 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion Groups General General TopicsGSMBluetoothProviders AlltelATT WirelessCingularFidoNextelSprint PCST-MobileVerizonManufacturers EricssonNokiaMotorolaCountry Specific Australian GroupUK GroupRelated Topics PocketPCPalmMore Topics ... |
Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / T-Mobile / November 2007How to lose a long time customer
We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. My wife paid extra last renewal for a Nokia 6101 phone over a year ago. The phone screen scratched within a month to almost unreadable, but we were told that was not guaranteed or warranted and were told it was our problem (beginning of losing a customer). The phone completely quit working, so she went to the local store at the shopping center and they gave her a new duplicate phone and the return box. Due to several severe snow and ice storms, she did not get the return phone mailed out in time, but called and informed T-mobile that the storm was preventing getting to the post office. Our bad. T-mobile billed our credit card for over $170 for the not returned phone - that's fine, it was our fault despite extenuating circumstances and phone notice which T-mobile acknowledges. She called daily until they verified receipt of the phone 2 or 3 days later I think. On March 9th, once they physically had the phone, she asked to have the money put back into our credit card account and was told the money had to be sent by check and that would be done on the 12th of March, a fact verified by T-mobile.today The credit department chose to hold the money for the March and subsequent bills rather than return the money as promised. She only found out today that her refund was being posted to future billings today. We are able to absorb the financial issues, it is the principle of taking someone's money, refusing to return it, and keeping the use of the money for over 2 months. This would have been devastating for her mother on fixed income, and I am sure for other folks. They've ticked off the wrong lady this time. She spent 45 minutes with them this morning with no satisfaction, several people saying the situation made no sense and was not normal policy, but in the end, just "tough luck". A nice, "gee, I'm sorry . . " would have gone a long way this morning, especially if there had been any thanks for the loyalty or let us give you an accessory or something. One last and final tick off. They charged a restocking fee for the returned phone. What is the restocking fee for on a returned phone? No one could tell us this morning other than "policy". I've always been pleased with T-mobile until this. She wanted to switch previously, but I talked her out of it. Ain't going to happen this time. Any recommendations or cautions about changing carrier? ______________________________ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) dgriff237@7cox.net > We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. > > My wife paid extra last renewal for a Nokia 6101 phone over a year > ago. The phone screen scratched within a month to almost > unreadable, but we were told that was not guaranteed or warranted > and were told it was our problem (beginning of losing a customer). Most cell phone warranties last a year. Out-of-warranty is out-of-warranty. > the principle of taking someone's money, refusing to return it, > and keeping the use of the money for over 2 months. This would > have been devastating for her mother on fixed income, and I am > sure for other folks. I'd be irritated too.  SignatureSteve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows Victorville, California PGP:0xE3AE35ED It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room. >> We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. >> [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Most cell phone warranties last a year. Out-of-warranty is > out-of-warranty. Heh. I just re-read the original post. The length of the warranty is irrelevant in this case (sorry) SignatureSteve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows Victorville, California PGP:0xE3AE35ED It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room. f.ck off, idiot !!! >>> We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. >>> [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Heh. I just re-read the original post. The length of the warranty is > irrelevant in this case (sorry) > We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. I'm really disappointed to hear that. I've always had very good experiences with their service reps, with excellent outcomes. This doesn't sound typical to me, and it's especially bad if they end up losing a 10-year customer. SignatureJoey DoWop Dee Remember: It is To Laugh > > We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. > > I'm really disappointed to hear that. I've always had very good experiences > with their service reps, with