All I wanted from Cingular is to unlock my Treo that I just bought.
Called them on Tuesday Nov15th. Asked the first customer service representative about if it is possible to travel with my phone overseas. He confirmed it and asked me whether or not I wanted to unlock my phone. Since that was exactly what I wanted, I said yes. He transferred my to some department where another customer service representative told me that I didn't have a history of 90 days with them(the fact that I've been with AT&T wireless, which is now part of Cingular, for over a year doesn't count for some reason). So that person said that they need to verify my credibility. After that there were a lot of questions about my personal info, old and current addresses etc. He said that everything is ok and that the department that
he was going to transfer me to get my request fulfilled. I was transferred to yet another department where I spent some time repeating what I had already repeated twice, answering same and some other questions and in the end the guy told me that I was all good to go and that I would get my unlock code in an email within 3-5 days. In the end I asked him if he needed any other information from me. He said no. I asked if he needed my IMEI number. He said that he already had it. Time spent -1hr 15min.
Called on Friday Nov 18th. Wanted to ask them if my number was sent and maybe I hadn't received it for some reason. I was told that since it takes from 3 to 5 days, I should wait till Monday the 21st. Time spent - 15min.
Called on Monday Nov 21st. A customer service representative told me that for some reason nothing was done about my case and told me that he would look into it and promised to give me a call by the end of the business day. Time spent on this call - 45min.
Called on Tuesday Nov 22nd. I was forwarded to the guy who seemed like he knew what he was doing. He apologized for all this mess, and told me that the only thing that had to be done is my IMEI number verified. He verified that number, my email and guaranteed that I would get my unlock code either on Saturday Nov 26th or on Monday Nov 28th max. Time spent - 45 min.
Called on Monday Nov 28th. A lady apologized and told me that I would get my number no later than Wednesday Nov 30th. She said they were very busy after holidays, that's why nobody had had a chance to look into my case. Time spent - 30min.
Called on Wednesday Nov30th at 11am. A guy told me that there was no way for me to get an unlock code since 90 days hadn't passed. But he assured me that since I had been promised that code, he would contact the person who had promised it to me and make that person call me by 4pm and get this issue resolved. Time spent - 30 min.
Called on Wednesday Nov30th at 4:30pm. This was my final call about that issue. A customer service representative took a shot at my case and of course told me that nothing could be done because I hadn't been with the company for 90 days. I asked him about why Cingular wants that 90 days. He said that he didn't know. I offered to pay Cingular for three months of service upfront, but that was not good enough. I asked to talk to his manager. After waiting on hold for about 20 minutes she picked up the phone. What she told was that they wouldn't give the unlock code to me, but if I wanted to get my phone unlocked, I could just go to some small phone shop and get them unlock it for me. She said that any wireless service provider in basically any country could unlock that phone for me. In the end she said: "I'm sorry we can't help you". Time spent 1h 20 min.
Overall statistics:
Number of people talked to: 10
Hours spent on the phone: 5hours 20 minutes
Time passed from the first call: 2 weeks and 2 days
Result: none