1/19/11 MY EXPERIENCE WITH T-MOBILE OVER THE YEARS
This is not about any particular T-mobile location per se but about T-mobile customer care in general. I've been w/ T-mobile for six years now. They locked me in with a few 2 year contracts and I went from sidekick to sidekick to G1 .
The G1 was a real moment of satisfaction ..but at the same time I got locked in to a data stick contract so I was paying $100 to $150 per month for a while. I accepted the contract and didn't complain (for a while), but didn't alqways feel fully appreciated by T-mobile, and despite not using my minutes to near-capacity ever, a customer care agent once even tried to talk me into paying for MORE monthly minutes. Its those kinds of experiences that alienate customers from "ma bell" or "ma t-mobile" .
Later, I started using my phone as a modem & didn't need the data stick but they kept trying to convince me otherwise & at one point a fellow at t-mobile tried to tell me that there is "absolutely no way" to use a cell phone to connect a laptop to the internet despite the fact that I had already done so. It was very frustrating to have somebody you thought you could trust try to "bluff" you like a fool.
Then, most recently I called & inquired about ways to economize my monthly bill, but was told I was "lucky" to be able to keep the rate I have as it is ($79) because it is no longer offered ("grandfathered") but as it turns out, after I researched possibilities on my own, after specifically asking about the "even more plus" plans, I was finally told I could get a deal for $49/mo without losing any of the good points of my current plan.
They wouldn't have told me if I hadn't specifically researched & asked about it. That's the kind of stuff that eventually drives customers away. They keep trying to "get" more of out of you even when you don't need more from them, or may need & want less. Some banks operate this way as well and its b/c they are driven by the G word: GREED .
Corporations that operate on the basis of more, more, more (for themselves) & don't think of their customers as part of their organization but as members of "another team" eventually drive away the people who are paying the bills. Furthermore, you rarely can identify the person on the phone. Sometimes they may give a first name, and if you complain I've never gotten the feeling it does much good. However, the one recommendation I can make is to ALWAYS ask to speak to a "supervisor" no matter how much objection the customer care person makes about it.
I had one experience where customer care went so far as to ask me "What can a supervisor do that I can't do?" And so I had to spend another five minutes explaining and re-explaining why I must speak to a supervisor. Finally I did get thru to a supervisor and lo & behold he was able to offer some changes in my plan that would save me money & actually give me more of what I needed. So sometimes its a matter of going up to the next level not matter how much they initially try to persuade you otherwise. Don't give in to being bullied by customer care. Go higher. Write letters. Blog about it. Keep communicating. We the people will WIN if we keep talking. Never give up !
