RCRWireless reprinted part of T-Mobile's response:

“Although your letter states that carriers’ prices for text messaging appear to have increased since 2005, the opposite is true,” states Robert Dotson, president and CEO of T-Mobile USA Inc. “Since 2005, the prices that T-Mobile charges for text messages — 90% of which are purchased in texting package plans — have fallen by more than half.

AT&T came right out and (almost) blamed Senator Kohl for the spate of lawsuits:

“As you probably know, since your letter was made public, 20 class-action lawsuits have been filed around the country against AT&T and other national carriers, specifically alleging price-fixing for texting messaging services. All but one of these cases cite your inquiry as one of the bases of alleged collusion. We are therefore eager to clear up any misunderstanding,” said Timothy McKone, executive VP for federal relations at AT&T.

If fees for text messaging bundles have dropped, while fees for single-serve text messages have shot up 20 cents, then in a way both sides are right—but if that's the case, we think the carriers are being intentionally dense about the true meaning of the Senator's line of questioning, which (we think) is an attempt to determine whether the carriers colluded to hike individual rates enough to drive customers into more profitable bundle services.

Wireless carriers counter antitrust concerns over rising costs of texting [RCRWireless]
(Photo: Getty Images)

The similar price increases, coming at similar times, Kohl said, "is hardly consistent with the vigorous price competition we hope to see in a competitive marketplace."

Kohl noted in the letter that the top four carriers combined have over 90 percent of the U.S. market, and wants the carriers to provide information on

• how their pricing structures differ from their competitors;
• the factors that led to their decision to raise prices;
• a comparison of text message pricing to other wireless service pricing;
• the utilization of text messaging over the past three years.

"Congress questions high cost of texting" [Cnet: The Iconoclast] (Thanks to Brett!)
(Photo: Getty)

The sales rep did his song and dance and insisted that I test out the phone service for 2 weeks. I said no a few times but he wouldn’t hear it. Well, he gave me 2 phones and 2 phone numbers. No credit check, no money whatsoever. I walked out of the store with 2 free phones and some paper work.

Now Rob can't give the phones back. After several fruitless visits where the store manager told Rob he had to talk to the original salesman (who was never there) to return the phones, Rob simply left them on the counter. A few days later, they arrived at his doorstep via FedEx—along with a photocopy of another customer's driver license.

Here's the full story of what happened after Rob brought the two phones home back in July:

Seven days later we returned to the same store to drop the phones off. They hadn’t been opened or anything. Previously in the week I was cleaning and probably threw out a white piece of paper with what phones we had.

...I had to speak with the exact rep because I didn’t have the all important white piece of paper and there was no way to look at what I had. The rep was not working that day and was told to return Tuesday during the afternoon. I refused because I don’t drive and I'm not taking a bus to a mall from the southern part of the twin cities to the northern part just to drop phones off.

We return that next Sunday (27th) and again were told we can’t give back the phones because the rep isn’t working. I demanded to speak with a manager. I tell him my story, and he finds it interesting about how I got the phones and service. I made a point to say "I said no," and he said, “Yeah he does that a lot.” He mutters something about letting him go and says he can’t do anything because I don’t have the piece of paper.

Flash forward to August 11th, almost a full month after getting the phones, my fiancé and I finally have time to go back to the mall (she works nights I work days). I walk in with the phones. The manager sees me, throws his hands up in the air and says "Not you people again." He tells me to stand over out of the way while helping people. We wait for 15 minutes. Only one person approaches us, some sales rep, and I explain the story and he’s dumbfounded. Finally I walk up to the counter and put the phones on the counter and explain again what’s going on and all I want to do is drop them off. I was assured that it would be taken care of.

Later that night my fiancé and I went to a real T-Mobile store and purchased our phones and service.

On August 15th, a Fedex box is sitting on my door step. Not expecting anything, I open it—what do you know they sent the phones back to me! But whats this, there is more then just two cell phones. The missing piece of white paper they said they don’t have, the whole reason I couldn’t return the phones. But wait there is even more! Two other identical pieces of paper but with others people’s phone information / plan information and a copy of someone’s drivers license!

