Evan sent the following complaint letter to Tmobile’s CEO:
I am a T-Mobile customer from Miami, FL. I am writing you to report the unconscionable treatment I have received from T-Mobile over the past six months. For the past six months I have received no cellular reception in my area. After repeated calls and technical checks, the T-Mobile technical team issued a report stating that there is no coverage in my home and T-Mobile has no intention of upgrading the service in my area. I was initially told that upgrading my equipment to a new phone may resolve my issue. After a contract renewal and significant expense for the new equipment, my service is no better than it was previously.
I was then told that I was “stuck” with no service in my home under my current rate plan. Furthermore, I was told that my only option was to upgrade my service yet again to a “T-Mobile home hotspot” at a cost of $20.00 per month plus yet another equipment upgrade of at least $150.00. These costs would be in addition to the cost of broadband internet service provided by a third party. Seeing that I did not wish to upgrade yet again, it was suggested in the alternatively that I move to a new home. These callous suggestions are indicative of the general attitude at T-Mobile. I am forced to incur significant expense to use a service which I’ve already paid for.
Although T-Mobile has acknowledged that it is not able to provide me service without an upgrade, and therefore not delivered the service it is contractually bound to deliver, I am still bound by the early termination fee of $200. This “take-it-or-leave-it” deal is disreputable. T-Mobile lures consumers into contracts which it can not deliver upon and then charges the customer additional expenses to actually receive service which it promises. If the customer decides to move to a competitor which is able to provide service, T-Mobile socks the consumer with an early termination fee. Either way T-Mobile wins. The choice of paying for upgraded service or termination fees is anti-competitive and needs to be addressed.
Sincerely,
Evan G.
T-Mobile Account Number: [redacted]
T-Mobile Number: [redacted]
That’s just crazy. In fact, not being able to get service is one of the situations where one CAN get out of a cellphone contract without paying termination fee. You’re signing a contract saying that you will provide your monies in exchange for their services. They’re not providing the service and are thus in breach of contract and the contract is void. The problem, Evan, is that you’ve been talking to Tier 1 reps, who are apparently more concerned will upselling you on useless services than solving your problem. Try talking to the Retentions department. You can call them at 1-877-524-9422.
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Hasn’t anyone learned the lesson of the Alltel ad campaigns? No matter which carrier you pick, you’ve picked a loser.
hotspot @ home does NOT cost $20/month. It’s only $20/month if you want ‘free minutes’ while on wifi hotspots. If you just want to make calls over wifi, it’s free with a capable phone.
Also, there is no reason NOT to get it. My choices are: have horrible mostly not working reception at home. Or have the ability to make calls over my wifi connection with a good signal. No brainer.
@pylon83:
They’re not claiming that it is a dead-zone, though.
@ bustachai:
Uhh, how did T-Mobile say they had no coverage in Germany? T-Mobile is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom.
For reasons such as the above, I stick to T-Mobile prepaid only. I will no longer get suckered into long term contracts. Post-paid contracts need to go away. Unfortunately, the carriers make too much money on post-paid contracts, so it’s not going to happen anytime soon.
I had the same issue when I moved to New York. Coverage was fine outside my building but as soon as I entered my apartment…nothing. TMob was not very helpful with the problem so I posted an add on Craigslist offering my Blackberry Pearl for free for someone to take over my account. Less then a week later I transfered the responsibility of my account to someone who responded and I was done with them.
Its important to understand that cell phone towers don’t cover everywhere. This comes in play to a buyer beware, which is why many cell phone companies give you that trial period to test out service in your area.
Your contract states the company will provide service within that providers area. However they do not guarantee service. Which is why if there are outages, change in Roaming partner contracts and other unforseen events you are not entitled to any reimbursement or free contract release.
If you move away from tower coverage where your provider can’t reach then you are responsible for adhering to your original contract. The company is still providing service through their towers if you are not in range thats not their problem. Only if you are in a good area with their towers and they stop you from recieving a signal can you have the upperhand in this.
If you want service in your area you should lobby to your local city hall about leasing a piece of land to the cell phone provider so they can build a tower.