We're Breaking Up, T-Mobile. It's Not Me, It's You.

I’ve been with you since 2004, T-Mobile, but enough is enough.  I’m shopping for a new relationship.  Why?  It’s not me, it’s you.

• In the beginning it was simple.  I wanted a free, working phone.
• I agreed I’d be willing to sign another contract to get a fancy, expensive phone for free.
• You played a game of “bait and switch” by offering me one phone and then telling me that one wasn’t available (to me) for free.
• I nodded when you told me that I needed to add an “Unlimited Data” plan to fully utilize my new phone.  Though, let’s get the blinders off – your “Unlimited Data” plan isn’t really unlimited.  I read the fine print – you offer a plan of 2GB data of high speed data; when the customer reaches that limit, you slow their data speeds to a crawl until the end of their billing cycle.  Let’s not forget that your network speeds haven’t changed at all, either.  The only thing that changed was you relabeling your 5-10Mbps download network to call it 4G.
• You unrepentantly sent me inferior goods.

I already pay a little under $100 each month.  With the new plan, I would’ve been paying over $100 a month.  If we use the $100 average, that’s over $1200 a year, and I’ve been with you for 8 years ($1200 x 8 = 9600).  Almost $10 Grand in less than a decade.  If you treat me with so little respect, I worry for your other customers.  Hopefully, with the publication of this letter, I can warn some to “stay away from that guy.  He’s bad news.”

Here’s what happened:

As I’m sure you remember, T-Mobile, you offered a promotion last month (over Father’s Day weekend) where a customer could get a free HTC HD7 (i.e. purchase with instant rebate) through T-Mobile.com or through 1-877-387-4324.  I’d been having problems with my Blackberry, so I decided to switch phones.

June 19^th

After waiting on hold for 47 minutes, a representative finally picked up.  When I explained what I wanted, she told me the phone would end up costing me $100.  How is that free?  She said she couldn’t find the promotion I was talking about, so I asked for a supervisor.  The supervisor finally said he had found the special, but I had to order through the sales department and would have to upgrade my plan slightly; he would transfer me.  “We’re sorry, but the sales department is closed.  Please call again later.”  Click.

WHAT?!?

My total call time, including the original 47 minutes on hold, was 1 hour and 22 minutes.  More than miffed, I called back.  On hold again (by the way, you need to vary your hold music.  It’s indelibly carved into my brain), but this time for only 39 minutes before someone picked up.  I wanted to skip the intermediary and directly asked for a supervisor.  Your “representative” argued and repeat my entire issue before transferring me.  Alright, at this point I was more than miffed by the time I get supervisor #2 on the line.

Supervisor #2 had a voice that could talk jumpers from ledges.  He understood the problem.  He said I could get the phone I wanted at no cost.  However, I did have to order through the sales department, so I’d have to call back tomorrow.  I foresaw problems, protesting that the date was June 19^th, the last day of the promotion, and I wouldn’t be able to get it on the 20^th.  He assured me it wouldn’t be a problem.  At this point, though, I was cynical and requested notes be added to my record so I wouldn’t have to repeat everything the next day.  He assured me he did so and attached his name to everything.  I thanked him and we ended the call.

June 20^th

Another 32 minutes on hold.  Had to be transferred to a supervisor.  Finally got transferred to the sales department…who said I couldn’t get the phone I wanted.  Transferred to another person, who said I could pay $99 for the HTC HD7.  She asked why I had stayed with my Blackberry phone, and I explained that I liked the full QWERTY keyboard, but was ready for something new like a touchscreen.  I had looked up features & reviews of the HTC HD7, and liked what I read…even though I had originally wanted an Android phone.  She convinced me to try the MyTouch Slide – touchscreen and QWERTY, and it ran Android.  I had to upgrade to a more expensive monthly plan and be signed to a new 2 year contract.  The phone would cost me $50, but “the MyTouch retails for $429”.  And I was supposed to have to change my number, but she “found a way to work around that”.  Did I want to pay for expedited shipping?  (No.)  Either way, under the “Buyer’s Remorse” program, I had 20 days to test the phone to decide if I liked it.  If not, we could find something else I liked or I could revert back to my original plan.  I asked her to update the notes on my account with all the current information.

The MyTouch finally arrived and I took it to the T-Mobile store to transfer my information from Backberry to MyTouch.  Contacts would transfer, but they couldn’t get my very detailed schedule and calendar to transfer.  Software incompatibility.  I was now carrying the MyTouch as my phone and my Blackberry to use as my planner until I could arrange a way to transfer my calendar.

June 30^th

I played with the MyTouch for a couple of days (downloaded a couple apps, took some pictures, etc) before an error message appeared with one option for me to select, “Force Close”.  It happened a couple of times before I could get back into the store.  In that time, the phone deleted about a third of my contact list – not all of them, mind you, just (from what I can tell) the most recent third.  I took it back to the T-Mobile store, where they were stymied.

Mind you, I have a good relationship with the guys at the Hanley St. Louis T-Mobile store.  Kenny King, the manager, has a good grasp of problems and somehow manages to fix things when I think all is lost.  But even he couldn’t figure out what to do with my 1/3 missing contact list.  The network update that’s supposed to pull my contacts from T-Mobile’s cloud failed, both the standard way and trying it through the T-Mobile contact app.  We could re-download all my contacts onto the phone, but if we didn’t wipe the phone back to factory first, it could duplicate my other contacts.  I didn’t want to wipe the phone, because I had just downloaded some important business information on there and didn’t have it backed up yet.  I also didn’t have the time to re-download right then, because I was leaving on a 4^th of July vacation.  Kenny said we’d figure it out when I got back on the 7^th.  My Blackberry was now calendar and contact list, while the MyTouch was phone and internet.

July 3^rd

The MyTouch crashed.  The “Force Close” messages just layered one over the other and wouldn’t let me access anything.  I did a soft reboot, a hard reboot, took out the battery and restarted.  Nothing worked.  I swapped my SIM card back into my Blackberry, and was back to using it for everything.

July 7^th

Back home and back to the T-Mobile store.  At this point, I just wanted a working replacement MyTouch.  We called the customer service line from the store.  More time on hold.  As I was on a land line this time, I can’t give you the exact amount.

The first representative told me that I could replace the phone under my insurance, but then would be locked into the 2 year contract.  I asked for a supervisor.  The woman I got was combative and not helpful.  She said I could either get a new MyTouch and be locked in the contract or return the phone under “Buyers Remorse” and stick with my old phone.  I said I wanted a MyTouch that worked, and wanted the full extent of the 20 day period to test it.  What was the logic of sending me a broken phone to test?  Of course I won’t want it.  I sent the phone back via UPS.  The supervisor said to call back with the tracking number and they would revert my plan back.

I called back with the tracking number and was told I couldn’t revert my plan back because that particular plan wasn’t offered anymore (even though I was on it a couple weeks back).  I could either upgrade to another, more expensive, data plan (locking me into a contract) or lose my data completely.  I’ll opt out.

I’m scouting other wireless companies but, like anyone leaving a bad relationship, I’m wary of being trapped.  Everyone wants commitment from the get-go.  Either way, I’m just hoping I find someone who doesn’t abuse that trust, but acts like a partner.  I know I deserve to be treated better.