**UPDATE** Tuesday, April 25, 2006 1:43PM PDT

I received a call this morning from Cingular. A customer service agent named Cheryl was calling to advise me that the billing error had been corrected and that my account was in good standing again. She was very professional and did not hang up as I vented on her. I was happy that the billing error had been resolved, yes. However I was still very upset with the manner in which Cingular had treated me for the past month. I ranted about the poor customer service and the illogical processes with which Cingular does business. I explained why it was not good business to treat customers with flippant sarcasm or to 'cold transfer' a person to the next agent just to be done with them. People are not stupid and they will adapt however slowly to the realization that Cingular's disregard for the customer is the biggest mistake any corporation can make. These customers are not problems, but rather people. People deserve respect and if you are providing a service to them then these are the people who in fact keep them in business and are therefore thier most important assets of all. I felt bad when I had finished with my rant and did in fact apologize to Cheryl who, like a trooper, had indulged me in my closure to this nightmare event.

Cheryl apologized again herself on behalf of Cingular Wireless and although I accepted her apology, I made mention of the fact that she could in no way provide enough of an apology on her own for the deceptions and unethical behavior of the company itself. She would shine as the one who notified me of the end of the battle, feeling as though her job was complete as far as my case was concerned, ignorant of the truth. That truth being the fact that this skirmish was at an end and yet it merely signified a short respit in a war that rages endlessly on and on ...