Hello, I've been with T-Mobile for the past 7 years or so and up until recently, have been extremely satisfied with the company. That all changed a few months ago when the lies and deceit started. In an effort to save money, my wife and I went into the T-Mobile retail store and explained our situation. We were on a family data plan and we were looking to just remove data and go to a strictly voice and text plan. We were still a few months away from our contract expiration, but after talking to the sales associate, he convinced us to pay what he called an early termination fee to go down to a value plan because the amount that we saved over the next 4 months would be more than the fee. I asked him directly if the new plan would be a contract and he stated very quickly that no, it was not in fact a contract and we could cancel anytime for no fees other than what we owed on the cheap generic phones we had received. At the time, this seemed like a great deal because we weren't planning on keeping just voice and text for that long, just long enough to get our finances in a better place.
Once we got our phones back to the house, we instantly started having reception issues. 95% of our calls were dropped or couldn't be made and texting was spotty at best. We went back to the store and the sales associate did some "trouble-shooting" steps with us (turn off the phone and leave if off for 20 minutes and restart it, take out the battery for 30 minutes, etc.) None of this seemed to help. So we decided after a few months of trying to live with the terrible coverage, we'd just go in and cancel our contract. When we went in, they told us that we'd have to pay $200 per line for early termination fees. I was dumbfounded. I told them that I was told when we got on the new plan that it was not a contract and we could cancel at any time. They told us they we were wrong and that there was a 2 year contract. I tried to explain to them that if I had in fact known that it was a 2 year contract that I would have never canceled my old plan for $200 in order to then buy crappy phones at full price only to get back on a contract. They were not very sympathetic to my dilemma, and told me that there was nothing they could do to help us. They also told me that I hadn't paid a Early Termination Fee, but a Migration fee and implied that I should have been happy that it was only $200 and not $400.
I contacted Customer Support to discuss what had happened and after waiting in queue for 20 minutes, I was "helped" by being told that there was nothing that they could do other than update my notes and that I'd have to get it taken care of in the retail location. I was stunned at their lack of any kind of customer service mentality.
My wife is in the Navy and we had a PCS coming up and I figured I'd just wait to see if the coverage was magically better in Oak Harbor, WA than it was in San Diego, CA. Our coverage in our home is non-existent. Upon calling support from a land line we found, they gave us all the same trouble shooting steps. I told them that I had tried that previously and it didn't help, but they insisted that I go home and try them again and to call back if I could not get service and they'd try additional steps.
I don't believe I'd felt any more taken advantage of by a company in my life. I asked what my options were and the customer service rep told me to call back for more trouble shooting steps. At this point, I don't want to have anything to do with T-Mobile and I will be sure to tell every living soul I know to never even consider T-Mobile. I'm flat out disgusted with this company and will do everything in my power to make sure they never get one of my friends, acquaintances, neighbors, or anyone else I come into contact with as a customer.y
If anyone has any ideas as to how to get out of this contract without the ETF, it would be greatly appreciated.