T-Mobile is a Lying Bastard Company
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This entry was posted at
12:01 GMT on 15 February 2004
That title says it all, doesn't it?
Well, just in case not, let me expand on and justify it a bit...
I was advised by more than one Chinese friend to take a cell phone with me to China, since the phone itself would be as expensive here, or more so, as in the U.S. With lots of help, advice, and some little research, I determined all of the technical specifications needed for such a phone to be compatible with the networks here. Basically, it had to accept SIM cards, and it had to be a tri-band phone.
One of my coworkers, who collects cellphones the way some people collect comic books, said she had one that would fit the bill, which she no longer used, a Sony-Ericsson t300 that she got from T-Mobile. She let me have it for twenty bucks.
The one obstacle that the phone presented was that it was "locked," that is, that it could not be used with a non-T–Mobile SIM card or network without a numeric code being entered to unlock it.
Now here is where the fun begins.
I tried to figure out how to get that code through the web, either T-Mobile's site or Sony-Ericsson's. No dice. I called Sony-Ericsson, and they disavowed any responsibility for their product. Since that model was made solely for T-Mobile, they said, I must get the code from T-Mobile.
So I called T-Mobile.
They had a record of the phone, saw that it was no longer in service, verified that it had not been stolen . . . and refused to give me the code. Why? Because they only give the code to customers who have had their account for longer than 90 days.
I asked Mr. Customer Service Representative to look at his screen. He said he was. I asked him how long the account for this particular phone had been active. He said nine months. I asked him to convert that into days. He said: about 270 days.
Good, I said, then you can give me the code.
I'm sorry, sir, he said, I can't.
Why?
It's against policy. But, he added, you could have the former account holder call and ask, and we would give it to her.
When she called, they told her that since she had closed her account, they would not give it to her.
I called again. I asked to speak to the CSR's manager. The CSR refused to hand me over, but said he would speak to his manager himself. Again, I was told that there was nothing wrong with the situation, but that they absolutely would not give me the code, even though they had no defensible reason, except that it was "against policy."
This was the conversation where they first told me that giving out that code was "a courtesy to our customers." I asked why, then, was I being treated so discourteously.
I'm sorry, he said, it's just against policy. (Also he did not feel he was being discourteous — must have failed Logic 101.) However, he said, you could get the code off the internet, all you have to do is google a four word string, and then pay a site two or three bucks and you can get the code easily.
I googled the string. I found some sites. None offered the code for less than $13, and every single one of them required that I also buy an "unlock cable" for an additional $20, minimum, a piece of hardware I would use but once.
I called T-Mobile back. I asked to speak with the same CSR. I'm sorry, the new CSR told me, but we don't have any way of transferring calls.
Fine, I said. Then you help me, and don't lie. He was quite certain that the last CSR had not lied to me, but he would do his best to help.
After spending another three rounds trying to get the code directly, explaining — carefully and patiently — that they could easily verify I had not stolen the phone, that I was, in fact, in legal possession of it and that I could not, given my coming move, make use of T-Mobile's services with it even if I wanted to, they still refused to give.
However, the new CSR told me, there is an "easy" way to get the code. Did I know anyone with the same type of phone who still had service?
Well, yeah . . . (The only two I knew were my most recent ex-girlfriend, whom I no longer speak with, and her roommate whom I'd not had contact with in almost as long, but I didn't go into the politics of the situation with the CSR.)
Great! he told me. Just have that friend call up and ask for the unlock code, and make sure she gives the number for the phone you are in possession of. That, he assured me, would be no problem at all. He'd even checked it with his manager.
So I emailed the roommate and begged this favor of her, and she was a good sport and gave it a try.
She was told that the only phone T-Mobile would ever give her an unlock code for was her own.
What is that, four outright lies? At least. And several hours of my life (not to mention a piece of one acquaintance's life — during the holiday season) wasted.
But wait, there's more!
I called again. Angry. Which was useless, because the person I spoke with was again different, and again did not believe that any of his co-workers would ever have told me such lies because, you know, it's quite against policy and "just not the way we do things at T-Mobile." I didn't laugh in his ear, but it was a struggle.
I told the whole story anyway, and shouted the weasel down when he tried to interrupt me, telling him that interrupting was rude and if he did it again I would demand to speak with his manager.
Mildly cowed, he listened — and even, miraculously, seemed to hear some of what I said.
The solution, he said, is easy. You are moving to China, right? I confirmed that, yes, I would be, as I had told him already just minutes before. So, he said, when you get there, just walk into any cell phone store or department, and anybody there can unlock it for you, probably for a small fee.
I've now been to upwards of 20 cell phone stores and departments in Shanghai, and every single solitary one of them has been unable to do what he said was "easy."
I am now using an old phone donated by a friend here, and finally have a cell.
No thanks to the lying bastards in T-Mobile's laughably named Customer Service Department. Every person I spoke with in that company told me at least one out-and-out lie, and every one of them caused me to waste time out of my life by those lies.
So I am carrying out a threat I made to at least one of them. Here's the story, live on the web. I'm submitting it to Carnival of the Vanities, and Carnival of the Capitalists and I ask any blogger who reads this post to link it on his own blog. Please.
Do not use T-Mobile. They are liars, deceivers, dissemblers, and are not to be trusted.
See what wonderful publicity your Customer Service policies get you?