T-Mobile forgot my number, yay!

[DaveSimmons]

I've had their pay as you go service for a couple of years now, manually refilling $11 worth of minutes roughly every 3 months for minimal use.

Just to add excitement to my life, t-mobile apparently decided to delete my name and number from their databases. No emails or other notification, their site just acts as if it's an invalid number now.

The fun part is: every method of contacting t-mobile aside from snail mail requires entering a valid t-mobile phone number. So it's not possible to talk or chat with support about them forgetting my phone number unless they decide to remember it someday.

If you try to call sales (which doesn't need the number) they warn you that sales has no access to account information.

Sigh. So I can send a snail mail, or just give up and change providers. Fun!

Thus ends my tale of woe. (Yes I know: /blog, #firstworldproblems, CSB, etc.)

 

[MotionMan]

If you try to call sales (which doesn't need the number) they warn you that sales has no access to account information.

Call them anyway and tell them the problem. They may know how to get you in touch with the right people quickly.

MotionMan

 

[SunnyD]

Oh f'n great. I just tried to log into my account (which should be active, but hasn't been used in a few months) and it's telling me my account login information is invalid.

 

[MotionMan]

Oh f'n great. I just tried to log into my account (which should be active, but hasn't been used in a few months) and it's telling me my account login information is invalid.

I wonder if they are having some sort of system-wide problem with their databases.

MotionMan

 

[DaveSimmons]

Chat couldn't help me either, but they gave me a different number to call, 1-877-778-2106

That one's phone system still wants you to enter your number (which it rejects as invalid) but lets you say "I don't have one" to get past that step.

After I finally reached a human, my account was "deactivated" due to inactivity and there is no way to re-activate it. They say I should buy a new SIM card and get a new phone number.

Why can't they send a warning before they deactivate an account, and give you a chance to stop it from happening? Who knows.

Why can't their system remember "deactivated" numbers and tell those customers what is going on? Who knows. They even hide the deactivated accounts from their account reps in chat.

Obviously not a huge deal for me since I almost never use a cell phone, but this doesn't encourage me to consider starting over with them with a new card and plan.

 

[vshah]

they probably did send a warning - as a text to the sim card/number that was just sitting around inactive, therefore you didn't get it :awe:

also, google voice is great for things just like this. just get one GV number and give that out, your prepaid numbers can come and go, and anyone calling you will only ever need to know your google voice number. even if you don't have an active number under it, you can still receive voicemails.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

op fails

 

[alent1234]

Chat couldn't help me either, but they gave me a different number to call, 1-877-778-2106

That one's phone system still wants you to enter your number (which it rejects as invalid) but lets you say "I don't have one" to get past that step.

After I finally reached a human, my account was "deactivated" due to inactivity and there is no way to re-activate it. They say I should buy a new SIM card and get a new phone number.

Why can't they send a warning before they deactivate an account, and give you a chance to stop it from happening? Who knows.

Why can't their system remember "deactivated" numbers and tell those customers what is going on? Who knows. They even hide the deactivated accounts from their account reps in chat.

Obviously not a huge deal for me since I almost never use a cell phone, but this doesn't encourage me to consider starting over with them with a new card and plan.

they probably gave your number to someone else already

i think you are missing the whole idea behind pay as you go service

 

[wirednuts]

google voice number as your perm number and then you can fuck up your pay as you go accounts all you want?

 

[SunnyD]

After I finally reached a human, my account was "deactivated" due to inactivity and there is no way to re-activate it. They say I should buy a new SIM card and get a new phone number.

Wait wait wait... you had an ACTIVE account, and they deactivated it and now they want you to BUY a new one?

This would piss me off... if that's the case on mine I'm going to bitch to no end - I had a prepaid account with gold rewards on it with something like $20 balance still on it...

 

[DaveSimmons]

i think you are missing the whole idea behind pay as you go service

It's only $2 for a new SIM card, so it's not a huge problem for me.

It's just surprising and disappointing that they silently shred any account that they decide is inactive, then remove any easy way for you (or their chat support) to find out what has happened.

This would piss me off... if that's the case on mine I'm going to bitch to no end - I had a prepaid account with gold rewards on it with something like $20 balance still on it...

You probably let your old minutes expire like I did. Go a day without minutes, lose your phone number.

 

[SunnyD]

You probably let your old minutes expire like I did. Go a day without minutes, lose your phone number.

I can't quite remember - which is why I wanted to look at my account - but I didn't think my minutes expired until August.

 

[cronos]

they probably gave your number to someone else already

i think you are missing the whole idea behind pay as you go service

He kept paying although he didn't use it, and he still lost his number. I think it's them who are missing the idea.