Cory: 1. Cingular: 0

I'm going to share with you an email that I sent to Kevin Hall late last week. He enjoyed it enough to request that yours truly post the text on my blog, for all to see. Here's the back story...

My friend John recently acquired a Cingular 8125 telephone, a pocket PC with all the bells and whistles that any man could ask for. Noticing that my Cingluar contract was on the verge of allowing for an upgrade, I took it upon myself to call the Cingular (or, should I say, NEW AT&T WIRELESS!) people and request an early upgrade, allowing me to take advantage of the offer on the website (super phone, only 80 bucks!).

Like dealing with any major corporation, it was like pulling teeth. However, I sucked it up and battled on, inspired by a story from just a couple of weeks ago. The aforementioned Kevin Hall had been trapped by a screwy computer system and subsequently received lackluster tickets to an upcoming show through the Ticketmaster website. After yelling and screaming for nearly half an hour, he actually managed to receive a refund... from TICKETMASTER. My thoughts were that if someone like us, a regular Joe, can be issued a refund from the most heartless of organizations (seriously, Ticketmaster & Enron are two sides of the same coin), then surely I could do the same. Below is the unedited text of my email to Kevin describing the situation... and a neat picture of the phone in question!


Please forgive the lateness of my reply, I've been at war with Cingular.

Here's a synopsis of the last hour and a half of my life.

Note: There were times that I thought about giving up, but then I'd remember,
"Kevin got a refund from Ticketmaster... you can do this Cory, just keep at
it!"

John Estep sends me a message, letting me know about the amazing new bells and
whistles associated with his new phone. It's powered by Microsoft, has a touch
screen, has a 1.3 megapixel camera, and best of all, built-in wifi connection
with qwerty keyboard. As I think about it, it may be the same phone that you
were telling me Katie had. It's online for 80 bucks, refurbished with a 2-year
contract.

I check my contract... it expires in two months. Now, part of me is just that
kid that wants his toy now, not on his birthday, but part of me is the grown-up
bargain hunter that fears that this offer may not be around in two months. I
then consult bargain-guru, Nathan Johnson.

Nathan informs me that he went on a similar quest for this phone, and with a
little persistence was given the upgrade right now. Inspired, I go to the
phones.

I find myself talking to a very dismissive customer service rep who informs me
that altering the contracts in any way is simply impossible. I tell her that
my friend had done it just this morning, to which she says, "well, you'll need
to talk to your friend about that, there must be more to it." I guess she
assumed that I'd hang up, do so and then call her back... but through the
wonders of messenger I was able to say, "ok, hold on... clickclickclick...
nope, he says he just spoke to a manager and they took care of it."

She puts me to a manager, who doesn't seem too interested in helping me. He
informs me that he can do the upgrade right now, but it's going to require me
purchasing the 180 dollar, new version. Nope, absolutely no way. We battle
back and forth, and I mean we really do battle. He's saying, "Sir, if you will
just LET ME FINISH!" and I'm coming back with, "You're lying to me about
warranties, I'm not an idiot, I know that the refurbished phones come with the
same 12 month warranty as the new ones, I KNOW THAT, you're LYING!"

(note, he was trying to tell me that they could only authorize the new phone
because the refurb didn't come with a warranty)

Finally, in a huff, I just say, "look, it's clear that you CAN alter the
contract, you've just told me that. you can upgrade my phone right now if i
buy the more expensive model. so really, this just comes down to you wanting
to get another hundred dollars out of me."

Then he just begins rambling on about how it's really the call of the manager
above him and that he has nothing to do with the offer I've been given. I
demand to speak to HIS supervisor. He puts me on hold. Soon he returns with
his supervisor on the other line, at which point I inform him that my counter
offer is this: My contract with Cingular runs through July. You can give me
the refurbished phone right now, at the 80 dollar on-line price and keep my
business for two years, or you can play me like a fool and keep my business for
two months. It's that simple."

He then tells me that his boss would like to suggest something. I tell him
I'd like to speak to her. He says, "She'd rather just have us work it out, I
have her on the other line, I'm just going to relay messages between the two of
you." I snicker and say, "ok, tell her what I told you."

A few seconds pass and he comes back... this makes it all worthwhile.

"Sir, my supervisor has offered to give your phone upgrade status right now,
allowing you to go online and purchase WHATEVER phone that you want, provided
that you'll just stop all of this."

I cackle with laughter and tell him, "please tell her that I accept."

I went online, my upgrade status was changed, and BOOM... the refurbished
Cingular 8125 is on the way to my house as we speak.