May 13, 2007 9:47 pm US/Pacific
Cingular Wireless Reaction To CBS 5 Consumerwatch
(CBS 5)
The below statement was provided to CBS 5 by Cingular Wireless in response to our recent Consumerwatch report regarding a customer's dispute with Cingular over stolen cell phone charges.Cingular has devoted substantial resources to combating fraudulent phone use. We continue to explore new and improved methods to detect phone fraud.
In this case, the Cingular fraud team detected unusual activity on this customer's account and placed a call to the consumer. A family member returned the call and confirmed that the parents were in South Africa using their phone. Three days later, the fraud team continued to see abnormally high usage, suspended the service until the customers could confirm actual usage and left a message for the family.
Cingular encourages its customers to notify Cingular immediately if their wireless phone is lost or stolen, so that the phone can be suspended and further charges are not incurred.
In this case, the customer never notified Cingular about a stolen phone -- Cingular reached out to the customer to discuss the high bill. After discussing the situation and reviewing the account history, Cingular offered to credit the customer in full for all amounts in dispute except for one day, which the customer agreed to pay.
The situation should have been fully resolved after the November 28 agreement, but a series of inadvertent human errors caused a delay in the full credit until February.
In February, Cingular also expressed regret for the inconvenience to the customer and credited all additional charges, like late fees, that were generated due to the errors. Upon further review, the remaining balance on the account has been credited since the initial credit was not processed in a timely manner.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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