T-Mobile is trying to steal $100 from me.

I switched carriers yesterday from T-Mobile to another company.
I had a prepaid account with a $100 balance in it when I switched.
I called to get the $100 refunded. I'm told that I cannot have a refund.
I can only apply it to another T-Mobile account.
I asked for a supervisor in the phone call. I got a supervisor on the phone
and told her that I would file in Summary Claims court for the $100 and all court costs. I said "why not avoid that and just refund the money you owe me". She said no.

Now I get to go to court for the first time ever. It will be interesting to see if the judge sees it my way.

Bob, my guess is what does it boil down to in the fine print, so to speak.

Ghost_Rider1949 wrote:

Bob, my guess is what does it boil down to in the fine print, so to speak.

My argument to the judge is gonna be that the "fine print" was so hidden from me that there was no reasonable way a customer could have ever known about the "fine print". That the reason I built up my balance was because I had already experienced having T-Mobile cut my phone off when I accidentally didn't have a balance in my account. And after that I kept a significant balance in the account to prevent that from ever happening again. Because of course I realized that the routine in America is that any company will refund a balance owed a customer. That is the only fair way to do business. Every company I have ever dealt with has conducted business that way.
And I will argue to the judge that any hidden "small print" in a so-called "term of service" which has a company keeping money that is not rightfully there's; that if that is upheld, it would overturn over 200 years worth of American law and standard American business practices. Not to mention that it would overturn the Commandment in the Holy Bible which says "thou shalt not steal". Plus it would just not be nice.

What kind of phone do you have, my man? Was it purchased through T-Mobile?

The Consumerist Website seems to get results because of their wide number of readers. Might be worth a try.

Did you get the names of the employees?

Eric wrote:

What kind of phone do you have, my man? Was it purchased through T-Mobile?

The Consumerist Website seems to get results because of their wide number of readers. Might be worth a try.

Did you get the names of the employees?

I had my own phone. That is routine with prepaid cellular. I come in with my own phone to the local store and they
sell me and activate a T-Mobile prepaid account. I was purchasing the service, not the phone.

Before I file the claim, I'm going to get the name of the T-Mobile store manager where I purchased the account.
I'm going to name him, the store, and the corporation as defendants.

I'll check out "Consumerist". Didn't know about it.

Good luck Bob.

Thanks Neko

Yeah, I think it will boil down to "fine print" as well, but good luck to you Bob. Let us know how it goes.

Who is your new carrier?

riceme wrote:

Who is your new carrier?

I switched to Straight Talk and chose a phone which uses the Verizon cell tower network (you can choose a phone which uses the AT&T cell tower network instead if you wish).
Unlimited data, talk and tex for $45/mo. The internet with it is faster than what I had with T-Mobile.

That sounds like a pretty good deal! I've had Nextel, Sprint, AT&T (for work only) and Verizon, and Verizon has the best nationwide coverage of all of them by far. AT&T has BY FAR the worst. In fact, I'd say that AT&T SUCKS. You couldn't pay me to rely on them.

I'll be interested to see how you like it. I have unlimited everything w/Verizon for about $100/mo right now.

Bob,

I had a friend of mine who was in her 80's when her husband died. She called T-Mobile and told them that her husband had passed away and to cancel his account.

They told her they could not cancel his account and how do they really know if he past away or not. She informed them that she would supply a death certificate. They said no. She asked to talk to a supervisor and the stupidvisor would NOT cancel the account.

T-Mobile told her that if she didn't pay the 11 months that was remaining they would file suit against her !!

She paid the remaining 11 months on his contract.

She NEVER told me what they had done to her until 6-8 months later.

Even though she was in her eighties she was VERY sharp.

Three days after she paid the entire amount that was due, they shut off the phone. She should have had 11 more months of service !!!

She never called them to ask why they shut off the phone. She NEVER wanted to speak with them again.

Vettecor wrote:

Bob,

I had a friend of mine who was in her 80's when her husband died. She called T-Mobile and told them that her husband had passed away and to cancel his account.

They told her they could not cancel his account and how do they really know if he past away or not. She informed them that she would supply a death certificate. They said no. She asked to talk to a supervisor and the stupidvisor would NOT cancel the account.

T-Mobile told her that if she didn't pay the 11 months that was remaining they would file suit against her !!

She paid the remaining 11 months on his contract.

She NEVER told me what they had done to her until 6-8 months later.

Even though she was in her eighties she was VERY sharp.

Three days after she paid the entire amount that was due, they shut off the phone. She should have had 11 more months of service !!!

She never called them to ask why they shut off the phone. She NEVER wanted to speak with them again.

WTF??!!

I can completely sympathize with this poor gal not wanting to ever speak to them again... obviously she was mourning the loss of her dear husband. But DAMMIT I wish she had been in a frame of mind where she was able to deal with all the legal BS involved with rectifying this situation.

This sort of crap really pisses me off. What a bunch of assholes.

I totally agree with your comment, Riceme.

Its bad enough that this happen to my friend but I just wonder how many other people T-Mobile has done this to ?

So sad.

Vettecor wrote:

I totally agree with your comment, Riceme.

Its bad enough that this happen to my friend but I just wonder how many other people T-Mobile has done this to ?

So sad.

It's probably in their unofficial handbook to target old folks who have recently lost their loved ones. The dirty bastards.

And since when is a death certificate not sufficient evidence in America that your loved one has passed? WTH?!