T-Mobile General

[kkthxby3]

I cannot believe that I logged onto this site today to pay my bill to find that I am being coerced into signing up for paperless billing or be penalized with an extra charge each month and while I'm sure there are enough media drones on this forum to regurgiate the "environmental impact" of paper being used and mail being delivered (God forbid we live in such a society with a reliable maling service and print ink on paper) I'm not happy about this. As a consumer I'm appalled and regardless of one's opinion on the matter as a consumer we should all be appalled.

Unfortunately I recently renewed my contract with T-Mobile and while I'd rather pay the cancelation penalty than continue to give my patronage to this left-wing-agenda-pushing company I also have a contract with letstalk.com (As I refused to pay for a phone I didn't even want and had to go into contract with them as well to get it for free, not thinking T-Mobile, a company I always praised and encouraged others to join, would sell out as had Wal-Mart and our pharmaceutical companies). That contract is for six months, so after six months I will be canceling T-Mobile and letting everyone know to steer clear of this company. 

In the meantime... I'm going to look over the contract and what not as considering T-Mobile is changing THEIR terms I wonder if that gives me reason to terminate my contract without penalty. If anyone has an answer or an opinion on that please do share. 

[kkthxby3]

Yes.. Section 5 of the Terms & Conditions states: If we (T-Mobile) materially modify these T&Cs in a way that is materially adverse to you (me, the consumer), or if a change increases your set monthly recurring charge(s), we will provide you with at least 30 days notice and you may terminate your service without an early termination fee by notifying us within 30 days after reception of said notice.

 So not only is my set monthly bill going to be more than originally agreed upon this change does adversely affect me as I am oppossed for political reasons among others. My only problem now is Letstalk.com where a cancelation of services prior to 181 days will result in a charge back of $350, possibly even $500. Though under the circumstances I would take my chances in fighting that charge back but considering they have my debit card on file that doesn't even have $300, I'd rather not risk that so going to be contacting Letstalk now.

Everyone else out there oppossed to this: Cancel now as after 30 days of notice it is assumed you accepted the new T&Cs. 

[bbcoler]

Large companies try to sneak in small changes to add big bucks to their bottom lines all the time. Notice how all the 16 oz cans in the supermarket now contain 15oz, and how a 3 lb can of coffee has dropped from 48 oz to 42, to 36, and now 32 oz's over the years.

As a senior accountant for the US's second largest waste disposal company, I can state that senior bright boys did the same thing two years ago - a billing charge of about the same (for three month bills), and it was shot down so fast by the WA Utilities and Transportation Commission and any paid charges mandated refunded.

Contact your regulators and put a stop to this (and the recently increased "other fees").

Regards

[denver_real]

I’ve been a long time customer with t-mobile and prior to that with voice stream a company that was taken over by T-mobile.  I have always had a pleasant experience with T-Mobile, a company I liked and referred others to join. Now has change due to both poor customer service and unwillingness to resolve service issues and back warranties on equipment. I could not believe that when I logged onto this site yesterday to pay my bill to find that I am being forced into signing up for paperless billing or be penalized with an extra charge each month. I'm unhappy about this, as I need a hard copy of the bill for tax purposes and to comply with other governmental regulations, as well as my own records. So not only is my set monthly bill going to be more than originally agreed upon this change does adversely affect me.I have three lines with them on one account and does anyone know if I chose not to go paperless if I pay one fee for paper or as I have read and told by a T-mobile CSR that I will be charge a fee for each line? I have read of Section 5 of the Terms & Conditions that states: If we (T-Mobile) materially modify these T&Cs in a way that is materially adverse to you (me, the consumer), or if a change increases your set monthly recurring charge(s), we will provide you with at least 30 days notice and you may terminate your service without an early termination fee by notifying us within 30 days after reception of said notice.  I'm going to look over the contract and what I see as considering T-Mobile is changing THEIR terms I wonder if that gives me reason to terminate my contract without penalty. If anyone has an answer, which is based on experience or legal expertise, please share.  I will be canceling T-Mobile and letting everyone know to chose another cell phone carrier. 

