Tmobile Account. Hi my name is Margaret Carrube and my son has just been enlisted into the coastguard. We have a family account with T Mobile for our cell phones. There are 3 of us on this perticular account. I called T Mobile and told them my son was going out of the country with the coastguard cutter cambell the ship he is assigned to. I specifically asked for a plan that would allow him to call home without any extra added charges. They told me the plan is 19.99 a month and he could call home from the virgin islands, cuba etc. When I received my phone bill it was over $400.00. I called to complain about this bill and they said there was nothing they could do but take off the charges for 19.99 a month it was for a blackberry international phone account. Now we don't have any blackberry phones. The woman I spoke to did not tell me anything about a Blackberry account.

They are willing to deduct the blackberry charges but say we are responsible for the calls for the virgin islands to here. They have mislead and lied to me about the plan I selected. I cannot afford to pay this bill. I am on disability and I feel that they are at fault.If they know they are wrong about the plan they gave me then why should I still have to pay for the extra charges? Please Help Me. Thank you Margaret

I am deeply disappointed in T-Mobile’s Customer Service. I have called several times to find that my account was not properly noted. I discovered this when I called to speak with one of your account representatives about my daughters cell phone. I am going to forward you a letter we have sent to Fox 4 problem solvers (a local news station) and also to our attorney for counsel. Before you read the letter I need you to understand that I was a Loyal customer for many years. Your customer service department needs serious improvement. Proper documentation is crucial not to mention the common courtesy and respect. In short my daughter purchased a Sidekick 3 from you used it for a week and called to see how to send it back so that she could get the MDA instead. The address we mailed the phone back to and that she confirmed with your customer service representative turns out to be invalid and now you are expecting us to pay for the phone. I am deeply distraught over this whole situation. To think that a huge company like yours doesn’t offer the least amount of flexibility when it comes to customer service is an outrage! We are talking about $300.00 here; that’s chump change to you but 2-weeks salary for my 19-year old daughter. I’m asking you to please review the notes that still exist for cell number xx and xx At one point in time I was PROMISED that once I receive my statement showing the charges for this Sidekick3 that I could call in and receive a credit on my bill. When I received my bill I called in as I was instructed so that my bill would be credited only to find out that you’ve reneged on your word. What kind of customer service is that I ask you? How can you tell me one thing and do another?

In addition I would like to also file a formal complaint against Matt. Matt was the supervisor that was extremely rude and unprofessional to me when I called in on 09-25-2006. Matt did not handle this situation very well. I was calm cool and collected when I called until Matt began to continually talked over me, rarely letting me speak without his interruptions. This constant interruption got to me to the point of overwhelming frustration which caused me to yell just so he would stop talking and let me speak. I had to say Matt, can I speak. He said yes, I asked can I speak a full sentence without you interruption me. He finally said yes. To which I asked the question, Matt will you look into my notes and find the part where it shows that I called in and a SUPERVISOR PROMISED to credit my account. He said no, he also said that he would not read the notes to me and he would not credit my account. I asked Matt to note my account that I am officially closing my account. As of 10-20-2006 I no longer choose T-Mobile as my carrier for reasons of Poor, Poor Customer Service. I have spent at least 4 hours of my valuable time and effort in trying to get this issue resolved. I do not appreciate being called a liar or a theft. We mailed the phone back to you with the label that was provided; we called and received verification for said address.

At this point in time I have not paid the charges for the Sidekick 3; I will be waiting for your response.
This is the entire story:

