T-Mobile Misinformation/Con.

Darren08

Hey guys, sorry to bother you.

Some of you may have read my previous post about my lack of upgrade options.

Well some good news and some seriously bad news that I need advice with .

Good news is, I spoke to customer relations who agreed to give me the Samsung Omnia for £29.99 with the Flext 35 (£200 credit) at £30 a month. I made thorough notes of the deal but the handset was out of stock, so the lady said she would call me when they were in stock. The deal was £30 a month and the agreement was that I would lose my 25% discount and 10,000 off peak minutes.

I was really impatient and couldn't wait until they got it in stock again so decided to upgrade in store. I was told that if I upgraded in store I had no return period or policy if I didn't want the phone, yet they didn't have a test or display phone.

I decided to go the store as I wanted the phone NOW (Lol). I called the Loyalty Team first to ask if I could have the Omnia in store for the same price noted on my account for £29.99 and then £30 monthly, the lady said yes, in addition she told me I COULD keep my 25% discount as I'd had it for 4 years. I thought great! £22.50 a month for the Flext 35, the Omnia at £29.99, I thought, wow now I can afford to have web and walk at £7.50 and insurance at £8.99 making £38.99 a month total.

I got into store, got the handset, signed an agreement that had NO tariff details and merely said ''Retention offer'' in the box for the deal details, I even said to the rep, ''So it's £30 a month discounted to £22.50 a month right?'' and he agreed. He told me to call up and add web and walk as they couldn't do it in store.

I left, took my phone home, stuck it on charge and left town for the rest of this weekend. I called to add web and walk and they told me I was on Flext 35 at £35 a month no discounts or anything. The woman refused to put me through to the loyalty team, I redialled.

I spoke to cancellations/loyalty team who told me both customer relations and the loyalty team had left no notes at all about the agreement and it was basically £35 and tough, I wasn't even allowed to return the phone. The lady would not budge or help me by even trying to see if the calls were recorded.

So:
- They quoted me £30 initially, then £22.50 a month and are now actually charging me £30 a month.
- Customer relations told me that I had a 11 month downgrade policy, then after, the loyalty team told me I had a 17 month downgrade policy.
- Customer relations and the loyalty team told me I cannot return the handset even though they've lied to me, customer services offered to send me a jiffy bag.
- There is no instruction manual in the box???!!! Has it been tampered with?
- I made full notes of who I spoke to and when, I have a witness who was with me when I made the calls on loudspeaker.

T-Mobile are unwilling to honour the deal or take the phone back?

What should I do? Trading standards, legal advice?

I'm totally lost. I have tried to be really thorough and keep notes to make sure I'm not messed around but exactly that has happened, I should have asked for email confirmation prior to taking the phone.

Thanks for your time and advice.

greg123_2

Sue them and see if you can get a court order for the phone records. Solicitors letter first may have them re-instate the deal.

Darren08

Oops, typo...should read:

''So:
- They quoted me £30 initially, then £22.50 a month and are now actually charging me ****£35**** a month.''

princessjessica08

technically it was the T-mobile store that mis-sold you the contract, as they did the upgrade that you signed for. So it would need to be them you take it up with. There is a number or e-mail address you can contact if you feel a T-mobile store has missold you and you want to complain about the service etc and they will look into the matter. I'm not back at work until Thursday, but if you call customer services they should be able to give you it. There's also a contact us link on the T-mobile website which goes to their customer relation department, and from what I've seen they really do try to help out as much as they can

Hope they sort this out for you without going down the legal path.

Jess

Darren08

Hi Princess, thanks for your great reply. Yeah I've dealt with customer relations before and they do bend over backwards for you, problem is though this time the issue was caused by them.

I'd left my town to visit a friends yesterday so I popped to his local T-Mobile store, they told me that store can't see the deal you agree to and that I ''built'' a quote with retentions who sent the details to the store or put it on the system, from what the two stores said, they don't see the deal im offered if it is offered by retentions, they just send an option to the store to accept or decline.

I'm going to call the lady in customer relations first thing tomorrow.

Ideally to make this right I'd like,
- The tariff for the agreed £30 a month (Flext 35)
- The discount adding back on for 25% that the loyalty team told me I could have.
- Web and walk added on free.
- Mobile TV added on free and
- Insurance at £8.99 making
- £31.49 a month.

