Hell has a new name...T-Mobile.
Written: Sep 15 '03 (Updated Apr 24 '05)
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Pros: Uhhh...a nice phone and good service in Manhattan.
Cons: Everything else. Horrible customer service, horrible signal.
The Bottom Line: Stay away from T-Mobile unless someone you know and trust who works and lives almost exactly where you live and work vouches for them.
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| gustavo2000's Full Review: T-Mobile Phone Service in New York |
I am writing a review for epinions because I was extremely unhappy with the level of service I had been receiving from my cell phone company. I was signed up for service with T-Mobile. The summer of 2003 I made the disastrous decision of signing a contract with T-Mobile and I received absolutely no signal in my home (unlike my roommates, who have cell phone service with better providers). My attempts to solve this dilemma were met with lies, rudeness, and obstruction and delays on the part of their representatives. To say that I was furious and dissatisfied would not even come close to describing my feelings. As soon as I began to detect the dishonest and unscrupulous practices of their company I began to keep detailed notes of all my encounters with their representatives. Sorry if this so long, but I wanted to be as informative as possible.
When I signed up with T-Mobile I was living in Iowa and I purchased a cell phone because I would soon be moving to New York and my new roommates did not want to pay for a conventional phone (which is another reason this issue is of such concern to me, it is my only phone). It worked fine in Iowa but the second I walked into my new apartment in Brooklyn I noticed that my phone received absolutely no signal. My phone was unable to receive or make calls. This was in the first few days of August and I called T-Mobile on the 5th of that month to discuss my concerns with one of their representatives. I was told then that I should not worry, because my problems could be attributed to a malfunctioning tower. I was told to be patient and wait because the tower would be fixed and I would soon have service. I believed this because the explanation seemed reasonable and I had only been experiencing problems with my service for a few days. My building was not cited as a potential problem nor was my phone.
I had just moved to New York so I was quite busy, but I continued to experience problems. My phone received no service in my home, no service in the immediate area around my apartment, and very poor service in the surrounding neighborhood. This proved to be quite a problem since I was looking for jobs at the time. In order to listen to voicemail or make calls I had to walk a few blocks from my apartment and stand on a busy street corner. I was bothered by the hot sun beating down on me while I made calls, not to mention the mosquitoes at night. I was also annoyed by the many trucks and cars that would drive by and make it impossible for me to hear the folks on the other side of the phone. However, the biggest problem was the total lack of privacy. In an attempt to get some help I called T-Mobile again since their tower seemed to still be out of service. I called on August 25th and 26th and this time I was told that more than one tower was out of service, so it seemed the quality of service was actually regressing. Once again, neither the phone nor my building were cited as problems. I was told to continue to wait and I was given extra minutes and a $10.00 credit to make up for their non-existent signal. I take these meager attempts at appeasement as the company’s admission of fault.
I soon began to smell something rotten with T-Mobile so I called a fourth time on September 8th. This time I was not looking for the company to offer more lies about towers and a signal that would never reach my phone. Instead I was looking to be released from my contract without being charged a fee. The whole concept of a fee is ridiculous. It isn’t enough that T-Mobile charged me for the poor service I was receiving, they also wanted me to pay to leave a contract after they failed to deliver on their promises? This time I called with the intention of speaking with a supervisor and I once again encountered T-Mobile’s highly successful delay tactics. The representative I spoke with was like their other employees, he offered no solution to my problems. I tried to reason with him as best I could, but to no avail. I explained that since all my calls had to be made outside I had already been rained on and that I was worried about the approaching cold of fall and winter. The best he could do was provide another false explanation for my problem, this time he said it was the card in my phone and he lead me on a journey that was my worst encounter with T-Mobile. He said that I should go to their office located in Brooklyn and that there my card could be examined for any possible problems. So on September 10th I went down to their office with the sincere hope that on that day my problems would end. After waiting my turn in line I was treated to horribly rude service by an employee who was so busy playing with her own phone that she refused to even look up at my face. After she finally started to pay attention she began to tell me several incorrect "facts" that may be lies but are more likely attributable to stupidity. She said that customer service representatives didn’t have access to tower information, which either makes a liar out her or their employees that I talked to previously. She also said that T-Mobile had no record of my previous calls and grievances, which I also know is untrue. It was also striking that she did not bother to look at my phone or the card in my phone, which was the whole purpose of my trip there.
After I used up all of her miniscule attention span she had me call customer service from the store, at which point I talked to another employee for a while and I finally reached a supervisor. She told me something quite peculiar and confusing. She said all the towers in my area were fine, which eliminated the company’s previous explanations. She then essentially told me that there was no solution to my problem and that I pretty much had to continue making calls a few blocks from my home. Or I could cancel my service and pay the fee (around $200), which she said I could not avoid since my grace period was over. She said that as a consumer I am able to make decisions on my own, independently, and that I had chosen to continue using my phone beyond the period in which I could cancel my service without a fee. I responded to this by saying that as a consumer I can only make informed decisions based on the truthful and accurate information I receive. T-Mobile had given me neither and appeared to have purposefully used faulty information to stall me and keep me in the contract. It appears that I was lied to about the towers in my area, the source of my problem, and the probability of improved service. The true source of the problem is now clear: T-Mobile’s inability to provide real service in my area. She also pointed out that I had used my phone in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, but that does not matter since I am not concerned with Manhattan or parts of Brooklyn. When I signed up for service I used my New York zip code to see if T-Mobile would provide service where I was going to live and it is a fact that it does not. After more futile attempts to reason with her I hung up and I still had no service at home.
I called the company a couple of times since then on September 11th and on September 12th. A supervisor, was my seventh and final call to them. She told me that there was no way she could release me from my contract over the phone and that there was no way I could contact those in charge over the phone. It is almost funny (almost) that I cannot contact those who can wave my fee over the phone. I thought I was dealing with a cellular TELEPHONE communication company…yet I can’t reach them over the phone? Finally she told me to try to have the card in my phone checked again with any authorized T-Mobile dealer. I decided to humor T-Mobile one more time, so I went to various authorized T-Mobile dealers and I was less than amused by their responses. All said that I was being deceived by T-Mobile (and these are all official T-Mobile dealers!!!), that my phone was fine, and that the company was completely at fault. I went to two Platinum Wireless locations, one at 860 Manhattan Ave. in Brooklyn and the other at 117 Meserole Ave. in Brooklyn. I also went to Checkline Wireless Communications at 842 Manhattan Ave. in Brooklyn and Wireless World at 226 1st Ave. in New York. The last place actually said that T-Mobile "sucks" and the clerk made a strange face.
So as you can see I had tried to be as thorough as possible when dealing with T-Mobile. I had been more than patient and I feared that I would have to suffer the consequences of that patience. All I wanted was the promise of fair and just treatment.
Update: I found the number to their corporate office in Washington by looking on the corporate section of their website (not the section for customers). After I called they made the mistake of transfering me to someone in New Mexico. After telling her my story she agreed to waive my fee. BUT...she was very angry that I managed to talk to her, customers aren't supposed to be able to reach her. The person at the corporate office for T-Mobile made a mistake and sent my call to her, but I'm happy now.
Also...in the two years since I got rid of my service other T-Mobile customers have come to my apartment and have been unable to get a signal.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 40.00
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Epinions.com ID:
gustavo2000
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Location: Iowa City, IA
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 2 members
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