So I quickly called Mobile Solutions HQ and talk to some girl in California. I explain the situation and she says, “Well we need those phones back. I’m shipping you out some prepaid UPS labels.” I asked what about me getting other people’s identification information. “Well I’m not there so I don’t know what to do.” I look at the address of the license, and it turns out the woman on the license only lives about a mile and half from me if that.

My fiancé and I get in the car and we drive to her house. I knock on the door, ask her if she is so and so on the card she says yes. I asked her if she purchased a phone from the Mobile Solutions in Northtown Mall in Blaine? Again she says yes. I then ask, “Does this look familiar?” showing her her license. Her jaw is on the floor. She exclaimed, "How in the world did you get that?" I explained to her how it came in a Fed Ex package and she was very grateful and thanked me several times, and she was also upset and said she would call Mobile Solutions promptly.

So now I’m still stuck with 2 phones, 2 lines of service that I’m sure still runs if I cared to try and other people’s information. What should I do now?

If Mobile Solutions doesn't have any of your personal information where they can't ruin your credit, return the phones via the UPS labels and promise us you'll never step foot in that store again.

If they have a copy of your drivers license or other important personal info, it's time to make it very clear to Mobile Solutions that you have no intention of being their customer, no matter how hard they make it for you to return the unopened phones. This is a funny story, but it sounds to us like they're trying to force a sale on you, which is criminal rather than incompetent.

Contact Mobile Solution Corporation's main office in San Diego and file a complaint against the Blaine store. Make it clear that you have tried three times to return the phones, and that they are refusing to accept your return. You should also make it clear that the only acceptable resolution for this issue is for Mobile Solutions to accept your return and promise to leave you and your credit history alone. Look at our various EECB posts for more information on how to effectively communicate with a business.

Mobile Solution Corporation
3030 Plaza Bonita Rd
National City, CA 91950
(619) 472-1018
(619) 479-1648

You may also want to contact the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General and file a formal complaint against the store for its business practices, even if the corporate office in San Diego is able to resolve the problem for you. We suspect the Blaine store has some rotten apples on staff and you may help future customers by sounding an alarm now.

Update: Rob sent the following information to us after we posted the story.

As an update I called back the corporate # and [they] didn’t find it cool I wanted to sell the phones. There is some sort of investigation being done and the original salesmen has been fired. After reading some comments I could have been more clear. The only info they got was a copy of my State ID which had my current address on it. I also signed a piece of paper saying “You have two weeks if you don’t return them the phones in two weeks we can charge you blah , blah, blah.” Well, they never took money or a credit card.

Anyway people have been in contact with me. I took the phones because the guy kept insisting and I wanted to be nice. At best I thought what's the worst can happen? I keep the phones for a week bring them back unopened and that will be that.

We still think you should make sure the company accepts a full return and absolves you from that signed agreement, because even without a credit card they may still try to bill you, then eventually send the bill to a collection agency.

TmoNews says, "It sounds like these plans will be very similar, if not the same, to T-mobile’s current offerings of individual, or family time plans, with or without MyFaves." For new customers, this will mean that, if you buy from Tmobile, you will have to pay full retail price for your new cellphone. Unless there's some caveat against it, it would be smart though to buy your phone off eBay or convert pay-as-you-go Walmart-style phone to the month-to-month plan. There will also be an activation fee. But at least there will be no early termination fee.

Thumbs up to Tmobile on this one, even though it's probably just a placating gesture in advance of the FCC ruling on ETFs. Hopefully the other carriers will follow suit with similar placating gestures.

T-mobile Introduces Month to Month Contracts [TmoNews] (Thanks to Scott!)

1. Can't have unlimited messaging bundle on your account within the past 3 months
2. Has to have been charged for text messages during the past 3 months

A materially adverse change of contract nullifies a contract. I don't see how you can enforce restrictions on a null contract.

If you want to cancel Tmobile without ETF, here's how. Read the comments on that story to learn tips from many readers who've successfully used our advice. And remember, victory goes to the tenacious.

(Photo: Getty)

Don't forget to be calm, professional, and polite, and tell your story succinctly and clearly. This post shows you how it's done.

