WARNING: Buy.com deal :(

[Guest bradmatejo]

I tried to order a MPx220 from Buy.com, using their "free after rebate" deal. I planned on porting my number from my existing AT&T account to a new Cingular contract. After 4 days of their website saying Order Pending (and having to click through 3 layers of order status) I was finally told there was a problem and I should call customer service. The girl at customer service said, Sorry, we can't port a number from AT&T to Cingular because they're now the same company. My choices, she told me, are:

1-go ahead and order the phone with a new phone number. I don't want to do this because I've had my number for almost 10 years and don't want to go through the hassle of telling everyone I know to call my new number. Plus, then I'll still have my AT&T contract!

2-order the phone through another carrier. The girl obviously didn't know what she was talking about, because they don't sell the phone through anyone other than Cingular!

I've been psyched about getting a MPx220, and now I'm not sure if I will. The "free after rebate" deal really sealed the deal; I'm not sure I want to pay full price to get it from Cingular. If they had just put a little note saying "sorry, not available to current AT&T customers" I never would have gotten excited about it...

Anyone know a way around this?

[Guest MadSci]

I tried to order a MPx220 from Buy.com, using their "free after rebate" deal.  I planned on porting my number from my existing AT&T account to a new Cingular contract.  After 4 days of their website saying Order Pending (and having to click through 3 layers of order status) I was finally told there was a problem and I should call customer service.  The girl at customer service said, Sorry, we can't port a number from AT&T to Cingular because they're now the same company.  My choices, she told me, are:

  1-go ahead and order the phone with a new phone number.  I don't want to do this because I've had my number for almost 10 years and don't want to go through the hassle of telling everyone I know to call my new number.  Plus, then I'll still have my AT&T contract!

  2-order the phone through another carrier.  The girl obviously didn't know what she was talking about, because they don't sell the phone through anyone other than Cingular!

I've been psyched about getting a MPx220, and now I'm not sure if I will.  The "free after rebate" deal really sealed the deal; I'm not sure I want to pay full price to get it from Cingular.  If they had just put a little note saying "sorry, not available to current AT&T customers" I never would have gotten excited about it...

Anyone know a way around this?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well I was in the same position. I really wanted the phone, didn't want to pay $450 for it (I figure that both Motorolla and AT&T owe me that much after selling me a full freight MPx200 that was never capable of implementing the features they used to sell it to me!). I also really hate to give up my number of many years standing, but in the end, I figured that with email etc, almost everyone who needs to, will get my new number shortly. So, I didn't tell them I was an AT&T customer (they didn't ask :^o ) and started a "New line of service" ie, a new number, with a 2 year contract with Cingular, voila, free phone (after rebates). :(

Since I use my phone for business, I also worried about losing calls when my number changed. My contract with AT&T was expired, so I have kept it for now, changed the plan to the cheapest possible, and am forwarding all my calls to the new Cingular number! So for as long as people seem to need it, I will keep the old number. I plan on calling everyone who is still using it to reach me after 30 days, and port over my new number to them personally.

Not a perfect solution, but not bad for a savings of $450! :lol:

Hope this helps

MadSci

[Guest onlydarksets]

I'm not sure this will work, but you can give it a try...

Port your number to Verizon. You have 14 days (or maybe more) to cancel your service without penalty. As soon as the number gets to Verizon, port it to Cingular. Cancel the Verizon account (which should happen automatically as soon as you port the number, but better safe than sorry).

There may be activation fees for this, but, perhaps you can wriggle out of them.

Edited February 24, 2005 by onlydarksets

[Guest EliteXen]

well i was an AT&T customer and I used the buy.com deal. In fact, when the phone came my number hadn't been ported and i called them three times and verified that porting my number from AT&T to Cingular wouldn't cause problems with my rebate. I spoke to three different people and they all said I'd be fine. The last one even told me that there was a note on my account for the rebate department with both numbers so there shouldn't be any problems (she read me the numbers on the note so I could make sure she wasn't making it up). The problem I think you're having is that your contract hasn't expired. Mine had been expired for months so if they gave me any grief I could've just cancelled the AT&T account and opened a new one with Cingular to get the deal. I'd have to lose my number, but I'm not that attached to it anyways.

[Guest bradmatejo]

True, my AT&T contract isn't expired yet, but everyone I've talked to at Cingular have said it doesn't matter. They'll let you out of your AT&T contract without an early termination fee if you're signing up on a new Cingular contract. Buy.com told me they used to be able to do AT&T-to-Cingular ports, but now that the two companies are officially merged it would be an "internal" port within Cingular. I just wish they would have put a warning on the product page so I would've known ahead of time. I'm also annoyed that it was so hard for me to find out there was something wrong with my order. Here's what I mean:

Step1: Click link in order confirmation email to check order status.

Step2: Log in. Page shows my account info and my open orders. Status says "Sent to Warehouse."

Step3: Click on the order number to see order details. Still says "Sent to Warehouse."

Step4: Click the "Wireless Order Details" listed with phone. Goes to whereismyorder.com, where it finally says "Pending Customer Action."

The whereismyorder.com page said I should be receiving an email or phone call to tell me there was a problem and discuss options. I did not receive any email or phone call. In fact, the first day I saw this message, I called them. The stammering kid on the phone couldn't tell me what the problem was, just that "it was still being approved." No it's not, it says there's a problem!!! I gave it a day to sort itself out, and finally was told the reason my "Ships in 1-2 days" order hadn't shipped after 5 days.

As for resolution, I decided to go ahead and take the phone on a new contract with new phone number. I had thought about I might could cancel my AT&T contract without fee since I AM signing a new Cingular contract, then request that they change my phone number on the Cingular contract to my now-available old number. Cingular said the only way to cancel an AT&T contract without penalty is to do a direct one-to-the-other new contract, which is kinda what I expected. I also learned something new, which is that when a phone number is cancelled it is put "in quarantine" for 45 days before it can be reissued to someone else. I'm just going to cut my AT&T plan back to the bare minimum and put a voicemail greeting directing people to my new number for the duration of the contract. It's not the way I'd hope it would go, but I guess it'll do. I'm excited enough to get a new phone (hooray quad-band!) that I'll let a little b.s. slide :lol:

[Guest prototype99]

they did this to me too. Make sure that all the info you are giving cingular is the same as the att account. Address, name, everything. If even one thing is off they wont do it. Hope this helps..