excellent outcomes. This doesn't sound typical > to me, and it's especially bad if they end up losing a 10-year customer. Sad to say, this kind of "customer service" is *almost* the norm from big American corporations nowadays (yeah, there are exceptions, there always are). It seems most companies (large mostly, but some smaller ones are like this too) don't care about the customer at all, they just care about the $$$ bottom line. If they tick you off and lose you, they don't care since someone else will be along in about 3 minutes to replace your lost business. Very few companies care that much about *retaining* business today (from personal experience over the last few years with restaurants, cellphone companies, retail establishments, et al). brian SignatureIf you want to reply to this message by mail, you will have to change the reply address to beuchaw@beuchaw.net >>> We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. >> [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > brian I find this to be true with just about every *other* company, but not T-mo. I recently had some business with them involving a few calls, and without exception, everyone I spoke with was courteous, informed and helpful, and not only that: they all made reference to "appreciating my business for the past 7 years..." In my experience that's been the norm with T-mo, which is why I'm surprised at the OP's bad experience. SignatureJoey DoWop Dee Remember: It is To Laugh > >>> We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. > >> [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > In my experience that's been the norm with T-mo, which is why I'm surprised > at the OP's bad experience. Good to know... Most companies do suck the way I mentioned, so it's nice that T-mobile isn't that way (at least not most of the time :-)). Haven't dealt with their customer service yet since my wife just switched to T-mobile's prepaid from Cingular and haven't really had any problems (which is a good thing). Thanks for the clarification... brian SignatureIf you want to reply to this message by mail, you will have to change the reply address to beuchaw@beuchaw.net STOP LYING, a.shole !!!!! >>>> We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. >>> [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > surprised > at the OP's bad experience. >> > We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. >> [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >Sad to say, this kind of "customer service" is *almost* the norm from big >American corporations nowadays T-Mobile is a GERMAN company. We've had them for over five years. I was checking on getting 6103 Nokias - free to 'new' customers, $30 to us 'loyal' (okay, maybe dumb!) long time subscribers. We have THREE lines, so that's $90 in total. Nokia was (until the end of the month) giving an additional $50 per phone to 'NEW' customers, making for a $240 difference, 'NEW' vs returning 'old', PLUS we'd of course have to sign up for another two years. That wouldn't be much of a problem, since the 'savings' would amount to about $20 a month over that time. Think about it. THREE lines, unlimited National plan, and they sell that to NEW customers for essentially TWENTY BUCKS a month LESS than what they want to charge us! So long, T-Mobile. I'm shopping around where to transfer our numbers this week. Maybe when/if you ever get around to deploying your new frequencies for data (did I mention I also have unlimited Internet? - too slow to be worth it, though!) we might take a look, as 'NEW' customers, but your retention prices SUCK big time. Seems sorta stupid to me, but that's business, these days! Bill > have unlimited Internet? - too slow to be worth it, though!) > we might take a look, as 'NEW' customers, but your retention > prices SUCK big time. How much better can their retention packages be, when their regular calling packages are dirt cheap compared to most other carriers? That's for voice. I do agree that their data packages suck. They need to deploy HDSPA. SignatureSteve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows Victorville, California PGP:0xE3AE35ED It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room. >> have unlimited Internet? - too slow to be worth it, though!) >> we might take a look, as 'NEW' customers, but your retention [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > That's for voice. I do agree that their data packages suck. They need > to deploy HDSPA. Unfortunately they have to do HSDPA the hard way since they are short of 1900 MHz spectrum and that 1700/2100 MHz spectrum they apparently bought for this is supported by no currently existing devices. I'd still go back to T-Mobile in a minute if they'd just match Cingular's international long distance and international roaming rates. I have occasional months when I run up big bills, and the difference between T-Mobile and Cingular international rates is more than