A Complaint To Cingular Wireless
I have put up with a problem on Cingular for a long time now. Many of you also have this problem on your cell phone: SPAM text messages. I have seen a huge surge in these unwanted (and costly) text messages, and I AM TIRED OF IT. I have sent a letter to Cingular Wireless CEO and President Stanley T. Sigman. I hope he responds. And soon. Otherwise, I am looking elsewhere for a new provider, and a new number. Here is the letter I have sent:
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November 10, 2006
Cingular Wireless
Glenridge Highlands Two
5565 Glenridge Connector
Atlanta, GA 30342
Attention: Stanley T. Sigman, CEO and President
Mr. Sigman,
I am writing to you to make you aware of a problem that is plaguing many Cingular Wireless customers, yet nothing is being done to address and fix the problem.
Put simply, email messages are being sent as text messages to wireless customers. Many of these messages take up 5, 6 or more text messages. These are coming through the default email to SMS gateway on Cingular, which apparently has no spam detection and removal capabilities.
In the past month, I have seen this skyrocket. My spam text messages used to be 2-5 per day, now it is closer to 30-40 per day. These spam messages are the same type that are hitting many email accounts as well everyday. These all have a text ID of 36245, which I suspect is a default gateway for email to SMS messages. I am sure you are also a victim of these email addresses in your own email account. I would be willing to bet that you even receive these spam messages as text messages on your own cellular phone.
This is absolutely unacceptable for me as a customer with 3 phones on my account. I have called numerous times to complain about it. I have been sent from person to person, department to department, and have even been lied to by customer service representatives, telling me that all spam emails have been “blocked” on my phone numbers. Instead of decreasing, these spam text messages have increased. I do not receive credit for the spam messages, which are not solicited by me in any way.
I am not the only customer with this problem. People are talking in many locations on the internet about this, and yet Cingular has not fixed this issue. I have been a customer for almost 4 years now. At this point, I am giving serious thought to leaving Cingular and going to another provider, since I cannot get adequate relief for my complaint regarding substandard service and customer service. I currently have no contractual obligation to Cingular, so I am free to choose another company.
I would like you to investigate this matter promptly, and to ensure that this problem is rectified immediately. I also want credit for every single spam text message I have received. As I stated, I am giving serious consideration to leaving Cingular as a result of this problem. I have been waiting for the new Palm Treo units to come out, but even this may not make me stay at this point. I want a company that cares about its customers enough to protect them from unwarranted spam attacks on their phones, and is responsive enough to correct problems immediately when they are found.
You may reach me either by mail, or you may call me on my phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Thank you very much for your time and prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Renee Roberts
===========================================
November 10, 2006
Cingular Wireless
Glenridge Highlands Two
5565 Glenridge Connector
Atlanta, GA 30342
Attention: Stanley T. Sigman, CEO and President
Mr. Sigman,
I am writing to you to make you aware of a problem that is plaguing many Cingular Wireless customers, yet nothing is being done to address and fix the problem.
Put simply, email messages are being sent as text messages to wireless customers. Many of these messages take up 5, 6 or more text messages. These are coming through the default email to SMS gateway on Cingular, which apparently has no spam detection and removal capabilities.
In the past month, I have seen this skyrocket. My spam text messages used to be 2-5 per day, now it is closer to 30-40 per day. These spam messages are the same type that are hitting many email accounts as well everyday. These all have a text ID of 36245, which I suspect is a default gateway for email to SMS messages. I am sure you are also a victim of these email addresses in your own email account. I would be willing to bet that you even receive these spam messages as text messages on your own cellular phone.
This is absolutely unacceptable for me as a customer with 3 phones on my account. I have called numerous times to complain about it. I have been sent from person to person, department to department, and have even been lied to by customer service representatives, telling me that all spam emails have been “blocked” on my phone numbers. Instead of decreasing, these spam text messages have increased. I do not receive credit for the spam messages, which are not solicited by me in any way.
I am not the only customer with this problem. People are talking in many locations on the internet about this, and yet Cingular has not fixed this issue. I have been a customer for almost 4 years now. At this point, I am giving serious thought to leaving Cingular and going to another provider, since I cannot get adequate relief for my complaint regarding substandard service and customer service. I currently have no contractual obligation to Cingular, so I am free to choose another company.
I would like you to investigate this matter promptly, and to ensure that this problem is rectified immediately. I also want credit for every single spam text message I have received. As I stated, I am giving serious consideration to leaving Cingular as a result of this problem. I have been waiting for the new Palm Treo units to come out, but even this may not make me stay at this point. I want a company that cares about its customers enough to protect them from unwarranted spam attacks on their phones, and is responsive enough to correct problems immediately when they are found.
You may reach me either by mail, or you may call me on my phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Thank you very much for your time and prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Renee Roberts
Labels: Misc Rants
posted by First On Scene EMS at Saturday, November 11, 2006
5 Comments:
I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I hope that your letter to Cingular works :) I'm with Verizon and haven't had any problems, but I don't usually do any text messaging. In fact, I don't even know how :( I guess in the end, it's saving me money. hehe!
has anything happened with the 36245 text messages? the exact same situation has happened to me and now i am receiving about 40 messages per day. please let me know by email. thanks
Actually, no. They did give me a credit on my account, but it in no way releases them from their obligation to stop this crap from reaching my phone via SMS.
These emails are coming through an older Cingular email gateway, mycingular.com
The 36245 from address is actually the parts after the main text msg with the forged email address. So, parts 2 through 5 would have that number, while the email address is message 1.
I am still getting 20-40 per day myself. Cingular obviously doesn't care enough to fix the problem. Perhaps if enough people complain, they will.
Getting SPAM messages folk through text messaging on your Cingular phone? Call them and LOUDLY complain. Tell them you want it escalated to the executive staff.
seems lots of people are having the same problem. you might try
hitting up your local TV news stations. most of them have a reporter that does stories on businesses that dont take care of problems. i had a problem with a supersized cable company a few years ago with some internet down time issues. i called the Tv station, they sent a reporter came out and did the story. it aired and every customer got a
credit plus they fixed the problem.
I'm having this problem. For weeks I have been getting text messages from 36245 about Nascar standings and qualifying and results. I don't even watch Nascar. I get several every day. Cingular was nice enough to credit me. 50 cents. I'm going to www.donotcall.gov and registering my number. I don't know if it applies to texts, but I'm hoping. If anyone's figured out who this is texting me, please let me know. shelbyandnickhappilymarried@yahoo.com Thanks!!
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