T-Mobile sure makes it tough to spend money

[EdS817]

Yesterday was the "official" release of the 9700 so I went to the local T-Mobile store by my house to get one. As I entered I as greeted and I asked if they have the phone. Was told yes. Do you have a working one I can look at? Yes. I play with it for a little while and go to ask a couple of questions. When I get to the counter I see a coupon for $75 if I trade in my Curve. I tell the girl I'd like to upgrade my Curve to the 9700. She then tells me the upgrade system is down, they have been having problems most of the afternoon. She tried but it doesn't work. I leave the store and call customer care to see when it will be back up. She proceeds to tell me they are updating the system with correct prices. You would think they would have done that prior to releasing the phone. She tells me she can order it and I will have in 3-4 days. I explain that I don't want to wait or pay shipping charges. I call the T-Mobile store near work to make sure they have phones. They say yes. The store opens at 9:00AM, I call today at 8:50AM and ask if the upgrade is working. I am told that the store doesn't open until 9:00AM and they can't access the system until then.

It is no wonder why they are #4

Ive noticed the same issues......ever since this PD roll out customer service has begun to slump......that coupled with last quarters reports TMO had better be careful not to become the new SPRINT. I was for the longest time TMO FANBOI......Im not nearly as happy with them now as I once was

[xTemptati0n]

I'm surprised that they picked up the phone at 8:50. We wouldn't know if the upgrade system works until we opened an individual's account. There's no way to test it until you get that first customer that wants to process one in the store. We also can't check your account over the phone. Only customer care can do that.

am I suprised that tmobile gives you the run around......see above....perfect example of how tmo will tell you we cant do that call this......

if you all work for tmobile.....fix the problem...its called empowerment...empower your reps to fix it instead of being spineless and pawning off on customer care....

you have the comp in front of you?.....verify there info and answer a simple question.....

oh and while Im calling out clearly stupid policies........whos bright idea inside of tmobile was it to make in store reps have to call some p*** poor speaking indian outsourcee to make changes to any flex pay account?..........hello?

I expect that when i go to a store its a one stop......I expect the reps there to know the product....the plans....theres only a handful now......and basically their jobs......I know good and well this isnt too much to ask.....If I did as TMO reps I would be F-I-R-E-D.........giving blantantly bad info....rude....generally unhelpful....and useless

[berryite]

Originally Posted by larrygump

I expect that when i go to a store its a one stop......I expect the reps there to know the product....the plans....theres only a handful now......and basically their jobs......I know good and well this isnt too much to ask.....If I did as TMO reps I would be F-I-R-E-D.........giving blantantly bad info....rude....generally unhelpful....and useless

Larry, I don't think it's fair to say all TMo reps are bad. Many are quite good. But the focus in today's economy everywhere you go is solely on sales. Everyone everywhere is getting whipped to make sales. Feed the monster. And the monster never stops being hungry.

LOL, I just moved but I remember where I used to live there was a T-Mobile store and the manager of the store used to ask me questions about BlackBerrys that he didn't know how to resolve for customers.

Hate to sound like a broken record, but when everyone you hire is 24 or 25 and all you do all day is beat them up for sales production, whatelse would you expect?

[Graffixnyc]

Originally Posted by berryite

Larry, I don't think it's fair to say all TMo reps are bad. Many are quite good. But the focus in today's economy everywhere you go is solely on sales. Everyone everywhere is getting whipped to make sales. Feed the monster. And the monster never stops being hungry.

LOL, I just moved but I remember where I used to live there was a T-Mobile store and the manager of the store used to ask me questions about BlackBerrys that he didn't know how to resolve for customers.

Hate to sound like a broken record, but when everyone you hire is 24 or 25 and all you do all day is beat them up for sales production, whatelse would you expect?

