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Report: #1251651

Complaint Review: T-Mobile - Nationwide

  • Submitted:
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  • Reported By: intern — covina California United States of America
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  • T-Mobile Nationwide USA

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According to the FTC T-mobile was recently sued for 90 million dollars for allowing unauthorized 3rd party charges on thousands of victims phone bills. See more details here - ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/07/ftc-alleges-t-mobile-crammed-bogus-charges-customers-phone-bills


It seems that t-mobile is back to thier old tricks. I bought a t-mobile phone in 2013 and always have paid it on time. I did not sign any type of contract, it was a "pay as you go" deal. The bill was for $45 a month with taxes applied ( about $35 without taxes). It was unlimited talk, text and web. The phone was $100 and supposedly according to walmart was the most popular phone at that time for the price. May I just start out by saying the phone was horrible and gave me nonstop problems. It was so bad I ended up thinking it was just a fluke and returned it for a new one. The new one did the exact same things like dialing numbers while  charging by itself on the bed, calling the same number 5 times in a row by itself. It was embarrasing and some people actually yelled at me thinking it was me prank calling. The phones voice mail changed to spanish and had to call the phone company to get it fixed. I wouldn't get calls and texts a lot of the time and all my friends would complain. The phone was basically a nightmare but for that I blame myself for keeping it. I never complained and I wouldn't have ever said anything had it not been for the overbilling nightmare for this crappy phone.

So what happened is I was late for one months payment and they shut my service off for that month. When I logged into pay the bill online that same month they double up the bill and did not prorate it for the 3 weeks I didn't have service. One of the things the sales girl told me when buying the phone is that if you cannot pay the bill once they shut the phone off the billing STOPS. She told me this like 3 times as if it was a great feature and that stuck in my head when this happened. At any rate, I called t-mobile and asked them why they were charging me for the full month when I only had service for one week of that particular month. They told me a bogus story of how the first month I bought the phone I was never charged which was a lie. I have all bank statements to back up my payment history. Then they proceeded to try and brush it off as it was the bill for the prior month and how I was just confused on billing.

Well I was well aware that billing was always for the prior month and was not disputing that. I was disputing the double billing in which one bill should have been prorated for 3 weeks of non service. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. So I told the company I would not be using their service any further and do not want the phone to be turned back on.  I then emailed what was supposed to be a higher up contact for t-mobile which is- CustomerRelations@myfamilymobile.com. They basically acted as if the bill was justified and I was getting nowwhere with them so I told them I will pay the bill and don't wat the phone. They then changed their story again and said after I pay the bill they would look it over and if anything needed adjustements it would then be prorated. When they said that I said well if that's the case I will keep the phone. I just don't want to be involved with a fraudulent company that I cannot trust. What they did next was the unthinkable. I paid the bill for $86.06. They then turned the phone back on for a brief time. At this time I would have just kept the phone had they stuck to their word and prorated the bill for when I had no service. They shut off the phone right in the middle of the month then instead of issueing me a refund they sent me another bill in the mail for $37 and $5 of that was a fee for turning the phone back on. I mean talk about a slime ball move. When I viewed what the bill was for it was so vague you couldn't understand what anything was really for. Here is a quote taken from the FTC website
"The complaint against T-Mobile alleges that the company’s billing practices made it difficult for consumers to detect that they were being charged, much less by whom. When consumers viewed a summary of their T-Mobile bill online, according to the complaint, it did not show consumers that they were being charged by a third party, or that the charge was part of a recurring subscription."


