Thieves

This is a letter I've been working on mostly in my head for two hours in class today, and then finally on paper so I may send it to the To Whom It May Concern, whom I'm sure nobody is really that concerned. Just thought I would share. I hate stuff like this. I don't understand why people are so stupid. Seriously. If the world could just be a better place. and we could all get along....

To Whom It May Concern:

I have been a T-mobile customer since 2003 and have been very happy with your service, to the point of recommending your services to friends and family. I have been a respectable customer by paying my bills in a timely manner and I have a good record with T-mobile. I have been very pleased with the phone service, very helpful customer service, and rate plan that I have been on for the last five years. I tell people to choose you for a cell phone carrier.

In the last few weeks I have been having a different experience with T-mobile than described above. My phone has not been working very well throughout the summer, not holding a charge, saying it’s charged when it’s not, continually dying on me in conversations for no reason, etc. Since I use my phone a lot as it is my only phone line that I have, I called in to T-mobile to see when I was up for my yearly upgrade to get a new phone. They told me that I wasn’t up for an upgrade until November 2007. With it being three months away still, in August 2007, I outright bought a phone from t-mobile so that I could continue to use my phone uninterrupted. When I received the phone, it was not the phone that I wanted and within the two week period of time that is allotted to return a phone as per T-mobiles return policy, I returned the phone. In September when the amount of the phone had not been posted back to my account, I called T-mobile with the tracking number of the phone that was sent back, to make sure that the phone was received by them. The representative confirmed that it was indeed received, but the money sometimes would not be posted onto the account for a couple of months. She DID confirm that the phone had made it back to them though. I threw away the tracking number after the confirmation.

I went back to using my old phone to “tough it out” through the next few months until I was available to get a phone upgrade in November 2007. Now it is November. I went online to see what was available for me to upgrade to and it said that I was not able to upgrade. I was confused. I called a T-mobile representative who simply told me first off that since I had been a customer with them since 2003, “Of course you are able to get an upgrade.” Then he told me that I’m not actually available for the “best discount” of an upgrade which you receive once a year. It has been over a year since I upgraded my phone the last time. He had no other explanation for me other than what I had already read on my computer screen at home.

I then went to Best Buy, who are a local dealer of T-mobile. The representative there could not even find me in the computer and couldn’t tell me whether or not I could get an upgrade.

I then went to Car Toys, another local dealer for T-mobile. The representative there said that I should be able to upgrade to a new phone since I outright paid for the phone in August 2007, AND sent the phone back, and in the end am still using the phone that I have from a year ago. He called T-mobile customer service and spent time explaining the situation to the man that answered the phone. After much explaining, the man said that it must be a clerical error and that they could get that changed for me. He transferred the phone call to a person that could “do that for you.” When the Car Toys representative got the man on the phone that could ‘do that for us’ that man then continued to tell the Car Toys representative that I had changed my plan and that is why my contract had extended for two years and I was not available for the upgrade. I have been with T-mobile for 5 years and have never done anything to my plan to change the contract. The only features I have added in the last five years, those being within this last summer, have been adding mobile-to-mobile minutes and text messaging. Those are added features and are not basis for extending a contract. I’ve read the fine print. The representative told us that I had changed my plan to add Hot Spot. I have never changed my plan to include T-mobile Hot Spot. He regressed. Then he said that they never received the phone back from August 2007. He asked if I had a tracking number. I no longer have the tracking number as I had already called and received confirmation that the package had been safely received by them. After 48 minutes of the Car Toys representative talking to your representative, the man on the phone stated that they were going to have to do an “investigation” that would take up to 72 hours and that they would call me back within that time period to let me know if I am available to get an upgrade on my phone. I’m still waiting at this period of time to hear from them.

All I wanted out of this was to be available to afford a new phone so that I could knowingly and willingly extend my contract with T-mobile, as I have been extremely happy with them as a carrier, by utilizing my right as a customer to be available for a phone upgrade and discount once a year. I have never had a problem with you guys before. I have always felt like a valued customer. In the last two weeks you have made me feel like a liar and a thief. It should not be this hard and take this long to get a new phone from your cell phone carrier. At no point in time has T-mobile made me feel like I’m telling the truth or that I might be able to get an upgrade on my phone. On top of that they have extended my contract for two years without explanation or reason. Every representative I get on the phone tells me a different story about why my contract has been extended or why I’m not available to get an upgrade.

At this point in time I’m looking into filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. A customer should not have to feel like they have to PROVE themselves in order to get the service that comes with the carrier. I have done nothing wrong here. I am not trying to scam T-mobile in any way. I’m trying to get the service that every other customer with T-mobile SHOULD be getting. I no longer have good things to say about T-mobile to my family and friends. I either want out of my contract with T-mobile so I may find another carrier that is going to treat me like a decent honest human being, or I want to be compensated for my time and energy that I have put into trying to receive the benefits of a regular customer with T-mobile. I DO NOT appreciate being treated like this. No business should be so unorganized that they cannot look on a computer screen and see exactly what is going on with a person’s account. No representative should ever treat a FAITHFUL customer, whom they have had NO problems with in five years, the way that I have been treated.

I appreciate your feedback in this concern.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,