I have to disagree with you.. with the economy the way it is they should be working harder to make sure every sale is complete.. that their systems are working correctly. I'm sure they are losing sales due to the upgrade system not working correctly. with this economy they should be training people better so they can resolve more issues without pawning it off to another department. I have to say I have been a TMO customer for over 3 years and every since the outage a few weeks ago it seems I have had MANY frustrating calls with customer service. After the outage I called to find out about the new EMP plan. She told me there was a 35 migration fee and I told her forget it that I will just stick with what I had.. after the call I noticed my data services were not working, and I wasnt getting email. I called and they told me my unlimited texting and my bb plan were taken off the account. I told them about the call to *INQUIRE about changing my plan but didnt tell them to change anything. The rep took it upon herself to remove my features and I had to spend over an hour with CS to get them back at the grand fathered rate I had.. then days before the release of the 9700 I called CS to see if I could get a 9700. They told me it was in the upgrade system. After about an hour of trying to put the order through unsuccessfully, she came back and said "oh it's not going through because you're not a business customer" couldn't she have spared me the hour on hold trying to put the order through? They are dropping the ball on a lot of stuff.. and they are going down hill. Just in the past few weeks alone I've had some really frustrating experiences with them. More than I ever had in the 3 years of being with them.

Then when I upgraded they wanted to charge me 24.99 for my bb plan when I have always been paying 19.99. I called retentions and threatened to close my account and they gave it back to me for 19.99

In this economy they really need to step up their game!

[xTemptati0n]

Originally Posted by larrygump

am I suprised that tmobile gives you the run around......see above....perfect example of how tmo will tell you we cant do that call this......

if you all work for tmobile.....fix the problem...its called empowerment...empower your reps to fix it instead of being spineless and pawning off on customer care....

you have the comp in front of you?.....verify there info and answer a simple question.....

oh and while Im calling out clearly stupid policies........whos bright idea inside of tmobile was it to make in store reps have to call some p*** poor speaking indian outsourcee to make changes to any flex pay account?..........hello?

I expect that when i go to a store its a one stop......I expect the reps there to know the product....the plans....theres only a handful now......and basically their jobs......I know good and well this isnt too much to ask.....If I did as TMO reps I would be F-I-R-E-D.........giving blantantly bad info....rude....generally unhelpful....and useless

It isn't the reps' fault that the system requires an in store photo verification in order to get into an account. That is done to provide security among the millions of T-Mobile customers. The upgrade system is integrated into each account. The upgrade system isn't stand alone. The only way to test an upgrade and process one is through an account. If you don't have a customer in front of you with a photo ID, an in store rep can't go into an account to test the upgrade system.

We can do a lot of things to FlexPay accounts. Making changes mid bill cycle is where the biggest problem lies. Sometimes the system gives errors and the only thing that we can do to resolve the issue is to call FlexPay customer care for the customer. If you knew how the computers were setup and how internal issues were resolved, you would realize that we are doing the best that we can. It's not the in store reps' faults that sometimes things don't work the way that they are supposed to. It's also not our fault that parts of the system are setup the way that they are.

[Seyche]

Originally Posted by larrygump

Ive noticed the same issues......ever since this PD roll out customer service has begun to slump......that coupled with last quarters reports TMO had better be careful not to become the new SPRINT. I was for the longest time TMO FANBOI......Im not nearly as happy with them now as I once was

I thought I was in heaven after I left Sprint and joined T-Mobile in 2003. I don't know what "PD" is but if it occurred in the last year and a half, it has really done a number on T-Mobile's service.

They aren't as rude as any I experienced with Sprint (blatant refusals and hang-ups), but the passive-aggressive behavior is not professional.

[berryite]

Originally Posted by Graffixnyc

I have to disagree with you.. with the economy the way it is they should be working harder to make sure every sale is complete.

My friend, we're not in disagreement. You've said what you feel they SHOULD DO and I said what the ARE DOING.

I agree with you that they SHOULD DO what you specify and I'd guess that you'd agree with me that what you see is what they ARE DOING.

We're both right and we're both in agreement as far as I can see.

But this stuff is bigger than T-Mobile. It's as Larry has said, it's cultural and it's systemic. Although I am not entirely onboard with some of Larry's conclusions on the president fixing the mess we're in (I actually think this prez is turning out to be the biggest "do-nothing" since Hoover), I think his observations are spot on. America is only concerned about doing everything on the cheap and for the best buck they can get. It's a shame.

