BEWARE T-Mobile early termination fee when useing pac code...

grumbler

It would help if you posted the date when the minimum term expired and the date of requesting the PAC.

anon8202

I requested a PAC code as I wanted to leave Tmobile a couple months before my contract is due to end. I have had an early penalty applied to my account. The early termination penalty is the cost of my line rental up to my contracted termination day.
I did not use the PAC code within the 30 days.
I rang up t-mobile to find out how this early termination fee would be refunded, given that I have not ended my contract early via porting out.
The staff in Manilla, will lie and mislead you, IMO there is something very wrong with T-mobile, as I believe they may condone this behaviour. (Maybe the staff are incentified to claw back as much as possible or are treated so badly that they will not take the customers seriously, and just feed people BS).
The person in Manilla said they can only meet me halfway and refund £20 of the £33.50 termination fee. I said for them not to do anything and pretend that I never called them.

The next day I rang up t-mobile via the 0845 number, whilst waiting for an answer (it was taking a while), I rang them on my mobile using 150. I got through on my mobile very fast and spoke to another person in the phillipines, we went through the whole, security check, I explained my query, and then was put on hold for a couple of minutes, (I reckon whilst the staff could cook up some BS to wind me up about the charge) or educate themselves on the actual rules regarding what happens to these termination fees.

Anyway long story short, whilst on hold, the 0845 t-mobile number was answered by the a scottish chap in the cancellations team, ( doubt he was based in the phillipines) who quickly told me that as I hadn't used my code, the charge should be refunded, offering 2 options, 1 to go back to my bank account, and 2 to get the charge credited to my account balance. I opted to have it credited to my account.

I told the phillipines operative that I was speaking to someone based in the UK call centre, and he very rapidly said "ok fine, thanks for calling" and let me go.

Anyway I will check back on t-mobile later to check the money gets credited back.

So be very careful and don't let the phillipines based staff wind you up with their rubbish, I doubt the higher management at T-mobile care how bad the phillipines based call centres are, as long as it saves them staff costs.
As far as using the PAC code, it does make stuff harder for me to understand, I don't use my phone too much. So I may not bother with it, and just ring back on the 19th Jan to say finish my contract and get a new number with another provider.

Gambler

Just had my final bill.

I gave 30 days notice and asked for my pac on 17th Dec.

My 18 months contract ended 13th Jan.

I gave virgin the PAC on 14th Jan.

Final bill has charged £18.42 + another month of charges, total bill £45.

grumbler

Let's wait for im-lost to come with a simple explanation .

Gambler

Not had time to phone them today. I also want to get all my facts straight first.

My billing date is 15th so am I paying for a month in advance? My latest bill just states Jan-13 and doesn't state the actual period covered.

Thanks

Cazzad_2

I had the same problem with Orange with the PAC fee and it was not in their T & C and complained and was refunded. It was called Port Out Termination!

grumbler

Gambler wrote: »

Not had time to phone them today. I also want to get all my facts straight first.

My billing date is 15th so am I paying for a month in advance?

Yes, your Dec bill has to show the period covered.

My latest bill just states Jan-13 and doesn't state the actual period covered.

I guess because this is the final bill showing that you allegedly have to pay on the top of the monthly charge paid in advance. Neither "£18.42" nor "+ another month of charges" makes sense to me.

Gambler

grumbler wrote: »

Yes, your Dec bill has to show the period covered.
I guess because this is the final bill showing that you allegedly have to pay on the top of the monthly charge paid in advance. Neither "£18.42" nor "+ another month of charges" makes sense to me.

Right I've just wasted 25 mins on the phone. They would not refund the £18.42 as they said when I was given the PAC code my contract was effectively cancelled then and there. The fact I had given 30 days notice was irrelevant. I wish I had been told that as I would have used my PAC code right away and the refund in the line rental I had already paid would have netted off to zero.

"another month of charges" is because my latest bill is not my final bill so that 'should' be refunded when my final bill is issued in 30 days time. (my bill covers 14th Jan to Feb-13, my account transfer took place on 15th Jan)

I'm not wasting any more time on the phone I'll write a complaint and send via recorded delivery.

grumbler

Gambler wrote: »

Right I've just wasted 25 mins on the phone. They would not refund the £18.42 as they said when I was given the PAC code my contract was effectively cancelled then and there. The fact I had given 30 days notice was irrelevant.

This is nonsense. The contract gets terminated when the PAC is used, not when it's issued. And if it was cancelled "then and there", why the last bill wasn't the final one?
I would refer them to their T&C that do say about the notice and don't say anything about the PAC.

I'm not wasting any more time on the phone I'll write a complaint and send via recorded delivery.

Absolutely.

dharle

I had problems with leaving T-Mobile too. I didn't realise I had to give 30 days notice so had to stay on another month. That was fine as it was my fault but when my final bill came in the 25th month, I realised they had charged me for data usage for that extra month because apparently the "free booster" of unlimited internet was only for the first 24 months! CS were useless and it was only when I wrote to them that I got the charges refunded.

Anyway, my dad is coming to the end his contract but I'm still confused how one can leave with a PAC without incurring any charges. For example, if his 24 months ends on 23 February, I could ring on 23 January to give 30 days notice. However, if I request a PAC at the same time then I only have 30 days to use it. Hence unless I give the PAC to my new provider on 23 February, then by definintion I'm going to be leaving early?!