[Arcane]

I just wanted to share my recent experiences with Tmobile customer service. I have been with tmo for over 4 yrs. Purchased my pearl last september when they came out. thanks to BBF I have been very succesful in using my pearl for everything, all the time. you guys even helped me with things tmo didnt know about at the time. the only thing that couldnt be helped was the fact that eventually the battery door just would not stay on the phone. I called tmo customer service about 1-1/2 months ago and told them what was going on and asked what they could do for me. the rep was very helpful. He told me that it was a known manufacturers defect and that they would send me another phone immediately. He also told me that the only charge I would receive would be the expedited shipping charge (I get a little impatient). the phone showed up the next day instead of 3 days later like I was told. naturally I had to upgrade the os so I didnt have the lag when I answered a call. all in all, I had no problems whatsoever and then sent my old pearl back to their national service center. a month later I realized that my plan no longer had enough minutes to keep me happy so I upgraded the plan with no problems whatsoever. two weeks later I get my bill and there is an out of warranty charge for $107 including taxes, of course. I contacted customer service by email and told them that this needed to be removed since it was a known problem and the phone was still in warranty. 5 days later I got a response telling me that the phone had liquid damage. now the problem with this is that the phone had never even been near water. Out of paranoia I checked the indicators, with the help of BBF, before I shipped the phone to them. I replied to tmo in kind and they have now sent me an email explaining to me what liquid damage is. Like I didn't know what I was talking about. seriously the phone was in perfect shape with the exception of the crummy battery door. It appears at this time that they are not going to back down and insist that the phone was damaged and that I should pay for it. I called blackberry support today and have filed for an unlock code. soon I will be switching providers due to my complete understanding of what tmobile considers customer service and my phone will be unlocked and ready to sell. I think I will get an 8300 next. thanks for letting me get this off my chest and hopefully my experience will be a fair warning for anyone else who has to deal with tmobile customer service.

[LunkHead]

Move to rant and raves???

I have been pretty lucky with T-Mo (knock on wood) but I feel your pain as I have had issues before with Sprint....

[insyder]

Note to self:

Take several pictures of defective hardware before sending to manufacturer for warranty exchange.



Yikes! Sounds pretty shady to me.

[teamcrn]

Happend to a friend. they tryed charging him the warranty fee due to the water indicator he said he argued the point and said he got it removed

[BBGregPearl]

Thats crazy. Like what was posted before I would take pictures before I send anything just to make sure that they wont screw you over.

[John Clark]

Originally Posted by LunkHead

Move to rant and raves???

Agreed. Done....

[Rolo1971]

Wow, I can understand how frustrated you must be. I had similar issues with Sprint years ago which is why I moved to Cingular (now AT&T).

Sounds like a rip-off to me though.

[JGBerry]

that sucks, t-mobile customer service has been nothing but great to me. i bought a blackberry off ebay and then it broke and t-mobile replaced the blackberry with a brand new one, even tho i didn't even buy it from them. i was still within my 14 day trial and they said they wanted to do whatever it took to make me happy as a tmobile customer and that i come first.

HECK YEA! lol

[SanFrancisco]

Hard to read that one long rant. But, when you checked the water indicators before shipping, did you take any pics?

When I had a warranty return I put the phone on top of a newspaper, with date showing, and then took four pics in various angles, some showing the water detectors were not tripped.

This is interesting because there was another member who posted that T-Mo said the same thing: on return of the phone T-Mo claimed there was water damage. Was that you?

If not, odd that this happens once in awhile.

I think what might be happening is that the guys who receive and check in the phones must be mixing up the entry codes. I suspect that the code for OK and "water damage" may be close in letters or numerical sequence, so human error causes the wrong code to be entered. Either that or someone is mixing up the phones?

Sounds like innocent error, but when it gets to the CSR they have to go by what the returns dept. said.

I'd push the issue and demand they return the phone to you. Only then will they back down because they won't be able to find that phone. In a sense you have shifted the burden of proof to them, "prove there was water damage."

I know it's easier to say to hell with it, but I would not let them get away with it. Unfortunately, since you may not have documented the return with pics, it's tough to prove you are right.

I'd also consider writing a letter to the T-Mo president, telling him or her about this issue. If more than a few people are getting screwed like this, they need to visit the returns dept and make some corrections.

[dc/dc]

I've never had a problem with T-Mobile USA's customer service.

[JGBerry]

i think if your contract depended on it, T-Mo's CS would even give you a bj

ok...maybe they're not that good...but you get the point lol

[JSanders]

Originally Posted by JGBerry

i think if your contract depended on it, T-Mo's CS would even give you a bj

ok...maybe they're not that good...but you get the point lol

No, they won't. They couldn't care less. They've proven to me they aren't going to do anything to keep a contract.

[JGBerry]

Originally Posted by JSanders

No, they won't. They couldn't care less. They've proven to me they aren't do anything to keep a contract.

yea sanders, i remember you telling me about your issues with them...that sucks a lot. i dunno what to say except maybe on average, t-mobile customer server is really good.

not sure why they screwed you over so bad...