[Homeland05]

I contacted the T-Mobile Corporate office and got the switchboard(Dont let them transfer you to customer care, ask for executvie care) there I spoke with someone from the Executive care dept. They said ETF applies because they offer the paperless option which is free. I told them I hope they lose customers like Sprint! This billing issue really pisses me off. Save the number it will be removed by the moderators. You can also find online, just google search T-Mobile corporate numbers. 

You can also send messages to certain upper level heads of T-Mobile. I found Sue Nokes on Facebook and sent her a nasty letter and then found friends of hers from T-Mobile and relayed the same message.

Message Edited by Daryl on 08-13-2009 02:26 PM

[PhilMills]

It is also worth noting that for many people their "free" option represents a major cost - those who don't have internet access at home (yes, they do exist) or who do not have free electronic bill-pay through their banks.  All of a sudden T-Mobile's "free" option now costs upwards of $20 a month.

[D-Trainious]

You found Sue Nokes on Facebook and actually sent her a message?

Wow. I guess it would do you some good to use all those Google/Facebook searching skills to realize she doesn't even work for T-Mobile anymore.

Good job genius. 

[soforeal0]

Personal opinions are a beautiful thing. I suppose I shall be the one who isn't against the additional charges. I have been on the paperless billing for a couple years and not with just T-Mobile.  Don't need the headache of piled up bills sitting in my junk drawer. Y'all are just behaving slightly spoiled because you are used to a certain non paying service, and now things are changing in this already suffering recession you acting negatively. You say that you use your statements for tax purposes....well print them off from your my t-mobile account. No?? It costs you paper and printing fluid?? WoW....well it costs T-Mobile crazy revenue to print and send out customers statements which most of y'all probably don't give much as a second glance to anyways.

And I also think it's a fantastic way to keep down environmental issues as well.

[soforeal0]

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D-Trainious wrote:

You found Sue Nokes on Facebook and actually sent her a message?

Wow. I guess it would do you some good to use all those Google/Facebook searching skills to realize she doesn't even work for T-Mobile anymore.

Good job genius. 

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Indeed D!!!!

[PhilMills]

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soforeal0 wrote:

Personal opinions are a beautiful thing. I suppose I shall be the one who isn't against the additional charges. I have been on the paperless billing for a couple years and not with just T-Mobile. 

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 It's not difficult to be against additional charges when one isn't the person who'll have to pay them.  For the rest of us, it's been our choice NOT to go to electronic billing since it was offered.

Unlike you, I've found that having my own copy of my bills has been invaluable at resolving billing disputes, correcting customer service reps, splitting charges with housemates, tracking my usage over time...  Frankly, I don't trust any company enough to allow the Official Bill to be the copy that they keep electronically on their own systems.  T-Mobile, for instance, can't seem to remember what plan/services I had on my account when I view my old bills online.  My paper copies do.

 

If T-Mobile is doing this "for the environment", I would suggest that they should have started by removing the two to four glossy ads and "news" sheets that they include in each bill.  I'm sure that those aren't free to print and that it'd be much cheaper if the envelope stuffers did not have to include them in each mailing. 

[soforeal0]

It's not just an environamental stand to charge for those opting out of paperless billing. It's been a free service they provided for us, but an extreme costly one for them. I ain't mad at it, and surprised it's been this long since implimenting it. Y'all have already posted #5 in your T&C....utilize it.

T-Mobile, for instance, can't seem to remember what plan/services I had on my account when I view my old bills online.

If the above is the case, I would ask for a supervisor or call back to reach a representative who knows where to locate that on your account. EVERY plan and feature you had on that account is set in a history.

[PhilMills]

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soforeal0 wrote:

It's not just an environamental stand to charge for those opting out of paperless billing. It's been a free service they provided for us, but an extreme costly one for them. I ain't mad at it, and surprised it's been this long since implimenting it. Y'all have already posted #5 in your T&C....utilize it.

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1) Paper billing was a standard feature and now they're charging for it - paperless was the free convenience service.  Come to think of it, having your phone ring when you get a call is a "free service they provide for us".  Perhaps that's silently been costing them money all this time, too...

