Dear T-Mobile,
I need to tell you what has been done to me and what I’d like done about it. My account worked perfectly from 2005 to 2011 without issue; from the moment in May 2011 that I got a phone call in Costa Rica from T-Mobile, my account has just been more and more screwed up. I have nobody I can explain this to because the call center will transfer me five or six times based on the single keyword in what I’m saying that they are listening for.
Here’s what I want:
I want my bill from May and June 2011 reimbursed to me.
I want this early termination fee removed.
I want appropriate recognition of the wrongs done to me between May 2011 and the present for the following things:
1. I went to Costa Rica. I know how to use the international service. I attempted many calls that did not go through; approximately seven out of ten went nowhere. I did not stay on the phone long. GPS and Web did not work.
At some point during this time, T-Mobile called me in Costa Rica. I was told by the person on the phone that I was going to be charged for every attempted call. I told them that they could not do that, that it was against the rules to charge me for calls that did not go through. The person told me they were valid charges and hung up. Naturally, I panicked, but I knew that it was ludicrous and I wouldn’t be charged.
I got back to the states and saw my bill. I can’t access my bills online anymore because my T-Mobile contract account is closed. More on that later.
Anyway, I can’t get you the exact amount, but the first bill was about $300.00 and the second bill covering that month was around $688.00.
I tried to fight these bills. I threatened to leave T-Mobile. They told me I could have $100.00 credit if I stayed. I was in the middle of a divorce and decided the best route would be to just take the credit. I couldn’t deal with the nonsense of fixing this phone bill at the time. I paid it.
Mind you, I’m not saying they’re all invalid charges. I did make some calls. I did expect to have to pay my regular bill plus the cost of the calls I made in Costa Rica. But I got charged for calls I did not make. I vowed at this time that I would never sign another contract with T-Mobile.
2. A couple months later, in Fall 2011, T-mobile pulled money out of my account incorrectly. It caused my bank account to overdraft. It took two months to fix. How many hours did I spend on it? How many times did I have to retell this story just to get my $25.00 overdraft charge back?
3. My phone broke. I needed a new one and paid for the insurance plan. T-Mobile said I had to talk to the insurance company because it wasn’t covered under them, and the insurance company said that they didn’t cover it because T-Mobile had to pay it. The insurance agent agreed to stay on the line with me, and then, ONLY then, would T-Mobile send me a new phone.
4. I got fraudulent charges added to my account Summer 2012 and T-mobile said that I had to call the vendor’s number. They said the vendor would reimburse me and the charges would be credited back. I then called the vendor and the vendor said that they couldn’t do it,
5. I wanted to switch plans, but T-mobile changed their policy. Now to change plans costs an early termination fee, unless you sign a new contract. I started looking at prepaid plans. I bought a Virgin Mobile phone but they messed up - which, after my T-Mobile experience, I won’t tolerate from a new provider - so I sent my phone back to them. I decided to switch to T-Mobile’s Prepaid plan, because it was the exact same thing I already had but $30.00 cheaper. I called to see what was available. Prepaid told me that if I switched to prepaid service, I wouldn’t have to pay my final bill with my old contract and I wouldn’t have to pay an early termination fee. It makes sense if you’re a T-Mobile customer switching within T-mobile, you shouldn’t have to pay. I figured they were just sick of hearing from me. I explicitly asked again and confirmed that I would not owe a single cent on my old account; I just needed to put some money immediately in this new account. I put two month’s worth exactly into the account. That was September 1st. $108.00 on September 1st.
I went home and checked - my account online was still there. Within a few days it was gone and I could only log in on the prepaid version of the site. The ‘equivalent service’ on the prepaid side is not equivalent at all; it’s far inferior in call quality and web speed. But I was ready to make a fresh start with the other side of the company. After all, they don’t even have the same call centers.
On September 15th, another debit was made by T-mobile to my account. This one was $96.00. A few days later I got a text stating that my account was going to be debited within 24 hours and I needed to make sure my bank account would have adequate funds. I called and was reassured that this was an error and I could fix it online by going to Auto-Pay and turning it off. I went to the website and found that I had no login for either side of the website. I called back and it was some new ******** about my account being in limbo during the transfer process and that it would be active again within 48 hours of my account change. This was three weeks after my account change. I couldn’t fix it. They insisted that it was strange and this never happens and it should be back within a day. They turned off my autopay and I waited to be able to login. I was then told that I’d have to create a new account.
A few days later, I got another text telling me that I’d be debited again. I called again. I found out that the $96.00 bill was from the contract side, and I’d have to call back in the day to talk to them, and it wasn’t the same call center. I talked to a very nice supervisor who seemed to know what she was talking about. The next day, I called T-Mobile contract. They said the charges were valid and I’d still get another small, prorated bill. I told them that prepaid had said I owed nothing, absolutely nothing more on the contract side, let alone two more bills, and was I going to get hit with an early termination fee as well? He assured me that this bill for $96.00 on the 15th was the last one, and the next one would be about $17 and that then I’d have to call back around October 17th to make sure they stopped charging me. Why would I have to call back, to remember, to put this task in my head to remind them of their own accounting? How could I still get charged without a phone line? And how then could they be both prorating my account based on a termination of service date and also continuing to charge me full amounts?
I got a bill today. From Contract. It’s for $246.94, which is a $46.00 bill with an Early Termination Fee.
At this point, you owe me about $1100 in false charges to my account, after subtracting a guess at how much my Costa Rica bill should have been. In addition, I would like some kind of recognition of the troubles I’ve had. I have been a customer since 2005 and the last 17 months of my time with you has been hell. I have spent far too many hours on the phone being transferred from department to department to deal with this anymore. I called the number on my Contract bill and it went to the Prepaid department and they said that I’d have to talk to Contract tomorrow. I told them that it didn’t matter, because they’d just point fingers back at Prepaid and say ‘we don’t know why they would have EVER told you that; that is not our policy, you have to talk to them about that, etc etc’.
You are losing a good customer, one who uses Autopay and Eco-Billing, and has never missed a payment. You are losing someone with business knowledge and an understanding of corporate structure, and the descriptive ability to explain the problem to someone who cares. Maybe that person is you. If not, please hand this letter to the person above you.
Thank you,
Virginia