May 19, 2016

Posted by in Articles & Essays, Customer Service | 0 Comments

T-Mobile & Channeling My Inner B

I am, but most accounts, a pretty happy and optimistic person. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.

BUT….you knew there would be a “but”…..

inner bitchSometimes some thing happens that makes that inner bitch in me come out.

The one sure-fire way to make that happen is to lie to me. To tell me an untruth. To feed me some completely bogus, BS line of crap.

And that, my friends, is what happened today.

It all started when my goofy cell phone, an LG G4, decided to get stuck in a reboot loop. For you non-techy types, that means that that phone would begin to turn on, I would see the LG and T-Mobile logos and then a flash of the phone home screen..and then BAM! Right back to the LG logo.

No big deal. The phone is 10 days shy of 5 months old. Still under complete warranty. I go off to my local T-Mobile shop, located 2.7 miles from my house. Note that distance, it will be important later in this story.  I love this shop because the people working there truly do their best to help their customers. My first service representative told me that with the good warranty I have my best option is to call their service number and they will send a new phone directly to my house. That’s what I did. I went out to my car and called T-Mobile from another phone.

And then it all went down hill. Fast.

t-mobile-logoThe T-Mobile service representative on the phone, Michelle, asked for my address and then said it would be delivered on Friday.  Whew, I said, that is fast! I was happy!

For two seconds…..

Michelle then said T-Mobile would send it to a retail location rather than my home. I was okay with that….until she gave me my options. The two options she gave me were 205 W. 87th Street, in Chicago (11.4 to 15.5 miles from my home, depending on the route) or 51st and Pulaski, in Chicago (just over 10 miles from my home).

Remember, my LOCAL store is 2.7 miles from my home. In a relatively safe neighborhood. The two options she gave me, not so much.

I told her that this policy is crazy and that my warranty documents state a replacement would be shipped to ME, not to a location miles away, not to mention in horrible neighborhoods. I asked for her supervisor. She tried to tell me that these are the only locations in Chicago where warrantied phones would be shipped. She said they are “moving to a model of delivering to retail locations rather than homes”. Fine, I tell her. Send it to the closest location, which is the one directly in front me!

Nope, she claimed they couldn’t do it. The two locations are the only ones she sees but I could go back to the Oak Lawn store to see if they have closer locations. (Really? I wanted to point out that she is on a freaking computer for a tech company and should be able to look this up, but I resisted.)

t-mobile chat 5-19-2016 2

Chat transcript from a conversation I had online, which clearly indicates that T-Mobile does still ship to homes.

I go back into the store, with her still on my speaker phone. As I’m waiting for a rep in the store to assist me again, I ask the lady on the phone what do people do if they order a new phone online. She tries to tell me that they would have to go to one of these two stores to pick it up. (This was a lie – I confirmed via chat with T-Mobile later this evening that the company does ship to home addresses; see image to the left.)

A guy in the store, waiting for service, tells me, good luck! I calmly tell him, with lady listening, that they want to send me to 205 W. 87th Street to pick up my replacement phone. He tells me that there is no way he would go over there in the light of day because it’s gang infested.  Another guy in the T-Mobile store yelled to the service rep on my phone, “Don’t you watch the news – all the people gets shot in that hood.” (In the last two days, there have been at least three shootings in these locations.)

While I continued to wait, I  had her check my son’s zip code, in Bloomington. This woman on the phone tried to tell me that these two Chicago stores would be the CLOSEST for him, too, for a warranty delivery. BOGUS. BS.

The woman on the phone kept trying to placate me by telling me she “understands” my “frustration.” I told her I am not frustrated. I told her I am angry that T-Mobile has misrepresented the service I bought. I would not have bought a service that required me to go to ANY store 10 miles from my house. I told her that I will be sharing this information with everyone I know, including people who may be ordering a new phone that will supposedly have to go to one of these two stores to pick it up.

Finally, Victor, the manager of my local store, in Oak Lawn, flagged me over. He told me to hang up on the woman with T-Mobile. He did what she should have done and what I was told would be done – he ordered a replacement to be shipped to my house. Honestly, I would have been happy to pick it up at the Oak Lawn store. No customer should have to drive farther than their local retail store to get a warranty replacement phone!

I am very disappointed in the T-Mobile service representative that I spoke to on the phone. I feel like she tried to feed me a pack of lies. It should not be difficult for a customer to get assistance in a way that works for both parties. It should be an easy thing for a service rep to give truthful answers.

I thank the manager at the Oak Lawn store, along with the initial service representative who helped me. They both were very helpful and I appreciate their professionalism! Hopefully, the replacement phone will be here in the next day or two!

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