T-Mobile Text Messaging Rip Off Bellevue Washington

K...Here's my understanding after working for the company for several years.

Legally, we can not block the ability to recieve Text messages, because in our contract it does state that we may send you notifications about new plans, past due balances etc. Also, via Text messages, we send updates to your phone to allow it to better funtion on our network.

We can block outgoing, like Lena said, remove the sms center #, but not incoming.

In terms of it being expensive, I remember when I was with AT&T. If I wanted to send a text it was 10 a message, but I could recieve all that I wanted for free. T-Mobile is the only one who charges less than 10/text message last I checked. Beyond that, take a look at the other companies and how many text messages they offer for how much...That's where the rip off comes in!

If your text messages are spam, and you have the internet on a home computer, go online to my t-mobile.com (i'm not sure what the exact address is, but if you go to T-mobile.com you can sign on from there). Once you're on there go click on the text messaging link. On the left side of the screen it will give you a list of options. One of them should say "change phones email address." Click on that and change it to whatever you want. If it's spam text messages, they're being sent to your phones email address, which is "your#@tmomail.net" Changing it will stop alot of those txt msgs, if not all.

Well I have talked to everyone at T-mobil no one could stop it their only option was to change phone number. I said ok if you are going to do that I want something I asked for a good discount on a new phone.

The best they could do was 20 bucks off what they would give me just to renew another year. Or I could with verizon get 2 new phones out the door for 76.00 bucks picture phones at that and I get to port my number and they can block text messaging.

I just have to wait to the end of the month for my contract ends. phones should be here in 2 days. Funny thing is I haven't got spam which is what I have been getting in 2 days maybe now they decided to something to stop it. To bad its to little to late. I think fighting this a for a year was long enough. Thanks for your ideas Lynn

Carl, I am a little confused as to why that didn't work. Are these text msg's that you're receiving AOL instant messages or just text? If they are just text, not AOL, are they welcomed or are they some sort of SPAM? If they are AOL instant messages, make absolutely sure that you are signed off AOL on your phone and home PC. If you are signed on on both of them, you will still receive instant messages.

Deleting that number should have worked, as that is what we have done in my area for many of our customers. If none of this works, I have one last option for you... Do you have a DIRECT T-Mobile store near you (One that can take your bill payment)? If so, go there, and ask a sales representative if they can please call customer care for you and have the text messaging SOC CODE removed from your account. I really hope that one of these options works for you. Just make sure that the rep calls to have the actual code for the feature (SOC Code) removed, as this is the actual code that enables this feature on your acct. Best of luck!!!

Well that didn't work I deleted that number and still got 2 text messages. Oh and after rereading your response. I am sorry but this is not Trival. My wife keeps here phone by the bed and to hear the phone beeping telling you have a text message at 2:30 in the morning is not trival we also get charged for them but have to get them credited every month because I don't want to pay to be annoyed. Any other ideas how to stop text messageing?

Well Lynn thanks for responding to this thread I have been dealing with T-mobil about this problem for over a year.Unwanted text messages over 70 amonth and they have suggested everything but! what you suggested I will give it a try and see.And yes I did talk to tech support!! I will let you know if this works.

Ok, first and foremost, i would like to say that i read these threads to get customer feedback. now, that said, let me get a few things straight for you all, as i have been with this company since they were OmniPoint, WAY before the VoiceStream days.......

To those of you that say you shouldn't get charged for incoming text messages... All companies do it, and there is no way around it. So many consumers feel that because they are paying a set price per month they should get all kinds of stuff for free... we give you what we can, but if we gave you everything you wanted for free, we would go out of business.

To those of you complaining you are getting charged for the texts that T-Mobile sends you... NO YOU AREN'T.... all voicemail notifications, bill remiders, promo reminders, etc. are at no cost to you. These aren't credited later, they are just FREE
To those of you complaining that you USED to have 50 free inbound text, now none.... That is something that we used to include on all plans when we were VoiceStream and for a short while when we became T-Mobile.... if you still have one of those plans and haven't CHANGED YOUR PLAN, then you still have them. T-Mobile is one of the ONLY carriers in the US that does NOT reserve the right to change your plan at any time without your consent!!!!!

