Complaint Review: T-Mobile

I've been a T-Mobile customer for about 7 years, never had problems, and have been fairly happy with their service & prices. In October 2008, because I closed my small business, I moved to a plan with fewer minutes & services, but did not change my phone or anything else. I vividly recall my conversation with the rep where she assured me that becuase I was reducing my plan, the contract would not be affected. 

In November (Black Friday) my husband and I went looking for the best deal on phones so we could finally upgrade our handsets. We wanted the Blackberry Storm 2, but it was not offered on a T-Mobile plan. Though other companies costs for service were slightly higher, the free phone & activation plans that were offered for the Storm2 made it worth switching.

I chatted online with T-Mobile to aquire my account number in order to switch plans. When they found out why I was inquiring, they informed me I still had a year on my new 2 year contract - penalty $200/phone (we have 2). I argued online and asked repeatedly to talk to a supervisor. I emphasized that I would never have agreed to extending my plan for a reduction in service - and that unless they could prove that I agreed to it - I would fight them tooth and nail. I went online to the ripoff report and started telling them of the other examples I was seeing online of folks who had had the same problem. I reminded them I'd been a loyal customer for a long time and they did not offer the phone I wanted, so letting me switch was only fair.

They asked me if I recalled being sent to an automated system to do all the confirmations to switch plans... and I only remembered talking to the service person. I think that was key somehow - making it much more likely that user-error on the customer service person's part, as opposed to their automated (flawless??) system, might have been in play.

After about 20 minutes, and after Craig (the chat guy) consulted with his supervisor, they finally agreed to end my contract today so I could switch. I was so pleased I almost didn't want to switch any more. I think I'll go back to T-Mobile after we spend some time on the Verizon system. I was really surprised that they agreed to let me go - and I thought I should let others know about my experience.  Hang in there, keep asking to talk to supervisors, and maybe you'll have some luck too.

Good luck!!!