(Photo: shlomp-a-plompa)

One way to escape your contract is to call up your carrier and argue that they have made a materially adverse change to your service agreement. Most cellphone contracts contain a clause allowing customers to escape their contracts if a materially adverse change is made, usually in the form of a rate increase. Here's an example clause from a Verizon contract:

Your service is subject to our business policies, practices, and procedures, which we can change without notice. UNLESS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW, WE CAN ALSO CHANGE PRICES AND ANY OTHER CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME BY SENDING YOU WRITTEN NOTICE PRIOR TO THE BILLING PERIOD IN WHICH THE CHANGES WOULD GO INTO EFFECT. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE YOUR SERVICE AFTER THAT POINT, YOU'RE ACCEPTING THE CHANGES. IF THE CHANGES HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU, HOWEVER, YOU CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE, JUST BY CALLING US WITHIN 60 DAYS AFTER WE SEND NOTICE OF THE CHANGE.

Below are some recent rate increases by the major providers. Some of these might have occurred far enough back that they are outside the window to call and complain, but we've also heard from readers who didn't get any notice, or who got late notice, thus keeping them within the required period to contest the change.
T-Mobile
We posted about this a couple weeks ago, but just to reiterate: T-Mobile is raising its text message rates on August 29th. That's a materially adverse change to your contract. Run while you can.
Verizon
Although Verizon likes to play dumb about what constitutes a materially adverse change to your contract, a Verizon fee increase was the impetus for this article: A reader writes in that he used Verizon's recent Federal Universal Service Charge increase to escape without an ETF. Here is Verizon's increase notification:

The Federal Universal Service Charge (FUSC) is a Verizon Wireless charge that is subject to change each calendar quarter based on contribution rates prescribed by the FCC. On July 1, the FUSC changed to 2.42 percent of assessable wireless charges, other than separately billed interstate and international long distance charges. The FUSC on these charges changed to 11.4 percent.

Sprint Nextel
There are conflicting reports that, as of July 13, Sprint will be eliminating its SERO plan altogether, or making existing customers switch to unlimited data "everything" plans, or just forcing that on new PDA customers. Barring that, a text message increase probably isn't too far away.
Other Techniques
We offered advice on escaping your contract last year when the iPhone first came out. Besides complaining about materially adverse changes, you can sell your contract, complain that service is substandard, move to an area out of your network, join the military, or die.

PREVIOUSLY: 6 Ways to Cancel Any Cellphone So You Can Get an iPhone
"Material Adverse" Clauses in Cell Phone Contracts [United Consumer Action Network]
(Photo: Getty)

Reader Scott is jubilant over the huge discount he got from Sprint:

Took advantage of the upcoming launch of AT&T’S iPhone 3G to squeeze a lower rate out of Sprint PCS. I’ve had to endure a decrease in Sprint service at the same price for the past year (crappy reception, slow network, can no longer send pix via SMS (thanks, a’holes)), so I told them I was switching to iPhone.

They gave me a whopping 25% (TWENTY-FIVE percent!!!) discount on my voice plan, zero discount on data plan. No mention of a contract extension whatsoever.

Give them a call and see if they can hear you now.

Here's how you do it. Note: It really helps if you don't have a current contract, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try:

1. Call your current cellphone company.
   
2. Tell them you intend to cancel. You should be transferred to a retentions representative.
   
3. Say something like this:

   Hi, my name is ___________, I think I've been a good customer, but that iPhone looks really enticing, and I'm thinking about switching to AT&T.

   I'd like to stay with you, and I was wondering if there was any way you could _______ (throw me a discount, free text message package, something). Can you help me?

4. Stand firm and negotiate.

Some cellphone companies try to tack on a contract extension with a discount, so make sure they do not do this. Good luck!

(Photo: Steve Rhodes )

As far as the other policies go: AT&T and Verizon have similar pro-rating plans, (for each month that goes by they deduct $5 from the ETF) but Verizon starts discounting earlier than AT&T, according to Consumer Reports.

When you look at 1 year contracts, T-Mobile's plan looks a lot better. Their discounts beat both AT&T and Verizon after 6 months. Also, if you cancel T-Mobile in the final month of either a 2 year or a 1 year contract, you'll have to pay either $50 or your monthly fee — whichever is less.

Something to watch out for: T-Mobile's trial period is only 20 days, while AT&T and Verizon both give you 30 days.