2) My posting the T&C and T-Mobile admitting that this change applies are two different things.  You should be very careful what advice you're providing to people with your nice big shiny "Proud Volunteer" banner.  T-Mobile's been quoted in several of these threads as saying this doesn't waive any ETF (and I'd be shocked to death if they did, honestly).  I'm displeased at this particular event, not in T-Mobile's performance in general so I'm not looking to cancel, but they did lose my $10/month text service since they couldn't find a way to make this additional fee for my existing service level go away. 

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soforeal0 wrote:

[philmills]

T-Mobile, for instance, can't seem to remember what plan/services I had on my account when I view my old bills online.

If the above is the case, I would ask for a supervisor or call back to reach a representative who knows where to locate that on your account. EVERY plan and feature you had on that account is set in a history.

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 Point being: My paper bill knows this and is not subject to alteration after the fact.  I am a software engineer - I don't trust ANYTHING that only exists in electronic form (case in point: moderators changing T-Mobile's public phone numbers that were posted in another thread).  Thanks, but no thanks.

[brad09]

 

That's just crazy. I happen to agree it really pisses my off when companies hide behind the environmental wacko's for a reason why not to include services anymore. They should offer a credit in return for going paperless, since the cost off printing the bill and postage was calculated into the contract price to begin with, there is no such thing as something free it’s always included in the price.

 

Why would I want to save trees? There are more then enough trees. Do I not pay enough for them to not preach their green faulty antics at me.. I get that enough basically everywhere else I go. Now im giving a company money to harass me into saving trees.. wow im glad corporate America is now modeling the government in so many ways.

 I try my best not to support companies who force people to become tree-hugging hippies. That should remain a personal choice for each person.

Message Edited by brad09 on 08-13-2009 03:25 PM

[denver_real]

So far I not signed up for paperless billing however, in review my most recent bill I find a charge of 19.98 for a premium service on my t-mobile @ home service.  If you look at a paperless bill you could have easily overlooked this charge as it was hidden among other charges, however on a paper bill it was more noticeable. I called customer care to find out what it was for and how to cancel. Type of service or contact information does not appear on either type of billing method.  The service is for a general texting feature for weather, sports and news update. Anyone who has a t-mobile @ home service is aware that texting is not available nor would it work on that type of service. It appears that through t-mobile phone numbers have been provided to a third party, which offers such a premium service feature with a recurring monthly charge.  I am getting a refund, but had to call the third party to cancel!  It may be important to have that paper billing option for many reasons for individuals at no additional charge.

 Secondly, I find they do not have accurate records in customer care!  It was mention earlier about account history date…you guess it!  I have my paper record for my account and the difference in dates entering the contract was 6 months later by their records than the actual signed contract date, which would have affected any ETF on that account.

[kkthxby3]

I am so relieved to know I am not alone on this issue. It's really quit upsetting, and as others have mentioned some people don't even have internet access or even a computer and what about those individuals who prefer to pay by check or money order? This is just absurd.

I remember DirecTV or my bank (one of the two) they actually offered me $5 to go paperless which I declined. As others have stated, I need a physical copy of my bill especially when wanting to reference things as T-Mobile's site isn't the most speediest or reliable at times. Additionally, emails don't receive much weight from me, I respond much quicker and better to a physical bill in the mail than an electronic statement. I ougth have the right to just forget about my bill entirely should I not receive a proper bill in the mail.

Everyone opposed: you need to call T-Mobile and complain. I've already called in to complain last night and was lied to. I was told there was no way to cancel without a termination fee (A lie as pointed out above under article 5 of the Terms & Conditions) and I was told every other wireless company charges for billing as well (Another lie, I know for a fact Sprint does not and will be checking with other providers). I'm not done complaining either, I have thirty days as of yesterday to terminate my contract with no penalty which speaking of... I have thirty days of notice, had I not logged onto this site to be threatened to go paperless or be fined monthly where was my notice? I'm just waiting until I get in touch with LetsTalk.com to discuss the issue of charge backs.. I have a six month agreement with them to keep all services signed up for or be charged back $350-500 so, but considering the circumstance of T-Mobile changing the terms to which I agree I'm hoping LetsTalk will work something out with me as I will be cancelling my T-Mobile service, if not within the next thirty days due to LetsTalk once that agreement with them is over for sure. 

