Cingular, Verizon slapped with class action suits

Wireless carriers in this country are no strangers to all manner of legal action, so it comes as little surprise to us to hear that we have a couple fresh lawsuits brewing of the class-action variety. In Cingular's case, it seems a group of former AT&T Wireless customers are worked up over the degredation of AT&T's legacy network following the merger, forcing many of them to either deal with the inferior reception, buy so-called "orange" phones and get on Cingular's network proper -- often incurring a transfer fee in addition to the cost of the phone, or leave Cingular entirely and pay the early-termination fee of $175. Verizon meanwhile is taking heat for covertly slapping some of its customers with their roadside assistance option starting in January 2004 at $2 / month, then later refusing refunds when folks got wise to the charge. We dream of one day achieving world peace between human- and carrier-kind -- but in the meantime, good luck sticking it to the Man, folks.

[kyle @ Jul 7th 2006 4:02PM]

And the lawyers just keep filling their pockets.

[aparaty cyfrowe @ Jul 7th 2006 4:08PM]

I'm total agree with you kyle.

[munboy @ Jul 7th 2006 4:08PM]

But you are the man.

I know

So you're sticking it to yourself?

Mabye...

[puh_fifer @ Jul 7th 2006 4:21PM]

I sell cingular now at a retailer and can say the customers "migrating" to "orange" actually get waived activation fees. Don't know about practices in the past, however. As far as not keeping the ancient piece of crap TDMA network up to date, does anyone in their right mind blame them?

[Jason @ Jul 7th 2006 4:21PM]

Verizon is the worst cell phone company on the planet and I hope they burn in hell!>

[CJ @ Jul 7th 2006 4:24PM]

I'm obviously in the wrong profession.

[Cingular Blue user @ Jul 7th 2006 4:24PM]

I really haven't had any problems since the merger. I'm still an ATT customer in their books. I have some sweet rate plans (including international calling based on my normal minutes...) and they (Cingular) hate me for it.

Bahaha.

[Xultar @ Jul 7th 2006 4:29PM]

YES! I can blame them. I have AT&T TDMA service. A lot of people do. I have a Mercedes Benz 2002 with a built in Mercedes Benz Motorola phone. I want my phone. That is the only way I can continue to use the MB Roadside assistance.

So they need to keep the network up and running. They said they would disband it in 2k8. I'm fine with that. But they shouldn't let it go to crap because they want people off of it. That is manipulation and customers shouldn't stand for it.

[Eli @ Jul 7th 2006 4:32PM]

Wireless carriers are scum, just barely above spyware companies and used car dealerships. I'd be happy to hear this, but I know if (when) they lose, they're just going to make their customers pay for it.

[paolo @ Jul 7th 2006 4:37PM]

@Xultar

i have the same car and that same feature. i know its a great to have TDMA, but face it they need to shut that thing down now and get more spectrum for better services such as UMTS. just my opinion

[Derbeste @ Jul 7th 2006 4:39PM]

Xultar...

Wait....you have a Mercedes Benz with a built in phone.....

And you want us to feel sympathy for you somehow because you have to upgrade?

Man! The worlds smallest violin just got smaller.

The bottom line is unless it's in the contract, Cingular can RIGHTLY do whatever they want. This overblown sense of entitlement people have now days annoys me to no end.

[Tim Jebara @ Jul 7th 2006 4:53PM]

Hey don't pick on Mercedes Benz owners. Mercedes has a deal with both Verizon and Cingular to use there phone. It costs 1600 dollars to have the phone, even though it is a piece of shit. Second you cant replace the phone in the car with another one, it wont work. System locks out other phones even if they are compatible. Only way to use the old tdma phones on those cars is to search for a device that has to be installed in the system. It then lets you use anyphone, but it is also expensive. So do not cancel your tdma phones i dont think they can shut it down, just not sign up any new customers.

[Nick @ Jul 7th 2006 5:00PM]

when they forced me to switch to cingular from att ( the guy told me to go to ebay to get a phone b/c he wouldn't sell me one) i called them up and argued with them.. they swiched me to cingular, gave me a cheaper, better plan and sent me 8 phones when i requested 4 :-p just yell and scream and they will do what ever u want them to do

[puh_fifer @ Jul 7th 2006 5:00PM]

I have a busted ass '93 Honda prelude and a GSM phone. I'd rather see them dump their money into more towers, UMTS and HSDPA like Paolo said.

It's just plain business sense as well. Do we invest in upkeep for an outdated network a small percent of our subscribers use and lose us money on with ridiculous old school AT&T plans...OR do we inverst in a global technology like GSM that the vast majority of our customers use and make us lots of money with.

And Cingular blue, if you're one of the lucky people who grabbed AT&T GSM when it came out and are grandfathered into your plan, you get the best of both worlds. Great GSM coverage, small AT&T monthly charge.

[puh_fifer @ Jul 7th 2006 5:20PM]

Oh, I'm sure it's been on here before, but it looks like Cingular is going back to the AT&T name. After SBCYahoo and Southwest or whatever merged and became Gigantor 2/3's of Ma Bell and came up with the curvy AT&T globe logo our rep said everything is going to be under that name by the end of the year.

[Cingular and Nokia sign my paycheck. @ Jul 7th 2006 5:20PM]

Should I feel bad that I am upgrading and integrating these GSM sites for the 90% of customers who aren't stubborn and want better phone reception?

