[HITMONEY]

Has it been confirmed whether or not the 88 will support A2DP Bluetooth?

[DrWoo]

The one thing you have to remember about the call center is that they are a 3rd party group. They are not Cingular employee's.

I know that I spent the majority of my sunday changing things over from cingular to ATT. So, it's safe to bet that the employees were informed. Not to mention the fact that this was all brought up by a cingular employee a while ago, telling people that this was coming.

I'm not offened by the above comments, but to say that intercommunication is horrible isn't the case at all. To the call centers you bet it sucks... but then again, they are not cingular employees

Dr. Woo

[bbgirl35]

okay, questions...is this 8800, the pearl with p2talk? and what is A2DP Bluetooth
I just came from a cingular corporate store and looked at the pearl push to talk, but the little clerks, wouldn't demo it for me...I know cingular put out a push to talk phone before but the service was crappy, wonder if this will be better. The store manager says that some run on EDGE and some run on 3G networks

[archer6]

Originally Posted by DrWoo

The one thing you have to remember about the call center is that they are a 3rd party group. They are not Cingular employee's.

I know that I spent the majority of my sunday changing things over from cingular to ATT. So, it's safe to bet that the employees were informed. Not to mention the fact that this was all brought up by a cingular employee a while ago, telling people that this was coming.

I'm not offened by the above comments, but to say that intercommunication is horrible isn't the case at all. To the call centers you bet it sucks... but then again, they are not cingular employees

Dr. Woo

Thank you for your informative post. Do you work for them?

Cheers.....

[HITMONEY]

Originally Posted by bbgirl35

okay, questions...is this 8800, the pearl with p2talk? and what is A2DP Bluetooth
I just came from a cingular corporate store and looked at the pearl push to talk, but the little clerks, wouldn't demo it for me...I know cingular put out a push to talk phone before but the service was crappy, wonder if this will be better. The store manager says that some run on EDGE and some run on 3G networks

They have no clue of what they speak.

No, the Pearl is the 8100, the Pearl from Cingular is the 8100c and it has the useless push to talk.

I have the 8100c and love it,but I will probably trade for the 8800 when its released.

The Pearl is EDGE not 3g... more like 2.5g same will be for the 8800.

A2DP is Bluetooth stereo,so you can stream music wirelessly from your phone to bluetooth A2DP compliant headsets.

[HITMONEY]

This came up today on google news...

http://communities.canada.com/nation...ry-indigo.aspx



** My bad, it came up yesterday** Sowy.

[oneofdwags]

Originally Posted by HITMONEY

This came up today on google news...
{google news link removed}

Actually, that was out yesterday, but the big question is....

What carrier is going to release the 8800 in March? I wouldn't consider it far fetched that Cingular will be the top candidate given the fact that they have landed the Microsoft White Whale, iMoby. What better marketing ploy to take customers away rom tmo? Seems fair after all those network jumpers who couldn't wait for a Cingy Pearl jumped ship in Sept last year. It could even be the reason they are pushing the blackjack so much. They know that after the 8800 comes out, the blackjack will need a lot more help to sell it. The Blackberries basically sell themselves. I think writers need to lay off Cingular for spotlighting the blackjack over the BB. Anyone in sales knows what I am talking about.

WAG

[archer6]

Originally Posted by showtime

This thread is too funny. Just out of curiosity. Those that are bashing cingular, are you on the network and if so are you satisfied with it.

I'm a long time Cingular customer after trying many of the others. In my prior posts here I'm not bashing Cingular at all. Just reporting my real world experience with them. I find the coverage the very best, and have no complaints with the service per se.

One area that I find rather frustrating is when I call in to make a change such as buying a new phone or upgrading my service, it always involves at least an hour on the phone. Then, for the last 6 months they have sent me a bill that is always wrong (by their own admittance). I understand mistakes as I'm a business owner with a large number of employess so I understand this sort of thing. It's just the frequency of mistakes they make in posting others charges to my invoice. Then to make matters worse I must plan a large block of time, before I call them, as I have never been able to get anything accomplished in less than an hour on the phone with them. It's absolutely mind boggling. I'm never confrontational or difficult. Just patient and courteous.

It seems they have such a complex computer system which requires they view so many different screens to get anything done. It's interesting that they usually ask me for my phone number at least three times, then if I ask a question I have to wait while they find the right screen that will tell them the answer. Then once I have spent an entire hour with them I still have no peace of mind that they actually did what I asked them to do.

So, I ususally call back the next day to confirm the changes only to find out in 95% of the cases that they did something other than what I asked for, or did not do what I asked of them. I always know what I want to get done before calling so it's not like I'm asking all kinds of questions.

Even the most basic request, like calling into check the status of an order is an ordeal. I call in give them my order number, and wait, and wait, all the while on hold, listening to their proclamation that "It's all about you, our customer" while I think yeah right! Finally they come back on the line and say they have no record of the order. Or they say that it's processed but have no idea when I will receive it, nor do they have any way of getting a more specific status, that I will just have to wait. Then they go on to say that if I don't recieve it, just call in and they will place another order!

When I placed the order the person promised it would go out overnight as I had called early in the morning and had an immediate need as my old phone died. The next day when checking the person says they do not ship overnight and it will be 7 to 10 days! If I would have known that when I ordered the phone I would have gone to the local store and purchased one. However I believed the first person who said they could get the phone to me the next morning.

So in my earlier post when I said they lie to the customer that was not an accusation, it was my real world experience on more than one occasion.

