Hidden charges for T-Mobile customers...

Alicia_Clarke

Just wanted to warn readers of a bit of dirty tricks from T-Mobile that I've just fallen for so you can avoid the pitfall!

When my T-Mobile contract came up for renewal recently I contacted direct to talk through my options if I signed up for another 18 months. I was offered a '£10 a month loyalty discount' so I renewed my contract there and then.

It was only when my next bill came through that I saw that I was now being charged for my voicemail which previously had been included in the talkplan thus completely negating the discount they'd offered me to stay with them.

This had never been explained or agreed to either verbally or in writing, so I called to complain. I was told that all new contracts and renewals now had to pay for voicemail and no they couldn't find the recording of the transaction to see if I'd been misled by the salesperson, and no I couldn't now cancel the contract or change to a different talkplan. In short, I'm now trapped into another 18 months overpriced mobile phone contract with T-Mobile, into which I feel deliberately conned.

Stupid move really because obviously once this contract is up I'll never use them again so they'll lose out in the long run, but annoying because its another example of big companies using bullying tactics and lying to the 'little' consumers to extract more money from them.

I hope this helps other readers out there!

mobilejunkie

Might be worth making a formal complaint. I had an annoying experience with them recently but (unlike Vodafone and O2) they actually responded poretty quickly and unusually well. You don't get anywhere with them otherwise though. As a warning of my own, sending texts (and therefore making calls) to mobiles whose contracts were taken out on The Isle of Man (and which do not require international prefixes) get charged outside the bundle as international numbers - other networks don't charge and it's impossible to know in a practical way until it apears on the bill.

princessjessica08

Firstly, I'd call back to t-mobile, you may get a more sympathetic agent next time. I always make sure of the differences between plans and that the customer knows everything before they agree to it. They may not be able to put you back onto this, so it's either switch your voicemail off or request some sort of compensation (although this will no doubt be either £5 or £10 which will proberly cover the usage of VM over the contract, depending how often you use it of course). It bugs the hell out of me with agents not paying attention to all details of changing from old to new price plans. And unfortunatly gives the company a bad name. :mad:


and it's Isle of Man, Guernsey and there's another one ... I can't remember off the top of my head, it's printed on the bills though. But your right, unless you know where they bought their phone, it may not be until the bills printed. Although we normally advise customers to check their allowances etc via the website, through sms or dialling 150. Still unfair i agree.

gazza007

You can avoid the VM charge by calling your own number. This is just like remote access from another phone number, the cost comes from your inclusive allowance, make sure you have a VM PIN setup.

My 18 month is due up soon, been a customer for about 12 years but feel it is time to leave, epecially after they changed their rule for downshifting your plan until the last month.

meanmum

That's a good idea! Is it easy to set up the VM PIN for remote access?

mobilejunkie

I'm afraid being told I can check my bill AFTER the event is an insult. I sgould know exactly what is extra BEFORE I have to spend HOURS on the phone to them arguing over it. I was told I can check EVERY number I may use on their website - REALLY helpful (NOT!) - expecially whne I wasted about 20 mins having a look for that the other day to check another number I'd called for two hours. Best idea is to stick with Vodafone, Orange and O2 - they are up front in this instance and don't apply the same practice. As far as I'm concerned, it's a complete con and means I will concentrate on other networks. This is is the first time I've used T-mobile out of dozens of contracts. My first impressions were good - but not any more (although the complain worked - repeatedly re-calling to speak with other "agents" certainly didn't!). I agree with one comment - it has left them with a bad name!

hansi

Alicia_Clarke wrote: »

Just wanted to warn readers of a bit of dirty tricks from T-Mobile that I've just fallen for so you can avoid the pitfall!

When my T-Mobile contract came up for renewal recently I contacted direct to talk through my options if I signed up for another 18 months. I was offered a '£10 a month loyalty discount' so I renewed my contract there and then.

It was only when my next bill came through that I saw that I was now being charged for my voicemail which previously had been included in the talkplan thus completely negating the discount they'd offered me to stay with them.

This had never been explained or agreed to either verbally or in writing, so I called to complain. I was told that all new contracts and renewals now had to pay for voicemail and no they couldn't find the recording of the transaction to see if I'd been misled by the salesperson, and no I couldn't now cancel the contract or change to a different talkplan. In short, I'm now trapped into another 18 months overpriced mobile phone contract with T-Mobile, into which I feel deliberately conned.

Stupid move really because obviously once this contract is up I'll never use them again so they'll lose out in the long run, but annoying because its another example of big companies using bullying tactics and lying to the 'little' consumers to extract more money from them.

I hope this helps other readers out there!

email the chief executive. I'm sure someone on here will have an email address. I had a similar problem with my mobile broadband dongle and they came up with a great offer in the end.

lawbunny

Formal complaint - [EMAIL="cust.rel@t-mobile.co.uk"]cust.rel@t-mobile.co.uk[/EMAIL]
Remember to include your name and/or password in the email to speed things up.

As part of the current upgrade process, customers are required to change from the old discontinued version of flext plans to either the new version of flext plans (which does not include voicemail) or to another available plan. It is part of the Retention Teams advisors to inform customers of this at the point of upgrade. However, obviously this does not always happen. Write a formal complain to the email address above explaining the situation and asking if you can either be credited to cover your voicemail usage or switched back to your original plan (even tho it's discontinued it is possible).

As for the Isle of Man issue - if you are phoning/texting a mobile number in the Isle of Man you will be charged as it is not part of the UK and therefore is an international call/text. It is clearly stated in your price plan info that international calls will not be included in your allowance, therefore you were advised of this at the time you took out the contract. Every network has this policy. However, there are a number of calling cards around at the moment which use the Isle of Man prefixes as they resemble UK prefixes in order to trick the network computer systems into thinking that it is a cal which should be included in you allowance for billing reasons. But the bottom line is it is an international number and you are charged as such.

sondheimsoc

gazza007 wrote: »

You can avoid the VM charge by calling your own number. This is just like remote access from another phone number, the cost comes from your inclusive allowance, make sure you have a VM PIN setup.

Please could you explain how to do this as I am not very confident with mobile phones?
Thanks
Lynne

princessjessica08

you can either set it up through the voicemail settings, or call up CS and they will set the pin up for you.

Jess

sondheimsoc

Thanks Jess.
Lynne