And the death watch for TMobile starts...

[Pliablemoose]

I was a TMobile customer for almost 10 years, and grew to love their CSR's and bend over backwards attitude to keep it's customers happy....

I called today because they hadn't refunded my overpayment from my closed account and asked if they could cut me a deal on a plan. I might start up a line of service again... No dice, they offered me the same deals as on the web page, and to add insult to injury, they said they had planned on keeping my overpayment for 6 months before I was given a refund.

At the moment, they have some awesome speeds, but as ATT & Verizon roll out LTE service, they aren't going to have that advantage for long, and the current gen of CSR's are pretty sad.

Me: "do you have a feature phone data plan?"
Them: (2 different CSR's) What's a feature phone?
Me: "You know, the phones your grandparents have..."
Them: "huh?"
Me: "facepalm"

 

[zerocool84]

If Sprint can last this long bleeding customers then T-Mobile will still be around for a long time.

 

[foghorn67]

I was on T-Mobile briefly, and all their CSR's had a ghetto accent.
They were very polite though.

 

[lothar]

Customer retentions.

 

[SunnyD]

The rumors of T-Mobile's death have been greatly exaggerated.

Call center turnover is one of the highest in the industry. Couple this with the fact that call centers hire people with as little experience in the field/product they intend to support (because that makes it far easier to train a support rep to read from a script instead of, you know... think for themselves), this type of situation is to be expected.

Your first mistake was not talking to retentions right away. Your second mistake is lack of persistence. Your third mistake is talking to a support drone like a tech geek.

 

[Pliablemoose]

The rumors of T-Mobile's death have been greatly exaggerated.

Call center turnover is one of the highest in the industry. Couple this with the fact that call centers hire people with as little experience in the field/product they intend to support (because that makes it far easier to train a support rep to read from a script instead of, you know... think for themselves), this type of situation is to be expected.

Your first mistake was not talking to retentions right away. Your second mistake is lack of persistence. Your third mistake is talking to a support drone like a tech geek.

They refused to connect me with retentions since I didn't have a current line of service with them, 3 X's.

 

[SunnyD]

They refused to connect me with retentions since I didn't have a current line of service with them, 3 X's.

Haha, no current service? Then why are you complaining? You won't get any sort of retention deal on a new account. Ever.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Haha, no current service? Then why are you complaining? You won't get any sort of retention deal on a new account. Ever.

Even though they had $150 worth of my $ for the last 3 months? TMobile can bite me...

They're hemorrhaging customers, and I can see why, I'd tried to cut a deal with them before I ported away, and ran into similar problems.

Agreed to get a G2, they sent it to my old address halfway across the state, then proceeded to bill me for it, and the CSR's just weren't as nice as they have been in the past... I'd always gotten excellent service from TMobile, I guess what I'm saying is that I get the distinct impression TMobile's corporate culture is changing.

 

[lupi]

Get in line with your sorry ass rant, verizon took 2 years to send me my refund.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Get in line with your sorry ass rant, verizon took 2 years to send me my refund.

 

[SunnyD]

Even though they had $150 worth of my $ for the last 3 months? TMobile can bite me...

They're hemorrhaging customers, and I can see why, I'd tried to cut a deal with them before I ported away, and ran into similar problems.

Agreed to get a G2, they sent it to my old address halfway across the state, then proceeded to bill me for it, and the CSR's just weren't as nice as they have been in the past... I'd always gotten excellent service from TMobile, I guess what I'm saying is that I get the distinct impression TMobile's corporate culture is changing.

Well don't feel bad. I'm a T-Mo prepaid customer. If I want customer service, guess what - I get to talk to INDIA!!! Not the nice US based customer service reps.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I smell some BS. Why would they keep your refund for 6 months? Call your bank and reverse the charges and site the T-mobile rep if it is true.
I had a refund processed in 48 hours not 2 weeks ago.

 

[nickbits]

i've never heard the term feature phone either

 

[Cuda1447]

Couple of problems here.

1. Feature phones web plans isn't really the right terminology. And when you say something like "you know, what your grandma uses" your just asking for people to get confused. But whatever...

2. You want a deal on a plan that customers who have had t-mobile for years don't even have? Come on man. I hate it when people expect to get something they don't deserve. T-Mobile is already the cheapest carrier by a good amount and you want an EVEN BETTER deal?

3. Customer service is getting bad, eh? The grass isn't greener on the other side. Go to Sprint/ATT/Verizon. If you think T-Mob is bad than you're really going to hate those guys.

4. T-Mobile won't die anytime soon. Deutsch Telekom has deep pockets and T-Mobile USA, despite underperforming is still a very significant revenue stream for them and one of the best investments they could make long term.

 

[pm]

First, I honestly didn't get the "feature phone" reference either - I had to Google it.

Second, I agree that one of the prime differentiators between T-Mobile and everyone else was their customer service. Not only in terms of friendliness, hold times and how much they would bend the rules to make customers happy, but also because they were just very knowledgeable.

 

[shortylickens]

Tmobile has always treated me great. Of course they'd have to with their crummy coverage and phone selection.

 

[Munky]

As long as they continue my $6/month unlimited 3G internet, I don't care who their CSR's are.

 

[Malak]

Tmobile is still the best company I have had service with. Your story is ridiculous, most of your complaints aren't any issue with them.

 

[foghorn67]

Malak, your shit never stinks, huh?

 

[Deeko]

Ohhh out of place doom-and-gloom speeches, how Anandtech never failed to disappoint.

Anyway, it sounds to me like the OP used a term that very few people outside of tech circles has heard, and is pissy that he couldn't get a deal he didn't really deserve. Meh - for some strange reason, that doesn't strike me as a reason for a death watch. On with your day, folks.

They refused to connect me with retentions since I didn't have a current line of service with them, 3 X's.

Uhh....hmmm....well, yea. Why would they?

 

[DivideBYZero]

Current PliableMoose DeathWatch list;

- RIM
- T-Mo
- Any other product or service he doesn't have a good experience with

 

[Pliablemoose]

Current PliableMoose DeathWatch list;

- RIM
- T-Mo
- Any other product or service he doesn't have a good experience with

You can add Motorola to that list as well...

LOL, we shall see how RIM does...

TMobile is in a lot worse shape than RIM< at least RIM makes money

BTW, so RIM has announced 3 products, and the 1st quarter of 2011 is nearly over, when exactly are they going to ship a product? They're awfully good at announcing products.....

 

[Pliablemoose]

double post...

 

[DivideBYZero]

Yeah, I'm getting tired of waiting for my PlayBook. RELEASE IT!

 

[dguy6789]

I had no issues with T-Mobile's customer service the few times I spoke with them. Having live chat available on their website is really nice as well. I don't get that with Verizon.