T-Mobile announces pro-rating of termination fees [Consumer Reports]

SMS rates going up! [TmoNews] (Thanks to Arnaldo!)

(Photo: scentzilla)

Days left | fee

180: $200
180-91: $100
90-30: $50
29-1: $50 or monthly rate, whichever is less.

Glad to see another carrier joining in with declining ETFs. It's that much closer to doing away with them entirely. No word yet on whether this will only apply to new customers.

Here's the text of Tmobile's email announcement.

Beginning on June 28, 2008, the ETF for customers who choose a one-year or two-year service agreement with T-Mobile will decline during the course their contract. The ETF decreases from $200 to $100 if customers terminate service with 91 to 180 days remaining on their agreement; and decreases again to $50 with fewer than 91 days remaining. If customers terminate in the last 30 days of their term, the ETF is $50 or their standard monthly charge, whichever is less.

T-Mobile Eases Early Termination Fees [Washington Post]

(Thanks to Spencer!)

(Photo: shlomp-a-plompa)

• AT&T - mymessages.wireless.att.com
  Preferences
• Verizon - vtext.com
  Text Messaging > Preferences > Text Blocking
• Sprint - www.sprint.com
  My Online Tools > Communication Tools > Settings & Preferences
• T-Mobile - www.t-mobile.com
  Communication Tools

"How to Block Cellphone Spam" [New York Times] (Thanks to Melinda!)
(Photo: justinbaeder)

Jennifer Bachus
Executive Customer Relations Coordinator
877-290-6323, Ex. 341-8083

Don't forget this refresher course on how to act when you call executive customer service.

(Thanks to John!)
(Photo: shlomp-a-plompa)

1) I don't need any extra features or accessories, so don't bother trying to sell them to me.
Cellphone sales reps are under a lot of pressure to sell features and accessories. Go ahead and use this information to your advantage. Avoid expensive accessories, but go ahead and see if you can't use extra features as leverage. Need that data plan anyway? They don't need to know that. Let them convince you.

2) I'm under contract with you guys, can I have a better phone anyway?
The answer to this question is "no." If you're under contract, the sales reps have no reason to give you a deal on a phone, unless you're close to your contract expiration date. Even then, you'd be better off waiting until your contract is up and shopping around for the best deal.

3) I've been a loyal customer for many years! There's no way I'm switching! Reward me!
You can try calling your cellphone company and asking for a "loyalty credit" before heading over to the store to begin your negotiation, but keep in mind that sales reps tend to get less commission for retaining customers than they do for getting new accounts. You're probably going to get the best deal from a company that considers you a new customer.

4) Yes, I would like a 2 year contact!
You ideally want no contract. If that's not possible, you'd like a one year contract. Cellphone reps tell us again and again that there's no real benefit to you, the consumer, for signing up for a 2 year contract. Sometimes you can't avoid it, but you owe it to yourself to try.

5) I have not shopped around, I do not know what your competitors are offering, and I have no idea what the hell is going on right now.
Shop around. Look at each company's website. Check out the phones. Read reviews. Learn about the plans. Then go around to each company and ask when they're willing to offer you. Write each offer down. Now you can start your negotiation. Don't believe this is possible? Check out this letter from a reader who used tips from Consumerist to save lots of money on his new cellphone plan.

Bonus Tip: Go cellphone shopping at the end of the month, when some reps are under increased pressure to meet their quotas.

We know you have lots of cellphone shopping tips. Add them to the comments and help your fellow man.

(Photo: medalian1 )

From LiveJournal:

Robert Dotson, President
T-Mobile
12920 SE 38th Street
Bellevue, WA 98006-1350

Dear Mr. Dotson:

I am writing to inform you of the appalling service I have received from your company as well as your employees.

I received a Sidekick Slide for a Christmas present on December 25, 2007 from [X person]. Upon some thought, however, I decided I didn't want the phone and asked X to return it. [X person] having bought the phone as present, assumed with the Christmas season that there would be no problem returning the phone, only to find out that since he had bought the phone in advance, the 14 day period had expired and he was now stuck with a $350 dollar phone.

I, for one, thought he must be mistaken, and asked him to send the phone to me in [redacted] from where he lived in [redacted]. Upon receiving the phone along with the receipt of purchase, I called T-Mobile customer service and explained my problem to two people. Both representatives basically said, we're sorry, but since you're not a T-Mobile customer, we can't help you, but you're welcome to write to our customer service department and we suggest you sell the phone on eBay.

