The low level of competency at T-mobile customer service is really apparent in my latest experience with T-mobile. This situation could have been avoided if representatives received proper training.
My Experience:
About 4 years ago I signed up for T-Mobile services. I qualify for a discount being a retired employee from a large company (DOW 30 component company).
In May, I received a postcard from T-mobile that I needed to verify my discount. Not having a pay stub or pension check, I called customer service to find how I can verify it. After a few days, they told me that the discount is only good for active employee and that the company that I worked for does not have a discount for retirees.
Being persistent, I logged on to my former company retiree website, selected discount available for retiree, and viewed the T-mobile discount. I called customer service numerous times explaining the situation, and keep getting the answer that the company that I worked for does not have a discount for retirees. One customer service representative finally told me that they received a memo from “some name which I forgot, followed by a number” that states that the company I work for doesn’t have a discount. The person didn’t know where the memo came from, but I guessed from the data that it was employee number and name of a T-mobile Business Representative. Another customer service representative told me the message came from the company from which I was retired.
Finally, I decided to post my problem in the discussion group of my former employer website. What I found out was that my retiree discount and benefits was outsourced to another company. Being aware of this, the recommendation posted was to reapply through the retiree website. A few hours later, I received a e-mail from T-Mobile Migration Team that my request has been successfully processed. At the bottom of the e-mail, it contained the original message that had my information including the words “validated customer information.”
The next month’s billing was fine stating my discount with the outsourced company.
On the following month’s billing, I called customer service to find out why my billed was higher than before. They told me that my discount was removed, but because it had just been validated a few days ago they could now process the adjustment for the discount.
I called customer service a few days ago, having a problem with my SIM card. After solving my problem, I asked the customer service rep to check on my discount. She said “One system is showing you to have no discount, and the other system is showing you to have a discount with your former employer.” She said that she will get back with me in a few days and restore the discount with the outsourced company.
Comments:
The situation was caused by a combination of improper entry of discount code on my initial sign-up up with T-mobile and also the business care representative stating that the company that I have a discount with is only good for active employees. This person should have known that many large companies outsourced their retired benefits (Especially since the company I worked for is a former DOW 30 component). Why have a business care specialist if they don’t know their customer accounts?
If T-mobile had a way to directly talked to a knowledgeable business care representative, I feel the person could have corrected the problem immediately. Numerous calls to customer service were made explaining the discrepancy I noticed between what was stated on my company retiree website and what T-mobile is stating about the retiree discount. Nobody seems to want to research the possibility that T-mobile made a mistake in determining the discount.
This is a situation of poor communication and coordination between departments. How many times does my account have to be validated for the discount? It’s been twice already, and its looks like it’s getting validated again. The last action tops it all when
1) the outsourced company was removed, 2) the discount was dropped and somehow in time 3) the discount reverted back to original discount through my former employer , which gave me all the headaches.
Last month, the immediate removal of discount without notifying me there is a problem, shows poor business practice (especially after the discount was verified a month before). Does T-Mobile customer service look at the account history before removing a discount? Obviously not.
Also, I recall that the discount was immediately removed when the business care rep stated that the discount is only good for active employees. It look like T-mobile intentions was to remove the discount before the billing cycle to produce more revenue even though it contradicts what the verification postcard states that you need to verify by a certain date or your discount will be removed.
The only positive comment I have is that the last customer representative I spoke to really seems to care to correct the problem. Her professionalism and the questions she asked showed that she was well trained.
I just wonder how many T-mobile customers you are losing due to situation similar to this. Is it worth all my time trying to straight out the problems caused by T-mobile? Is this problem going to happen again in a few months or next year? T-mobile needs to know a customer can only tolerate so much before they start looking elsewhere.
I guess with T-mobile you sacrifice customer service competency for best value. This incident definitely shows lack of knowledge or training on T-mobile’s behalf. T-mobile needs to make an investment in training and education immediately!