enough to pay the excess price for Cingular's service for the rest of the year. T-Mobile's basic voice plans are very nice but if you need anything beyond that they are hopeless. Dennis Ferguson > T-Mobile and Cingular international rates is more than enough to pay > the excess price for Cingular's service for the rest of the year. > T-Mobile's basic voice plans are very nice but if you need anything beyond > that they are hopeless. Yeah. I may at some point need domestic roaming, but I don't expect to ever travel overseas. My nationwide share plan works quite well for me. :) SignatureSteve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows Victorville, California PGP:0xE3AE35ED It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room. > Unfortunately they have to do HSDPA the hard way since they are short of > 1900 MHz spectrum and that 1700/2100 MHz spectrum they apparently bought > for this is supported by no currently existing devices. Cingular's UMTS frequencies weren't supported by then-existing devices until Cingular deployed them either- it's a chicken/egg thing. When T-Mo finally rolls out 3G, they'll have the devices to support it. > I'd still go back to T-Mobile in a minute if they'd just match Cingular's > international long distance and international roaming rates. I have > occasional months when I run up big bills, and the difference between > T-Mobile and Cingular international rates is more than enough to pay > the excess price for Cingular's service for the rest of the year. Hopefully they'll get around to fixing that one of these days, but I'm surprised you don't use a pinless calling card that recognizes your cellphone for international LD or a Voip service like Voicestick that automatically routes your cellphone calls through their service to use their LD rates. While T-Mo's int'l roaming rates are high for voice, I think they've just lowered int'l data from $15/MB to $6/MB. > T-Mobile's basic voice plans are very nice but if you need anything beyond > that they are hopeless. I'd say "behind the curve" is more accurate than hopeless. ;-) >> Unfortunately they have to do HSDPA the hard way since they are short of >> 1900 MHz spectrum and that 1700/2100 MHz spectrum they apparently bought [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > until Cingular deployed them either- it's a chicken/egg thing. When T-Mo > finally rolls out 3G, they'll have the devices to support it. I wasn't thinking of handsets when I wrote that, you are correct that this part isn't a big deal (the frequencies are actually supported by European handsets already, more or less, though in different bands). The one thing Cingular could reuse which T-Mobile likely can't are the antennas on the cell towers, so T-Mobile is probably facing a much bigger truck roll to deploy this stuff. >> I'd still go back to T-Mobile in a minute if they'd just match > Cingular's [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > automatically routes your cellphone calls through their service to use > their LD rates. Call me lazy, or lacking short term memory. I do approximately the above when I know the call is going to be long, but for typical calls I'd rather just find the number in my phone book and press "send" instead of finding the number, copying it out to paper and then typing it back in again. I'm willing to pay a reasonable premium to Cingular for this, but T-Mobile's rates are at the rape-and-pillage level. The international roaming charges particularly bug me since T-Mobile is a bigger mobile company with a substantially larger international presence than Cingular, and hence should have the market power to negotiate quite competitive roaming prices in comparison. That these never make it into their price list (which hasn't changed much since they came to California, despite the fact that roaming charges everywhere else in the world have been continuously dropping) is annoying. >> T-Mobile's basic voice plans are very nice but if you need anything > beyond >> that they are hopeless. > > I'd say "behind the curve" is more accurate than hopeless. ;-) It may be that for some hope springs eternal. Dennis Ferguson > The one thing Cingular could reuse which T-Mobile likely can't are the > antennas on the cell towers, so T-Mobile is probably facing a much > bigger truck roll to deploy this stuff. Agreed. I'm not sure if this spectrum grab and deploying 3G on "odd" frequencies is a smart strategy in the traditional sense- there'll be little opportunity to sell data to roamers (since a roamer's phone will likely have his/her carriers' frequencies rather than T-Mo's oddball ones) and frankly, for their own customers' use, the 3G ship has already sailed in the US- those needing it have long since abandoned T-Mo for other carriers and aren't coming back unless T-Mo gives it away, which is unlikely, given the deployment costs. The only thing that makes sense (to me) is if T-Mo also intends to