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T-Mobile USA review: rip off 8

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6:50 pm EDT
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T-Mobile is offering their customers a "protection plan" that does not protect them. I upgraded my phone to a T-Mobile Dash. I bought on the T-Mobile official site on sale for $150.00 w/a $50.00 mail in rebate. My phone was stolen yesterday and when I contacted T-Mobile customer servive I was told to pay a deductable fee of $130.00. I have been loyal to t-Mobile since 2005 have had their "protection plan" ever since ad one time I get to use the "protecton plan" I am told to pay deductable fee more than what the phone is worth. T-Mobile reps told me that the $130.00 deductable fee is a reasonable fee for a $300 phone. The phone was on SALE, how can that deductable fee be reasonable? T-Mobile "protection plan" doesn't protect consumers! It rips them off!

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The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

8 comments
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Zman25
, US
Feb 13, 2017 1:11 pm EST

Tmobile's Program where they pay off your phone from another carrier is a total scam!

Brought in my IPhone5, switching over from Verizon. Guy sells me the whole package, I go on the site to get reimbursement, I get a letter 4 weeks later telling me I'm not eligible. I call back and inquire as to why. I am told that it was because I had a small crack in my screen. I argued that if that were the case and my phone was no good then why did the guy sell me the plan? They finally agreed to honor the reimbursement. However when they give you money for your phone it's in the form of a gift card. A gift card by the way that many restaurants don't accept. I waited 10 weeks and still no card. I finally call back and they tell me it's on the way. I wait another 11 days and call back AGAIN, the guy says he'll expedite it to me for $25 ! I reluctantly agree just to get the card so I can pay off the other phone. I get the card I call the number to activate it...It's NO GOOD. The guy who charged me the $25 canceled the 1st card that was on the way and never told me! I finally get my card that works. I owed $471 on my Iphone5 w/ Verizon. The card TMobile sent me?...$255 ! I called back to find out what the hell is going on and I'm told "At the store they determine what your phone is worth so in your case they said it was worth $191 so they took that off the $471 you owed and then minus the $25 to have it expedited and you get the $255". I asked "Who determines the price of the phone I turned in?" "We don't know. They do it at the store was the response I got." So an IPhone6 that was less than a year old is only worth $191 to TMobile! Their entire program and operation is a scam! Do yourself a favor and stay FAR AWAY!

Valerie
Valerie
, US
Sep 16, 2008 3:41 am EDT

I have been a customer of T-Mobile for about 2 years now during which time I've seen their sub-standard service yo-yo back and forth from mediocre to worse and back. Over the past 6 months it has deteriorated so significantly and caused so many problems that I decided I would cut my losses and get out of my family plan contract. When I tried to disengage I was told that I would have to pay a hefty penalty of $400 for canceling the service prematurely.

I explained to them that the only reason I am canceling is because they failed to provide the service I diligently paid for every month... that I often cannot get a line out; that call waiting notification only works sporadically; that calls are automatically forwarded to voicemail for no apparent reason; voicemail notification comes through sometimes but never on a consistent basis if at all; text messages can come in anywhere from immediately to several hours or even days after being sent; coverage is absent in many areas of the Denver Tech Center even though they assured me when I was first thinking of signing up that I was in a strong signal area. Then, when they failed to persuade me to reconsider they pointed out to me that the T-Mobile contract small print stipulates that T-Mobile is not obligated to actually provide service. That's some contract! How can they get away with this?

I have patiently spent hours on the phone with a multitude of T-Mobile reps who were dismissive and condescending, in my attempt to get service repaired and minimize my financial losses. I went as far as to upgrade my phones last August because the store manager at Park Meadows Mall explained that the low-level phones they themselves sold me were the source of my problem, and that all would be rectified by upgrading to a better phone. In the meantime I still do not get my call waiting notices, text messages or voice mail notifications in a timely or consistent manner and in fact, frequently get an error message when I try to make a call out saying that my call has failed. Duh!

Unfortunately this translates directly into lost revenue for me. I use my cell phone predominantly for business and T-Mobile is making me look unprofessional as well as unreliable because of the numerous dropped calls, the inability to make a call at any given time of the day or night, and the inability to retrieve messages left for me by my clients.

I have done everything that the T-Mobile techies suggested: cycled the phones, swapped SIM cards, done master resets, etc. all to no avail. I spent countless hours on the phone with T-Mobile reps while they transferred me from rep to rep to rep, often disconnecting me in the process (even though they swear they have do not have a dropped call issue!). Because they are unwilling to provide a direct dial number to a level two technician for help, customers are forced to go through the entire process from scratch over and over again when they disconnect you until you are worn out and bloodied and finally give up in disgust - which is probably exactly what T-Mobile is counting on.

Today I was told by a T-Mobile rep that all cellphone services were lousy and transferring to another service provider would do me no good, but I could try negotiating with the store I purchased my service and phones from because they could leverage their commissions against the cancellation fee. So I went directly to the local T-Mobile store that sold me the service. No surprise there: nobody wanted to take responsibility for the shoddy service and broken promises. But they certainly made it clear to me that they would definitely penalize me for trying to unload a bogus service that doesn't do what its supposed to do. Where's the legality in that?

The assistant manager of the T-Mobile store in Park Meadows Mall got very angry when I asked him how many lost potential customers it would take for him to break even on the $400 penalty they were going to impose on me? Because I would be sure to tell everyone I came in contact with about my terrible experience with their service. He was so livid that he physically followed me out of the store to wait and see if I was talking to anyone and then called mall security to harass me when he saw me talking to someone. I do believe that was in direct violation of my first amendment rights, but I was not about to take on the two burly security guards that answered his “distress" call.