Is this likely?

princessjessica08

unfortunatly I don't work with the retentions department so I don't want to say yes or no to the offer. Did you go back to speak to the store then? Let me know how it goes. Good luck

Jess

esuhl

T-Mobile certainly aren't to be trusted. I remember how they lied to vast numbers of customers when they increased everyone's line rental by £1/month to pay for itemised billing. They were so incredibly deceitful and manipulative that I would never ever trust T-Mobile with anything. If I didn't need to keep the contract running to claim cashback from a third-party retailler, I would have sued (and won) for sure.

If they have a recording of your telephone conversation, I believe that you can apply (under the Data Protection Act) for a copy of the recording, which should help your case.

Darren08

I went back to the store who told me that they couldn't see details of my deal and could only accept or declined what retentions had set up, apparently they couldn't even see the details.

I spoke to customer relations again who've added the £5 off and the 25% discount so my l/r is £22.50 again, they said it was basically the retentions agents fault as she was in the academy and made mistakes on the system and with what she told me.

I've sent them a 5 page complaint with a chronology of misinformation and events and asking for copies of the calls, notes, a letter of apology and confirmation. I want something for the stress and the fact they ruined my weekend.

esuhl

It sounds like a classic T-Mobile "deceive the customer, then deny everything unless the customer persists with their complaint at which point we'll back down to avoid being sued" ploy.

If it was an occasional thing, you could forgive their incompetence, but the frequency of these problems suggest that it's a deliberate, unscrupulous tactic that they employ routinely. I just can't believe that they are still in business!

princessjessica08

There are procedures that have to be followed in any job, and sometimes customers dont agree with them if it means they don't get what they want, or deserve. In that case, further procedures are in place if the customer still isnt happy with the outcome, and usually more can be done when the complaint goes further. So its unfair to say they only do things so they dont get sued, I know I try to go out my way to do everything i can for any call I take at work, and sometimes the outcome is good, sometimes policy means I have to say no. I would never work for an employer who did underhand tactics to get ahead in business.


Darren08 I'm happy they have sorted out your contract for you, and hopefully you'll get compensation for the hassle you've been through as well. Unfortunatly not all calls are recorded, but hopefully your ones were. Good luck with the rest of the battle.

digp

O/T, but:

The [United States'] Supreme Court handed a defeat to T-Mobile USA Inc. Tuesday, rejecting the company's appeal in three cases involving the legal remedies available in millions of cell phone contracts.

The issue in the three cases is the same: whether state laws that limit the ability of companies to prohibit consumers from banding together to pursue class action lawsuits are preempted by federal law.

T-Mobile included a prohibition on class actions in a part of its contracts that also required consumers to resolve any complaints through arbitration. The company's lawyers argued in court papers that federal law, which generally requires that arbitration clauses be enforced, overrules those state laws that limit the ability of companies to ban class actions.

Under contract laws in many states, class-action bans are considered inherently unfair and courts, including those in California, where the dispute originated, can choose to not enforce them.

Companies generally support arbitration because they consider it a faster and cheaper way to resolve disputes than litigation. Clauses requiring arbitration are included in millions of consumer contracts issued by credit card, cell phone and cable companies, among others.

A federal appeals court ruled in one of the cases, T-Mobile v. Laster, last October that courts can refuse to enforce arbitration clauses if they include bans on class actions. The Supreme Court's decision, without comment, lets that decision stand and allows the case to proceed to further litigation.

Consumer groups argue that class action bans are unfair, because in legal disputes over small amounts of money, individuals may not have the incentive to file suits.

Banning class actions, as a result, could essentially allow companies to avoid liability for practices that cost large numbers of people small amounts of money, according to court papers filed in the case by the consumer group Public Citizen.

The T-Mobile v. Laster case began when a woman named Jennifer Laster sued the company after buying a phone and signing up for wireless service in San Diego in 2005.

She alleged that T-Mobile engaged in unfair and deceptive business practices by promising free and significantly discounted phones, while charging sales taxes based on the full price of the phone.

The company responded that they were required to charge sales taxes on the full retail price under California law.

T-Mobile is owned by German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG.

Two companion cases, T-Mobile v. Ford, 07-1103, and T-Mobile v. Gatton, 07-1036, were also turned down by the court.

Source: current.com