I have to say that this is the first time that a company has ever conveyed the message that since I'm not a subscriber I am not valued as a consumer. It was also the first time I'd ever been told, "too bad, sell it on eBay."

I'm sure you can appreciate I was a bit dumbstruck by this suggestion and thought by writing a letter to your Customer Service Department I might receive a bit more satisfaction, but of course this was not to be. I received a letter back with my name misspelled (is it really that hard to check the letter I sent for the correct spelling?) and was told the same story, "you're not a customer; you are not valued even as a potential customer. You deal with it."

Since I clearly wasn't going to be helped by T-Mobile in any way, I put the phone up for sale on eBay. It was bought by a nice man in [redacted], who three days after he received the phone, e-mailed me to say he'd taken the phone to the T-Mobile near his home to have it activated only to be told that a brand new phone, which was still in the box and had all the accessories in plastic, was broken and couldn't be repaired. You can imagine our collective shock.

I apologized and asked him to send me the phone so I could refund him his money. When the phone arrived I took it my local T-Mobile store, where one of your representatives X actually attempted to help me with my problem for a change.

It seemed that there was something blocking the Sim card outlet and thusly the phone couldn't be used, but X recommended an outside vendor to repair the phone and gave me his business card.

As helpful as X was I still waited to speak to the manager, because surely there had to be something that could be done. At the very least the phone could have been exchanged for a model that worked; it didn’t have to be new it just needed to work.

After waiting 30 minutes for the manager to come back from lunch, however, the manager then told me the same thing your customer service reps told me over the phone — that since I didn't have your phone service, I wasn't under warrantee and thusly he wasn't obligated to help me, or even attempt to do so and I was out of luck.

At this point I decided that my best course of action was to run the offending phone over with my car, take photos of it with my camera phone and post the entire business to YouTube as a reason to stay away from T-Mobile. First, however, I decided to visit this outside vendor to see what he thought about the entire matter. He confirmed what I already knew that the phone was brand new and nothing was wrong with it, the catch however, was that since all the prongs in the Sim slot didn't retract when you slid the Sim card in, the phone was worthless. In short, the Sim slot was simply too small to be fixed, and I was the proud owner of a $350 worthless phone.

And to date, this is what your company has provided me with – nothing. I would say thank you, but I don't tend to thank people for trash.

The continued antipathy of your company towards potential customers is astounding. If I was a customer, I assure you I would have switched to another carrier by this point, and any and all consideration I've had for ever switching to T-Mobile in the future is dead. In fact, I now plan to go out of my way to urge people not to use your company, because I know how your company has treated me and I'd hate for that to happen to someone else.

No love,
[insert me giving the the finger here]

ETA: I'm sure you are all wondering where the video for the phone is now, well, I did what any good capitalist would do with a worthless piece of junk — I sold it for parts.

What a clusterf*ck. If there's one thing this job has taught me, it's this: Give people cash gifts.

(Thanks, CH!)
(Photo: Flyguy92586 )

KarmaChameleon wrote:

The way most systems in call centers are set up, you can't have multiple screens open to view info, so writing things down is a necessity if you don't want to have to keep clicking back and forth between workflows. I can't imagine the nightmare it would have been working at Chase and not being able to write things down when working accounts.

PREVIOUSLY: Tmobile Forbids Use Of Paper and Pens In Call Center
(Photo: Getty)

An insider reports that a Tmobile call center has outlawed customer service reps having pens and paper out in the open. According to our source, the outsourced Business Care facility in Sarnia, Ontario is concerned about reps making off with data. Pens, paper, pencils are not to be left out on the work areas. If they are used, they must be put back inside the desk and locked after use. This has "made life considerably less pleasant for them...There are a number of reps who write faster than they type, so they use a notepad as a sort of buffer." Even photographs and other paper items on cubicle walls will have to be laminated to insure they're not used as illegal writing surfaces. The tipster says Startek-run call center is conducting an audit today to insure compliance with all of its new, policies. It's a good thing that no one working at Tmobile might have access to a small electronic device capable of data input and transmission.

