Originally Posted by
tonypct
I would definitely call Cingular customer service again and this time, escalate the call to a Manager. Let him/her know everything you said in this post, especially the fact that you've been a customer for 12 years and that you pay about $400 per month. That makes you a very special customer in their eyes. If the Manager is not willing to give you the new customer deal, then escalate the call one level up. You'll be speaking to an Area Manager. And if that doesn't work, write a letter to the CEO, Stan Sigman in Atlanta. Make sure you tell them all that you will be looking into a competitior if you do not get satisfaction.
I know it sounds like a hassle, but Cingular does not want to lose a customer like you. Good luck and please keep us posted as to the outcome.
Before I headed out to dinner, I did what you suggested and gave Cingular one last chance. I found the T-Mobile phone I wanted on the web; I knew the prices of the Cingular phone (Treo 750) for a new and current customer.
When I got the first guy on the phone, I asked to speak to someone in the customer retention department. He told me he could deal with it. I gave him the issue and the bottom line: it's better value for me to switch to T-Mobile. He did tell me that he wasn't authorized to do anything, so he sent me off to customer service. I got to tell the story again.
The bottom line was I am being asked to pay $650 as an existing customer where new people get to pay $400. Since I am on the verge of switching to T-Mobile, I have identified a phone that costs only $250. She checked the account and saw the issue immediately. Since she couldn't offer me the contract for a new customer, she offered to credit the account for the difference, $250, so I could go and buy the phone at a Cingular store. Not bad. The only little problem was that since the phone number is from the east coast, someone in a different office has to approve it--and they were closed. So she annotated the account, so I could call them tomorrow and get the rebate.
I will try tomorrow. If the rebate comes through, I will go to a Cingular store, if it doesn't I am off to T-Mobile!