I Am A Disgruntled Long T-Mobile Standing Customer

We have always had a great experience with them. Never ever a
problem. In almost 7 years I have upgraded my phone 3 times I think,
each time I was able to take advantage of discounted phones by
extending my contract another year. I am not sure how far into your
contract you are, but this may be an option. I wish you well but do
not think that you deserve a new discounted phone because you lost
yours and did not purchase insurance.

You received the discount once, like all new customers do ONCE! They
gave you $100 off on a phone, you lost it, and now you want another
deal? That makes no sense. WHY SHOULD YOU GET 2 DISCOUNTS before the
contract is up? Are you special?
They gave you that $100 off in exchange for a contract. They lived up
to their end of the contract, did you? NOPE.
Why should they pay for your carelessness? You lost the phone and did
not have insurance.
If you can't afford cellular service with all of the bells and
whistles, that is your problem not theirs.
They do not make a profit on selling phones even at full price. They
sell the phones at cost so they can make money on airtime.
If you bought a sweater on sale for 1/2 off and 6 months later you
lost the sweater, is the store obligated to give you a new one at 1/2
off? IT IS THE SAME THING. That is not how life works.

"I had not purchased insurance on the phone because I am on a budget
and that expense seemed un-necessary as I had in the past 4+ years
never broke, lost or had a phone stolen." So, you didn't know your
life was about to change. God strikes at funny times.

"I called customer service and though they appreciate my longevity in
service they can't offer me a very good discount to re-purchase my
slider phone since the specials are over."

Customer service was "understanding" and you didn't pay for insurance.
What else is there to discuss? There is a lesson in here, and it
isn't for T-Mobile to learn.

Regarding your comment below, do you really think people are wasting
time making "fake" responses to your post about losing a cell phone
and getting upset because the co. won't give you a discount on a new
one? Do you think we work for T-Mobile? Surely you jest.

The people responding aren't doing anything except giving you honest
feedback. And if "evidence" doesn't belong in the LETTER TO THE
COMPANY, then where does it belong?

You just keep tsk tsk tsking yourself. I can see you doing it right
now.

I love the responses I got to my posting! Most of if not all sound
like T-Mobile lobbyists soliciting the court of public opinion. There
are too many trite, scripted responses in each of these letters for me
to believe that the verbage is anything other than party line
responses to key phrases or words. If my letter would have been taken
as a whole instead of pouncing on different aspects of it then it
would have been better understood. As for my complaint not having
merit, I understood that this site is for airing complaints or
personal dissatisfaction with a product or service therefore I don't
have to bring forth evidence or numbers to prove my complaint, this is
a forum for personal experience and perspective and not a court of
law.

In regards to cell phone companies taking a "loss" on discounted cell
phones, I also worked in retail for many years and I know that
"retail" prices are often marked up considerably over the "cost" of
the items and when these items are marketed in bulk then the
individual cost of these items go down considerably. Also coming from
customer related service industries I know that the businesses I
worked for valued brand loyalty and often went to great lengths to
keep these sustainers who are the core of any strong business
foundation I come from a generation where brand loyalty was considered
a valuable asset to any marketer. T-Mobile has made a lot of money off
of me and I am not worried that they would suffer financially should
they provide a little extra customer service. I am not asking for a
free phone only the opportunity to replace a phone at a reasonable
purchase price and not the marked up retail. My needs that were also
questioned are related to poor eyesight even with corrective reading
glasses and the phones that I need have larger font therefore making
them easier to read. Also in regards to the insurance, when I spoke
with a T-Mobile Customer Service Rep. they indicated that even with
the insurance I would be paying more than I could afford to replace
the slider phone. I still remain an unhappy customer but I am happy
that the responders apparently have had nothing but good experiences
with their cell phone providers if in fact they are true responders.

Why do people think they deserve as many free phones as they want
whenever they want them? Nobody cares that you've been with T-mobile
for four years. Customers who've been with T-mobile for 10 years
don't get free phones whenever they want one, why should you? The
price you pay when you upgrade is actually BELOW what T-mobile pays
for the handset. They're losing money on it because by signing the
contract you're committing to pay a profitable monthly bill for the
next two years. If they go and give you another phone below their
cost they're basically cutting into their profits for no real gain.
No responsible company does that.

If a new customer lost their phone, they would have to replace it at
full retail as well -

T-mobile provides discounted cellphone prices at a loss - all
cellphone companies do. When you purchased your first 2 slider phones,
they probably took a loss on those phones. That's why they can't
afford to keep selling you phones for $50 dollars. No business can
afford to sell things at a loss repeatedly without restrictions - and
in this case the restriction was once every upgrade cycle (a year or
22 months for a 2 year contract)

Do you have travel insurance, or have it provided through a travel
organization such a credit card or AAA? They may cover the cost of
replacing the phone, since it was lost on a business trip.
Alternatively, you could wait a year or 22 months to receive another
upgrade offer to replace your phone.

I certainly have to agree with the others. Cell phone companies are
not the only one's that offer incentives for new customers only. It's
common practice because typically the hassle of changing providers is
incentive enough for many customers to remain on board past their
contract expiration.

