Complaint Review: T-Mobile

In your second response, you said that don't accept a refund check if you have a credit on your account. This is somewhat correct. If you have made the "over payments" on a credit card, the refund can be applied to you credit card (although it can take up to 72 hours). If you made the "over payment) by check, the money can only be refunded by check which can take much longer.

Thanks for your suggestions Steve. I did speak with three representatives this morning at length. What they said is important--as I am sure it will help others. Supposedly what happened is that I was given a contract termination date of February 13 and 14th- one day for each respective line. However, I was given the wrong information or I asked the wrong question. The contract termination dates were the 16th and 17th of February--the billing dates were the 13th and 14th. Why I was NOT apprised of this on the occassions I inquired about wanting to switch services- I do not know. There was one other complication. I did my homework before hand- trying to find the best deal and family plan for our situation. As it turns out, my older daughter whose line was on my bill AND my younger daughter who had a Sprint-Nextel plan, decided that we would all join another service carrier and enroll as a family. I followed the same procedures for my younger daughter's phone service, as I did with T-Mobile. Sprint-Nextel terminated my plan amicably and efficiently- no ridiculous fees or hassles. Because we were keeping our telephone numbers, we had to contact all carriers concerned, which we did. Two weeks before Feb. 13th, my older daughters phone stopped working, while mine continued to work. As she lives in another city and works all consuming hours, she did not tell me for a few days. However, when she did, I promptly called T-Mobile to report the problem. I was surprised by their answer. They said that because we were transferring our numbers, they had discontinued her service early. I asked why they chose to do that to her line and not mine? They said they would rectify it by turning off my line too- making our transfer complete. At the time, I asked if that would cause any problems and they assured me it would not.I was VERY aware that early termination could be disastrous.It was a week earlier than the 'contract' date, but I figured that this is what goes on all the time- since it must be tricky business to schedule for exact dates AND because the rep had assured me it was OK. Lesson One: NEVER trust anyone. Take all names and keep YOUR OWN correspondence log. TODAY, I did one better and informed all parties that I was recording our conversations- so that there would be no "He said, she said" nonsense!

So today after being on hold on and off for nearly an hour- they settled with me. Instead of the $400, they would take $50--prorated for the 2 weeks in question--even though I had no service, it was what I would have paid anyway. Because the other service kicked in early I got stuck with 1 extra bill- Oh well! So Lesson 2- be VERY careful when transferring phone numbers to new carriers- it is frought with dangers that you may not be aware of. Lesson 3- do not ask for the billing date AND if they give you the TERMINATION date, ask again and again if this IS THE correct date and NOT the billing date instead.

Finally, I contacted my credit card company as this was EasyPay. It had already been paid and they advised me to call T-Mobile back and straighten out with them how the refund would be sent. I called back and after going through the whole story--was disconnected!!! Happy April Fool's Day I guess. I called back and got a third rep who went through the whole thing again and advised me that it would be tricky to credit my card for a closed account---but after many minutes and some work on his part---it was found possible. I asked who would actually do the refund and he told me HE could follow it up. It would take about a week. He promised to call and update me. I reminded him that I have an answering machine on which to leave messages AND that I would call him if I did not hear in a week. Lesson 4- He advised me that if termination takes place WITHIN the month before contract's end- clients are ALLOWED to BUY OUT their service--as was eventually done for me. Lesson 4- do not accept that a refund CHECK will be issued if you need a credit on your card. THERE IS a way- it just takes a little looking into by the rep. Lesson 5- always check back often- I am not convinced that all is well UNTIL the crdit shows up on my statement. Good Luck to all. Be persistent and don't lose your temper.I knew I was right and just INSISTED that I be dealt with fairly. It took a LOT OF MY TIME and high blood pressure-- I wonder how much THAT is worth???

Have you checked with T-mobile yet to see why there are Early Term Fees on your bill? If they do say because you cancelled early (which of course they did) ask the rep when your contract did end? If it was past the Feb date the only thing i could think of it being extended is if you downgraded or upgraded to a promo plan and then they are sly and will add on more time to your contract...they are sneaky people like that! Or if you guys bought new cell phones and they discounted the price and added on a contract.....Another thing....if you cancelled before the actual date that could cause an ETF too....in your report you say "February 2006" This again could be sneaky on t-mobile's part ...if your contract was up Feb 15 and you cancelled Feb 13...your going to have an ETF of the 400.00 because you did not fullfill your FULL 2 years...

Check with t-mobile call them up ask them why there is an ETF...ask what date you were supposed to cancel on...if this does not get you anywhere speak with a sup....ask her to read off ALL the notes on your account where reps did give you the date of the contract term date....if in the notes it just states february of 2006...then the etf will be waived because you were under the impression that it was just anytime in february 2006!


Good luck!