use their 3G for a yet unannounced T-Mo Voip service- a sort of a Cricket/Metro PCS killer. Perhaps an $80 or $90 unlimited data/voip plan on 3G, with x# of cellular minutes included as a backup when outside 3G coverage. (Sort of a logical "wireless" extension of their new "T-Mo @ home" service they are testing in Seattle, where you get a T-Mo GSM/Wi-Fi phone and get unlimited Voip over your home wi-fi connection and use T-Mo minutes away from home, all on one phone with one number.) > Call me lazy, or lacking short term memory. I do approximately the > above when I know the call is going to be long, but for typical calls > I'd rather just find the number in my phone book and press "send" instead > of finding the number, copying it out to paper and then typing it back > in again. I'm willing to pay a reasonable premium to Cingular for this, > but T-Mobile's rates are at the rape-and-pillage level. Fair enough- I'm in the lazy camp myself. > The international roaming charges particularly bug me since T-Mobile is > a bigger mobile company with a substantially larger international presence > than Cingular, and hence should have the market power to negotiate > quite competitive roaming prices in comparison. Agreed. Hell, you'd think they could practically give away roaming onto other T-Mo systems to gain a competitive edge (think of the leverage each country's T-Mobile system could have if it offered free or low-cost roaming on other T-Mo systems!) It reminds me of the days here before nationwide plans when you had to pay roaming charges to use your own carrier in different parts of the country! > That these never make > it into their price list (which hasn't changed much since they came to > California, despite the fact that roaming charges everywhere else in > the world have been continuously dropping) is annoying. Agreed. I think T-Mo set the rates back in the "we're the only nationwide GSM carrier" days, when they had no international roaming competition (except PacTel/Cingular in the West.) They certainly haven't reacted to the changing international rates landscape. I suspect that since T-Mo has become the carrier of choice for cheapskates and teenagers, neither of whom tend to roam internationally often, tweaking int'l rates isn't a priority for them. > > I'd say "behind the curve" is more accurate than hopeless. ;-) > > It may be that for some hope springs eternal. Sorry, what did you just type? I missed it while I was adjusting my rose- colored glasses.... ;-) > I was checking on getting 6103 Nokias - free to 'new' customers, $30 > to us 'loyal' (okay, maybe dumb!) long time subscribers. Except that new customers pay a $35 activation fee per line. You're $5 ahead. > We have THREE lines, so that's $90 in total. So far you've saved $15. > Nokia was (until the end of the month) giving an additional $50 per > phone to 'NEW' customers, making for a $240 difference, 'NEW' > vs returning 'old', PLUS we'd of course have to sign up for another > two years. As would a new customer. About a year ago, T-Mo was supposed to "normalize" the upgrade vs. new customer pricing (via T-Mo directly. T-Mo can't force independant dealers to match prices.) Generally the upgrade vs. new pricing is pretty close these days, and if it does differ, you can usually get the new customer price if you ask for it (sometimes the pricing difference is a right-hand of the company not knowing what the left is doing.) In fact, if you aren't dead-set on what phone to buy, the upgrade department occasionally has "specials" where they offer a certain model or two to upgraders for less than they do to new customers. > That wouldn't be much of a problem, since the 'savings' would > amount to about $20 a month over that time. Again, you've ignored the $105 in activation fees for new accounts, so it'd be costing you just the now-expired rebates. > Think about it. THREE lines, unlimited National plan, and > they sell that to NEW customers for essentially TWENTY > BUCKS a month LESS than what they want to charge us! > > So long, T-Mobile. I'm shopping around where to transfer our > numbers this week. I dare you to find a cheaper plan than T-Mo for voice and data. They've kept me hooked for over six years now by offering the lowest price. > Maybe when/if you ever get around to > deploying your new frequencies for data (did I mention I also > have unlimited Internet? - too slow to be worth it, though!) Good enough for the $6/month it costs me. I'd rather pay $6 for EDGE than who knows what for HSDPA. > we might take a look, as 'NEW' customers, but your retention > prices SUCK big time. Everyone's do, particularly when you compare them to agressive independents. My last upgrade, a Pocket PC phonem, cost me $250 with a one year contract (sweet-talked them down from $299 for two-years) while indies were offering it for $100 with a one-year to new customers. > Seems sorta stupid to me, but that's business, these days! You what