I vowed a long time ago to not use this blog as a venue for bitching. There are enough people on the internet complaining about stuff and I don't want to be one of them. Today, however I break that pledge, if just for a moment.
On Tuesday, January 18th T-Mobile announced a two day special promotion in which the HTC T-Mobile G2 smartphone could be yours for free, with a two year contract agreement. The tech blogs wet their pants and tons of customers screamed hallelujah for such an amazing deal. All except this guy. I would have been pumped for such an amazing deal too, had I not bought the exact phone from T-Mobile ten days earlier for $300.
A little over a week ago, with my previous cell phone malfunctioning I decided it was time to finally invest in a smartphone. I only had five months left on my current contract and while my experience with T-Mobile has been neither excellent or poor, merely average, and despite the additional costs bundled in, it seemed cheaper to stay with the company and purchase a new phone rather than switch providers. So I laid down my $300 and bought the G2.
Cut back to Tuesday's promotion announcement. Buried in the depths of T-Mobile's website is the fine print, which reveals that the promotion is essentially only available to new customers. Hey T-Mobile, how about a promotion that is available to your long time existing customers? I've had an account with the company for nearly ten years. In my time with the company I've had three phones, including the new G2. So it's not like I'm switching phones every other month. Here's a couple of promotions I've been lucky enough to have been offered over the years:
- A FREE phone! A two year old, obvious inventory surplus slider phone totally free, well kinda - with a 2 year contract extension & $18 upgrade fee.
- An special existing customers "upgrade discount" on a new phone - price based relative to how much of your existing service contract remains and the agreement of extending your contract yet another two years plus an $18 upgrade fee.
Three phone calls to T-Mobile (two service reps and one supervisor) and I'm no closer to recouping any of the $300. "We want to make sure that all of our members get the best discount afforded to them, but we are sorry you do not qualify for this promotion. You may return the phone for a refund as you fall within the 14 day "buyer's remorse" period, but there is a $10 fee and your recent 2 yr contract extension agreement cannot be changed," informed the supervisor.
"It's weird because if I go to my account right now and click upgrade, I can access the Free G2 promotion. It's actually the first phone that pops up in the list of phones to choose from. I'm actually on the order page and it says total cost due $50 (refundable with rebate) + $5 tax + $5 shipping + $18 upgrade fee. It looks like if I click order submit, I can get a Free G2 and there isn't any mention of not qualifying for the promotion," I said.
"Oh, well um, I don't know how you are seeing what you are describing because according to our records you should not qualify for any promotion let alone the G2 promotion. It may be a glitch in our system...." the supervisor continued.
"Yeah, I think I'm just gonna click submit and sell the phone on Ebay to try and get back a little of that $300. Thanks for your help tonight."
Um, sir, I don't think that..."
Hang up, click submit order. "We are sorry, your order cannot be completed at this moment for unknown reasons, please call T-Mobile Customer Service at...."
Right.
So once I am relinquished from my most recent two year contract, I think T-Mobile and I will be parting ways. If they are so bad, why have you stayed a customer for so long? The long and short of it is their service plans are cheaper than everyone else if you can stand the fact that pretty much every interaction with the company results in a two year contract extension. All in all, I'd like to think there is a company out there that values their EXISTING customers a little better than T-Mobile does. I don't know if there is but I think it's about time to find out.
NOTE: Aside from the drama with T-Mobile, the phone itself is great. I've never had a smart phone before so I don't really have any knowledge of how it stacks up against it's competitors, but the fact that I can find info about my gluten free situation instantly is fantastic. It should help me out in a lot of ways.
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