Cingular: Part Two of ???

I previous detailed my experience with my first Cingular bill after getting the Treo. I’ve gone through two billing cycles since then, and although I have technically yet to receive a bill, there have been plenty of problems. The first one, of which, of course, is that I have yet to receive a bill.

About three weeks ago, I realized I hadn’t yet received my bill, so I went online and checked it. To no one’s surprise, I was still being charged per-use for data, on top of my unlimited PDA data plan. So I called Cingular. The fellow I spoke to determined that the reason I hadn’t received the bill was because my address was wrong. He then told me that the amount they had overcharged me for data was too large for him to credit himself, so he would have to talk to his manager, and would call me back.

Fast forward to today: I never did receive a call back from Cingular, and I realized that I hadn’t received my third bill, either (my billing cycle ends on the 2nd of the month, and I’m supposed to pay by the 25th to avoid late charges). So I checked my bill online again. Of course, there was no credit listed for the previous bill, plus now there were late fees. And I was still being charged for each byte of data. So this afternoon, I called Cingular again, and spoke with a nice woman named Jessica. She could not find any record that the previous gentleman ever filed for a credit, but confirmed that the amount was larger than she was authorized to credit, so she would file the paperwork to give me a credit, and call me back. She also confirmed that my address was still wrong in their system. Maybe this time they’ll fix it. I’m not exactly holding my breath.

They’ve now removed the “Media Net Pay-Per-Use” from my account, which seems to be what was causing the problem. This means I can no longer use the GPRS settings that the phone came with—this is the same thing that happened originally when they tried to fix it, but then Data Support added the setting back, along with giving me a second set of settings that continue to work, so I think I’m good with the data, and hopefully now I won’t get the extra charges anymore on my next bill.

Interesting footnote: through work, I get a flat percentage discount with Cingular, which is applied as a credit at the end of each bill. When computing my credit, Jessica added together the data charges for the two months, and said she would apply for a credit in that amount. When I pointed out that that wasn’t how much I was actually being charged, since there was a credit on top of that amount from my business discount, she told me not to worry about it. This makes me feel guilty, and I’m not sure if it should.

I have the same problem sometimes at the cafeteria, when they undercharge me for the soup; it’s supposed to be $1.50, but there’s at least one cashier who consistently charges $1.00, and when I protest that the price is $1.50, she insist that it’s not. I’m not sure how much I’m supposed to object to things like this, especially in the Cingular case, where they’ve already messed up my account, caused me grief, and made me call them repeatedly. It still feels like I’m taking advantage of them, though. Is that wrong?

One thought on “Cingular: Part Two of ???

  1. In your case I’d be a bit annoyed to not be getting more of a discount, considering how much they’ve screwed everything up….

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