| For many years, I've been a loyal T-Mobile customer; always paid on time, recommended them to my friends. No longer. In December 2010, faced with the need to travel & feeling very insecure about it due to my disability, I spoke with T-Mobile about getting a smartphone, so I'd have mapping and GPS and other web capabilities. Because my income was and is VERY uncertain, the price of the plan, combined with the fact that I would need to re-enter a two-year contract (I had completed my previous contract months before) made me hesitant. I specifically asked the representative whether, if my income should drop to a point where I could no longer afford the expensive smartphone service plan, I would be able to downgrade to a simpler phone and cheaper plan if needed. I explained, very clearly, that I was disabled and on a very limited income, to emphasize how important this was to me. The representative assured me, very definitely, that this would not be a problem. I didn't get the rep's name; I'd never had anything but stellar customer service from them, and didn't anticipate any issues. How wrong I was - although I'm fairly certain that it wouldn't have made a difference if I had. Well, that income drop has happened, to the point where I am frantically struggling to squeeze every possible penny out of my budget - and thus, last night, I called T-Mobile to see how to go about switching to another phone and a much lower-cost plan. The first rep I spoke to said sure, no problem, and transferred me to another representative who, he said, would help arrange things. I was taken completely aback when that second representative informed me, "oh, our policies have changed, we don't do that anymore." Thinking she'd misunderstood, I told her that of course, I expected that I'd have to pay for another phone, hopefully a bottom-of-the-line and/or refurbished model... at which point she repeated that I couldn't do that, they no longer allowed it. "Well, okay, then, can we shut off the internet, which I don't need and rarely use?" No, because it's a smartphone, you have to keep the data plan. She said that the best she could do was drop me to the 200MB (or something like that) web plan, which would save me $30/month - thereby leaving me with a bill of over $90/month for OVER A YEAR until my contract expires. I explained again that I was disabled and that my income was dropping drastically, at which point she sympathetically said sorry, nothing I can do, and rushed me off the phone as quickly as possible. Okayfine. I'm disabled, live alone, don't have a landline, I *need* a phone; I guess I don't HAVE to eat every day, right? So I spend a little while longer juggling numbers and trying to make them work out, then fall into a restless sleep. Fast-forward to SIX A.M. the next morning. I receive a call from an unfamiliar number, in an area where I happen to have family, some of whom are in poor health, which disconnects before I can scramble to the phone to receive it. I try calling back; no answer. Frantically, I start trying to contact people, to find out what's going on, getting more freaked out by the moment. Finally, hours later, the number calls back, and... ...it's a recorded announcement from T-Mobile, asking me to take a CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY. SIX A.M. they call me, to ask me how I feel about being lied to??? Furious at this point, I call T-Mobile to register my EXTREME DISPLEASURE at this. Apparently, their voice recognition program does not recognize 'Operator', and seems programmed to disconnect callers at the mere mention of the word 'Complaint'. By the time I manage to get through to a real human being, I'm *livid*. Now, I've worked in customer service, and I realize that the person speaking on the phone is not the one who sets company policy, and I do my best to NOT be that person who screams at the CS rep for something that's not their fault, okay? So while I am utterly furious, I'm still trying my best (probably failing miserably, but *trying*) not to vent that rage too badly at the guy I'm speaking to, as I explain the situation. Who looks at my account and says, pretty much, Oh, I see you've been a good customer for years now... but too bad, so sad, what do you want me to do about it? ...Oh, I don't know, MAKE IT BETTER, maybe? Perhaps offer a minor credit to my account as a token apology for having been lied to and then driven into a panic by their badly-programmed auto-dialer? Maybe pretend for just a MOMENT that T-Mobile gives a d**n about my business? Apparently not. At this point, paying the $200 early termination fee and moving to a prepaid plan elsewhere would be CHEAPER than finishing my contract with T-Mobile - and where I might have been willing to scrape myself to the bone to stick with T-Mobile prior to this experience, I am now most emphatically NOT so inclined. I never asked nor expected to be let out of my contract, or receive any freebies; the only thing I wanted, or asked for, was to be allowed to PAY for a new and cheaper phone so that I could downgrade to a plan I could afford, AS THEY PROMISED IN THE FIRST PLACE - and which, by their own admission, they DID allow at the time I initiated the contract. The stupid auto-dialer, and the panic I went through because of it, was the final straw. Granted, in order to cover the cost of a new phone AND T-Mobile's termination fee, I'll not only have to reduce my food budget to virtually zero but also choose which one of my five necessary medications I wish to refill this month... but I still consider it worth the price, just to be RID of them. Especially contrasted with my internet service provider - who, when I called to explain my situation and ask if there was any way to reduce my monthly bill, OFFERED a substantial credit to lower my bills for the next two months until I can contractually eliminate optional services from my account. Now that's customer service. T-Mobile? No. Don't use 'em; and if you're already stuck with 'em, do NOT trust a word they say. Ever. |
