Mobile causes stress...when we switch

The Bottom Line Switching from one phone to another is not easy!

Here is a letter that I wrote to T-Mobile recently. The company refuses to speak with me and I wanted to share with others what I am going through with this company just because I switched to a new phone company. I am not sure if others are going through this but if you are please leave me a message. As a consumer and an honest customer I find it very frustrating to be treated in this manner.

Dear T-Mobile Customer Relations,

I am writing to report the abuse that is occurring to me and my family from your company. In September 2003 we purchased a cell phone for my husband on his birthday from T-Mobile. We purchased two phones, one for him and one for me. They were matching phones. We added a line to the contract on my daughter’s birthday June 12, 2004. At that point we changed the contract and were assured it was a one year contract for us. We were pleased at that point with T-Mobile, but as the year went on we had frequent dropped calls, and were unable to reach each other from different areas of our state. We decided that as soon as our contract was up we would switch.

In 2006 we decided we would like Razors and the T-Mobile company did not have razors. So we went to Sam’s club in January and asked them if they could tell us about the razors and how to go about switching. We were told that our contract with T-Mobile could not be changed until July 1 without us receiving a charge for breaking the contract. So we kept our phones.

On July 1 we returned to Sam’s club in Manchester, New Hampshire. At Sam’s club they had a kiosk that had more than one cell phone company and T-Mobile was one of the companies. We inquired about our T-Mobile account and expressed to them that we wanted to switch to razors. We also wanted to add a phone line for our son and we needed a family plan that was the same price that we had.

We were told that our T-Mobile contract was ended and we were doing it at the proper time, being that we were in July and it had been started in June two years earlier. So we were told at that time that we would be fine if we chose to change companies. We were also told that we owed 155.00 to T-Mobile and we would get a bill for that charge. We went ahead with the switch and activated our phones on July 7th, 2006. Nearly three years after our original plan with T-Mobile.

I received a bill from T-Mobile for my last payment of 155.00. I sent in the payment, and then received phone calls from T-Mobile and letters from T-Mobile asking me to return to their company. In October I received a call from a collection company called Diversified Con. telling me that I owed them 600.00 for breaking my contract with T-Mobile and that T-Mobile had sent me to collections for this amount and they would be reporting this to my credit.

I immediately called T-Mobile. T-Mobile assured me this was an error. I heard nothing more until last week. April, 2007. The phone began to ring from Diversified Con. I spoke with them on the phone last week. They told me that I broke my contract and owed them 600.00. I told them they were wrong. They yelled at me and told me I owed them money and threatened me with court. I hung up the phone and called T-Mobile. The representative on the phone from T-Mobile told me that because they had sold my account to the collection company there was no way that they could speak with me. They told me that the account was charged off and they were not allowed to speak with me. Diversified called me again, and I answered the phone and spoke with someone who said he was a manager. I explained the dates to him, explained to him that T-Mobile had assured us that we were all set with canceling our contract and that we were not breaking the contract when we changed our account. He told me that T-Mobile representatives would tell me that so they could charge me the 600.00. He told me I was wrong to have listened and that I owed the 600.00 and could not get out of it. I again called T-Mobile and no one would discuss my account once again. So now, the only way I can stop these phone calls is to pay the 600.00. Which I do not owe.

They told me at T-Mobile to write this dispute letter. So I am doing just that. I am disputing my charges from T-Mobile. I am sending this letter to all of the credit bureaus and I am sending this letter to the Better Business Bureau and I will also be posting this letter at Epinions.com online so that other customers will know how I am being treated. I expect there are many people being treated in this manner by cell phone companies when we try to transfer to new companies. This is unfair and should be illegal to treat people in this manner and then not allow us to even speak with someone from the company that sends our names to collection agencies. I am an honest hardworking mother, and do not deserve to be treated in this manner. I consider the phone calls from Diversified Con to be harassment. The number that they keep calling me from is 1904-247-5500. I have received phone calls from these people at odd hours including Sunday morning. I am frustrated that I can find no one to speak with about this, and only get yelled at by the collection agent. It is very upsetting and unnecessary.