As a favor to a low-tech friend, I volunteered to switch her service to T-Mobile for a better deal. Her old phone (a flip) was supposedly locked, so we had to buy a new (near look-alike) one. When I got back to her home I realized that, in fact, they had mistakenly set up the old phone, not the new one (so it was not locked after all?), so I drove back and explained the situation. The kid behind the counter, who was trying to be helpful but was not wholly competent (obviously; he's the one who screwed up the phones) worked and worked to get things right. People make mistakes, and I just dealt with it. But it soon became laughable: there was incompetence up and down the organization: he couldn't get the new phone up and running, and so called to the Philippines to sort things out, and they said they had no record of the change in service or even the purchase of the new phone. "I'm looking right at the purchase confirmation!" he protested. The store manager, Roxie, came over and said that they probably won't be able to fix the situation. I laughed and told her that it was their error, and of course they're going to fix it. Boy, the look she gave me! Like ice. I had to call back home to my friend to get all sorts of information: old phone number, new phone number, last four of social etc. Understandably, my low-tech friend mistakenly provided one incorrect number for something or other. When Roxie realized this, she nastily implied that it was my fault. I told her my friend must have gotten confused. Roxie's response? "Right, it's always someone else's fault," in a nasty, sarcastic, and accusative tone. Can you believe that?? Shame on her! Shame on Roxie at Mohegan Lake T-Mobile!! And shame on T-Mobile for being so negligent in their training their staff in terms of both technical prowess and basic human decency. The kid apologized to me after Roxie went back to eat her lunch (no farewell, and certainly no apology. She just ignored me and walked away). After two hours of this circus, the issues finally seemed to be resolved and I went back to my friend's place, where we discovered that they actually gave her another new number. Unbelievable. read more
