Today, I expressed my anger at T-Mobile.
That’s right…I’ll name drop. T-Mobile. The carrier I’ve been with for about five years now and have never had a problem with until today. T-Mobile. The company who has been in talks to foam into the giant acid wave called AT&T at some point in the future. T-Mobile. The company who has sucked me into a two year contract and left me feeling violated.
Okay, maybe that’s a bit overdramatic, but did I mention this post is going to be about T-Mobile?
History: a few weeks ago, Felbs and I were talking about our cell phone contract. We like T-Mobile but hate AT&T. We tried their internet…worse three months of our online lives (I will freely admit that the internet is a big thing in our house).
I called T-Mobile to find out when our contracts were up and I was very honest about the fact that we were looking elsewhere. Now I’m a powder puff, and it’s kind of easy to sell me on cool stuff if the price is right, but I generally make sure I have the info before I press the button (ignoring a couple eBay faux pas from the past). So when the girl offered what sounded like a great deal, I tentatively went for it. I say “tentatively” because I verified the plan three times, put her on hold, talked to Felber about it, verified the plan again, and then finally said okay.
The upgrade was for two smartphones and what I was told was an unlimited data plan. I verified that I would have 200mb of data but would NOT have to pay overages for anything above that. I would only have to deal with it being a little slower. Which I was cool with, because the way the woman on the other end made it sound was that they were giving me a new package which was comparable to our old package.
I asked her what the total cost would be after taxes. Her answer: $115 per month. I checked that part of it several times as well because why the heck wasn’t everyone jumping in on that deal. She said, every time, $115 per month. So here I am thinking that she must have given us a better deal and downgraded us to the advertised plan on the website, which was about fifty bucks per line for unlimited everything.
Score, right? Not so much. Tonight I get a text message telling me that I’ve reached my 200mb limit and will now be charged ten cents per megabyte until the new service cycle starts (Sept. 8). What the fart?? I called customer service and talked to them, then got put on hold when I asked to talk to a supervisor to lodge a complaint. Because it turns out, the doofus I talked to the first time was completely wrong in everything she told me.
I was not on the unlimited data plan, nor was my monthly bill going to be $115.00. It was going to be significantly more. To go up to a higher data plan wasn’t really a big deal, but it was irritating considering the fact that no matter what, I was going to be paying more than I was quoted. When my new bill came around, had I not talked to them, I would have been freaking out at the actual cost versus what I had budgeted for it.
I’m going to say that I remained assertive and level headed, but I did get my point across and I may have made the first woman I talked to tonight a little nervous. Which is funny, because young Amanda would have meekly let it go without saying “boo” just to avoid confrontation. Age is a wonderful thing when it comes to getting over that. However, I don’t actually take pride in being “mean” to customer service reps because I know they have a tough job and they get it from everyone else. But I wanted to be heard and I wanted them to know that I was upset.
In the end, I got the upgrade because I really am liking the internet and apps on my phone. Was I completely satisfied? Not really. I felt I should have gotten something to ease the pain of getting roped into a more expensive contract other than a promise to follow-up with the original rep. Still, I realize that I had the right to just say no and downgrade my service if it came to it, and I didn’t. I’m also sure there was some fine print somewhere that I should have read and didn’t. So shame on me too.
In the end, I did tell the manager that the woman I talked to earlier in the night was extremely nice and patient, even though I wasn’t very pleasant to her and that she should definitely get a good mark for that. On the bright side, I’m also happy I caught it now when I can re-budget to accommodate for the extra cost.
Now I feel less angry and ready to start the weekend.
A.
The Romance Factor 