Lack of compassion by T-Mobile

DorsetDave2

My wife is Disabled through a Stroke and is not really into modern technology but I have given her a PAYG Mobile phone for emergencies. My wife is allowed to drive an automatic car and she meets my daughters school bus every day but on this occassion my daughter wasnt on the bus. My wife was in a bit of a panic so she went to use the phone . However she found she couldnt use it.

It turned out later the phone had been blocked without warning by T-Mobile as my wife hadnt been using it enough. (although I dispute this as I am sure I made the odd phone call on it to comply )

When I rang T-Mobile to complain there was a complete lack of compassion from them - they just quoted their "terms and conditions". They want £10 to reinstate the phone - also they wont give us the credit back that is on the phone.

I have since rung other networks who say that they allow people not to use their phone for 365 days before cutting them off - and they send out a warning first.

I know that on the face of it its not good business for the phone companies to have customers like my wife when they have paid millions for the new 3G franchises. However they forget that word gets around to Friends, Relatives and Work colleagues about this shabby treatment so they make their own mind up about T-Mobile and whether to use their network.

terryr

I know its not really an answer but can u unlock your phone so you can use a different sim card at least you wont give T Mobile the satisfaction of taking £10.off you

redux

I think you are being slightly unfair in expecting T-mobile to be aware of the reasons why you hadn't used the phone. I managed to get a foreign SIM reconnected 3 months after expiry (without the credit of course), so perhaps you might ask again.

mobilegossip

Perhaps the T- Mob Disabilty team can sort it out to your satisfaction.
Go to : http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=help_dc_htcu

Rogerb_2

e mail to t mobile customer relations on website

They have just overturned a customer services response on an issue I had with them, so maybe worth a try if can't be solved without.

DorsetDave2

Thanks for the replies/views. You may be interested to know I have only today (21st Feb 06 ) received a fairly decent reply from T-Mobile.

They confirm my wife had £4.96 credit remaining on her phone. As a "good will gesture" they are sending a cheque for £10 to us. However we have had to get another phone for my wife in the meantime so it has cost us a lot more than this. Furthermore the phone my wife had was larger and thus easier to use for someone who has lost their dexterity due to a Stroke. Phones are getting smaller and far too "techie" for the Disabled/Older generation. Also due to the length in the delay in trying to resolve this issue the old phone could not be used so we gave it to the Marie Curie shop.

Unfortunately T-Mobile spoilt their reply to us by putting in a paragraph at the end of the letter which didnt to apply to us and addressing us by the wrong surname.

Woby_Tide

are you sure it wasn't just the Sim Card that was blocked, it's unlikely they would block a handset as that is your property. The simcard however is T-Mobiles property so they can block/cancel them. If you can get the old handset back I would try it with a new simcard in it and see if it still works(also if it was blocked I'm not sure the charity shop could sell it on anyway for the same reason)

derrick

I have just had a similar problem with T-Mobile, received the T-Mobile/Celtic card, via this site last year, it had £10 credit on it, well it got put in a drawer and forgot about, found it yesterday,placed in handset would not work, phone T-Mobile,and was told basically the same,"you have lost the credit" terms & conditions etc, (the banks are losing on a similar point,unfair T&Cs,maybe this can go the same way IF we complain enough.
Now as for as I am concerned that is stealing,anyway they would not budge, have sent e-mail via their website, up to now no reply, any one got the managing directors address,e-mail or phone number? Why should they get away with stealing peoples money

kai666

derrick wrote:

Now as for as I am concerned that is stealing,anyway they would not budge, have sent e-mail via their website, up to now no reply, any one got the managing directors address,e-mail or phone number? Why should they get away with stealing peoples money

How are they stealing your money, Surely if the card came with the £10 credit already on the card, then they haven't stolen anything, they just took it back.

surely it was lost through your own carelessness through putting it in a drawer and forgetting about it.

The terms and conditions don't seem that unfair, you have 6 months to use the credit.

Just a quick message to the person who started this thread, how were T-mobile to know about your wife. Maybe If they knew about her condition it would show a lack of compassion, but they couldn't have known, and so were just applying the same rules to you as everyone else. The 180 day cut off isn't a great big secret

derrick

kai666 wrote:

How are they stealing your money, Surely if the card came with the £10 credit already on the card, then they haven't stolen anything, they just took it back.

surely it was lost through your own carelessness through putting it in a drawer and forgetting about it.

The money was not put on by T-Mobile so it is not theirs to take back, therefore they have stolen the money, it could have been put on by any one,the money belongs to the sim card holder,me, they told me so on the phone yesterday, i.e. if I put money on their sim card and do not use it then they will take the money and put it into their bank account, that is stealing, (Theft (also known as stealing) is, in general, the wrongful taking of someone else's property without that person's willful consent.) I did not consent therefor it is stealing.

kai666

Ok, I take back what I said. Can't they just re-activate the card with the money?