Tmobile is not budging regarding $1500 dollars worth of charges on a SIM card that was stolen from my lost phone and put into another device. Its so obvious the phone was stolen, my bill is typically $40 a month, the person took someone out of my "Fave 5" and put in someone named Mostofo. I called Mostofo who said he wants to help "find the criminal" but Tmobile says they don't really care about the fact that it was stolen, that I owe the total amount regardless. Super annoying! Anything I can do? I get that Tmobile says, until I officially report it stolen I'm responsible for the charges, I just think that's ridiculous when its SO obvious the charges aren't mine.

That's a tough one, that is most cellphone company's policy. The only thing we can suggest is raising a ruckus with this contact information in these posts, "Email Tmobile Executive Customer Service" and "Contact Tmobile Executive Customer Service. Maybe they will go halfsies on it. Or you could move to California and become an AT&T customer. Until the laws change, cellphone companies will continue to make a profit on calls made by thieves and unauthorized users, at your expense. Credit card companies have fraud detection and mechanisms, how about some for cellphones?

(Photo: JasonJT)

"This is an emergency notification regarding the current BlackBerry Infrastructure outage," RIM support account manager Bryan Simpson said in an e-mail. The message said the outage affected enterprise clients and "users of the Americas network."

RIM was not immediately available for comment and its e-mail gave no estimate on when service may be restored or how many individuals could be affected.

UPDATE 1-RIM notifies of "critical" BlackBerry outage [Reuters] (Thanks, Mexifinn!)

2008 Wireless Customer Care Ratings (PDF) [J.D. Power and Associates]

Class action nails T-Mobile USA over texting services [RCR Wireless News]

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

T-Mobile customers Kathleen Lowden and John Mahowald sued T-Mobile in King County Superior Court in 2005, alleging that the wireless carrier wrongly charged them for roaming, long distance, night-time and other fees that should have been free. They said T-Mobile also levied other charges, such as "a universal service fund fee," that weren't advertised.

T-Mobile removed the case to federal district court and tried to compel mandatory arbitration, noting that the consumers had signed a contract agreeing to resolve their disputes in this manner.

T-Mobile customers can sue, court rules [Seattle P-I]
Opinion by Judge Gould (PDF)
(Photo:swruler9284)

Here's his typical expenditure for a small claims suit: $24 and 45 minutes. The $24 is the cost to file a claim. The 45 minutes includes his total time of driving to and from court to file, as well as the time spent on the phone with the company when they call to settle.

See, in all cases, he hasn't even had to go to court: the company calls him up the day before the court date and gives him a settlement. It seems they prefer to do that then pay to fly a company representative who isn't fully versed on all the facts to court. Here's his true story of how he got what he deserved from Tmobile and Washington Mutual, without breaking a sweat.

Bill writes:

Twice I have taken T-Mobile to Small Claims court. Each time I asked for payment of my many hours of time, to have early termination fees waived and to have money refunded to me for equipment that never worked. Each time they have called me and settled for what I was asking. Then I would tell them to apply the settlement to my account. Since I'm a heavy user of my cell phone and I know that changing companies is just another set of headaches, I opt to stay put. Mostly because I know how to fight this monster. In those two cases combined, I have got my $2912.00 back. Settling the case.

Washington Mutual bank had taken overdraft fees of $58.00 even though the check was deposited and they didn't clear it when they said it was immediately available. I took them to small claims and asked for $2,058.00. $2000 for the impact it caused and for punitive. They called 7 days before the court date and sent me a check, settling the case for exactly what I asked for. I have not had a problem with them since.

It important to note that corporations can't use an attorney in small claims and they have to send (fly) a representative that is NOT fully versed on the facts. It's easier to just pay from their point of view. In small claims, they are stripped of their lawyers and the odds are in favor of the consumer. [ed. Depends. In some states, companies can send their lawyers.]

The bigger point that I'm making here is that perhaps to the average consumer this is a lot of hassle. However, if a reasonable person was to take a look at this from a time management point of view, here was my total investment in money and time: $24 to file the small claims, 45 minutes total on each case, that includes driving to the court to file and talking with them on the phone once to get the settlement.

