Question on switching cell phone providers

[Minnie824]

Ok, this may be long...In Dec, we switched from Cingular to Verizon...just a note...DO NOT go with Cingular. We have had nothing but problems from them. Ok, so yesterday, we receive a bill for $275 from Cingular. One part is $175 for early cancel of the contract. We had a 2 yr contract, and proof of when we got it in 2003, however, it took them 2 months to get our phone numbers right back then even, so it showed one phone was ok to leave, the other wasn't. This was incorrect, we have proof, and the lady acted like she did me a favor by waiving the $175 fee that was wrong in the first place. Ok, so that leaves $100 on a bill for 5 days. She said, that no matter when you switch, you have to pay for your whole billing cycle? Now, this very well may be the case, but it doesn't sound right to me. And, our normal bill, with usage is $80, now its $100, which she said is due to taxes. But if we don't pay, and wait til next month for it to adjust, we'll get a late fee!! GGRRR. So, do you know, or think if it should be paid only for the time we were actually with them? Or the whole billing cycle?

 

[Christine]

First off, I will state that I have Cingular and I love them. I've had them for several years and just added my DD to it for a family plan.

It is my impression that at the beginning of each cycle, I will get hit for the "plan cost". At the end of the cycle, any usage outside the plan (minute overruns, texting) are added and then the bill is calculated. For the flat rate bill plan, I do not believe it is prorated. I don't know this 100% but it is just my understanding of it.

 

[MrsKreamer]

Well I think most cell companies are like this. T-Mobile decided to charge us all kinds of extra fees durring our evacuation right after the Hurricane. Then they left me a message saying that all the charges would be taken off due to the storm....nope. They took off a very small portion and claim that some of it was from a previous month. Go figure that, DH and I never go over minutes and I pay the bill completely every month. Then they charged us $200 per line to cancel our service for not paying our bill. I tried to explain that we haven't received and bill yet and our mail was still pretty screwy....they didn't believe. Now we have Cingular and after going through the hassel with T-Mobile, I couldn't be happier...

 

[Ragnrok23]

It is my understanding that you pay in advance for cell phone service. so i would think that you should actualy get a 2 week refund

 

[disneyaggie]

DO NOT go with Cingular. We have had nothing but problems from them.

Yep -- I switched to Cingular when I had to get a new phone (lost the old on at MK, of all things!). I was with AT&T, but since AT&T had just been bought out, I went ahead and switched. What a nightmare! So many others I have talked to also noticed a HUGE difference in issues when they went with Cingular. Glad some of you might be one of the fortunate ones with little to no issues, but I have noticed a dramatic increase in billing, customer service and service issues.

 

[Towncrier]

It's not just Cingular. Alltel also charges you for the entire billing cycle. It is an industry standard way of putting the screws to the consumer. As far as I know, there is no way that they will refund your money. I found out the hard way that you should only switch cell phone carriers at the end of the billing cycle and not near the beginning.

 

[thelittlemermaid]

It's not just Cingular. Alltel also charges you for the entire billing cycle. It is an industry standard way of putting the screws to the consumer. As far as I know, there is no way that they will refund your money. I found out the hard way that you should only switch cell phone carriers at the end of the billing cycle and not near the beginning.

I'm so glad I read this! We have Alltel and as soon as our contract is up {should be either in March or April}, we are getting rid of them. Ever since we supposely bought "new and better" phones, we have had nothing but problems. Of course Alltel says it's not their service {yeah right!} then we tell them it must be the phones. Of course it's not the phones, they were the top of the line when we bought them {so Alltel says. Anything so they don't have to replace them.} I can't wait until we are rid of them and make sure I do it at the end of the billing cycle.

Thanks Towncrier!!!

 

[disneyaggie]

O.K. -- now here's one . . . I call someone. I get billed on my minutes used, and the person I called gets billed for their minutes (for answering) as well. Sounds like a double-dipper to me and another way for the phone companies to take advantage of its customers.