I’ve always had nothing but good things to say about T-Mobile customer service. I would call up and their representatives were always nice and helpful.
That is until recently. Fortunatly I haven’t had need of T-Mobile customer service very often, and was dismayed to learn that something has changed.
If you call tmobile from your phone (either their 877 number or by dialing 611) it doesn’t actually call anyone, but instead opens the t-mobile app which has links to things such as checking your minutes, viewing your bill, etc. It then also has a link to dial support. If you press the link, it will dial support, which is their new fancy automated system.
The system asks what you’re calling about. It suggests you can say things like “check usage, pay bill,” etc. If you ask for a representative it tells you that it needs to know what you’re calling about first. No matter how many times you ask for a representative, it will not connect you. And so you tell it what you want:
Me: “android update”
T-Mobile: “Just to be sure, you’re calling about hotspots, am I right?”
Me: “no”
T-Mobile: “My mistake. Let’s try this again. . .”
Me: “software update”
T-Mobile: “Just to make sure, you’re calling about downloads, correct?”
Me: “kind of”
And finally it connects me to a person.
I called a few weeks ago to get some information about different plans and their pricing, to see if there was a better deal out there for me and my rather unique phone usage situation (I need one line with text, voice and data, and one with just voice). I explained to the representative what I wanted and no matter how many times I explained it, or in how many different ways, he just wasn’t understanding my simple question, which boiled down to, “are there any new plans which would keep the service i have now and lower my bill?”. After offering me several more expensive plans, I finally gave up, thanked him for his time, and hung up.
And so now my phone, (G2X) didn’t receive the gingerbread update it was supposed to. LG’s website has a way to manully update the phone, but this requires a Windows PC, and being a Linux user, means I can’t do it (easily). So I decide to contact customer support. I email them using an address I find after a google search and get this message in return:
Notice: Important changes to our e-mail program starting Jan 10th:
You spoke and we listened! Due to overwhelming feedback, our e-mail for Customer Care is transitioning to live chat support. We?ve found that you are more satisfied with chat, and get your issues resolved in less time with chat.
Starting Jan 10th, e-mail will no longer be available for support, but you can still chat live with one of our online specialists. You can also get online help from other customers in our Community Forums (http://forums.t-mobile.com), or use our self-service options in My T-Mobile (http://my.t-mobile.com). As always, 24/7 support is still available by dialing 1-800-937-8997 or 611 from your T-Mobile phone.
Which means I can’t do it from my phone. Okay, so I wait until I’m at a computer and I go to their live chat. Here’s the screenshot:
Why suffer through the convenience of E-mail when you can have a chat service that you can’t access?
Which lead me to call them again. After going through the hoops of their automated service and establishing that yes, I actually had a legitimate question, I finally get through to someone. This person seems both polite and competent. She tells me that she needs to transfer me to another department. I say okay, and she makes the transfer. A few seconds later I am greeted with the sound of the call disconecting.
And so, I call back, go through the same rigamarool with the automated system and this time am successfully transfered to the ’2nd level support’. I explain the issue and am put on hold for 10 min. after which time he explains that the Gingerbread update for the G2X was pulled due to instability issues. Which makes the communication from T-Mobile on their support forums rather confusing.
In any case, it is clear that T-Mobile wants to make it as hard as possible to actually contact support. They make it easy to give you resources to solve your own problem, but if it is obvious that your problem is not one of their standard issues, then you’re shit out of luck until you have half an hour to spend on the phone.
Come on T-Mobile. What happened?
I called several times and after speaking to an unintelligent robotic voice system, I was transferred all over the world to reps who could not help as they did not have the required information. I only want to add an extra line, and after an hours wait I am still on hold with a repeating message”due to the excellent response to our current promotions, we are experiencing a longer than normal wait time’!!!! I’ve been a T-Mobile customer since 1998!! What has changed? Didn’t Tmobile get bought over by some other wireless company recently?
I share the very same frustration with T-Mobile customer service. I find it extremely painful 1) when I cannot get the option I want in the automated system that only addressed stupid questions like billing and minutes; 2) very rude when the stupid, dumb, idiotic automated voice tells me, “I am afraid I will have to disconnect your call”. Is this customer service? T-Mobile is horrible now & I am very angry & disappointed with their Customer Care. Wonder how I am going go manage having locked in the next 20 months? I am very frustrated & disappointed..T-Mobile needs to remedy this 611 situation immediately.
SOMETHING HAS CHANGED WITH TMOBILE. IVE BEEN TRYINGTO GET THEM TO UNDERSTAND THAT I HAVE NOT HAD A CELL SIGNAL FOR THE LAST 6MONTHS IN MY HOUSE. KEEP GETTING A SUPERVISOR, FINALLY AFTER 6 MONTHS I TOLD THEM THAT IF NO SERVICE THEN NO PAYMENT, THEY ASKEDME”DO YOU WANT TO CANCELLSERVICE?” I SAID NO, I WILL NOT PAY FOR SOMETHING THAT WAS GIVEN TO ME,SERVICE IN MY HOUSE. THEY CANCELLED MY CONTRACT AFTER 7 YEARS. I HAVE AN OUSTANDING BILL THAT I WILL NOT PAY AND I NOW HAVE VERIZON WITH A SIGNAL IN MY HOME, SOMETHING REALLY DRASTIC HAS CHANGED WITH THEM…..
Same Problem here that everyone else is experienceing..It used to be good, now THEY ARE TERRIBLE..I’m moving on next august my contract is up…They threatend me tonight, and said ‘ well your contract is not up until August of 2012…I said, “thats fine, because after august 2012..I will no longer be deaiing with Tmobile…Too bad really, it used to be a great company!!
You know what though, its going to be the same thing with another company, because they are all being monopolized..’guess we will have to deal with the only restaurant in town until all of these companies pull it together…WHAT INCOMPETENCE…Maybe I will just get a gophone, I’m so tired of paying my bill ontime, and getting horrible service…
Good luck to everyone involved with this company, were going to need it…
T-MOBILE SERVICE IS TERRIBLE. WORST SERVICE EVER! They wouldn’t even listen to me and kept on blaming me for an overcharge that wasn’t even my fault! They even kept giving me attitude. T-Mobile service is as worst as its plans. It’s a RIP OFF! I’m never ever going to be a T-Mobile customer ever again! I HATE T-MOBILE! I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND T-MOBILE TO ANYONE! They put up ads that make you think T-Mobile is the best, but once you get a plan, it’s just wasting your money. T-MOBILE IS HORRIBLE.
Tmobile sucks. As plain and simple as day. They’re money-grubbing assholes with little regard to the individual customer and their needs. Love sucking out as much as they can before the poor victims realize they’ve been sucked dry. Worse of all they will not admit it, no matter what. Crappy service, stupid add-ons, horrible rip-offs.
oh and I fucking hate the contracts. Don’t fall for them. Ever.
They used to be very helpful.. I have been with them over 12 years… I have gone over on minutes many time, I always pay my bill on time, and I have longevity; I would think that type of customer would be valued. THEY COULD CARE LESS…..they have obviously had a change in mind in who they want to be. As soon as the contract is over….GOOD BYE TMOBILE!!!!!!
What has happened is a Superior Court Judge has ruled that T-Mobile and other cell phone companies can no longer be sued in class action lawsuits. I have experienced the worst customer service in 7 years I’ve been with them. They have a new approach and as soon as my contract expires I’m gone! There’s nothing we can do about lies from overseas reps since they are now imune to threats of lawsuits. Even the local troubleshooters have been trained to play hard ball. Nothing you can do. The class action attourneys all direct me to write my congressman so they can return to getting fat themselves. I surrender!