My Account
My Account
My motivation for doing this project began when Cingular/TheNewATT’s GSM RF interference broke one of my $100 computer speakers on my home video editing system in the summer of 2006. When monitoring a very quiet, controlled source, the GSM RF interference noise from my phone was picked up by one of my speakers as an incoming call came in. After playing the involuntary RF feedback at a surprising level, my speaker immediately stopped working. My client, not on Cingular, witnessed my speaker get fried and was equally astounded that my cell-phone service could make a noise that cause so much damage.
So, I decided to investigate the issue for a student radio documentary for a course I took that following Fall. After interviewing numerous Cingular customers, I found that the problem was significantly annoying for most of them. I went to a couple of retail outlets to see if they had heard of the problem and if Cingular would reimburse me specifically for this financial loss. They all knew of the problem; while doubtful that I would get reimbursed, they said I would have to call the 1-800 corporate line to make my case. The audio you hear in the Feeling Cingular animated music video is from that multiple-person conversation. The initial call rep and subsequent manager both acknowledged the problem and shared anecdotes about how it affects them on a daily basis (not included for the sake of brevity), but when pressed they said it was not corporate policy to alert customers about the issue in advance. When approached about the inconvenience and damage it caused me despite the lack of warning, the manager circuitously argued it was my fault that the volume was up too loud. He even went so far as to tell me it was impossible it could have happened.
Feeling Stone-walled
Maybe, just maybe, if they were a little more forthcoming and informed their customers about the issue there would be less property damage. I’m happy to take responsibility for my actions when adequately informed of the risk. After making that point, he held the party-line and said he couldn’t make any adjustments to my account for the loss. I asked if there was any other recourse, like arbitration, that I could pursue. He said he would most definitely look into arbitration and get back to me. I if there was a way I could follow up with him and he said that he would have to call me. He told me he’d get back to me right away, but I never heard from him. Eventually I emailed Cingular/ATT about my general problem with RF Interference and their failure to disclose it and asked to be released from my contract early without a termination fee. They gave me two options: go stuff it and pay the indentured subscriber fee or shut up and ride out the rest of my contract. So I rode it out.
Hate RFI. Go CDMA
Given how the problem affects their employees, even in their own call centers, such corporate irresponsibility seems remarkably disingenuous. I found one store manager who was at least good enough to tell me that CDMA carriers, like Verizon and Sprint don’t have the problem. While other GSM networks like T-Mobile will surely be the next tale, I only know what I experienced as a “valued” Cingular/ATT customer who had it break my speaker.
My World. Complicated.
My relationship with Cingular has been long and unnecessarily complicated. I initially started on the other old ATT (Wireless) a month or so before the merger. I bought two phones online for my wife and I to use on a shared minutes plan. After a couple of months she decided she didn’t like her phone so we went to get her a new one at the nearest store. We were told that they no longer sold ATT phones and that she would have to switch to Cingular and buy a Cingular phone. Furthermore, if we wanted to share minutes, I would also have to switch and get a new phone. Thus, although a customer for less than two months, the only way I could continue to save money through sharing minutes was to buy a new phone (and ditch the one I liked just fine and had just bought for a $100) and start a new Cingular contract.
Thinking long term in savings, I bought a new phone and joined Cingular. In the following weeks it started to grate on me that I was being penalized for their merger after having just signed up with ATT Wireless. After spending many hours with their horrendous customer service during their merger of repeated dropped transferred calls and ridiculous hold times, they did make finally some adjustments to my account. Or at least they said they did and they were not reflected on my next statement. I had to go through the whole process again and try and convince them that someone else already said they would make the adjustments. The amount of time and anguish it took, it was hardly worth it. That’s the ultimate irony, the onus is on each and every consumer to waste their un-billed time to seek some individual corrective action for an unjust corporate practice that may or may not produce results. It’s like playing the lottery to see if they will do the right thing.
My Phone. Blown?
The one other time that they adjusted my account was right after I drove across the country a couple of months before I started the radio documentary in late November of 2006. Somehow the speaker on my phone broke. Unlike my computer speaker, I didn’t witness what caused it, but I really couldn’t help but wonder if RFI was at play again.
My speaker-phone still worked so I called the customer service when I made it across the country. I talked to an increasingly sympathetic call-center woman who in the end decided to credit my account to buy a new phone after I detailed my painful experiences with Cingular. I told her about how I got forced onto their network initially. I told her about my broken computer speaker. I told her that my phone battery could not last a day since I purchased it, unlike my previous ATT phone which could go for two or three days. Mostly I made the case that it was goofy that I was paying for a monthly service that I could not use except on speaker-phone because the equipment that I had purchased from them had broken. Thankfully, she decided to credit my account so that I could replace my phone and speak into it normally.
How Singular is My Cingular Experience
At this point I probably sound overly whiny, but I really don’t call customer service that often! Other than dealing with billing issues, the above cases are the only other times I’ve called Cingular/ATT over specific issues. I’ve never done any journalism before this project, if you’d even call it that. I was surprised when I asked around how many people had found this RF interference so annoying. That the retail employees at the Cingular/ATT knew about the problem and that CDMA carriers don’t have the issue seemed even more alarming. Given prior dubious business practices with being forced onto their network, I genuinely wanted to see if they acknowledged the scope of this problem on a national/corporate level.
Consumer Feedback 2.0
I am still in awe that Cingular/ATT’s RFI blew my speaker. I personally find comedy in the situation that the problem is so bad it actually ruins people’s personal equipment. In trying to get reimbursed specifically for the speaker, I wanted to see how they acknowledged RF interference and the extreme with which it truly affects their customers like myself. Their recent credit to my account to buy a new phone seemed like a reasonable display of corporate generosity to address my myriad of grievances, but with a new understanding of the issue I called back to find out more about their official stance. At this juncture, I did not intend to get reimbursed but to find out how they would treat someone with my experience. I had hoped for a display of concern that this issue is a legitimate problem for their customers. What I got is that they don’t warn their customers. They don’t tell you they are working to fix it. They think it is your problem. I’m not sure how their unfair arbitration process (which they can change at any point) which they did not even follow up with me to pursue would address the issue. The point is why, when this a known problem that even afflicts them, do they ignore the legitamacy of the issue and provide an easy and straightforward remedy. Square that with how they say, “We value our customers and treat them with respect, providing friendly, courateous, knowledgeable and prompt service at all touch points.”
I can safely say I have been serviced on multiple “touch points”, but that respect is not the first feeling I think about from those experiences. I’d call the overarching sentiment Feeling Cingular; just so Cingular that I had to sing about it. What else was I going to do in this world of American Idol and You Tube? As an Apple lover, I reluctantly canceled my service when my contract was up. I wish I could stay to see if GSM RF interference will become an issue for the iPhone, but I gotta go, my CDMA Network is waiting for me.
Quotes from: http://www.cingular.com/about/