But for everyone else out there, cancel. It's right in the terms that you have the right to cancel and if not take them to arbitration as that what I will be doing once I hear back from LetsTalk. I'm so upset over this issue (So much to deal with in our lives already, having to deal with my phone company fining me for receiving paper bills is the last thing I wanted) that I'm actually considering just taking the charge back from LetsTalk to sever all business ties with T-Mobile. 

[Nicholas22]

So can we cancel over this? I have 1 phone that is already free and 2 more under contract until oct. I would love to cancel asap because I also want paper bills and find this move disgusting. Instead why areny they giving people a $1.50 credit for being paperless? Thats what my cable and landline company does. They pay me to go paperless. Tmo is way too cocky, the 3G coverage sucks, the phones sucks, the web site sucks, the network sucks, and chat sucks.

[PhilMills]

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kkthxby3 wrote:

Everyone opposed: you need to call T-Mobile and complain. I've already called in to complain last night and was lied to. I was told there was no way to cancel without a termination fee (A lie as pointed out above under article 5 of the Terms & Conditions) and I was told every other wireless company charges for billing as well (Another lie, I know for a fact Sprint does not and will be checking with other providers).

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Indeed, I was told the same lie about "everybody else charges for it".  AT&T doesn't charge for paper billing - my brother checked his bill for me just to make sure.

I'm a little disappointed that T-Mobile's official script to their customer service staff has flat-out lies in it.   

 The question remains as to whether they will change their mind about the T&C applicability for those whom this really does impact adversely.

Hey!  TMO!  Wanna make people change?  Reward them for going paperless, don't punish them for trying to keep what they already have! 

[sfbeers]

Agreed that charging for billing is outrageous.  But do we really think expressing our anger in this forum chat is doing any good?  Yes, quitting T-mobile would get the point across, but I for one agree that T-mobile has always been great, until now.  There must be some government regulatory agency that oversees these kinds of charges.  Does anyone know if there is, and how to contact them?  

All you folks bringing in political issues to this particular billing issue (such as environmentalism, health care, and left leaning politics) are throwing in red herrings to this problem.  Don't confuse the issue and don't offend other folks who agree with you that charging for billing is outrageous.  THE point is that no company that I've ever heard of CHARGES for billing.  I happen to be a "tree hugger" (your words, not mine), and would gladly accept paperless billing.  However, I won't be cowed into it by a company who wants to charge me to pay them. All these other offensive comments and name calling are destructive to our mutual goal, which is to get T-mobile to change this policy.

T-mobile:  Charging for billing is an egregious practice, and a very bad business decision.  You are going to lose customers over this and it just ain't worth it.  Either change the policy, or do as some others have suggested and offer cost incentives for going paperless.  If you really care that much about paperless billing, why don't you allow Bank of America to issue e-bills?  Many other companies do, but I couldn't set that up with my B of A account.

[AndrewBurt]

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PhilMills wrote:

For the rest of us, it's been our choice NOT to go to electronic billing since it was offered. ...

Unlike you, I've found that having my own copy of my bills has been invaluable

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Likewise.

Another issue is that it wastes YOUR time to have to log into the (often slow) t-mobile site to find out how much your bill is. If they emailed me a PDF I'd be all over this, but it's going to cost me 5-10 minutes each month to find out how much to pay, that's time they're taking from me. Just logged in and not only was the site slow, it said the billing system was down and couldn't show me my bill. Grr.

I should be able to bill them $5-10 each month for my extra wasted time. (See http://critique.org/bcs.ht for example on the cost of your wasted time.)

[Gallardos]

I think this charge is bogus!.

As a consumer, we should have an option to choose what we want paperless or mailed invoice.

I choose the latter the mailed invoice. My computer is down most of the time. I don't feel like using a printer to cause more paperwork just because tmobile wants to save money and force me to make waste! Two. Tmobile doesn't save the environment by reducing the invoice. Infact they put the post office out work and the paper mills out of work!

Three our digital invoice on tmobile is not a reliable product and put the liability on us to go through tmobile's pyramid scheme

to get invoices.

Fourth this is our right as consumer to get invoices inwhatever form we choose as a customer and service without additional fees.

please lodge a complaint with FCC:

http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm

Also will please someone start protest page, a chain email, and will get ABC 20/20, CBS 60minutes, NBC dateline to investigate.