Ugh! My Cell Phone Was Shut Off!!! - **UPDATED - I Have Cell Service Again **

[becka]

I know that I mailed a payment last month but according to Cingular they never got it. When my DH went to use his phone this morning he got a nice little message saying that it was shut off due to non-payment! Ugh!

Well I actually was just going to mail out my payment today and when I checked my bill for July I noticed that the last payment did not get credited. I didn't even bother to check the bill when it first came in so I just found out now. Unfortunately we are heading out of town tonight and I don't want to drive without a cell. I am going to take some personal time off work and go over to the store and see if I can make my payment there and get them to turn our phones back on. I wonder if they can do it that quickly - does anyone have any experience with this? I tried to call the automated line to pay but it said it could take up to 2 business days before my account is credited so that means we would not have service. Ugh! I can't believe this is happening!

I don't want to put off our trip just because of this but I am not sure I feel very comfortable driving at night in pretty isolated areas without a cell.

 

[Towncrier]

You can always call 911 on a cell phone in an emergency and they will put the call through. This is one of those little known facts that the cellular companies don't advertise. This will work with any cell phone regardless of whether or not you have a contract.

So you are covered for "real" emergencies.

 

[MICKEY88]

I have my cell with ATT and I pay my bill by phone every month my account is credited instantly...you might want to check into switching companies.........or call the automated line again and see if they have an option for speaking to a real live person..ATT has that option...I always deal with a real person to make sure the payment has been credited right away..

 

[dtuleya]

I wonder if you pay by cash if it would get credited more quickly (no check to clear).

 

[jfulcer]

Been there, done that.

If you make the payment in the office (and pay a $50-$75 reconnect fee) then they will reactive it immediately. Good luck!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

I know with Cingular you can call and have them charge the bill to your credit card -- I don't know if they will charge a reconnect fee or not.

jerks!

 

[piratesmate]

beacka - Try calling back talk to a real person, but do not use automated phone pay first. Tell them what happened & ask if it would be possible to expedite the re-connect. Especially since it hasn't happened before, the might do it immediately - well at least within 2 hours. (Checks don't really take 2 days to clear - they call in & get authorization from the bank right away.)

I would also play the sympathy card if needed - have to go out of town, remote areas, baby in the car, etc.

We've had this happen with Cingular. Now I try to keep an eye on our bank account to make sure the check gets cashed - or I just use the phone pay in the first place.

Deb

Oh - you can also sign up to have a notice emailed when the new bill is available on the Internet. Just don't let them stop your paper copy - I think STOPPING it is the default.

 

[4greatboys]

Becka--good luck Cingular is a PITA. I made a payment one month Jan 2002 in Feb BEFORE that Feb payment was due they cut off my phone. I called they said I didnt make Jan payment. I had to make my Feb payment to get it turned back even thoughit wasnt due yet. Told them My Jan payment did already clear my bank. I had to fax a copy of the part of my bank statement (everything else was blacked out but their info) to accounting. The girl never took care of it and I had to fax the stuff again. It took me months to get that payment posted. Once posted it was on my account for a couple of months then I received a bill wanting payment for that payment I had already made. More phone calls to them and it was finally taken off.

 

[becka]

Well my phone appears to be connected now.

I don't know why they even have offices if they can't do anything at them. I drive over there and she just dials into the automated line for me and then I stand there on hold for 15 minutes waiting for someone to answer. I paid my June and July bill and they said they were going to waive the $72 re-connect free for me as a courtesy. I now have to go back to my bank statement and see if the check cleared and if it did then I need to fax them a copy, etc, etc... What a mess but at least we have cell service for our trip tonight.

Thanks for the advice...I think I may start using the automated pay service from now on since they either lost the check or credited it to the wrong account. I am locked into a contract with them until next May so I will just have to live with them until then.

 

[Mskanga]

And I wonder....how did we live without cell phones before we had them? I know I have an incredible peace of mind and security with mine, I never leave my house without it in the car, now if it's on or off....that's another story, I am known for keeping it off in the car.

 

[scarlett873]

hey becka...i have cingular too and, knock on wood, haven't had any issues with them at all. have you tried paying online? i do it every month and they take it right from my checking account...

 

[Adrianna]

A couple years back I had accumulated a fairly high cell bill (both ex's and my phones), my ex and I had just split up and money was tight and that just wasn't the highest priority. Well I finally had the money to pay it, and to get it credited most quickly I paid for it on line. Well of course when I hit the little "submit" button, something went screwy with the computer, but I still thought it went through ok. After all the money was taken out of my account (I used a debit card to pay). But, I get a call from the phone company saying that all this money is past due, when I know I paid it. Seems the computer glitch never credited my payment, yet the money was gone from my account. GRRRRRR needless to say I actually had to get something from the bank and send it to them to prove this, and they STILL questioned it. Never paid that bill online since.

 

[Towncrier]

I know what you mean about paying bills (and anything else) online. I once ended up with 4 sets of plane tickets to Orlando because the airline website never confirmed my purchases. There was another instance where I made a credit card payment and there were insufficient funds in the checking account to make the payment. I didn't get any notification of a problem until AFTER the due date on the credit card, so I got zinged with a late fee.

And the one situation that is very similar to yours, I used CheckFree in the early days of its existance to make my car payment automatically. I got a nasty phone call from the bank telling me that I was late with a car payment when in fact I was two months ahead. I even had a cancelled check from CheckFree showing that the bank had received the monies. It turns out that with all the bank consolodations, my payment was credited to another person's car loan at a different branch (who just happened to have the exact same loan number as mine). It was a mess to cleanup and involved contacting several credit agencies to clear up the bank's mistake.

I'm glad to hear that you've got cellular service again.

 

[Mskanga]

Speaking of account numbers TC, just yesterday, checking my bank statement online I realized that my car loan company had "corrected" 3 of the numbers on my account number on the memo of the check. I called them just to make sure they credited the right account and guess what? They changed my account number because they closed the servicing office , they never told me anything about the change , but worse yet, they just sent me a whole new payment booklet with the old account number on it. I asked if they were going to send me a new one , and they said only if you would like us to . Sure I would, I want another booklet with the new account number and my name on it, I don't want you to credit Joe Blow for my payments