Much like beer and hotdogs at the ballpark, airports take advantage of your momentary entrapment to bend you over for the privilege of wi-fi surfing. Against his better judgment, ZDnet’s David Berlind tried to use the airport’s T-Mobile hotspot and access some important and time-sensitive documents from his office. T-Mobile was more than happy to give him a high signal as he completed the transaction, only for the wifi to completely cut out after they charged his credit card. David recorded his call trying to wrest his dollars back from T-Mobile, listen below.

powered by ODEO

The T-Mobile operator is adamant about how since David didn’t call the same day, T-Mobile owes him jack. Also, since David didn’t read the Terms and Conditions, T-Mobile owes him jack. Eventually, Rudy breaks down in the face of David’s unrelenting logic and offers up a free one-day pass (as cash refunds are “impossible”) but it’s really rare and “most other people won’t do it…”

You can hem and haw all you want, but the brass tacks is that David paid money for a service he never received.

“T-Mobile: ‘No hotspot? Sorry, no refund either’” [Zdent] (Thanks to David!)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.