I think that T-Mobile was more than fair when they allowed you to
upgrade. (I'm guessing you could have chosen to switch providers at
that point as well if you wanted a better deal on a phone) You chose
to upgrade, an accident occurred, and that's unfortunate. But
T-Mobile should not be penalized for that. It also sounds as if
T-Mobile has some affordable phones that would have worked for you had
you not had an emergency and had to pick a phone up right away.
T-Mobile can't be held responsible for this.

I hope your mother is doing well.

I have to agree with what the other posters have said. Yes, it isn't
fair but who said life is?

As a former CSR for a mobile phone company, I got calls like this
almost every hour. People demanding a new phone for free even though
they were the one who lost it/broke it/got it wet.

A cell phone is a luxury not a necessity.

Oh and just because you have been with T-Mobile for 4+ years doesn't
mean anything to them.

A lot of the other posters have already beaten up on you Donna and,
frankly, I'm going to do the same thing.

You admit you subscribed to a service and forgone the insurance. The
risk you take is handling the cost of replacement yourself, regardless
of what that cost is. Your claim that you were under a strict budget
may mean that you couldn't afford NOT to pay the insurance premiums.

You have no choice to both pay the ETF and switch providers which, I
think you will find, is more expensive than T-Mobile or you pay for
the cost of the new phone. If you find that either of these options
are not desirable, then you're stuck with what you have.

This is not a site to write complaints without merit. Please do not
use it as such.

Shoot I love T-Mobile. I flushed my new phone down the toliet at
SeaWorld and got another one the same day. Granted I had to pay
$50.00 since I had the coverage, it was worth it. I have since
flushed that phone down the toliet and had to get a new one! I try to
keep the phone away from the toliet! I guess my phones have a thing
for water. I just keep purching the coverage, it only costs me about
$5.00 a month. After spending $100.00 on 2 phones that would have
cost me about 300.00 I figure it was well worth it. The 1st phone I
got from T-Moblie was free. And the service was great....the 1st guy
gave me a new case that my phone would not slide out of, however the
case and phone fell in the toliet! So now I dont use a case and I
keep the phones safe from water.

Life is unfair, Donna. It's a fact that wireless companies offer
smoking deals to new customers to get them into contracts. It's also
a fact that T-Mobile doesn't care that you are a "long standing
customer".

You bought a new phone with your upgrade credit, didn't buy insurance
and lost the phone. There is no reason for T-Mobile to replace your
phone or offer you any special incentives because they don't care
about customer loyalty. So go ahead and move your service when your
contract is up so you can get the "newest and most advanced phones for
free" - - but I would consider insurance next time if I were you - -
even if you are on a budget.

Sigh.

I'm sorry, but these letters are soooo common.

First, I'm not sure what "meets my needs" is. Even the cheapest phone
will let you make phone calls. What other "needs" can a personally
really have? I can see, I guess, needing a phone with a browser/data
service for some people. But, in the end, what could you possibly
need in a more expensive phone?

I'm not sure why people think that they deserve to get free/discounted
phones whenever they want. I just can't figure it out.

Let's make this simple: the reason that wireless companies give out
free phones is to attract new customers and put them under contract.
Hopefully, for long enough to recover the money they lost on giving
you a free phone.

They give existing customers occasional upgrades to KEEP them as
customers. In other words, to extend the contract.

Why in the world would a company, that has you under contract, want to
cut you a deal to replace a phone that you lost?

They offered you an insurance plan, but you turned it down.

That's what insurance is. You pay for and hope you never need it.

Speaking of which, have you tried your homeowners insurance? They
might pay for a phone replacement, subject to any deductibles (most
likely more than what a phone costs).

OK... now for the secret... if you really want a free phone and you're
under contract, you gotta find a reason (other than you being a good
customer or threats of leaving when the contract is over) that
T-Mobile will benefit from doing this for you. Show them actual math
based on real numbers to show that giving you a free phone is going to
make them more money. No fair saying "I'll be a customer for a long
time" or "I'll tell others how good you are." Unless you're willing
to sign up for a 4-year contract, your promises mean nothing.

If you can't make a HARD case for why they need to give you the phone,
they have NO REASON to do it.

That's the way things are.

You have other options:

(1) Get mad at them, pay the ETF, and go elsewhere. It might be
cheaper than paying for a new phone. For example, if you need to pay
$150 in ETF, it might be better to just pay it and get a $200 phone
free from Verizon or Sprint.

(2) Buy a used phone on eBay.

(3) Decide that the "slider function" isn't cool enough to spend money
on it and get a more basic phone.

(4) Keep the low-end phone you've been using. It works, doesn't it?

"That makes me want to move my service when my contracts are up so I
can get the newest and most advanced phones for free with a provider
who is offering specials to new customers."

And that's exactly why New Customer deals are so much better. And
guess what? When you're existing customer at THAT provider, you won't
get New Customer deals. That's the way the business works. You lost
your phone, you chose not to get insurance, you take the
responsibility. Why would they even offer insurance if they just gave
away new phones at the cheap prive everytime someone lost theirs? The
rules are the same for everyone no matter how good a customer you
think you are.

You lost your phone.

Who's fault is that?

I don't see why T-Mobile should take a loss because of your lack of
responsibility.