:
1. How long is my contract?
2. Do I have m2m on my rate plan?

If you have a 2 year contract, you should have m2m. If not, we'll fix it, submit the request for charges to be credited and you'll be called back with an updated balance.

The text messaging is solely the fault of the owner or who the "owner" gives the phone out to.

On the m2m situation, had the same thing happen to me.

I had gone into the store with my 2 teens and daughter's bf. All got Cingular phones and plans. And I specifically said that the reason was we wanted the m2m (as daughter talks to bf 15 times a day).

I generally didn't pay alot of attention to my phone bills. If they came in about $250-300 a month I figured all was well. And then daughter went out of town and I got the bill for almost $800 (because they hadn't given me the m2m as I requested).

I paid the bill and had them "change" my plan to include the m2m. After reading this thread I am under the impression that Cingular is actually screwing us over working on the possibly correct assumption that alot of customers, such as me, have so many phones on the plan and so many "options" on the phones, and such a whopping monthly bill that they won't notice the "screwup" until a teenager does something horrific like spend 4000 minutes on m2m calls that aren't actually covered by m2m plans.

well heres the nice thing, all of the plans now are all nationwide and all have ulimited m2m. so if by some chance you do get screwed with unconditional charges on your bill you have a way to back it up! just look at your brochure you got when you signed the contract!

PEOPLE WHO BUY TEENAGERS CELLPHONES SHOULD PAY STUPIDIDTY TAXES. Teens have no business having cell phones, but if you're stupid enough to buy them one PAY THE BILL. I wonder how many good Cingular customer service reps you cussed out. People who buy cell phones for teens never seem to believe their "little angels" could possibly do something like ring up huge phone bills. I guarantee if the little darling had to get a job and pay the bill him/herself this would never have happened. Wait 'till college mom....hehehehe

watch your caps, next time it will be deleted.

Cingular False Advertising

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