It's understandable why consumers do not want to sue and to try to work it out. But in reality, that is a lot of aggravation, time for the least amount of gain. However, the satisfaction of wining and getting paid for it is unbeatable. Now, I do not get upset or angry, I just wait for them to play their games and I sue. No warning, no anger and no headaches.

Now that that's out of the way, here's some posts we did on how to take a company to small claims court:

How To Take Your Case To Small Claims Court
Here's a state-by-state index of links to small claims court papers and brochures.

(Illustration: Leo Espinosa)

(Photo: shlomp-a-plompa)

Since Evan's story posted, we've gotten comments and emails from other readers in the same boat. To those folks, we say keep escalating to supervisors or executive customer service (try 1-425-378-4000) and demanding that your consumer rights be respected. I would really like to hear what logic these customer service reps are trying to use to justify still charging you a fee for a nonfunctional service. Just keep a firm grip, that their contract is not legally enforceable if they're not fulfilling their end of the contract, and thus can't legally work you over with any punitive termination fee clause in it.

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]

So your charger has a few bite marks on it.... Infinitely less horrifying.

T-Mobile Wipes the Slate Clean in the West Village [Racked]
(Photo:Racked)

PREVIOUSLY: Rat Infested KFC/Taco Bell Closed Forever And Ever

Fax: 813-353-6545
Include name, nature of issue, account number, and a callback number.
They're supposed to have a 72 hour turnaround time....

(Photo: Getty)

At one point, Mike says, "We've been customers of yours for three years, with two phones, and two numbers on one one phone... We've never once called any country on the continent of Africa, and then all of a sudden on 3am in the morning on the 4th we decide to call Mali?"

Now Tmobile expects him to pay the full charges, and buy a replacement phone, a phone that will cost him more than it would a new customer. Under those terms, what incentive does he have to stay a customer? None, as he's out of contract with them.

He even points this out, saying how Tmobile can get $239 from him now and then not a cent more, or credit his account and get many hundreds more over the course of his lifetime. This petty human logic bounces off the Tmobile-tron like a pebble off a tank.

There needs to be a federal consumer protection law, similar to what there is for credit cards, that limits consumer liability as long as they report the theft within a certain period of time.

You can listen to the call here (Running time: 17:05)

(Photo: Getty)

Hey ya'll. I just wanted to alert your readers to the fact the T-Mobile USA's customer care (1-800-937-8997) is offline right now. It has been since sometime yesterday. Apparently they house all their system stuff in Seattle, WA or Portland, OR or one of those currently waterlogged states. Well, it has caused all their stuff to crash. I called last night and then again this morning and waited past their automated system telling me that they could not view my account info thru the IVR and that the CSR's were unable to view my account info and to call back later. I spoke with a polite rep Cassie who said that they did not have an ETR on when their systems would be back up and running and that I should try calling back later on today.

Get well soon, T-mobile.

(Photo:Rob Finch/The Oregonian)

Here's the scoop:

This is all due to the temporary injunction issued by a German court earlier this week. The judge said that T-Mobile had until today to change its policies with the iPhone. Even though the company said it would oppose the injunction, it apparently had no other choice than to oblige until the case is reviewed once again in a couple of weeks. Vodafone, which brought the case against T-Mobile, said that it would not pursue the iPhone throughout Europe—this case was special because Vodafone believed that it violated German law.

So what can you do now? Well, if you're in Germany and you want an iPhone, you can buy one from T-Mobile for €999. If you already bought an iPhone, the company says that you can request an unlock code (which will probably cost you the difference between €399 and €999). T-Mobile has said that it will continue to sell these contract-free, lock-free iPhones "until the legal situation is solved," so this may be temporary.

T-Mobile forced to sell unlocked iPhones in Germany [Ars Technica]
(Photo:medalian1)

Maybe they could further offset costs by charging people every time they use magenta.