Since when is this type of bullying legal? Why isn't anyone standing up to this crooked, fraudulent company? I'd like to know what recourse I have. There are thousands of customers in our Denver Tech Center area alone who are being held hostage by this company, let alone all over the country. All you have to do is google “T-Mobile complaints" and you will read story after story from disgruntled customers who were outright swindled by these pirates. This is not right, and it certainly is not the American way.

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Mythwolf
, US
Feb 23, 2009 6:32 am EST

I recently bought a 2nd home in a small town about 100 miles north of Phoenix. T-Mobile's coverage there is totally inadequate. No T-Mobile stores, because their coverage is terrible. Only Verizon can handle this area. After several years w/T-Mobile, I need to get out of contract so that I can use a cell (no land line). We have a family plan, 3 lines, and shared minutes. They want to charge me a total of $600. to break contract! Of course, you break a phone, buy a new one, they extend your contract another 2 years! Best not to take their new phone deal because your contract could go on the rest of your life! I'd say this is a hair short of illegal. Next time, I'll buy a phone through eBay!

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Nelson
, US
Sep 15, 2010 11:40 am EDT

After I had cancelled service within grace period, T-Mobile sent me a bill for over $521. They wanted early termination fees, monthly fees and over

$50 in taxes.

I had received phones 7/16 and returned them on 7/28. We had no service while in Maine, the phones were difficult to use and they continuously had an ad to upgrade service on my phone. When I received bill I called customer service and both rep (Greg) and supervisor (Natalie) insisted I had terminated service early and an additional month's fee was due as I had not ported my cell phone numbers to another company timely.

I was unable to port numbers to Verizon

until T-mobile acknowledged receipt, which took them twelve calendar days.

By their logic, If I hadn't ported numbers over, I would owe monthly fee forever.This was in addition to "phishing"for $400 early termination fee.

Eventally they acknowledged that termination fee was erroneous, but were insitent that I owed them for not porting number when it was impossible to do so.

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xavier sancez
, US
Dec 12, 2011 8:31 pm EST

On the day of Otober 24, 2011 I called T-mobile about questions concerning my 2Gb data information in my contract. I spoke to many different representatives concerning this matter none of them would explain to me where it states how the 2Gb data is used and determined. So I called a second time during the same day Otober 24, 2011 spoke with representatives about the same concern, the representatives were trying to offer me a different plan. Every thing was the same in both plans only thing differed was I would change from 2Gb to 5Gb with my bill being the same amount. I said as long as my bill stays at the same amount thats fine.

The representative mention the plan description and at the end he says the amount was $10 more than what I was paying, I immediately stated that I was not paying no more money regardless of what you are offering. So I then told him to leave everything like it was I not giving T-mobile no more money then what i already agreed to. Then he mentioned about with this plan you would have to sign a new contract I then said no thanks leave it like it was. Now on today November 29, 2011 I spoke to representatives about my flex plan accout. Representatives told me that it don’t exist any longer and that I agreed to go with this post pay plan on October 24, 2011 when I called.

That did’nt happen because we were discussing my plan about 2Gb not flex plan. I then said well if you (T-mobile) can play a recording stating what I agreed to I have no problem. T-mobile response was all our conversations are not recorded. I explained to representatives about it’s convenient for me as a customer to make month to month payments. I said i appriciate the fact that you (t-mobile) are giving me the ability to make post payments but I don’t want it. The representative states that I have agreed to it already so their’s nothing can be done. So the converstaion cycle repeated because I said show me where I agreed and everything will be o.k.

I was then hung up on, then I called back and a guy representative answered knowing who I was immediately, listened to what my problem was and stated go to contractreview@tmobile.com and file a complaint. Overall I had a problem with the limited 2Gb usage I was offered a different plan that gave me more Gb’s I declined. Then I question my flex plan I was told it’s no longer exist you have a new plan that you should be thankful for because you don’t have to pay month to month T-mobile will give a month grace period.

Which I questioned I did’nt pay the month of October to November. The representative said we know you had credit from your flex acount, I said “$179 credit”? The female representative said yes I said “wow”. Then I said I don’t owe you guys, (T-mobile) I’m not behind? She the female representative said “no” you are not behind. So after talking about this “$179 credit” it won’t be due until December’s cycle. I then said so I do owe you and it was not a credit!

That’s why I rather have the option to pay month to month, becouse of grey area non-sense like this. Thank you, I would like someone from T-mobile to contact me as soon as possible about this dispute. Contact information I don’t feel safe putting on this complaint but the company has my information please contact me if their is any additional information needed thanks.

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Patricia11
, US
Dec 05, 2010 5:39 am EST

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Frastration with Tmobile
Rockford, US
Aug 18, 2009 1:41 pm EDT

we have the same problem as you have now, want to cancel our family plan of 3 lines since there is no coverage at all in our home (we don´t have landline), and nearly all our neighbors use Verizon. We bought the house a year ago and not aware of the Tmobile coverage problem in that area. Now we were told that we have to pay 600$ for cancellation even we don´t have any coverage or service. Is it legal for Tmobile to do so or can we do something together legally against Tmobile?

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Anthony
,
Nov 17, 2008 12:35 pm EST

I think T-mobile much like other large companies, have forgotten about the clients which have made them so successful. Most businesses are in business to make a profit however the larger you become it appears the more profits you desire, so you pay people very little to do a lot. So you have employees which we have to deal with that don't give a rats ### about the customers. Unforunately for us the customers, all these cell phones companies are large and thus don't give a flying ###. I must admit though, Verizon's customer service was much better to me, their pricing is just too damn high.