Chris was surprised to find that T-Mobile didn’t cancel his account as promised a few months ago. What’s worse, the note on his account that mentioned his cancellation request was missing, and nobody at customer service would help him. Chri works for a “very large consumer electronics company” that he won’t name (we’re pretty sure it’s Apple) and thinks customer service is important, so he gave up on the CSR angle and instead came to our site to find contact info for T-Mobile executives. One EECB later, Chris is free from T-Mobile and the ETF they tried to apply.

First, here’s the backstory from Chris:

I wanted to cancel my [T-Mobile] account and return to ATT and I also wanted to get a sim unlock code for my previous T-Mobile Phone. I found a plan on ATT that would satisfy my cellular needs and I wanted to continue to use the little flip phone that I purchased with my T-Mobile account.

I called T-Mobile’s customer support about 4 months ago and spoke with a very nice gentleman and he assisted me in SIM unlocking my phone and apparently canceling my account. Since I was on a Flex Pay account I was told that I was not under a “contract” like most phones but if I didn’t pay my bill I would not receive a bill for the next month, kinda like a Go phone right? Wrong…

So I checked my checking account a few months back and sure enough T-Mobile continued to debit my account with a total of $51.14 each month for a total of two months. I immediately called the T-Mobile Customer Service number and expressed concern with my findings. I was told by another Customer Service Representative that under no circumstances would they ever cancel any account and not charge a early termination fee.

I was flabbergasted to say the least. I work for a very large consumer electronics company that will stay unnamed, and we pride our selves on customer service. I basically was told “you cannot speak to my supervisor because she is going to tell you the same thing I just told you.” After about 45 minutes of getting a run around I politely ended the conversation and told the gentleman that I would contact an Executive for T-Mobile and I would get things straightened out myself.

Well here comes the good stuff! I immediately went to your website and searched for T-Mobile executives’ emails or phone numbers. I found a great email listing for Executive Response.

Chris sent a detailed email that basically repeated what he just described above, although in greater detail including the dates and times of each discussion he had with a T-Mobile rep. He also explained just why he was frustrated by the experience so far:

I know what customer service is and I pride myself on making a situation right for the customer no matter what. So when I was told that I was going to have to pay a 200 disconnect fee to cancel my plan that I thought had already been canceled or continue to receive debits from my account, I was less than thrilled to say the least. Now I understand that business is business but I will not be responsible for an error made on the CSR’s part. The other thing that I realize is that the Customer Service Team is the voice for your company to the public. So if an agent over the phone told me that everything was taken care of, but there is not a single note regarding canceling my plan but sure enough there are notes about me wanting to unlock my phone for another carrier, why do I become responsible for it? I wish I had noticed my account was being debited last month as well because this email would have been sent sooner. So far I have been charged for a phone that I no longer use nor do I have access to and to a phone number which has not been used in over two months, and the charges add up to $102.90. So it seems I have payed for 2 months of usage and I haven’t even used it.

[…]
In closing I would like for you to understand what I, the customer, would like to see happen. First I would like to no longer receive debits from my account, thus canceling the account completely without paying a disconnect fee. And I would like at least one month of a credit back into my checking account. I do feel that I have been unfairly treated and unfairly charged fees that should not be there.

Here’s what happened after he sent the email:

I just received a phone call by a very polite and professional woman who claimed to be from the Executive Response Team and she said she would be more that pleased to cancel my account, not charge me a termination fee and get this, refund the 2 months worth or account balance back to me in the form of a check.

All in all I just wanted to pass along the word to you guys because even though I just check the website a lot just to see how screwed up big business is in America I just so happened to be a victim and without this website I would not have known where to turn. Maybe this will be posted online and let other individuals know that there is a way to get the outcome that is right and that all we need is the resources to find out how those outcomes come to light.

If you don’t know what an Executive Email Carpet Bomb (EECB) is, or how to write one, read How To Launch An Executive Email Carpet Bomb.

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