(Photo: JD Pavkovich)

I have been trying since July 5th to get t-mobile to issue a replacement for a cell phone that was fully insured. They have charged me full rates since July 5th on that phone. One time they offered to temporarily suspend my number until I could resolve the issue, after 29 days of that suspension, I caught them trying to default my contract. They had accidentally charged me the $220.00 fee after 29 days instead of 30, thus running into my payment margin, so I caught it before the 30 days. They never mentioned this to me at the initial time of suspension. They have been crooked, irritating, rude, downright nasty at times. It has been something I thought I was just going to have to end up dealing with myself, from my own pocket. I had a $600.00 phone, so it wasn't easy for me to replace it with the situation in our current economy. I called, the rep was rude at first. I think I caught him 1st thing after he walked in the door. We went a few rounds on the phone, and finally I told him that I had paid for his time for the last 4 months, and he could damn well give me that. So he did. After he listened to everything, he verified it on my account... he changed his tune for sure. They have issued credits for my phone usage, or should I say - un-usage. They issued credit for my insurance for those months, they credited my account for the extra services I have that I haven't used since July, and gave me an upgrade which I was not eligible for until next May, which in turn, replaced my phone for me for about $60.00 less than my deductible, with a new, fully insured phone. I am thrilled. This has been that nagging fly in the back of my mind for the last God knows how long. I really appreciate the posting of that information. The reps in customer service departments guard that info with their life! It's terrible!!! Thank you so much. I feel much better now, and thank God I can give my daughter back her phone now. You have a wonderful day, and many blessings for your having solved this problem for me. Sincerely, Jennifer C.

(Photo: Crawfishpie)

I recently switched to T-mobile thinking I would get better service at a fair rate. Unfortunately, since the onset of my contract with T-mobile this hasn't been the case. In the past three months I have experienced major communication difficulties. I have been unable to receive phone calls and many of my text messages are not going through. I have been calling T-Mobile's customer care to no avail regarding this problem and they informed me that they were experiencing network difficulties in New York City. They claimed that the problems were being worked on. As time passed I continued to experience the same difficulties but to a greater degree. My callers had to text me because they couldn't get through when calling. I called for help but there was a different excuse given as to why the service wasn't working...

When I tried to email a letter to the website it did not work. At one point the customer care department suggested that I call when I was experiencing these difficulties because at that point they couldn't find the problem or what was causing it. I was offered bonus minutes as a compensation for their poor service and expected to be satisfied.

After 3 long months of dealing with this ordeal I'd reached my breaking point. I asked to be excused from my contract and receive credit for the 3 months of poor service. I was told I would not be excused from my contract unless the problem persisted and the only compensation I was offered was $5.00/month.

Is $5.00 a month supposed to compensate me for the hundreds of business calls I was unable to receive? I was paying over $100.00/month for T-Mobile's plan; is T-Mobile's $5.00 equivalent to my $100.00? Also, if they couldn't fix the problem....why not let me out of the contract without a fee? How are any of the options T-mobile gave me fair and adequate for my loss of business for 3 months?

-Nadine

"For whatever reason, Tmobile is failing to provide me with the contractual level of service I expect to receive. Therefore, I request to be released from contract without early termination fee and to be refunded for 3 months of service I did not receive. "

You may need to repeat this several times. You can also escalate to a supervisor, as well as ask to be transferred to retentions. The key thing is to stick to your guns and insist on getting what you deserve. If they fail to budge, let them know you'll be sending a copy of your complaint letter to the BBB, Attorney General, and Public Utilities Commission, letting them know how Tmobile is scamming its customers.

(Photo: scentzilla)

From the WSJ:

Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) said the deal will further its strategy of growing in the markets where it is already present. With almost 27 million customers, the U.S. mobile network market provides most of the company's mobile network profits and is the only positive revenue source for Deutsche Telekom as a whole. The acquisition allows T-Mobile U.S. to increase its network coverage capacity by 15 million potential users to 259 million in 98 of the U.S.'s 100 most important regional markets, Deutsche Telekom said.

T-Mobile to Buy SunCom Wireless For $1.6 Billion and Debt

Tmobile: No, "because it's where voice mail and billing notifications are delivered."
Verizon: Yes,, you can ask for "data" to be shut off, which will turn off text messaging, get it now, mobile web, and mobile email, or just simply ask for them to disable receiving text messages sent from emails or web browsers.
Sprint: Yes.
AT&T: Yes.
Alltel: Yes

Verizon wins. Almost all text-message spam campaigns are run from a computer so disabling receiving messages sent by computer, while still retaining the ability to receive cellphone text messages, is the best option.

For some, there's no way around text spam [Red Tape Chronicles]
(Photo: NOC)