So this is what I am assuming the bill is. Now when I contacted Customer relations again they simply ingored all my emails and I was forced to use a different email address. Then all of a sudden they answered and gave me the good old run around. I sent my name, phone number and pin, however, they continued to claim they could not verify my account and that I did not provide this information. I sent email after email with the information and they continued to do this until this morning. Their last words to me were that when I bought the phone I agreed to their terms of use which in other words are saying these bills were mentions and let me tell you, it's a crock! Let me start by saying I rarely ever used the phone, Never bought an app in my life, did not play games on it, did not call long distance and I paid close to $10 a month for taxes on that phone. Not to mention they ripped me off for the 3 week period of no service and now threaten to hurt my credit for a bill that I do not owe. It's basically blackmail. This is not a big bill but it's a big deal. This company has a history of frauding customers and If their doing it to me their still doing it to all their consumers and making a killing from frauding loyal paying customers. It's unbelievable to me that walmart would endorse such a dishonest company.They have a hugely wide spread bad reputation and people continue to buy from them because they simply do not know any better. Do your research, spread the word to your family, friends and coworkers and beware of t-mobile.  They tell you one thing and do another. On the receipt they say this quote - "No overages, No surpise bills". This company tells nothing but lies. T-mobile should be shut down because they obviously did not learn their lesson the first time they were sued.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 08/29/2015 05:49 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/t-mobile/nationwide/t-mobile-t-mobile-ripp-offt-mobile-fraud-report-my-family-mobile-scamt-mobile-unlimit-1251651. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
5Author
3Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#8 Author of original report

Do you want a phone company that acts like this?

AUTHOR: - ()

POSTED: Monday, September 07, 2015

This is T mobiles top representative coming to resolve the issue publicly mind you and this is how he speaks to a long time unhappy customer. He's made numerous "digs" and snide remarks like - "Denial is not just a river in Africa" and "You cannot even keep your own story straight". If he talks to me like that you think you'd be any different?  Rather than trying to get to the core of the issue (which he could obviously care less about) this guy just wants to be right and to win. Then he says my recording of T mobile caught in a lie was illegally obtained without permission. Does this really sound like a company that has nothing to hide? If they were being honest in this whole thing the normal response would have been - "Go ahead and play the recording because we have nothing to hide". This is what I've had to deal with for weeks now. No matter what I say a company's job is to remain cool and professional and this guy is a hot head. If I owned T mobile he would be fired but apparently this is T mobiles attitude. BTW my story couldn't be any more straight. If anyone is confused by the facts I will be more than happy to clear them up.

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#7 Author of original report

You just keep putting you foot in your mouth T mobile

AUTHOR: - ()

POSTED: Monday, September 07, 2015

Yes I read that I said I called from my phone (lol), I called from ANOTHER PHONE not the T mobile phone and if you here the recording you will here me say to the tmobile representitive and in my statement that I would provide my phone bill from that phone to prove I did not cancel my phone on August 13th. By the way she was told of the recording and did not dispute it but you sound pretty worried.

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#6 Consumer Comment

You can not even keep your own story straight

AUTHOR: Robert - (USA)

POSTED: Sunday, September 06, 2015

On August 29th, you wrote the following...

The bill is due every month on the 5th, so the bill was $45.99 due on the 5th of July and I paid $86.06 on JULY 27th

Now, on September 4th you wrote the following...

This is what happened. So I requested by phone in July that my service remain shut off. This call was made On July 22, 2015 and mind you it was already OFF at this time and I already had PAID the ENTIRE bill for July even though I did not have service for almost the entire month.

Did you notice the parts I underlined?  Do you notice anything wrong with your statements?  Well let me help you out.  In just about a week you went from paying your entire bill on July 27th to paying it BEFORE July 22nd.  And you say that they can't keep their dates right.

Oh and just some helpful advice(that I am sure you will ignore and try to somehow twist into a claim of being ripped off even more).  But California is a "Two Party Consent" State.  Meaning that if record someone without their approval not only can it not be used against them, they could actually turn around and come after you for civil damages.  If you don't believe me go look up California Penal Code Section 632.

