Complaint Review: T Mobile

I will earnestly attempt to convey my experience as accurately as possible. What you do with this information is up to you. Some of you may be tempted to retaliate in favor of T- Mobile. That is also up to you, but not necessary, as I dont intend to waste additional time involved with, or about, this Cellular/Communications Provider:  T- Mobile.

To begin with, my Wife and I were shopping and comparing new Cellular Phone providers. We visited a T- Mobile facility and the premise to contract with T- Mobile was based on the following.

I qualified for a Corporate account discount. T- Mobiles sales staff agreed to waive the activation fee and include a 15% discount on (2) individual Plans: (1) Wireless Broadband (Web Jet) & (2) a Family Plan for two Cellular Phones. We felt satisfied that T- Mobile (this was our initial experience with this provider), appeared to be working with us and they were a greater value when compared to other providers (i.e.-AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc). However, our new relationship began in an inauspicious manner.

For example, our new Wireless Broadband (web jet), would not access the T-Mobile website to view our personal account (i.e.- I was only allotted up to 5 Giga Bytes usage and wanted to view current usage to prevent additional costs); but, would allow access to virtually all other URLs. Therefore, I had to call the Tech Support on 4 different occasions (total 220 minutes: you must first explain your situation to a gatekeeper, who subsequently triage/transfers you further, to a specific department). Then, you explain your situation again, to the next Representative. Some suggested resolution examples were: the location that set up your account did not correctly set it up; you may be having trouble with your Web Jet, and a long list of other suggested problems, or fixes.

I ultimately fixed the problem myself (after considerable time and many different configurations), but am not totally sure what remedied the situation- it just began working. It must be noted that I also brought my laptop and Broadband to the T- Mobile facility and they could not resolve the problem, but suggested that I call 611: the Psychic DepartmentIm not kidding you.

I was never convinced that all of this time, time spent calling Technical Support, would ultimately be credited back to me, as I had a maximum usage of 750 anytime minutes.  Eventually, when I was able to view my minutes used, all of this time was accumulating to my anytime usage and indicated that I was over my usage limit (stressful situation). You seethe Technical Representative told me that until you have been with the company 1 month, they cant really view your account (youre kind of akin to a nonentity- per Rep.), and answer your important questions: you knowdo I have additional charges that I am not aware of? Thats an important question. Dont you agree?

Nextwe received our first Statement from T- Mobile.

The amount of our first bill was greater than we had expected. In fact, after inspecting the bill, we concluded that T- Mobile had not included our 15% discount, on one of the two Plans. Well15% may not seem that significant (over $200 per year in terms of our plan), but this amount was significant to us and we had chosen T- Mobile based on the premise that T- Mobile would discount our plan (it was our agreement)!

Next, we brought our statement to the same T- Mobile facility and discussed the bill with the Representative that we created our agreement and contract with. The Rep. inspected the bill and agreed that we had not received our 15% discountwe had received one of the 15% discounts and the other activation fees were waived. In light of this, our Representative called the Corporate HQ to discuss this situation and receive an adjustment in our favor (their image and reputation was on the line). Wellafter several minutes of explanations, and assertions, that she had indeed agreed to discount our plans, based on information by T- Mobile, the Rep. was told that T- Mobile would simply not honor the agreement (T- Mobile would simply not honor their pre-contract agreement, post purchase), thats right. By now, I began to perceive this behavior as a form of Bait and Switch. Nowkeep in mind, our Web Jet Broadband cost $160-in advance.  More importantly, the refund threshold for the Web Jet was 14 days from date-of-purchase, but you dont receive much information-refer to above- for approximately 30 days, or more (your first Statement). As a result, your refund-return-window has now conveniently expired. Next, the Representative, after failing to convince the Customer Service Rep. at HQ to include our agreed discount, asked me if I wanted to discuss this situation with the Representative at T- Mobile HQ. I was reluctant, but agreed to do so (considering that I was a genuine, cash spending customer- in advance, mind you). While further discussing this situation (and feeling stonewalled), with this Customer Service Representative, and failing to receive what had already previously been negotiated, this Representative attempted to hand me off to another Representative (possibly to frustrate me to the point of acquiescence), and I refused the hand off attempt. AgainI insisted on the discount, as previously negotiated, and was refused. At this point, the Representative suddenly changed course, and suggested that I could simply withdraw from our agreement and that he simply could not give me the discount.

My wife was indignant at this point, as it appeared that T- Mobile, not wanting to honor our agreement, could simply cut and run from their responsibility. They appeared to be comfortable, with the possibility of losing our potential long-term business, for the equivalent of 15%.

My wife and I, at this point, decided to cancel our no contract, contract with T-Mobile. However, we had now invested $160 in cash, for the Web Jet. Considering this, I said, well you all have come out really well on this. That is, you didnt honor our agreement and you sold me a non-refundable Broadband (remember the 14 day return threshold), which I am now unable to use: maybe I can sell it on Clist, or Eba for price, I rationalized.

At this point, my wife and I felt even more frustrated. In consideration of this, and the fact that we insisted on some sort of relief, the Manager, after much delay and great reluctance, acquiesced and refunded the cost of the Broadband: I give T-Mobile credit for the refund, but not for our investment in evaluation (we compared), time (drive to facility, calls to Tech Support) and frustration (refusal to honor our agreement, or delay in refund)

In short, after paying over $130 and then receiving a final bill (that appears to be constructed with questionable mathematical techniques, in terms of the computerized method of prorating), we have gladly moved on to another Communications Provider.

Rememberutilize this information in a manner that benefits you. That is the sole intent of this writing.

Thank you.