My name is Crystal; I am a 19 year old resident of Independence. I am out of ideas for recovery of my money from T-Mobile, and am praying you can help. I have been a T-mobile customer for over 9 years, continually upgrading to keep the latest technology. At the end of May I bought a $400 MDA and a $119 Bluetooth earpiece, which I found to be the ideal equipment for me. This summer while I was in St. Louis, Missouri for my State Boards in Cosmetology, my phone was stolen on July 5th. At the scene of the theft, I saw four police cars, but the officers said I had to call the theft in or they could not help me recover my loss or even apprehend the thief. I called in the report to the police station, and was told to go to a certain gas station and wait for the officers, which a friend and I did. After waiting over an hour, I called again and explained that there were several police cars passing by, but none of them stopped to take my report. I told them I was really tired and asked if a policeman could come to the hotel lobby to take the report. They said this was not possible, and since I was exhausted, I returned to the hotel to sleep. The following morning, I had to return early to Independence, and the St. Louis police refused to allow me to file the report over the telephone. My parents said they believe I did everything properly and none of us can understand the reasoning of the police department. As a student, my part time job barely covers my expenses, so it was important to me to get justice, since the telephone is obviously not recoverable.
Back here in Independence, I went to the T-Mobile store and explained everything, asking what they could do. I learned then that I did not have insurance to cover the telephone like I had had on a previous telephone, a fact of which I was unaware. I told them I wished to terminate my plan immediately, so in order to keep my business, they offered me a good discount on a different telephone which I was unsure I would find adequate, but agreed to try. It was not what I needed so I decided to return it. However, when I looked in the box for the return label, the only one there was for recycling. I called the store to verify the address, read the address slowly to the representative, and was assured the address was the correct one for returns as well as for recycling. I then explained I wanted to order a different telephone in its place. The representative told me to get a tracking number when I returned the equipment, for follow up, if necessary. I did exactly what I was told to do, on July 13th, but when I called to order a replacement telephone on the 14th, and again a few days later, the representative said the telephone had not seen returned, at least to the correct place, and they would not credit me for the price toward a new one.

I was desperate by then, and turned to my mother for assistance. They told her to wait for a bill, and then to call them back, but when she did, they reneged on their word, saying there was no notation in their records that we had been offered this option. My mother and I have considered legal action, but we fear we would have to spend more money on a lawyer than we could hope to recover.

The tracking number they gave me when I returned the telephone to them is XX Further calls to T-Mobile have also produced no results. I had the package insured before I sent it to them, and the Post Office today (September 19th) told me that the package did indeed arrive, but that it arrived at the address on the label. The Post Office can locate it, but for some reason, T-Mobile says it cannot communicate with their own recycle center. I find this frustrating and confusing.

In the past, I know you have helped numerous others who have been unfairly treated, and I am hopeful you can offer more ideas to help me get this resolved. I realize that I am only 19 and am vulnerable to all sorts of dangers and scams, but I am honestly trying to learn from each experience, and become a responsible adult citizen, but being taken advantage of in two successive situations really hurts. If you cannot help, please, at the very least, make my experiences public to alert others not to rely on T-Mobile (and perhaps other companies) to honor their word as well as their failure to document customer service calls. I have learned from this that it is better to record telephone calls or at the very least, have another person on the line to confirm and document calls for customer service. Also, if you have any advice to offer as to how a teenager should have dealt with the St. Louis police situation, I would be grateful to hear it in case I encounter some similar situation in the future.
Thank you for whatever you can do.

Thanks very much for your support,
Susan Hake

After having service with T-mobile for a year I added another phone line for my son. When I spoke to the respresentative I told him I needed the cheapest plan they had. He gave me some plan that gave us 300 minutes. Which i did not know can be used up in one phone call. I am not cell phone saavy since i don't have a phone the phone are for my children. Anyhow we get our phone bill it is close to $400.00. They shut of the phones stating that we needed to pay that before our phone would be turned on. I made payment arrangements. I paid $137.00 and then another $100.00. Still no phone. They told me they would not turn my phone on until the full amount was paid but that we would be able to receive incoming calls never saying anything about them charging us for those call. Next phone comes in it is $507 and some change. I had asked them the keep the phone off until we were able to pay this amount. After talking the a customer services representative which was of no help. I asked for a supervisor which i never got they directed to to dispute it on the web-site. Yeah right like that is going to change anything. Can you please help.

At this rate who know how much more I will be charged by the time that this is resolved.

What is this site, if not a place where people can gather information in order NOT to go through a variety of bad experiences that other people had to? And here is a fresh one for you, reader, who deserves to know this things so that you're not suckered into the dark wells of incompetent / dishonest / lazy / disorganized / out-to-screw-you businesses (you know who you are).

When sending those rebate forms to companies such as the one mentioned above, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, send it through certified mail, because when you call them, and they say they've never heard of you, you can tell them that trick is not going to fly, because you have a receipt from the post office that shows you sent them the paperwork. And guess where I learned that little trick? HERE!!!! HA! They thought they were gonna get me, and it didn't work!!! HA! HA! HA! Consumers 1, big bad business 0!!!