Cingular from Verizon Switch
For the last couple months I have had my fill of Verizon Wireless. For the first two years I was with them I had no real problems. I had service where I was and if I didn’t have service somewhere it was no big deal because I was only there for a short period of time. So I found no issue with buying a new camera phone at the time and getting the discount on it by signing another two year contact.
Over the last couple months I was spending much more time around my parents area. My brother, many friends, and more had Cingular and were always able to make and receive phone calls just fine and dandy. Even with my Nextel I would get adequate service. However with Verizon it got zip, nada, none. It wasn’t just an isolated incident either, so whenever I heard someone else receive a phone call it was like they were laughing in my face.
It also sucked because everyone of my friends who were Cingular customers talked to everyone else who were Cingular customers they could talk to as long as they wanted without using any of their minutes. Oh, and they got rollover. I didn’t even contemplate rollover. The only people I really talk to were on Cingular so my Verizon minutes were used up very quickly and I was constantly running over my allotted 400 anytime minutes. I wasn’t aware of it at the time but I didn’t have unlimited night and weekends either. No, my night and weekends weren’t even jumped up much compared to my anytime minutes. So when I noticed I was running over my “peak” minutes I made an effort to make sure I made my phone calls later at night. That just made me run out of my night and weekend minutes quicker and I still got charged and charged big time. It was like a spinning heel round house kick to the nuts every time I got my bill. Even on months I thought I hadn’t talked much my bill would be over $100.
I got a little suspicious about them billing me incorrectly when I noticed subscription-based games that I cancelled months ago were still be charged to my account. When I called they oh-so-kindly informed me that I was being charged monthly for about 10 games that I didn’t even have on my phone. What did they do for all my past month’s trouble and excessive charges? They reimbursed me for two of the games because I could have deleted the games off my phone that day somehow, even tho a Verizon rep told me the day before they were cancelled months ago. I didn’t even bother to argue anymore, because I was just too frustrated at that point. At least it was something and as long as they made sure I wouldn’t be charged in the future for the games I didn’t even own, I was fine with that.
Then I asked “If you messed up my game usage so much, is there any possible way my minutes could be so high because of a glitch on your part?” They assured me it couldn’t. I did notice and let them know that even after I hung up the phone, which has had hardware problems in the past, my minute ticker for the last phone call would continue to go up. They said that shouldn’t be a factor. I gave the benefit of the doubt and moved on.
“Well my browser for the Internet hasn’t been working and I am being charged around an extra $10 a month for that.” They check and to their bewildered surprise somehow the settings were wrong. Okay, they fixed that and to be honest with you, I think I did get some type of refund but I don’t even think it was a full $10 a month because they don’t know how long the settings were screwed up for. Fair enough, let’s move on.
“So can I upgrade my plan so that I can get more minutes so I don’t run over them ever month?” What was their reply to a customer that they screwed on a monthly basis but still payed their bill with a smile since I am the one who signed the contract? “Well you are eligible for a new phone at a discounted rate, would you like to do that?” No, my phone was perfectly fine. I may have said this a bit angry and I think they could sense that they were jeopardy of losing a customer. So when I said no they let me know that they would switch me to the new plan and even apply it for the past couple months so I would get a BIT of a refund, but I would have to sign a new two-year contract. HAHA. I would get $30 worth of “savings” for two more years of sketchy-at-best service and inflated/wrong billing.
Since they were oh-so-kind to me I decided to be oh-so-kind to them in reply. I asked them if since there has been so much hassle if there was anyway they could just end my contract and part ways amicably without having to pay the ridiculous “early termination” fee. Oh no, they couldn’t do that, but they let me know I could upgrade my phone again. What crap, this wasn’t even any special deal they were giving me for my troubles. I was just eligible for it regardless if I was pissed or not since I was on their plan for a certain amount of time. Then I just let them know that since they won’t let me out of my contract that they could leave my plan as is, correct my future billing for the games, give me my tiny refund for the services that I was mis-charged for, and when my contract was up that I would be leaving.
I had many dreams about being able to smash my phone (the phone was a great phone, it is just only tangible item I could use to represent Verizon iteself) and point and laugh as I skip to the nearest Cingular booth. I couldn’t wait for August 25th to come. The second my contract was up I headed over to the Cingular store at the Steamtown Mall to rid my relationship with the cellphone company I had grown to despise.
Unlike at the Verizon store, the woman working there was very helpful. We had everything up and ready to go within minutes. She informed me that I could keep my old phone number and that it would take up to 24 hours before I would get incoming phone calls. Another nice thing was that when you switch it automatically cancels your past service so I didn’t have to make another phone call to those… I’ll bite my tongue.
By the time I got out to the parking lot the phone was already switched over, which means that I can now call any Cingular customer for free. Oh, sweet day. Now the only time I will use any minutes is when I have to talk to any of my poor poor friends who are still on Verizon.
Another nice touch is that my plan is cheaper than it was with Verizon. Not only is it cheaper, but I also get more Anytime minutes, way more Night and Weekend minutes, but also free “in-calling” with any other Cingular customer. I’m looking forward to not having to pay $100-160 every month on my cell phone bill.
Not to say that Cingular service is perfect tho. While far exceeding Verizon, in my opinion, in almost every aspect of customer service and cost, I did find a couple nitpicky issues, which I will discuss in my next article about my switch to Cingular.
Before then tho, if anyone is looking for a cellular phone carrier I would have to say in good conscience to stay away from Verizon. Maybe other customers have had pleasant experiences, but I for one, have had nothing but problems. Speaking from personal experience so far and what I have heard from a lot of my friends, I would highly recommend Cingular, especially in comparison to Verizon.
“Can you hear me now?” No, and I thank all that is holy for it everyday.
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