I have a "Love / Hate" relationship with T-Mobile.
Things that I Love:
* No Contracts and good pricing - I have three lines (combo of family members) which currently cost me $140/month - all taxes included. And I can cancel anytime without penalty.
* Free International Data and texting - The T-Mobile Simple Global has been a life saver during my international travels. I've used T-Mobile in South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. With only a few exceptions, I generally get at least 2G up to 3G coverage which is essential for GPS and communicating with hotels and tour guides. Even local calling is not that bad (averages like $.20-$.40 minute).
Things I hate:
*Coverage can be spotty outside of major metropolitan areas - If I'm anywhere within a radius 30 miles of downtown DC, I generally have decent LTE or 4G coverage. Venture outside of that, coverage is abysmal. I've literally been in Potomac, MD or Warrenton, VA and have "NO SERVICE" displayed on my phone. Coverage inside buildings is also not so great. But my hope is with 5G adoption and more cell towers coming on-line, that coverage will improve (which it slowly is).
* Customer Service - Now, I've had cell service with ALL of the major providers (Verizon, SPRINT, ATT) and by far, T-Mobile is the one who truly embodies that old adage that "...your service will depend on who you speak with either in person or on the phone.
Which brings to me my three month saga with the T-Mobile store off of Old Keene Mill Road in Springfield. I pop into the nearby Whole Foods occasionally, so when I needed to add another line to my family plan this past November, I stopped into the store. The representative at that time (Adam) was helpful enough and I explained to him that I needed to close the account of the family member (an existing T-Mobile customer) and then have that person added underneath my account. Seems simple enough. Adam's recommendation was to purchase a new SIM with a new phone number and once activated, that number would be placed under my account. He also assured us that HE would take care of closing the account to ensure no future charges would be incurred.
After about an hour, the new SIM was activated and off we went. Seemed simple enough.
So imagine my surprise when I get a notification from my family member that her OLD account was still active and that she had been charged for 2 billing cycles even though she was already transferred my account! And every time she called (multiple calls over several hours), the phone reps instructed her to go to the store to "resolve the issue".
BTW - I have nothing against non-US based call centers, but depending when you call and the day of the week, some of the agents are better...and many tend to be worse!
So after playing phone tag with supervisors who promised to "follow-up" with calls (which never came), I had to take time out of my day to accompany said family member to this store and explain the situation. Jonathan A. was the first person we spoke with, and he was very patient in getting the background and quickly trying to resolve the issue.
Humorously enough, even when he called T-Mobile to speak with the billing department, even HE became frustrated with the agents who didn't clearly understand the issue, to the point where he needed to escalate to the agent's supervisor. One of the biggest problems was that the phone supervisor indicated that accounts are not "permitted to be closed in a store by agents" but had to be performed by a customer themselves.
Keep that in mind if you're a T-Mobile customer and want to cancel an account in the future.
So long story short, after about 2 hours in the store and with agents on the phone, we're getting credited back for service that was supposed to be cancelled back in November 2019 and issue is FINALLY resolved.
Jonathan was great, but his supervisor did a less than stellar job with follow-up as we were leaving. His supervisor (didn't get his name since I didn't see his name tag) begrudgingly came out of the backroom, since we just wanted to bring to his attention the multiple customer service missteps Adam committed.
The guy gave us the proverbial "blank stare" as we explained that the hours spent on the line with T-Mobile customer service as well as the hours spent in the store were not necessary, if Adam had just properly instructed us what to do back in November. He politely listened and then gave a deadpan response of, "Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Is there anything else I can do for you."
Look dude, I've been converting more and more friends and family to T-Mobile since I became a customer 6 years ago, so I wouldn't be bothering you with feedback unless I thought it was important. The manager's response was so off-putting that I was thinking about also adding my aunt/uncle + cousins onto my plan, but now I'm gonna re-think that decision. read more