T MOBILE National and Albuquerque, NM 87108 store. Fraud, Extended contract without my consent. This is a national epidemic with TMobile. Albuquerque, New Mexico

Two years ago I reluctantly joined the rest of the world in dropping my land line and going back to using cell phones. In 2000, I had a very bad experience with a company named Voice Stream (now T-Mobile, shocker).

I purchased a simple plan with a simple phone with a one year contract. A few months later I noticed I was using more minutes than I had purchased so I called to increase my plan with more minutes. They told me that switching plans came with a mandatory two-year contract. I agreed. I figured I'd have a cell phone for at least two years anyway...

In March 2009, my little cheap, free phone stopped getting reception, taking a charge, and was dropping calls. I went to a local store and they sold me a charger for $30. This did not fix the problem. I went back and they said my phone had water damage (i live in the desert). I was so annoyed with my phone that I told the woman that I was a poor student and needed a phone quickly. She said that my contract (2yr) would expire in August 2009 and I would be able to upgrade then, but that in the meantime I could buy the same cheap phone, but a new one. I bought the same crappy phone without a camera and figured I could use it until August.

Fast forward to today when I was ready for the big upgrade! I called and asked when I'd be eligible (what day in August) and they said, "Your contract doesn't expire until March of 2011. (whah!?!?!?!). Apparently, unbeknown to me, just purchasing temporary crappy phone #2 was my early upgrade and tacit agreement for a new 2 yr contract???

I got online, talked to Michael the live chat guy. When I told him the problem, we got disconnected...I called customer service and she said I should go to the store where I bought the phone and talk to them. I went to the store and asked for the manager. The mgr was not there. I talked to Clay who tried to be nice at first. I explained what happened and I said that I understood that it wasn't his company and that he hadn't screwed me over, but demanded to see my contract where I allegedly signed this new agreement. He asked me when I bought it, I said March 09, he said, "do you remember the date?" I said "No". "Do you remember who sold it to you?" I said, "brunette, female, short, young, cute". So he pulled up my record (which he could have done at any time) and said, "oh yes, it was so and so who sold it to you on this and that day". I said, "well, can you show me where i signed". "No, we keep those records in storage out of state". I was getting annoyed. I had explained that I had been purposefully mislead into believing that I was buying a temporary replacement until I was eligible for the upgrade. I showed him the old phone and the "new" phone which look identical. I said, "why would anyone in their right mind upgrade to the SAME crappy phone?" and then i said, "why do you sell phones with a one year warranty yet make people sign two year contracts, that will only keep us upgrading products every year thus keeping us hostage in perpetuity?" He stared at me.

He asked me what I wanted to do...I told him that I knew I could break the contract and pay $250 or wait for this copy of the contract where I allegedly agreed to this deal. I told him, "look, I went to law school, I do not sign things that I don't read thoroughly". The law school thing must have hit a nerve because he went to "the back" to look for the contract. He came back to tell me that they had just shipped off the March 09 contracts and getting a copy would take 3-4 weeks. I said I would wait a month because "if you have to go to court, you have to have a copy of this contract". He did not like that. I asked for his card and wrote on the back, "So and so will order the contract where it says that I, so and so, agreed to extend it to two years and it will take 3-4 weeks" I then drew a line and dated it and asked him to sign it. He looked horrified. He said, "I am not signing anything". I said, "How can I trust you?" and he said, "You have my word". I said I was tired of dealing with TMobile and their lies (there are other things that have happened about bogus charges and their word to remove them...for three months). I asked to speak to a manager and he said that he wasn't there in a harsh tone. I said, "Are you giving ME attitude?" and he said, "no, i am just telling you he is not here, and if you are telling me you are going to sue us I have to brush you off and send you to our legal department".

He was flustered and upset. I told him that I was not suing him and that the company had bad business practices and that I would be back on Monday to speak to the manager. I am going to wait 4 weeks for this contract and I am not sure how to proceed because on this website I have seen that the mere act of changing a plan or purchasing a phone sets the clock back to zero and starts a two year contract automatically...I think I have a case. It sounds like class action to me. I took contracts, I understand fraud, but I do not know who gets sued, the company, the store, the employee...

If anyone else is experiencing this, and I've seen many posts regarding TMobile Albuquerque, please let's do something. Dell tried to do the same and we got a class action against them. I am an unlicensed attorney. I am willing to research and help file a lawsuit if a licensed attorney can take this case.

Thank you, and stay away from these fraudulent thieves.