Complaint Review: T-Mobile - Albuquerque New Mexico

I signed up for a two year contract in January of 2011, and we purchased two MyTouch phones while they were on the Buy One Get One Free deal that was going on at the time.  We have encountered numerous difficulties during our time with T-Mobile, to include the fact that the insurance for my specific phone line was never taken off prior to my deployment, as I requested.

All of these minute issues have been issues that we have consciously decided to let go, and let bygones be bygones.

However, what I can not allow to let happen is the fact that T-Mobile extended my contract without my knowledge, nor my permission.

Since our two year contract started in January of 2011, I waited until the entire month of January had gone by and transferred to a different carrier on February 2nd of 2013.  A month and a half after this has occurred, and I am suddenly being told, via the individual who held the secondary phone line, that I am owing a balance on the account.

First, I never received a final bill on the account, even though I had been receiving bills at my current address for over a year, and secondly, I wasnt even granted the courtesy of a phone call, although my phone number has remained the same and it was the primary number on the account.

I am not disputing the fact that I owe a balance for the last month of service; I would be more than happy to pay it and have it taken care of, once and for all.  What I am extremely upset about is the fact that Im being told I terminated my contract early, not to mention that I had to go into a store to get a copy of my final bill, and that when I have tried to discuss this situation with multiple individuals working for T-Mobile, the only thing that I have been told I can do is to write to the customer relations department.  I do not have the time, nor does my credit have the time, to wait on a response that may or may not even come.

When I initially called T-Mobile to inquire about the balance that I supposedly owe, I spoke to a representative.  She quite rudely read me off a listing of my final charges and then demanded to know how I wanted to pay for them.  I told her that while I appreciated her help, I would still like to see an actual copy of my bill prior to paying for these charges.  She informed me that they had sent out a bill, but that it was to an old address.  We discussed the fact that my new address apparently wasnt listed in the system and that I had been signed up for paperless billing which I found quite odd considering that I have been receiving
T-Mobile bills at my current address for quite some time.  She updated my information again and
assured me that I would be receiving my final bill in the mail soon, and that I could go into a store to have them print me off a copy.  I have yet to receive the copy in the mail.

The first store I went into informed me that he was not able to get me a copy of my bill and that I had to go to a corporate store.  So the next day, I went into a corporate store in a different part of town, where they proceeded to print me off a copy of my final bill.  The individual at this particular store was very nice, but then went on to tell me essentially that I should just pay the early termination fee because it probably wouldnt get reversed anyway, never mind the fact that T-Mobile extended my contract without my permission or knowledge.  I would like to make it known though that the individuals in this store were courteous and
nice.  However, I still wanted to contact Customer Service as the individuals suggested to try to have this issue resolved.

So next, I called customer service where I spoke with several individuals.  I explained the situation to the first woman who answered my call, where she then proceeded to transfer me to a different department.  This
first representative was extremely nice and pleasant. The next woman I spoke with seemed to understand my problem but informed me that there was nothing that could be done, and that my contract didnt end until April. Although she too was nice, I asked to be transferred to a supervisor because I could tell that if there was anything else to be done, she wasnt aware of how to do it.

The final gentleman that I spoke with identified himself as a supervisor and I again explained my situation. It was at this time that I was informed that my final bill is not deserving of a military discount and that it
would not be fixed.  In addition, he researched my account to let me know that the cancellation I requested for my insurance on the primary phone line was never made.  He also notified me that the reason my account was extended to April was because in April of 2011, I made a change to my plan that changed the amount of minutes.

Although I was asking him how the individuals who changed my account could extend my contract at this time and not inform me of the fact that this change would cause my contract to be extended, the representative did not and would not answer my question.  I thanked the gentleman for his help but requested the information for the Customer Relations department.  I expressed to him that I was trying to do everything possible to ensure that T-Mobile had every opportunity to fix this before I pursued other avenues, such as the media or small claims court.  I asked again if writing to the Customer Relations department was the only avenue available to pursue this matter, but was rudely dismissed. 


Quite frankly, I can live with letting all of these issues go, other than the main issue that my contract was extended without my knowledge.  If my contract was to be extended based on a change of how many minutes I have, the individual helping me in April of 2011 clearly should have informed me of that change and provided me a new copy of my contract.  Obviously, this matter needs to be researched and that individuals name found because he could use some more training.  Perhaps a supervisor needs to pursue this matter and give that young individual who helped me some more training and let them know why its so important that an extension of a contract be made clear to the account holder.

It is not just a one party matter on who has control of a contract.  A contract is by definition an agreement between two or more parties for the doing or not doing of something specified.  Had I known that I was still under contract, I would have waited until April to change carriers, but instead Im left with early termination fees for a contract that I understood to be over in January.  This is the one thing that I can not let go, because T-Mobile nor its employees, had the courtesy to inform me of a change to my contract. 

I am writing this as a last resort to allow T-Mobile to fix at the very least, my main concern, and that is the issue of my contract being extended without my knowledge or permission.

Please feel free to contact me in any manner, otherwise I will be forced to pursue other avenues to get this matter resolved.