T-Mobile customer service leaves much to be desired

And they remind me at the end of every e-mail or phone call that I've been a customer of theirs for the last 7 years. They thank me for my loyalty - but still fail to satisfy. If this is world class service, I'd hate to see what economy is like!

The sad fact is, no other carrier can even give me half as many minutes as I get with T-Mobile for the price point. I get good coverage where I live and routinely travel. Those are the reasons I stay.

For years, I had been going month-to-month on a grandfathered promo plan. I had fulfilled my contract obligations, so if I wanted to change, I wasn't going to get that stupid early contract termination fee. I shopped around, but nobody could come close to giving me the amount of minutes I was receiving for the price I was paying. Then T-Mobile had a new promo plan where I could add free nights with for no more than I was already paying per month. Yes, I would have to agree to a two-year contract, but, as I said, nobody else had any comparable deals.

I even took the opportunity to get a new phone. I got whatever was free - since I'm one of those silly people who only actually use it as a phone. I don't use my phone to text; I don't use my phone to take pictures, I don't use it to surf the net. I simply use my phone to send and receive calls. They still required me to pay for the shipping costs for my free phone. I wasn't happy about it, but they offered me no alternative. I picked the cheaper 7 business day shipping. I didn't need the new phone in a rush. I hadn't gotten a phone in years, at least this one had a display in color.

About a month into the new plan and new contract, I had a problem with the phone. I wasn't getting a signal for an entire Sunday, even when I was on major highways. I called the customer service, they made me do all sorts of things and even insisted I take the SIM card out. I was not happy about doing that, as I had just spent all that time entering in all my contacts again, and I like them in the phone instead of on the SIM card because the phone allows more characters per entry. Not to mention, I don't want to fill up the SIM card with a bunch of junk phone book entries that I'd have to clean out later. Anyway, after an hour, none of what they had me do worked so I got transferred to Technical Support.

At Technical Support, they suggested I put the SIM card into a back-up phone. Luckily, I actually had a back-up phone. At least there, I was getting a signal. So they were going to send out a replacement phone. They warned me that it wasn't going to include the battery or the back of the handset. And I was required to send the defective phone back promptly or be charged for the phone itself. Oh, and yes, I'd have to pay for the shipping again.

I said NO. I shouldn't have to pay for shipping another phone when it wasn't my fault the one I got was defective. So they came back and said that they could waive the shipping charge, but they could only waive the expedited shipping. Oh, and they could only credit me for it after the charge actually appeared on my account, so it would be several days before the credit would show up. They assured me that the notes were being put on the account.

After I got off the phone with them, I put the SIM card back in my original phone to get the contact info and guess what - the signal was back!

The replacement phone arrived quickly and when I turned it on I discovered the display was defective. There was a huge black line at the bottom of the display - you know where it tells you what those utility buttons are supposed to be from application to application! Oh, and the return instructions - the ones which insist I send it back promptly - also insist that I include no written correspondence. I've already spent way too much of my valuable time on this issue which I seem to have solved myself with my original phone, so I shipped the replacement phone back to them.

Then, I lost the signal again! I figured out it happened after a friend of mine sent a group text message. Now, I've mentioned I do not text. I tell all my friends to please, please don't text me. I sent a voice mail to my friend to remind her again, and to specifically not send me the group text messages as they seem to be causing me to lose my signal.

The texting is actually a separate issue in and of itself. After changing to the new plan and the new phone, I started getting SPAM text messages. I'm furious about that. I get charged per text and I shouldn't have to pay for receiving spam. As I said, I only use my phone as a phone. I don't text, I don't give out the number on websites, I don't use the phone for e-mail or surfing the web. The first time this happened, I asked T-Mobile to block text messages to my number. They said THEY COULDN'T DO IT because they had to be able to communicate with their customers via text message. That's total bull! I don't want text messages from T-Mobile. I don't want text messages from anyone! Sure, the T-Mobile messages don't cost me anything, but I still don't want them! The first time it happened they did something on the website e-mail forwarding text phone whatever, and I prayed that I didn't get another one.

But of course, I did get another text spam. I called again, furious, as this was the second time it happened and they still refused to block text messages. What they did was give me 30 bonus messages for free. However, these messages expire after 90 days. Ugh. Heaven forbid they actually SOLVE my problem ONCE and FOR ALL - now I've got to waste my time and call them again and again and again. They do not value my time!

But back to the shipping charge for the replacement phone which turned out to be defective. I got my bill recently and the shipping charge is included. They never credited me for it!

I contacted customer service via e-mail TWICE and both times they claim there's no record of my getting the shipping credit so I'll have to pay for it and oh, thanks for being such a loyal customer! Finally, they've forwarded it to tech support - maybe, MAYBE the note is there and I will get the shipping credited.

When did customer service get to be such a farce? It's supposed to be that - "customer service". Not "waste the customer's time and nickel and dime them so we increase our profitability by pissing off the very customers who've been loyal to us for years".

I can't even get a live customer service rep when I call without shouting "LIVE PERSON" to the automated answering attendant they have when you call them up! Not that speaking with the automated attendant or a live person has ever been an efficient and satisfying use of my time.

Here's to T-Mobile crediting me the shipping charge I was promised and being good to their word. Here's hoping they can also do what I've requested several times already and actually block text messages from my account entirely, too!