Author Topic: The Iliad of phone porting stories (CAVEAT EMPTOR)  (Read 1961 times)

bmorestachian

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The Iliad of phone porting stories (CAVEAT EMPTOR)
« on: September 10, 2013, 04:08:09 PM »
Been stalking the forums since June, but I finally had something happen that was whacky enough I felt I had to share.

Of all the money saving tips/tricks I gleaned from the blog, the one with the largest impact on monthly savings was making the switch to Airvoice Wireless (most others we were already doing: we live is a super tiny home with a small mortgage; we walk to work; we don't have cable, we did downgrade our internet to the lowest available but that was only a savings of $10; our food budget is pretty barebones too) . And thus began the saga that ended today (Thank Zeus).

First, I had to convince the DW that this move made sense. So I looked back at our phone records for the last 6 months and figured out the number of minutes and texts each of us used. Then I calculated what our monthly bill WOULD have been if we had been with Airvoice. My wife being who she is, said something akin to, "How much would we save? Fuck it, do it NOW!" (I love her sailor mouth)

SO, without delay (maybe a little), I ordered two fresh SIM cards, got both of our fully paid for cell phones unlocked, and waited for the cards to arrive. A few days later, they did, and I went about porting our numbers to Airvoice. Bing, bam, thank you ma'am, and we have our new pay as you go $10(x2) month plan.

The month passes with little fanfare. In the beginning we're a little cautious about staying on the phone out of a fear that we'll rack up a huge bill (in reality that that would be nearly impossible), and towards the end of the month, we both feel a lot more comfortable with the pay as you go plan.

Then the CAVEAT EMPTOR/Facepunch comes in.

I wake up one morning to find a roughly $500 debit in our checking account from T-Mobile.... I call T-Mobile immediately. It turns out that what I thought was a no-contract month to month plan ("Value" plan; no longer offered), was actually a two year plan that I was about a year and a half into. My wife and I both DISTINCTLY remember this plan being a month to month plan, and begged T-Mobile to waive the $200+Taxes and "We're gonna put you over a barrel" cancellation fee/line they had just auto-debited from our account. After pleading with the call center person, then speaking to their supervisor, we were offered to be "Won back" (their words/program) and refund the fees IF we came back to T-Mobile. The DW and I looked at each other in defeat, and gave in. I then was bounced around about 5 times to various customer reps in order to re-port our numbers back to T-Mobile. Finally, at the end of this journey, I was told, "Your old plan no longer exists, there is currently a plan for $80/month with unlimited talk, text and web. It has no activation fee, no termination fee." At this moment I heard a record screech, stopped dead in my tracks, and asked her to repeat herself..... "No termination fee?", "Correct" she says... "Sign me up!" I say with enthusiasm.

After I get off the phone, I explain the saga to my DW who has been out walking the dog while I try and sort out this fiasco. We both look at each other and agree that, yes, as soon as this goes through, and we get our money back, we're going to cancel this sucker again, and benefit from the fact that the new plan is "Termination Fee Free". We lament that we are going to have to re-port our numbers back, but agree that it is just what we get for not checking on our contract status to begin with. A day later, we find out that T-Mobile is having problems porting our numbers. I quickly tell the befuddled customer care rep to "Just go ahead and give us completely new numbers". Which they do. The next day, I called up, confirmed that I could indeed cancel the revived account and get my money back, and cancelled this sumbitch.

So in case you missed it... T-mobile charged me a termination fee, told me they wouldn't waive it, refunded the cancellation fee after they signed me up for a plan that is termination fee free, so that I could... terminate them.....

I found out later that if you are on an old plan, and you migrated to this new plan, you were still held to the contract dates. Apparently, if you leave them and come back to them within 90 days, the old contract dates don't roll in.. Or at least they didn't for us.

The moral of this story, 1)Check your contract status before switching out and 2)If you don't....... You may be able to game the system. Though YMMV.

Total savings? Up to $60/month depending on usage. Avg likely to be $50/month. And we aren't changing our behavior really. We can talk as much as we used to and make those savings... Pretty damn sweet.

Daley

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Re: The Iliad of phone porting stories (CAVEAT EMPTOR)
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2013, 04:43:31 PM »
Dude... I'm exhausted just reading the affair. I'm also sad to hear yet another getting out horror story from an ex T-Mobile customer, something that's been on the rise the past few months since they changed their packages and policies. (OT? It's not just you.) I am happy to hear that you've finally gotten free, however, and congrats on the savings!
« Last Edit: September 10, 2013, 04:45:08 PM by I.P. Daley »