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#5 Author of original report

Update on T Mobile Complaint

AUTHOR: - ()

POSTED: Friday, September 04, 2015

So let me just tell everyone how utterly low T Mobile will stoop. T Mobile's staff admitted on the phone they were basically coerced to lie about the date I cancelled service. I cancelled it July 22nd when it was already shut off and they lied and said I called to cancel on August 13th (Day before billing cycles over) to turn it off. After confronting T mobile's staff on the phone with evidence I had to the contrary, she immediately retracted her statement that the date was July 22nd and so did T Mobile via email after I presented evidence. However in a recent BBB complaint T Mobile still tried to go back to the original lie apparently not knowing how I had a voice recording of their staff admitting they lied.

 
This is what happened. So I requested by phone in July that my service remain shut off. This call was made On July 22, 2015 and mind you it was already OFF at this time and I already had PAID the ENTIRE bill for July even though I did not have service for almost the entire month. However, T mobile turned it back on sometime after I paid on July 27th. I had no conception they would trun it back on and of how crooked these people actually are and how far they would go. I mean to lie and say I requested it back on and then lie and say I didn't cancel until august 13th (one day conveniently before the billing cycle ended is unreal to me. So as soon as the 14th came they shut off service then sent me ANOTHER bill in the mail from having service from July 27th to August 14th. They also charged me for supposedly asking that the phone be turned back on which I never did. 
 
In the ripp off report they state that I owe money for the time my service was not on, however each email from t mobile never has once stated that in their terms of use and it is not in the walmart terms of use paper I have. They already attempted to prorated me the ridiculous amount of about $6 a couple days ago. This is because there entire defense and justification for the bill is that I never cancelled service until August 13th which I already have them admitting it was July. Therefore their last bill has no standing. I have email after email from T mobile giving me multiple excuses, lying about the dates the phone was actually shut off,  lying about the dates I cancelled service. The recording I have of their tech admitting to the lie speaks for itself.
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#4 Consumer Comment

Denial is not just a river in Africa..

AUTHOR: Robert - (USA)

POSTED: Sunday, August 30, 2015

 The bill is due every month on the 5th, so the bill was $45.99 due on the 5th of July and I paid $86.06 on JULY 27th

- You FAILED to pay your bill on the 5th so your service was cut off.  It doesn't matter if you later made that payment(or for what ever amount), it doesn't change the fact that you FAILED to pay your bill when it was due.  You will find as you grow up and take on "adult" resonsibilities that companies don't take to kindly to people who fail to pay their bills when they are due. 

I was told emphatically by the sales women when I first bough t phone that if for any reason I cannot pay the bill they will shut down service and billing STOPS til the service is back on

- Please post something in writing that states that.

You owe me and I still have yet to get a clear answer and breakdown of what the so called additonal $37 bill is for cause I'd love to hear it.  

- How about posting copies of your bills, I bet that they are actually really clear.  To get the full picture you should post June, July, and August with your personal information blacked out. 

There is one other thing very interesting that I don't even think you noticed.  You didn't report any billing issues between 2013 and July 2015.  But you also stated you always paid your bill on-time.  The ONLY time you are saying you had "issues" is when YOU FAILED to make your payment ON-TIME.   Think about it....

 

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#3 Author of original report

OMG I was told when I bought the phone pay only when service is on...

AUTHOR: - ()

POSTED: Saturday, August 29, 2015

I was told emphatically by the sales women when I first bough t phone that if for any reason I cannot pay the bill they will shut down service and billing STOPS til the service is back on. This is FALSE ADVERTISING!!!! Where the hell do you get off trying to charge someone for a phone tthat was shut off for 3 weeks? They ONLY do this with a contract, this is NOT a contract this is a PAY AS YOU GO PHONE and you people are complete and utter LIARS!!! You make me sick! Then I requested the phone be shut off and you turned it on without my consent. Regardless if I used it you had NO RIGHT to charge me fior turning it back on when you choce to turn it on that's $5. THEN There are still 3 weeks that you are trying to charge me for non service as if I signed a freaking contract. You guys are liars and thieves. You will not get a dime out of me but you will get a wonderful following from this. JAnyone just go to the BBB, or consumer affairs or just type in T mobile complaints on google and you will see how many others they have done this too. This is what they do. They are a BIG SCAM!!!! I will NEVER use tmobile again nor will anyone I know for that matter.

