T-Mobile TMobile Thieves! Los Angeles, California

At the end of August 2010, I called TMobile and asked them to change my phone number. I had not been under a contract for a few years and so I asked the representative if changing my phone number would put me into a contract. He said no it would not. I also asked if after my number change, I could go online and upgrade my phone as I had not had an upgrade in years and was still determining which phone I would like to get--he said that I could also make these changes later and the number change would not affect my current plan. A week later, when I had decided on which phone I wanted, I could not do the free upgrade online--an error message told me that I did not qualify. So I called again and after long holds, a female representative told me that the number transfer made me ineligible to upgrade. I complained as I was told it would not interfere by the previous representative. I asked to speak with a manager, but she refused to transfer me. She put me on hold for 20 minutes, then came back and told me she fixed the problem and that in 48 hours I would be able to go online and do the upgrade. I waited longer than 48 hours, but still received the same error message online. I called back and again waited for over 30 minutes for a representative. This woman told me that the number change prevented me from getting my free upgrade--she also refused to let me speak to a manager. Later, I went to a retail branch near my home at Mesa Riverview and asked to have my service ended and to be refunded the near $300 that I had overpaid (I pay for the entire semester up front as I am in Grad school). They told me they could not refund me and could not close my account, that I would have to call in to customer service. I called in again and had to argue with another representative who refused to give me a manager. They transfered me to a man who closed my account. When I asked how long for my refund, he said it would take 60 days! This was on September 19, 2010. It is now Dec. 27, 2010 and I only get statements in the mail showing that Tmobile owes me $291.93. I've tried contacting them online, but since they closed my account they have barred me from logging on to my online billing center. When I call, if I try to give the automated system my former number it says the account isn't valid and it hangs up on me. I have no way of getting to a human being and Tmobile has stolen almost $300 from me!