Back in May, due to all the hype, we decided to try a T-Mobile hot spot device. We ordered it over the phone, which was easy to do. But much to my chagrin, I soon found out that, like herpes, T- Mobile is easy to get but impossible to get rid of.
The telephone salesman assured us we had a trial period and if we didn’t like it, all we had to do was mail it back and there would be no charge. The device did not work for us, so we mailed it back within the allotted time. We received acknowledgment of receipt of the device and we thought that was the end of it.
Two months later I realized my credit card was still being charged $50 a month. I called the T-Mobile 800 number to explain that I had returned the device and did not have any service and to please cancel my account and refund the charges. Whoa! Not so easy.
I called dozens of times with no success. I was told over and over by multiple agents on the other side of the world that they had to have a pin number to access my account. I lost the pin number, probably threw it away after we sent the device back because why would I need to keep it? So, folks, I said, let’s reset the pin number. People lose their passwords and pin numbers all the time. Reset it! They told me I would have to go to a store first to prove my identity and cancel the account. Prove my identity? T-Mobile has my account number and my credit card information and they have no problem with my identity when it comes to piling on the charges.
I obediently went to the store in Imlay City so I could prove my identity. When I finally got the attention of one of them I was told, “No.” I had to call the 800 number to cancel the account. So, I called the 800 number (again) and the merry-go-round continued to spin.
Needless to say, I contacted my credit card company to explain the fraudulent charges and they deleted them, as a reputable company would. T-Mobile, however, continues to hound me. I’m receiving harassing phone calls threatening suspension of my service. What service? How do I get through to these people that I have no service? Now, the latest outrage is notice from a collection company for past due charges threatening my credit standing.
Ironically, the last T-Mobile phone representative I spoke with told me that simply mailing back the hot spot device did not cancel my service. That is evidently a separate, top-secret action.
I believe it my civic duty to alert others to what has been a three-months long nightmare.
—Yvonne Linck Osborne,
Brown City
