Hi all-

Well, you all may remember my taleo f woe about my wireless bill after returning form last year's USVI trip ($2,500). I took great care to ensure that we were set for this trip. Of course, true to Cingular style, I'm screwed again. Here is the complaint I filed with the FCC on Monday.

Complaint Against:

Cingular Wireless
PO BOX 68056

Anaheim Hills, CA 92817

Summary of Complaint:

Need any roaming and any long distance charges adjusted from 2004 trip to the USVI June and July 2004 bills) and 2005 trip to the USVI (July 2005 bill).

Complaint:

On June 29, 2005 I traveled from Philadelphia to the Island of St. Thomas, which is in the United States Virgin Islands. Prior to my departure, I contacted Cingular by phone to ensure that my plan would cover roaming and long-distance charges for the duration of my stay on St. Thomas. I planned to stay for two weeks (returning on July 14). I was assured that, in fact, my plan would cover me while in the USVI and any calls would be billed just as they would if I had made them from Philadelphia.

I asked the Cingular rep to note my account of such because after last year's USVI trip, I was told the same thing and returned to a $2,500 wireless bill after spending 2 weeks in the USVI. AT&T Wireless/Cingular eventually adjusted the long-distance on that bill because I had, in fact, called prior to that trip to get the requisite coverage plan. But, they refused to adjust the roaming. I was left with a bill in excess of $1,800. Thus, on this recent trip, I took extra care to ensure that I was covered and get it in writing. The rep I spoke with prior to my departure said the USVI coverage was documented in all of Singular's literature and if I had any problems, I could just call and they would handle it.

While I was on St. Thomas, I stayed at XXXX, which is on the North side of the island above Megan's bay. The house I was staying in faced North and I had to go out onto the balcony to get a signal to make calls when I was at the house, and was able to make sporadic calls from other places on the island. During my stay, my phone display either read "Suncom" or it had a series of numbers going across the top. This didn't concern me because I figured the island system is different, and I knew my plan would cover me. I stayed on St. Thomas, with the exception of traveling to the other USVI island of St. John for the night of July 3. Other than that, neither I, nor my phones left the US territory.

Upon returning from the trip, I checked my Cingular bill online today. My bill contains more than $600 in roaming charges from calls made from the USVI. I called Cingular and was told, by a rep named Josh, that he could not see the bill, but that if my calls from the USVI happened to have been picked up by other island chains in the British Islands, I would be charged for roaming and the charges would be valid. I questioned why the Cingular literature would state that calls made from the USVI would be covered when he was stating that calls "might" be picked up by another system and incur roaming. He told me to call back in a few days when my bill would be available in the Cingular billing system, which seemed odd since I could see it online. I called right back and reached Cingular rep Laurie, who said she could see my bill in the system. After a discussion about my roaming charges and where I had placed the calls from, she put me on hold to check a map. She came back and told me that, according to her map, there was no way another tower could have picked up the calls I allegedly made from St. Thomas, and that I must have been in the British Islands when I made those calls. I explained that I had not been, and that a trip outside of the US could be easily validated. She then asked me if I flew into the British Islands and then connected to the USVI. I explained that you don't get the US Islands by connecting through British Islands...and that the British islands don't have airports anyway. She laughed and told me they do...and said she sees airports on the map that are larger than the US Airports. This is incorrect, but she refused to believe me. I then asked her if it was Cingular's position that they would not adjust the roaming charges, and she said yes. I advised that I would file a FCC complaint and a suit against Cingular, because these calls were definitely made from STT. She told me to do what I wanted, but she wasn't adjusting the calls. I then asked her to repeat her stance in the presence of a supervisor. She brought Deborah (supervisor) onto the call and I, again, explained the problem. Deborah agreed to look at the map and call me back. I have yet to hear back.

In addition, anyone can look at the bill and see that calls were made on certain dates, at certain times, which reflected roaming charges (allegedly British island calls). In many cases, those calls were immediately preceded by or followed by non-roaming calls on the US National Plan (USVI territory). How could the phone calls be made form two separate countries, at once? Obviously, whomever was using the phone was not able to get from the British islands to the US islands in the space of 1 minute. And, obviously , Cingular must be able to understand this by reading the bill, but they still refuse to adjust the roaming charges.

Again, Cingular is fraudulently adding roaming charges to my bill. I am sure that someone would be able to duplicate the "Suncom" roaming if they went to St. Thomas and used my phone. I wonder how many other unsuspecting travelers have been charged these erroneous fees.

I would like credit for not only this year's roaming charges, but last year's roaming charges for my VI trip (June 2004). I gave Cingular the benefit of the doubt last year....thinking the representatives were just poorly trained on the products and didn't have me on the right plan, even though I called them before my trip and requested the appropriate coverage. Now I know that there is more involved and Cingular is purposely defrauding the public in the USVI territory. To add insult to injury, I even called Cingular customer service while on my trip and told them that I was unable to reach them from my cell phone. I explained that I kept reaching a Spanish recording and was having lots of problems with my phone. This should have clued them in that there was a problem. They didn't offer a solution. The calls to their customer service number are visible on my bill - and I am charged roaming on them, too! I have been an AT&T Wireless/Cingular client for 8 years, with the same phone numbers. I am disheartened that they are accusing me of lying about from where I placed these calls when the problem clearly lies with Cingular. Perhaps the fact that I am a former AT&T Wireless customer with an AT&T Wireless phone is a problem. However, Cingular should not make me liable because they failed to convert the AT&T Wireless system fully.