Friday, August 14, 2009

T-Mobile Charging for Billing

I cannot believe that I logged onto T-Mobiles site to pay my bill to find that I am being coerced into signing up for paperless billing or be penalized with an extra charge each month and while I'm sure there are enough media drones on to regurgiate the "environmental impact" of paper being used and mail being delivered (God forbid we live in such a society with a reliable maling service and print ink on paper) I'm not happy about this. As a consumer I'm appalled and regardless of one's opinion on the matter as a consumer we should all be appalled.

I called T-Mobile to complain the moment I received this notice and was told by their Customer Service Representative that I cannot cancel my contract without an early termination fee. I was also told by T-Mobiles CSR that every other wireless provider charges for billing as well. Both were lies.

1) Under section 5 of the Terms & Conditions states: If we (T-Mobile) materially modify these T&Cs in a way that is materially adverse to you (me, the consumer), or if a change increases your set monthly recurring charge(s), we will provide you with at least 30 days notice and you may terminate your service without an early termination fee by notifying us within 30 days after reception of said notice.

Not only is my set monthly bill going to be more than originally agreed upon this change does adversely affect me as I am opposed for political reasons among others.

2) I visited Sprint's website and was told by their online CSR that they do not charge for receiving your bill in the mail. I'm told by those who have Cingular and Verizon that they are not charged for receiving their bill in the mail either.

So on both counts I was lied to by T-Mobile.


Everyone who is oppossed to this, which as a consumer how can anyone not be: Cancel now as after 30 days of notice it is assumed you accepted the new T&Cs.

Should T-Mobile get away with this new fine what will be next? Not only will other companies follow suit but T-Mobile and others will become more rash and emboldened in levying new fees towards their consumers. End it now.

2 comments:

Jillian Frye said...

You're obviously upset about the unannounced increase in your bill, but they are only charging you for the printing, mailing, and processing of paper statements. Plus, it looks like the USPS is moving toward a 5-day work week, so your paper bills will be even slower and less reliable.

From a business perspective, it saves them money. They get their money faster when people pay electronically. If you don't care about the environmental aspect of e-billing that's your prerogative, but acknowledge the economic incentive to cut costs and unnecessary waste.

If you REALLY don't want to pay more, then get your bill online. You can always print it out yourself....

Luk3 said...

I disagree. Lying and cheating are never smart business decisions. They might pay off in the short term but they certainly do catch up over time.

I was blatantly lied to by T-Mobile when I called in to question this new charge. The CSR was friendly enough but the higher-ups are feeding them misinformation to relay to the customer. I was told all wireless service providers charge their customers for their bill. They don't. I was also told I cannot exit my contract over this imposed charge without a termination fee. Another lie.

Thirdly, they are trying to sell this new charge as some sort of environmentally conscious surcharge with the pictures of trees and mentioning poor trees being put out to pasture. Well, if that's the case, if T-Mobile is truly environmentally conscious and wanting to preserve the life of trees why are they printing multi-page ads in magazines. They seem to be assuming all their customers have internet access and a computer at home to view their bill online so why not market only digitally as to preserve trees through the internet and TV. Additionally, what's going on at their corporate offices? Many offices are paper-free as are many households, is T-Mobile's corporate offices or their retail stores paper-free? No.

T-Mobile is not at all environmentally conscious and this new charge has absolutely nothing to do with preserving the environment for if it did T-Mobile would set the example. Should that be the case I would be against this new charge but would applaud T-Mobile for truly being an example of a "green" company who expects the same from their customers, but that isn't the case. I don't believe in corporate favoritism.

This new fine does not "save" T-Mobile money, it makes them money. The cost of bill delivery is included in your monthly bill which is agreed upon at contract. Same at the Olive Garden, you aren't just paying literally for the uninspired meal pulled out of a freezer but also for the cost of service that is included in the price seen on the menu as well as the cost for said Olive Garden to have received their shipment, otherwise that meal would cost the same as the frozen Swanson at your local grocery store.

So they are cheating their customers out of a cost already included in their monthly statement for if T-Mobile was truly concerned about waste and unnecessary spending they would cut at least some of the redundant pamphlets at their retail stores.

This is nothing but corporate greed at a time when most businesses are slashing prices to retain customers and attract new ones. Perhaps in a better economy this might have a better chance at flying but not now.


While surprising I wonder why. T-Mobile used to be the best of all the wireless providers as they had the lowest rates but that is far from the truth today when Sprint has unlimited everything for $99 and Boost even has unlimited for $50. But I always valued T-Mobile for their customer service above all else but I guess that too is going down the drain as the company hopes to milk their customers for even more under a facade of environmental concern.