Let me just say that I had not envisioned my Friday night to be consumed with dealing with my cell phone bill.
So, I've been on the same cell phone line, with T-Mobile, for over three years. Although the account is under my mom's name (couldn't sign the contract before I was 18), I pay the bills, and I've always paid on time. I've stuck with them through contract expirations when I could have moved to another company for no fee, and 3 broken phones.
My latest phone is a smartphone; they require you to purchase a data package for it, in addition to minutes and texting. Over the summer, I had had the Unlimited Talk + Text package, in addition to the data plan. Last month, I decided to change my plan to include fewer minutes, since I talk far less than I text.
While I was changing my plan, I switched the plan to 500 minutes a month, but forgot to add back the unlimited texting. So, my cell bill that's due Nov. 7 is $464.28 (as opposed to my normal $75) because I was texting that whole time, not realizing I didn't have unlimited texting.
So, naturally, I called them to find out what was the matter. I first talked to an online support guy who said that the reason my bill was so high was because of the texting. I thanked him and called billing.
When I called billing, I explained that I had not realized my unlimited texting had been removed, and that I was a loyal customer who was hoping to get the charges removed. After speaking to a first-level person who said she couldn't remove the charges, I asked to speak to her supervisor.
Supervisor #1 was very nice. She commended me for my loyalty and excellent payment history, and said that while removing charges that are a result of customer error isn't something they'd normally do, she'd talk to her manager and try to get them off. So she put me on hold (though thankfully without the music)... for almost an hour. Then, the call was dropped.
So, I called back, got through another peon and spoke to Supervisor #2. Supervisor #2 said, point blank, that they wouldn't remove the texting charges. So, I asked to speak to HER manager. I was put on hold for another 30 minutes. Then Supervisor #2 came back and said, "My manager is really busy, but if you want, we'll call you back when one becomes available."
So, here I am, waiting for that call.
I really hope I can get this fixed without having to drop T-Mobile. I like them, they charge reasonable prices and I've never had a serious issue with them until now. But, really -- it's not like I was trying to fleece them out of 1700 texts; they can see that I've always had unlimited texting until now. And it's not like those texts actually COST them $400; if they did, they would charge a lot more than $10 a month for unlimited texting.
But, I haven't yelled at anyone or gotten angry with anyone. (After working in customer service for several years, I know that yelling at employees is just rude and counterproductive.) I've explained that I don't have the money to pay a $400 cell phone bill, and that as a loyal customer I would like to see these charges removed rather than initiate a payment plan for something that can easily be fixed. Honestly, I think it's the least they can do to repay the favor of my service for three years, while other people are switching right and left to Verizon for the Droid or to AT&T for the iPhone.
So, hopefully, the manager will be nice and remove the charges. If not, I'll have to speak to her supervisor, and on up the chain until I get it fixed. If not, I might pay the bill and I might not (I really doubt they'll take me to small claims court over a $400 bill), but I'm definitely not sticking through the rest of this contract with them. They can find someone else to suck dry.
So, I've been on the same cell phone line, with T-Mobile, for over three years. Although the account is under my mom's name (couldn't sign the contract before I was 18), I pay the bills, and I've always paid on time. I've stuck with them through contract expirations when I could have moved to another company for no fee, and 3 broken phones.
My latest phone is a smartphone; they require you to purchase a data package for it, in addition to minutes and texting. Over the summer, I had had the Unlimited Talk + Text package, in addition to the data plan. Last month, I decided to change my plan to include fewer minutes, since I talk far less than I text.
While I was changing my plan, I switched the plan to 500 minutes a month, but forgot to add back the unlimited texting. So, my cell bill that's due Nov. 7 is $464.28 (as opposed to my normal $75) because I was texting that whole time, not realizing I didn't have unlimited texting.
So, naturally, I called them to find out what was the matter. I first talked to an online support guy who said that the reason my bill was so high was because of the texting. I thanked him and called billing.
When I called billing, I explained that I had not realized my unlimited texting had been removed, and that I was a loyal customer who was hoping to get the charges removed. After speaking to a first-level person who said she couldn't remove the charges, I asked to speak to her supervisor.
Supervisor #1 was very nice. She commended me for my loyalty and excellent payment history, and said that while removing charges that are a result of customer error isn't something they'd normally do, she'd talk to her manager and try to get them off. So she put me on hold (though thankfully without the music)... for almost an hour. Then, the call was dropped.
So, I called back, got through another peon and spoke to Supervisor #2. Supervisor #2 said, point blank, that they wouldn't remove the texting charges. So, I asked to speak to HER manager. I was put on hold for another 30 minutes. Then Supervisor #2 came back and said, "My manager is really busy, but if you want, we'll call you back when one becomes available."
So, here I am, waiting for that call.
I really hope I can get this fixed without having to drop T-Mobile. I like them, they charge reasonable prices and I've never had a serious issue with them until now. But, really -- it's not like I was trying to fleece them out of 1700 texts; they can see that I've always had unlimited texting until now. And it's not like those texts actually COST them $400; if they did, they would charge a lot more than $10 a month for unlimited texting.
But, I haven't yelled at anyone or gotten angry with anyone. (After working in customer service for several years, I know that yelling at employees is just rude and counterproductive.) I've explained that I don't have the money to pay a $400 cell phone bill, and that as a loyal customer I would like to see these charges removed rather than initiate a payment plan for something that can easily be fixed. Honestly, I think it's the least they can do to repay the favor of my service for three years, while other people are switching right and left to Verizon for the Droid or to AT&T for the iPhone.
So, hopefully, the manager will be nice and remove the charges. If not, I'll have to speak to her supervisor, and on up the chain until I get it fixed. If not, I might pay the bill and I might not (I really doubt they'll take me to small claims court over a $400 bill), but I'm definitely not sticking through the rest of this contract with them. They can find someone else to suck dry.