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#2 Author of original report

This rebuttal is 100% FALSE

AUTHOR: - ()

POSTED: Saturday, August 29, 2015

Wrong again! Get your facts straight. How do you figure that I failed to pay my bill??? I was LATE on the bill I did not fail to pay anything. It was paid in FULL buddy. This is a pay as you go phone REMEMBER? I don't recall ever signing a contract with you people though you seem to treat it as though I did. I paid for the FULL month of JULY. The bill is due every month on the 5th, so the bill was $45.99 due on the 5th of July and I paid $86.06 on JULY 27th so from the 7th to the 27th of July I had ZERO PHONE SERVICE and STILL PAID 2 payments in JULY! I called a week before this and specifically told t-mobile NOT to turn the phone back on. I called and officially requested the phone be PERMANENTLY SHUT OFF. I said I did NOT want it anymore and to keep it shut off. T-mobile decided to turn it back on anyways. Then your customer relations LIED to me and  said after all this that they would prorate it for the 3 weeks of no service in July and instead I got another bill in the mail. There is NOTHING you can say to talk your way out of this. Do you get that? I had NO SERVICE for 3 weeks and I paid  for the full month of July when  I had 3 weeks of NO service! Then on top of that you had the audacity to send me yet another bogus fake bill so who failed who? And why would you turn the phone back on in the first place when I requested it not to be turned back on? You turned it back on so that you could turn around and tack on another $5 for turning it back on and another 30 some dollars for whatever, who could even understand the bill it's so vague..  You guys are the most vindictive phone company I've ever seen. It seems you don't like people to end your services so this is your revenge. Sending me a phony padded bill and your customer service is the worst of the worst. You people are just aweful my god. There is no talking your way out it. My bank statements speak for themselves. I bought a simple basic plan for unlimited text, cals and web. It says and I quote "No overages,no surprise bills." When I bought the phone the women read through the terms of use with me and stated there are taxes that apply which will be added to your monthly bill. NEVER and I quote NEVER did she say there would be additional anything else, you know like a surprise bill of $37.  She said if you can't make a bill no problem they will shut off the phone and shut off all charges and it will resume when you turn the phone back on as it should since it is NOT a contract phone.  I owe you nothing. You owe me and I still have yet to get a clear answer and breakdown of what the so called additonal $37 bill is for cause I'd love to hear it.  So let's do the count down. I'm waiting because I can do this all day long. My bill was paid up EVERY MONTH, it;s a simple and clear cut case andyou are trying to make it complicated to confuse everyone reading this. I said it and I'll say it again and again. I was LATE ONE TIME in JULY but STILL PAID MY BILL IN FULL. The bills was for $45.99 and I paid $86.06 on July 27th. So don't you DARE try and tell me I failed to pay anything. You people failed to do your job and continue to ripp people off and try to act as if we don't want to pay our bills cause that's the only defense you can come up with. No we want to pay OUR bills but we don't want to pay YOUR bills and I don't care if the lawsuit was 20 years ago it still speaks volumes of t-mobiles character and you have none. your horrible online reputation with countless complaints speaks for itself.

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#1 Consumer Comment

You are not dealing in reality or the truth..

AUTHOR: Robert - (USA)

POSTED: Saturday, August 29, 2015

You start off your report by talking about a Lawsuit they had several years ago where they would opt people into services from 3rd parties that they did not want.  Yet your report is NOT about that, so anyone who doesn't read the detail would think that like you tried to infer are back to their old tricks.  When in reality the entire report is based on your failure to pay your bill.

You seem to be under some impression that a company "owes" you a credit if you don't have service.  Well that would be true if they were the cause of it.  But in this case the reason you were without service was because you FAILED to pay your bill. 

As for their "unthinkable" act of turning your phone back on after you paid the bill.  What did you do?  Did you figure you could still use it or did you call them up and tell them to turn off your phone immediatly?  I think we all know the answer to that one.

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