Last night, I was walking by an old building in my neighborhood. I was on a casual walk and in no rush and I love architecture so I stopped to marvel at this old run-down building. It appeared to have been build in the '20s and appeared to have started life as some sort of garage. The ornamentation on the door molding was amazing. The design work for the whole building was something you would never see today. Why? Well back in the '20s, people took pride in their work. They attempted to produce to the best of their ability. Today, it's all about money and all about how cheap we can get away with selling something. Ergo, there is no quality in how most things are sold anymore. We've become the Wal*Mart society and that is just depressing.

I'll never forget the title of a new book I just saw at the bookstore the other day about Wal*Mart: "The high cost of low price."

We've all become little Wallys running around living like the whole world was designed by Wal*Mart. How sad is that?

[berryite]

Originally Posted by xTemptati0n

It isn't the reps' fault ... If you knew how the computers were setup and how internal issues were resolved, you would realize that we are doing the best that we can.

I am absolutely certain that what you are saying is totally accurate.

But it's just another example of our modern society putting computers and ill-conceived corporate policies on a higher level of importance than common sense and good judgement.

Nordstrom achieved a tremendous spurt of growth in the 80's and 90's by teaching their people one simple rule: "Do the right thing."

We've replaced that today by telling people to blindly follow the rule book (which was probably written by an accountant) and the computer and common sense be d*amned.

Originally Posted by berryite

I am absolutely certain that what you are saying is totally accurate.

But it's just another example of our modern society putting computers and ill-conceived corporate policies on a higher level of importance than common sense and good judgement.

Nordstrom achieved a tremendous spurt of growth in the 80's and 90's by teaching their people one simple rule: "Do the right thing."

We've replaced that today by telling people to blindly follow the rule book (which was probably written by an accountant) and the computer and common sense be d*amned.

fist of all I want to reiiterate berryite.....second of all why is it that xtempt feels its necessary to champion all tmo reps and all tmo policies.....my issues are not a personal attack on him and by the very virtue of his participation here at cb shows hes not one of the problems....he probably actually cares about or is proud of his work......however that being said it doesnt detract from the slide in customer service weve all seen in the last 90 days.....WTH is happening to our beloved TMO????

Originally Posted by seyche

i thought i was in heaven after i left sprint and joined t-mobile in 2003. I don't know what "pd" is but if it occurred in the last year and a half, it has really done a number on t-mobile's service.

They aren't as rude as any i experienced with sprint (blatant refusals and hang-ups), but the passive-aggressive behavior is not professional.

pd= project dark

[tgilmore16]

Originally Posted by berryite

My friend, we're not in disagreement. You've said what you feel they SHOULD DO and I said what the ARE DOING.

I agree with you that they SHOULD DO what you specify and I'd guess that you'd agree with me that what you see is what they ARE DOING.

We're both right and we're both in agreement as far as I can see.

But this stuff is bigger than T-Mobile. It's as Larry has said, it's cultural and it's systemic. Although I am not entirely onboard with some of Larry's conclusions on the president fixing the mess we're in (I actually think this prez is turning out to be the biggest "do-nothing" since Hoover), I think his observations are spot on. America is only concerned about doing everything on the cheap and for the best buck they can get. It's a shame.

Last night, I was walking by an old building in my neighborhood. I was on a casual walk and in no rush and I love architecture so I stopped to marvel at this old run-down building. It appeared to have been build in the '20s and appeared to have started life as some sort of garage. The ornamentation on the door molding was amazing. The design work for the whole building was something you would never see today. Why? Well back in the '20s, people took pride in their work. They attempted to produce to the best of their ability. Today, it's all about money and all about how cheap we can get away with selling something. Ergo, there is no quality in how most things are sold anymore. We've become the Wal*Mart society and that is just depressing.

I'll never forget the title of a new book I just saw at the bookstore the other day about Wal*Mart: "The high cost of low price."

We've all become little Wallys running around living like the whole world was designed by Wal*Mart. How sad is that?

Since you enjoy the quality of yesteryear when craftsmanship and quality were important and being in a hurry wasn't, you mihgt enjoy this board

Badger & Blade