Monday, December 26, 2016
Good bye t mobile
Good bye t mobile
After becoming fed up with T-Mobiles virtually non-existent service -- both the kind that gets data to and from my phone and the kind that they purport to provide to customers -- after more than four years as loyal customers we have decided to take our business elsewhere. Sure, Ill miss my "unlimited" data, but what good is unlimited data when T-Mobiles service was virtually non existent at the two places I spent the bulk of my time; at home and at the office. The last straw was when I returned my otherwise pristine (when I say pristine, I mean PRISTINE! That phone had had a case and a screen protector on it since the minute I took it out of the box) Nexus 4 after almost two years with the device to T-Mobile for replacement under warranty because a section in the middle of the touch screen had become unresponsive. When I went in to the store to begin the RMA process, I was assured by the sales representative that since there was otherwise nothing wrong with the phone, and there was no obvious physical damage that the phone would be replaced at no cost to me. Keeping in mind that our obligatory 2 year contract had ended last October, we were free to leave T-Mobile at any time. Im sure that their records indicated that, and even Sprint who is NOTORIOUS for having abysmal customer service would practically throw new phones at me for free when my contract was up in order to get me to renew my contract with them. But apparently, this is not the case with T-Mobile. Their aggressive approach to hooking new customers into 2 year service agreements with promises like "Well pay your ETA fees" and their new "data stash" (what happened to good ol unlimited data?) must take precedence over maintaining good relationships with long standing customers, because the shenanigans they pulled with me were downright underhanded. About 8 weeks AFTER I had already received my brand spankin new Nexus 4 (I even checked the phone stats and can confirm that the phone was original stock, and not a refurb), after making several calls to customer service about the Bermuda triangle-esque area that my new house occupied in T-Mobiles 4G network, I almost had them convinced to come out and install a signal amplifier at my house, which -- had it worked -- would have been enough to keep me a paying T-Mobile customer. But then that all came to a screeching halt and my negotiations with the customer service rep took a decidedly aggressive turn for the worse. Instead of the pleasant, apologetic and agreeable concierge I had been speaking with, all of a sudden the woman became aggressive and confrontational, insisting that my bill (which I have paid in full and on time, without fail for as far back as I can recall) had a balance of $150 that was nearly a month past due. Whoah... hold the phone, lady (no pun intended). Pardon my French, but what the fuck are you talking about? I just paid my bill a few weeks ago.
Those sneaky bastards. After being assured that I would NOT be charged for the replacement of the phone, they denied my warranty claim on the grounds that there was "damage to the keypad" which was written in the fine print as one of the things not covered under warranty. Funny, I wasnt aware that Nexus 4 had a keypad. After arguing with this woman that their denial of my claim was pure bullshit, since the phone DOESNT HAVE A FUCKING KEYPAD, I ultimately lost that negotiation on the grounds that "its a touch screen, so the screen is considered the keypad". Are you fucking kidding me? The capacitive layer on the touch screen became unresponsive due to NO FAULT OF MY OWN, leaving manufacturing defect as the only plausible reason for the failure and you are telling me that based on some legalese fuckery in the fine print on your warranty agreement that you are going to deny replacement claims for the MOST COMMON POINT OF FAILURE on ANY smartphone? Most people just drop their iPhones and smash the digitizer to pieces. I take perfect care of my phone and they site "physical damage" as the reason for denying my claim. Alright T-Mobile. Shitty cell phone reception: strike one. Denying a valid warranty claim for bullshit reasons: strike two. But heres the kicker.
After I tried to speak reason to the brick wall on the other end of the phone to no avail, I pointed out that my contract period had already ended several months prior and they werent doing very much to convince me to stay with T-Mobile. At a bear minimum I would have expected them to have to "talk to their supervisor" and put me on hold while they got Hank, the guy sitting in the cube next to them to and try to negotiate some kind of agreement. But no, that is not what happened at all. I said "You do realize that I can take my business elsewhere. You guys arent exactly doing anything to entice me to stay."
To which her reply was -- I shit you not -- "Well, that is your option".
Are you fucking kidding me T-Mobile? But wait, it gets better!
At this point, I hung up. It became clear to me that it was time to switch cell phone providers, and as much as I dont like Verizon for things like being slow to push software updates and making their devices notoriously difficult to unlock, root or otherwise modify, you cant argue with the fact that they are the only cell phone provider out where I live that can deliver reliable 4G service. So, Verizon it is. Which really is a shame, because I really wanted to get the new Nexus 6, which it seems is never going to actually surface at Verizon. Sure, if I wanted to I could spend $700 out of pocket on a Nexus 6 from Google and then bring it to Verizon. But Im like most spoiled American consumers and I like to get my devices subsidized by the provider for a few extra bucks on my bill every month. So no nexus 6 for this guy.
So while Im in the process of trying to call Verizon to set up service, my phone starts ringing off the hook. Its the T-Mobile rep Id hung up on who starts hounding me like a loan shark, demanding that I pay the past due portion of my bill over the phone immediately.
Strike. Fucking. Three. T-Mobile, you are out.
By far, the absolute worst customer service experience I have ever had. I mean, that could not have gone any worse if they had tried.
On the other hand, despite a week delay waiting for our new devices to ship from Verizon, my experience with them has been relatively pleasant. They were on back order due to a crazy promotion theyd been doing for Christmas where if you signed up for a two year agreement with a new LG G3, you got a free LG Gpad 8.3" tablet as well.
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