.•*ღ T-Mobile Overcharges Customer & Refuses to Fix It

The Dispute Begins....

I decided to create this blog in order to chronicle an ongoing dispute I have with T-Mobile. Since 2002, I have utilized the services of T-Mobile, first under a relative's name (as I was not of legal age yet) and then under my own in 2004. So from 2002-2009 I did business with T-Mobile, paid them for their services without ever making a single complaint. With so many years of customer loyalty associated with my account, one would believe that I would considered a "valued" customer... boy was I wrong.

In mid-March, 2009, while checking my credit card statement online as I usually did, I found that T-Mobile had charged my account an excess of ~$300 through easypay. Upon checking my T-Mobile account online, I found that the charges were from text messaging overages. To make matters worse, when the bill posted to my account, another bill had just ended with an other ~$200 overages to my account.

Why was I surprised? Because I had called customer service two months earlier to have my text messaging service upgraded back to unlimited.

For the majority of 2008, I used the unlimited text messaging service during November, I thought that I didn't use it as much anymore and requested to downgrade the service to 1000. However, the month following the service change, I began text more often again and incurred overages. Realizing how often I texted, I decided to first sign onto my account online to upgrade the service, but was unable to change any services on my account due to website errors. I then called 611 where I was told by a representative that they were experiencing server problems. The customer representative confirmed my requested change and said it would reflect my next billing my cycle but would not reflect on my account online for at least another week due to the server issues.

The following month, my account was billed as usual, with no noticeable issues. But then the second month following the requested change, was when my credit card was billed for substantial overages.

3/23/2009

I contacted T-Mobile Customer Service to inquire about the overages. After telling the representative about the requested change made months earlier, he informed me he could not help me and bounced me around until my call was taken by a "tier-2" customer representative by the name of Nicole. Upon speaking with her, she claimed that there were no such request and that T-Mobile "always" notes customer accounts when they call in and tracks when they check their accounts online. She informed me that the last time she checked my account was in November 2008. I challenged the accuracy of the system since I checked my account in December, where I saw the overages and decided to call in to request the change. I also mentioned it made no sense that it claims I haven't checked my account since November since I clearly checked earlier that day, which informed me of the overages in the first place.

Nicole then kept repeatedly telling me that "the charges were valid", "there are no footprints on your account", and that "there were no notes on the account". She then stated that she would immediately change my text messaging service to unlimited to prevent further overages to which I responded by stating that I made the request months ago and that it was not a new request. She then offered a $100 goodwill credit despite the fact that T-Mobile is not responsible for the charges.

Speaking with Nicole was very frustrating as it was obvious she was not listening to me. No matter what I said or what I asked, she would respond with one of the three phrases that T-Mobile seemed to program their representatives with as stated earlier.

I declined the offer stating that I had been a customer for several years, and have not made any prior complaints. In fact, I have incurred overages in the past which I did not dispute and paid for in full as I knew they were my mistake. I asked her to review my account as it clearly displays when the request was made as my phone usage changes dramatically during the time. After about thirty minutes, she sounded like a broken record repeating the same statements over and over again. It was clear I would get no where speaking with her so I requested to speak with a supervisor. Nicole told me she would make a note about my request and a supervisor would call me within 24 hours.

3/24/2009

Over 24 hours passed and still no call from T-Mobile. I decided to call customer service again hoping to speak with a more rational and competent individual capable of responding with more than three pre-programed lines.

Again, I was bounced around for a bit by confused representatives before finally ending up with a representative named Jason. Although Jason was unable to assist me, at the very least, he was probably one of the more competent customer representatives I encountered since the beginning of this matter. He apologized for the situation and said he could not help me since someone had tagged my account earlier that day with a note for a supervisor to call which would take at least another 72 hours. He then informs me that their records show that I had not accessed my online account since November which didn't make sense since I checked my account several times alone in the past few days since finding the overages.

Jason then apologized to me in advance, as he had a feeling that I'd heard what he had to say before and was probably sick of it. Jason then proceeded to say the phrases that T-Mobile has drilled into the brains of their customer representatives so well, "the charges are valid", "there are no footprints", and "there are no notes". The fact that Jason apologized in advanced at least gives me validation that customer representatives at T-Mobile are not ALL incompetent drones. However, I was still stuck with a bill drowning in overages as a result of an incompetent customer representative who failed to do her job and lied to me about doing it.

3/27/2009

Another few days, no surprise, no call. Being accused of owing money has a tendency to make people impatient and a bit irritable to say the least. I decided to make a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in hopes of speeding up the resolution process. While making my complaint, I was surprise to find that T-Mobile had an F with them, the worst possible rating. After reviewing the the report, the rating comes from a mixture of poor billing practices, false advertising and most notably poor customer service.

BBB Report for T-Mobile USA, Inc. : F

3/29/2009

The call from Hell from a T-Mobile supervisor in response to my BBB Complaint....