[GhostDoggy @ Jul 7th 2006 5:41PM]

Class Action is a joke in this company. Until the federal and state governments crack down on the limits a law firm can taken in compensation for cases filed and won, CA suits are money makers only for the lawyers.

Haven said that, how intelligent are those putting their names down on the CA suit list? Sounds to me like they were not intelligent in the first place (allowing themselves to be abused by their provider), and not intelligent in the second place (allowing themselves to be abused by the lawyers).

Darwin candidacy is overflowing in America.

[Whatever he said @ Jul 7th 2006 6:39PM]

The lesson here . . . . don't buy a car with proprietary technology. Other than that you all should be used to getting screwed by technology and the company selling it. Its the way of Capitalism --- and God Bless them all, without them, we will never get teleporters!

[Cingular Blue user @ Jul 7th 2006 7:14PM]

puh_fifer

Yeah, ATT GSM :)

[John R @ Jul 7th 2006 7:15PM]

DOES ANYONE FEEL A NEED TO PUT FORTH A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST VERIZON WIRELESS FOR INCLUDING A CRAPPY MENU SYSTEM ON THEIR NEW PHONES WITHOUT TELLING IT'S CUSTOMERS?

[Finished.Law.School @ Jul 7th 2006 9:13PM]

Verizon should lose and pay with interest all charges forced upon their customers for this rubbish roadside assistance. What else should be expected when you charge people for something and do not tell them about it??
Although I expect a settlement more than anything else...

[Bob @ Jul 7th 2006 9:24PM]

I was forced to pay the transfer fee to go from AT&T to Cingular!!! I hate Cingular, their service SUCKS! All over the metro-Detroit area you can drive and one city block have no signal, drive another block and have full coverage. Call Cingular, no response. Cingular blows!

[paolo @ Jul 8th 2006 3:34AM]

@bob

then you should consider switching instead of bitching. no one was "forced" to move you could have easily switch out without paying an ETF. Cingular/at&t is not your mom telling you what to do.

[RacetrackOwner @ Jul 8th 2006 7:25AM]

Cingular does suck. How's this for switching instead of bitching? I ditched Cingular -- and went to AT&T. DOH! Service was great for six months, until Cingular bought them. I suppose you could say I should have known, but honestly I have better things to do than keep track of the global corporate merger calendar.

Derbeste: Xultar didn't ask anybody to "feel sympathy" for him. He just provided a reason that somebody might want the AT&T system to stick around in response to puh_fifer's question. Don't get your panties in a wad because the man has a half-decent car -- even if the built-in phone sucks. I passed on it for my Benz; in 2005 the price had climed to $4400 for a crappy V600-based MB-firmware-locked phone. I hear MB is finally swallowing their pride and "borrowing" the Bluetooth-based open system that Chrysler has made available for many years.

[James @ Jul 8th 2006 9:13AM]

I have a 1999 Ford Ranger. I don't know the significance, but I didn't want to be left out.

[Scott @ Jul 8th 2006 10:26AM]

I have a 2002 Jetta...If that makes any difference.

[Rcadden @ Jul 8th 2006 12:23PM]

I just got rid of my 99 Hyundai Accent for a 06 GMC SIerra, both of which had a Nokia N80 in them, and the kicker, it was so portable I could just keep it in my pocket the whole time!! AND it cost WAY LESS than $1600. So did my bluetooth headset.

[Matt E. @ Jul 8th 2006 2:27PM]

I've got a 2000 Specialized M4 - Mountain bike with Rock Shox Judy Forks with full disc brakes. Oh and my phone is Verizon RAZR V3C with the Alltel firmware flash. Oh yeah I also got it hooked up for FREE web access!

[rich @ Jul 8th 2006 5:08PM]

i myself work for cingular, and we don't "often" charge anyone for what we call migrating to new service under cingular's umbrella. we actually NEVER charge customers for the migration process. the fee is totally waived for them. not only that, but they get better prices on select phones, usually including razr's and/or slvr's. as for the $175 cancellation fee, that's not cingular's fee, that's at&t's fee that the customer's agreed to when signing their contracts. true, service isn't gonna get any better under at&t phones, but we offer so many sweet deals, such as our exclusive rollover minutes, that it's an easy switch to make.

[Miacol @ Jul 9th 2006 9:52AM]

Nice to hear MB is finally joining the family, Chrysler has had the bluetooth system a while now. I had it installed in my 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and it came factory default in my 2005 Pacifica Touring addtion. The best part is it doesn't care what phone I have, all it wants to know is that the phone has Bluetooth.

As to the topic in hand this is just a stupid lawsuite. TDMA has to go, we always wonder why US cellular technology is way behind Europe and Asia. Well here is one of the answers. American's are so much against change that it get difficult to change these systems. Another answer is we don't wanna pay for anything, we want it all free (hello, grow up people). The system is over 20 years old, u should be happy it's still around and thank god it's going away in 2008, I would just tell Cingular shut it all down now and be done with it. GSM/UMTS needs the space which is like 98% of Cingular business. bye TDMA.....

[beanspants1 @ Jul 9th 2006 2:05PM]

you have a 2002 car that used tdma? you should be pissed at mercedes that they put such crap technology into your car.

also, in the west where the lawsuit is focused, legacy cingular has never sold tdma service. it has been gsm only since before 2000, when cingular bought the pac bell properties.

part of the conversion of at&t customers to cingular systems is to add tdma capability to its systems on the west coast.