As for being able to remove the text completely for you phone, YES, it CAN be done. No need to call a "Tech" or cust. care or even go to a store... go to your messages menu on your phone, select 'message settings' and then 'message center number'... delete the number. end of story, no text. YES, you WILL still get a voicemail notification, as this runs off of a completely different system that the SMS does. if you want to receive them, punch the message center number back in, no biggie.

Seriously, this is such a trivial, small little gripe, it's ridiculous. I have had to research wireless companies myself and collaborate reports on them for many years now, and T-Mobile is truly one of the better ones out there. There is a reason that they just won a JD Power & Associates award for customer service.

Oh, and to the person that originally started this thread, almost two years ago... #1, if it was so bad, why are you still with them? and #2, that 3000 minute plan was not "earned" by you... we still offer it, and can package MANY features with it, including $9.99 unlimited text, which is STILL available, and IS VERY advertised. my suggestion to you is, instead of sitting on this site complaining for TWO YEARS, go to your local directly owned T-Mobile store, and have them go over your plan and your bills with you, which they can pull up on their systems there, to see what they offer now and what they can do for you.

To the first responder to this thread, From a educated phone user. T-mobil WILL NOT turn of text messaging!!! We have gone round and round with them we get about 75 a month between our two phones all they do is credit it off after us waiting on the phone 20 minutes there only option is to change phone numbers which we don't want to do. T-mobil is good except that which they suck!!! big time

I'm having the same problem with t-mobile. They charge for incoming text messages and they WILL turn them off completely (according to disconnect CSR, but everyone else said there is no way). If you turn off the text messages completely then you will no longer receive voicemail notifications, which is pretty useless. It's like if you had to pay 5 cents per email received. How do you stop from receiving spam? You can't. Good reason why people aren't charged per email received.

Okay I'm ready to retire this thread. This thread has been going for almost 2 years. I'm still using Tmobile. It doesn't have the range but aside from my irritation at the service plan issue a year ago, I use it for even more things today.

Also, I'm a consumer, not a Tmobile Employee... I don't know or care why I can't have a service package that's been advertised. There are laws in this country about offering services and then denying them when they're requested. Something like "bait and switch".

I understand the limitations are in the system you use to manage the service. The consumer reality is that we expect cell services to operate like a public utility. Up time 100%, reliability 100%, service level expectation 100%. And THAT's why people have complaints.

So let's put this thread to rest. There are more important issues I'm sure.

Cheers.

I am a purchaser for government and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on wireless voice and data products. I would like to say to everyone here (in agreement with Seargent Pfeffer - Milwaukee, Wisconsin), all cell companies have issues! Please make sure you have an understanding of your cell phone plan, promotions (which WILL extend your contract no matter WHAT COMPANY/service provider you use),etc. This is the idea of a promo plan...to get you to extend your contract. i.e. T-Mobile is running a promo on nights and weekends. If you don't want to extend your contract but what to change minute plans, DON'T TAKE THE NIGHTS! This will extend your contract. Additionally, you CANNOT add new features to an old, outdated plan, no matter "who" your service provider is.

I have been a T-Mobile Customer for 4 years now and have problems, but no more than with any other cell provider (tried them all). The difference with T-Mobile is they will TRY and make it right.

Finally, if you get someone at T-Mobile that tells you "no" or the answer just doesn't seem to make sense, call back and get another customer service rep. Just make sure you are documenting CSR ID numbers.

Good luck to everyone!

Bradley -

I am in agreement with everything you stated, I even wonder why some class action suit has not been filed on this matter.

I was told by the cell phone store that I too had 50 free incoming text messages.

SURPRISE!

T-mobil CHANGED that policy. You are now charged for ALL incoming Text messages at 5 cents per pop.

When I called them to complain, their answer was, "Well we do it because we can."

As far as the Response to BLOCK text messaging - this was not an option according to the supervisor.

Well, I WOULD LIKE TO BLOCK all incoming Text messages. I am an out of work mother who needs the cell phone to keep in touch with my kids. I have NO USE for Text Messages.

To most of these reports, I agree with a post above: get educated. To the person trying to add 10.00/ month to get unlimited txt: it seems as if the reason you cannot do this is because you are on an ancient plan. Whenever you try and add something now, they will probably be forced to place you into a current plan.