[JSanders]

You don't have to defend them. If I had the President of TMo's address, I would send him a copy of the letter I recently received from his company.

[JGBerry]

Originally Posted by JSanders

You don't have to defend them. If I had the President of TMo's address, I would send him a copy of the letter I recently received from his company.

it's ok dude, i'm not defending them. every company as its ups and downs. everyone is likely to get screwed over eventually. when will you be making the full switch to ATT?

[JSanders]

Pretty soon. I've been to busy to think about it this past month, and one of the TMo account devices is in Wyoming for another month or more, so I can't move that one anyway, yet.

[JGBerry]

Originally Posted by JSanders

Pretty soon. I've been to busy to think about it this past month, and one of the TMo account devices is in Wyoming for another month or more, so I can't move that one anyway, yet.

ahh, i see

[.Shaun]

i've had no problems with tmobile cs.
everytime i call i get someone who's nice in personality.
i even got 30 free text messages as a bonus. and they upgraded my plan without it costing me more.. 1000 mins for 39.99. and my contract hasnt been extended either.

i think its how you talk to them.

[JGBerry]

Originally Posted by .Shaun

i've had no problems with tmobile cs.
everytime i call i get someone who's nice in personality.
i even got 30 free text messages as a bonus. and they upgraded my plan without it costing me more.. 1000 mins for 39.99. and my contract hasnt been extended either.

i think its how you talk to them.

i am pretty sure that you could only be upgraded to the 1000 minute plan for 39.99 if you re-signed your contract

[BallHawk3]

Well seeing that I did this for nextel/sprint for the past years (running a service center).

There's more to liquid damage than just the indicators. That will only show if that indicator touches some form of liquid. There's a good chance liquid somehow touched the board else where on the phone. To really know, you have to open the phone up and look on the inside for yourself, which isn't really plausible for everyone.

I did this for years, I know. Except with Sprint/Nextel, customers are able to bring their phone to an actually store and see it FIRST hand. I can understand your frustration because your sending in the phone first and never get to see the outcome. But they do have a depot with techs opening the phone to check and see. We also did that with phones on sprint/nextel that weren't on the field repair list, where we had to send them out, but of course we always had to open them first to make sure it was free of physical or liquid damage (because us sending in a liquid damage phone would be on OUR ASS, not the customer). And even if the proublem isn't related to the liquid (like how yours obviously wasn't), they're going to charge you cause liquid damage phones are no good, the board gets tossed cause you can never tell how extensive the liquid got inside the board. Maybe that idea of having actual service centers work better, maybe it doesn't.

I heard it all working at a service center for sprint/nextel. People swearing up and down its never came close to water and its kinda funny hearing it from a guy who's a plumber, or someone who comes in with a phone that has sand all over it cause he was at a beach *chuckles.* And i've been in the same boat. My first phone, a motorola V66 with t-mo. I had the phone for a long time, and one day the screen whe blank, along with two keys not working. Had the phone for over a year so I didn't bother calling t-mo, instaed I took it to a cell place that repairs phones and was ready to pay. When they opened it up, in front of me they told me, don't even bother buy a new phone, the thing is liquid, rusted and "mold." Shit I swore up and down its never, been near, blah blah blah. But wasn't going to argue with him, the evidence is there. It's like walking out to your car and seeing a huge crack in your windshield, you can swear up and down that nothing happened to it, but IT happened, something caused it whether you did or not. So I called t-mo and upgraded (it was time anyway). It's not until years later I had a nextel service center that I learned, how that game works. And I also learned that most COMMON problem why keypads stop working (unless its a sanyo phone), is cause of liquid. Ahh that explains it! LOL. And why my screen was blank, liquid damge on the connector to ribbon (the rust helped too).

But I guess T-MO is cracking down. Like years ago my friend sent a phone that was dropped in water TWICE! It was the Motorola V300. He dropped the phone in a puddble while talking to it and the screen when blank. But only the flip/screen part was submerged so the liquid indicator never touched the puddle since it was behind the battery. Both times he sent it in and NEVER got charged (guess they didn't catch it or something). And he didn't care for paying it cause it would have been better than buying a new phone.

But I've been a t-mobile customer for a long time. Had maybe ONE problem with a customer service rep which was complete bullshit. But I didn't let it effect me. Also since I was in the cellphone bizz, I know the abuse and stuff they go through. Companings are willing to let people go only cause they think their calling your "bluff" because everyday, they get millions and millions of callers, calling them, complaining (over not so legit issues) threatening to leave just so they can try to catch a freebee. And it sucks, cause when YOU call yourself and have and ACTUAL PROBLEM, the rep brushes you off cause they think your another "asshole" who's trying to catch a freebee.

That's why don't take somethings to seriously, and its not always the company, part of it has to do with the customer's. Just remember, negative energy spreads and travels fast, your buddy has a jacked up day and comes and tells you about it, it kinda passes on to you, and the next person that comes into contact with you, you kinda pass a little on to him and so forth. Pretty much, if you deal with assholes all day, your going to be an asshole.