It's also important to note that this was not just a one time experience. It's occured more than three times in the last 18 months..

So then when the order finally arrives, it's the wrong phone! Now I have to ship it back and wait all over again. In the mean time the wrong phone is charged to my bill which I must pay or be deliquent. And wait, as they did not credit my account back for the wrong phone for 60 days! This is customer service? This is a company that cares?

So there you have it. I'm not angry, I'm not bashing them or thinking of switching carriers. It is what it is.

This is 2007, and I have never dealt with a company over the phone that gives the customer the impression that they are completely disorganized, or could care less. I am simply amazed that a company of this size cannot create a better customer experience. Sometimes I wonder if Cingular is even aware of how their customers are treated?

[wclyffe]

archer6...I hear you!! I switched about 6 months back from Cingular, and not because of the connection or even the service, but only because I was getting a new phone from another carrier. I moved over to T-Mobile and I can safely say they are the nicest, most courteous service-based carrier I have come in contact with so far. Cingular is/was the nightmare you describe...and sometimes even worse. I also have to say I have noticed no change in my service area...at all. I'm in the Los Angeles area and the coverage is terrific and consistent. Who knows? But, I do not miss those long service calls to Cingular anymore!!!

[archer6]

Originally Posted by wclyffe

archer6...I hear you!! I switched about 6 months back from Cingular, and not because of the connection or even the service, but only because I was getting a new phone from another carrier. I moved over to T-Mobile and I can safely say they are the nicest, most courteous service-based carrier I have come in contact with so far. Cingular is/was the nightmare you describe...and sometimes even worse. I also have to say I have noticed no change in my service area...at all. I'm in the Los Angeles area and the coverage is terrific and consistent. Who knows? But, I do not miss those long service calls to Cingular anymore!!!

Greetings wclyffe,

Thanks for sharing your experience.
I must admit that I have given a lot of thought to moving to T-Mobile. Perhaps you might answer a few questions for me please. I live in the Central Valley of California, right in the middle of the state. I travel regularly to Pasadena, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego when traveling south. Then I also travel North to the Bay Area, San Francisco, Sacramento etc. I travel monthly like this for my work.

My question is how do you find the coverage when you travel within CA?

I've reviewed the coverage maps and it is hard to tell as compared to the Cingular maps, just what areas differ. In addition, I do not know anyone here with T-Mobile. Seems like everyone is using Cingular or Verizon. Anyone that you know that travels with T-Mobile that you might ask about coverage?

If I was comfortable that the coverage is their for me, I would most likely switch to T-Mobile in a flash. I use their hotspot Wifi at Starbucks on my laptop and it's bullet proof. Always works and works very well. In 5 years I've never had a problem. Plus your right, when I've called in they have been courteous and very quick to answer my questions without fail.

Thanks!

[DrWoo]

I will be the first to admit the customer service lines aren't where they need to be. No where close actually.

The one thing I can say for you to do, is stop dealing with them over the phone. I know that I don't call anything in, unless I absolutly have to, and even then I have to log back into the acct to make sure they got it right. So, what my suggestion is, is to just goto the local store. Even dealers have the access to change almost everything.

Dr. Woo

[HITMONEY]

Thats a helluva work around DrWoo.

Though I must admit, at least Cingy CS is better than Verizons... but Cingy is closing the gap quickly.

<shrugs>

It is what it is, few companies care about their customers anymore.They think by saying, "We appreciate your business" is taking care of a customer... doesnt mean much after getting two hours of run-around from what seems to be a convention of village idiots.

I digress...

[DrWoo]

Another thing you can do is when you call in, every single person that works in the call center has an employee ID. Ask them for it before they do anything to the acct. What this generally does is makes the person think and not screw it up, because they now know that someone has there info that can be forwarded up to someone else.

So, right after they verify the acct info, ask them for there ID, then go into the requests you have. That way, when they screw it up, or piss you off, you have an ID that can be linked directly back to the actual person that was helping(not helping) you. The only way things get better is if, people complain when they are wronged. Just sitting back and saying it is what it is... does nothing to help the companies get better at CS. (everyone is getting worse and worse). I think they are getting worse because everyone just expects to have poor service in a call center. So, no one takes those extra steps to make it better. AKA, the norm...

Dr. Woo

[archer6]

Originally Posted by DrWoo

Another thing you can do is when you call in, every single person that works in the call center has an employee ID. Ask them for it before they do anything to the acct. What this generally does is makes the person think and not screw it up, because they now know that someone has there info that can be forwarded up to someone else.

So, right after they verify the acct info, ask them for there ID, then go into the requests you have.

The only way things get better is if, people complain when they are wronged. Just sitting back and saying it is what it is... does nothing to help the companies get better at CS. (everyone is getting worse and worse)

Thanks again, for these great tips.

And I have asked without hesitation to speak to their supervisor, they always refuse which is something else I'm not used to dealing with. No amount of talking on my part could get a supervisor on the phone. Usually, since part of my job is negotiating, I can get whatever I need done. But the outright refusal to transfer me to a supervisor, or manager is one that is hard to overcome.

Any suggestions as to how to deal with this. Anyway to get to a higher authority?

I need to contact someone as I still have unresolved issues.

Thanks

[DrWoo]

If you login to your acct. on the cingular website, there's a link there that will allow you send an e-mail....

I would make sure you give the the ID of the person, state that you asked to talk to a supervisor and then state what happened, as detailed as you can.

You should get a reply shortly, with what they can do.... If that doesn't work, goto a store and talk to the manager of the store and have him submit it.

Dr. Woo