To the rest of the people posting, I've noticed that there are misunderstandings of the contract, the company, or the overall expectations. I do not want to say buyer beware, but just as with every product on the market no one is sure about anything. Something bad will always happen from food, clothing, cars, and yes even cell phones. These companies deal with millions of situations every day.

To those strictly trashing T-Mobile, check out the other companies on here- they are all very well represented. A company is a company is a company and they are all looking to earn a buck. The best advice is to play it safe and discover everything you are getting yourself into.

I have now been a customer for under 2 months. I starting receiving unwanted spam messages to my T-mobile phone. Upon noticing, I contacted T-mobile only to find out that I AM BEING CHARGED per message regardless of who sends the message to me.

I just spent an hour on the phone with 2 representatives and a manager. Their argument? My contract outlines that I am responsible for any charges related to the text messaging feature. What they don't explain when you sign up...you don't have control over who chooses to text message you and that even if you don't sign up for the text messaging feature, they give it to you anyways. And they don't even make excuses for it. They just tell me there's nothing they can do!

Their solutions? Either set up spam filters (we all know how well that works because you can't possibly prevent emails when you don't know where they are coming from and the ones you are receiving are inconsistent) or change my number (but then someone gets ahold of my new number and the process starts all over again).

Sounds to me like a scam for them to nickel and dime unwanting consumers out of money. Yeah, so it's 50 cents to 1 dollar a month on my bill alone - doesn't sound like much. But it sure adds up to their benefit when they are scamming millions of customers. They "understood" that it wasn't fair to the customers yet argued that it isn't fair to the company to provide the service and not be paid for it. What happened to companies who are more concerned about what is right for the customer?

I also have the "Get More" plan and had absolutely no trouble getting the $10 a month unlimited text messaging/mobile-to-mobile, and in fact, got the first month for free for both my line and my husband's. I also changed my T-zones to the professional plan and instead of 1 MB for $2.99 a month, I now pay $9.95 for 10 MB

My only complaint about T-Mobile? I have a "higher end" (Samsung S105) phone and the megatones are rather limited.

Good luck.

I was thrilled to see the response. But sadly when I called the support people they told me that they won't allow a person with my particular plan (a plan I've been using for over 4 years) to have that unlimited text message option.

I have the Get More 3000 plan (3000 minutes anytime). I EARNED this plan by joining up with Voicestream back in the Jamie Lee Curtis days.

Now... they did give me options: I could get not nearly as many minutes for $99/month and then I could get the extra addon's including the text messaging unlimited (Total for my usage would put me over $140/month).

Up until three months ago I was staying around $70/month and I don't remember my messaging volume changing much... so I smell something fishy.

The tone of the customer service people change amazingly when you ask them "Why?". I asked the guy why can't I have this option? He said its not "compatible" with my plan, just the others.

Sounds like the truth is: They can get more money out of me if they keep me on the line screwing with me than if they let me have what I need and what is reasonable to expect.

Thanks.

The poster who mentioned the $10 a month for unlimited text messaging didn't mention that this same plan includes unlimited mobile-to-mobile.

Many of their deals are not advertised, but if you call Customer Service at 611, they will mention these to you.

I have been with T-Mobile for about 9 months and I had had NO problem with billing, customer service or dropped calls/reception. You get alot more for your money with them than you do with Sprint PCS or Verizon, that's for sure.

Ok, first of all, I read threw these rip off reports and all it is un-educated mobile phone users. To this particular problem, there is a fix.
1. You can call the Tech Support through Customer Care (that is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week) and have them delete the ability to send and recieve messages at any time.

2. The only incoming messages they send to are alerts that you set up on the website, or your friends send you, or even if you give your number out to others, how can you hold them responsible? Stop trying to point the finger at a large company, blame yourself. BE RESPOSIBLE.

3. Last, BUT NOT LEAST! Currently T-Mobile has a feature for $10.00 per month, thats right, only $10.00 per month that gives you unlimited text messaging, WOW! Problem solved, so before you go off the deep end next time about trying to point the figure at a large company, get some common sense and blame yourself for giving your number out to others!