you've got to do. For voice and data, I figure T-Mo is saving me $15/month compared to other carriers. Is switching to aviod "overpaying" $50 or even $100 on a phone a good deal for me? Not really. YMMV. >> Nokia was (until the end of the month) giving an additional $50 per >> phone to 'NEW' customers, making for a $240 difference, 'NEW' >> vs returning 'old', PLUS we'd of course have to sign up for another >> two years. > >As would a new customer. Right, I left out something else - the ''minutes'' plan we're on is now $10 a month cheaper for 'New' sign-ups, we can have it but we have to commit for two more years. Maybe I'd do that (sign up) but our phones (batteries) are getting old so this started with, if I gotta sign up to lower the rate, what new phones can I get. Once I started doing the math, it became obvious what T-Mobile is doing. Maybe they all do it. Pisses me off. Costs me $20/mo, too. They use us, their long-time subscribers, to SUBSIDIZE the new subscribers. Why should WE have to pay any more than the new ones? Looking around, I gotta say there are plenty of alternatives at the same or slightly lower cost, PLUS if we leave we probably can jump every year or two, as long as these carriers continue to offer incentives to SWITCH. I wouldn't have considered it, but for NUMBER PORTABILITY. To the 'rest of the world' I don't think they'll even know which carrier we're with, unless we tell them (or a connection fails). +++ Is there a list somewhere of cellular PLUS 802.xx phones? I mean the TWO technologies in one handset? I hear Cox is wiring our town this summer, WiFi everywhere, as they are rolling out in forty places nationwide, as a test. I haven't seen a WiFi phone yet, but somewhere on a podcast there was mention of such things - I think maybe San Francisco? Bill > >> > We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. > >> [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > T-Mobile is a GERMAN company. We've had them for over five years. Oh yeah, forgot about that. :-) Doesn't make my statement completely invalid, though, I hope - I wonder how much direction they take from Germany or how completely autonomous the USA "business unit" (or whatever they call it) is... brian SignatureIf you want to reply to this message by mail, you will have to change the reply address to beuchaw@beuchaw.net I've been a T-mobile customer for over 4 years, just renewed for 2 more. All was OK until I convinced my girl friend to move to t-mobile. On a new account, they shipped her a faulty Samsung t-629. That's when the nightmare started - still waiting for a replacement after 3 weeks, 3 order numbers (none shipped) and over a dozen phone calls. T-mobile SUCKS !!!!!! >>> > We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. >>> [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > Bill You're a f.cking LIAR! T-mobile service SUCKS !!!! >> We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > typical > to me, and it's especially bad if they end up losing a 10-year customer. >We've had T-mobile family plan service for almost 10 years. > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >informed T-mobile that the storm was preventing getting to the >post office. Our bad. <SNIP> I've always it thought it nuts that cell carriers have this enormously-expensive infrastructure in the form of company stores, yet the only thing they seem interested in doing with it is either signing up new customers or upgrades for existing customers. I had issues with two Treo 600s a couple of years ago and it blew my mind that they wouldn't just let me go to a store and automatically get a different phone, since neither the unit I originally had nor the replacement I got would work. It further blows my mind that TM leaves it up to individual stores as far as whether to help you or not. Luckily, I did get a co. store near me to swap it for a Blackberry at the upgrade price, but that was luck on my part, not something that automatically came my way via T-Mobile policy. As much as all carriers fight, claw and spend to attract customers, you'd think they'd work harder to keep the ones they had. SignaturePosted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com Search Google or Yahoo for the E-mail address of T-Mobile Executive Relations. T-Mobile's warranty exchange center lost my Sidekick II and refused to do anything about it for weeks. Finally contacted Executive Relations due to recommendations in this newsgroup and had a replacement within 3 days. In fact, T-Mobile sent me 2 replacement Sidekick IIs a few weeks apart. I'm guessing Executive Relations and the warranty exchange center didn't know what each other was doing. > I've always been pleased with T-mobile until this. She wanted to switch > previously, but I talked her out of it. Ain't going to happen this time. > Any recommendations or cautions about changing carrier? |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.