lisa v T-Mobile ***SETTLED IN FULL***

[lisamellor]

hi all,

well i dont know where else to put this thread....

i got a contract phone on 7th feb 2006. it was with T MOBILE and was on a fixed bill of £25.00 a month, with a chosen tarriff - ufix 25 off peak (meaning i can use the phone t call and text people after 6pm weekdays and all weekends. no problems for a few months. on the 28th april i received 7 text messages from T MOBILE SAYING "your promotional text bundle has expired today. to purchase a new text bundle call 150 bla bla bla" so i called them on 2nd may to see why theyt had sent me these messages and the advisor said " you still have minutes to use and texts so it is just a mistake so ignore it" which i did. whilst i was on the phone i asked about changing my tarrif as i wasnt using the phone as i was at home at night, saying it would be better to change to a day time plan, so he said yes he'll change it to anytime call plan where i get 150 mins in calls and 100 text messages per month. no problem so i thought !!!

this morning i rang them up and they told me that i owed them £266.44.

well after me nearly having a heart attack i was quite calm thinking to my self the CAG will know what to do !!

so i said to the nice lady alison .... how on earth has this happened i signed a contract for a fixed bill each month, and when my call and text allowance has ended then i should not be able to use the phone ?? she replied... you changed your call plan to RELAX 25. which means when you go over your allowance you get billed for what you use.

now let me explain what i signed for originally so no one misunderstands whats going on

when i first went into the carphone warehouse i wanted a contract where you paid upfront and when you had used all the talk time and texts then you couldnt use the phone anylonger unless you got a top up card and topped it up. so i decided that it would be great as id never get a bill and i knew that £25.00 each month would be taken out of my bank.

so bacically when i rang up on the 2nd may to change tarrifs the man put me on the wrong tarrif ( instead of putting me on ufix 25 where i would not be able to use the phone after the allowance had expired. he put me on relax 25 where when the allowance had run out i would get billed for)

so when i asked the lady i spoke to this morning how on earth had this bill managed to get so high without no one calling me. she said " my credit limit is £400.00 because i am such a good customer and i pay on time" i said well its only £25.00 a month that i pay and ive only paid since feb. and i didnt get toldanything about a credit limit AT ALL when i changed tarrifs. i told her that it is irresponsible of T MOBILE to do this. that it is their fault and i will not be paying the bill. i told her to hold my account in DISPUTE and that i would be checking my credit report to make sure they dont put anything on it.

also i have contacted the insurance comp and they said that i can cancel the contract with T MOBILE and they will pay the remainder of the monthly (£25.00) payments off, but id still have to sort out the bill with them.

so what can i do ?

this is the mistake of a man who put me on the wrong tarrif (without my knowledge)and why should i have to pay for it?

what should be my next step, also when they put me on this new tarrif they would have done a check ( i have looked and they had ) and they did this without my permission.

[lisamellor]

well tmobile now have till sat to send me my request for all manual records under the Data Protection Act. so we will see what happens on sat.

lisax

[welly]

Have you asked for a transcript of the call you made when you changed over to the day time one?

And must have been a shock for you Bloody mobile phones providers

Good luck lisa

[lisamellor]

hi welly,
well i did ask for a transcript of the calls, and their reply was that they only record a few calls and they are for training purposes and then they are deleted within a short period of time.

well im not in no mood to be playing funny buggers so sod em, they have til sat to have sent the info, if not then they will be getting a letter demanding a refund within 14 days and then i will be going to court.

i recon that they will refund me as it is only £300. to them and it would be cheaper for them in the long run.

talk about shock you goddamn right it was i nearly had a heart attack!

lisaxx

[Rob S]

Did you ask them to provide a run down of what the new tariff actually provided prior to switching? And were you monitoring your phone usage, as a bill of £266 is a hell of a lot of calls?

[welly]

Good luck lisa and let us know how you get on

[lisamellor]

hi rob, when i switched tarrif i was allowed so many minutes and when they ended then i would not be able to use the phone.... (my sister was using the phone on this month as she was going back and forth to coventry from manchester and shes only young so she used the phone, and she would give me the month payment 25.00) so she just used it as i told her that when the miinutes end she wont be able to use the phone.

and i didnt ask for a breakdown as when my minutes and texts have been used then i would not be able to use the phone unless i top up

[Rob S]

Lisa,

I see what you are getting at now. You still wanted a U-fix tariff but wanted to be switched to an anytime U-fix tariff rather than the off-peak one. But instead they switched you to a Relax tariff which has no limits when you have used up your allowance? Looking at the T-mobile site, they should have switched you to U-Fix £25.

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[lisamellor]

got it in 1.... thing is my contract is for a fixed 25.00 per month for one year.....so id like to see them explain that to a judge!! not that i reckon it will get that far, but nethertheless ive got the contract here in black n white..!!

[Dipply75]

Don't know if this helps but T-mobile tried almost the same thing on me a while ago. I changed my plan over the phone and used my phone accordingly. I received a bill through for over £300 andwhen I was brought round I thought simple mistake, theywill sort it....yes niave I know.

Basically I had to go onto a manager and argue him into a corner that they think they can change a contract verbally, do not back the change up with ANY sort of confirmation, letter, details or anything and if they make a simple mistake I have to pay for it? The customer has no way (and shouldn't have to) of checking the change has been qhat they asked for so I have no recourse because THEY do not have systems in place to check/confirm these things? I have to just pay up and like it as their staff are not accountable for screwing up? Then mentioned that I had spoken to OFCOM about this and reported it as a scam and he finally back down. Just make them aware that you ain't going away and make it one managers problem - they DO have the power to fix it because they did for me, eventually. Best of luck x

[lisamellor]

hi dipply, how long did it take for them to sort this out??
never thought of going to ofcom, but if they havent sent me my info out i will be going down that route!! glad im not the only one!!

tc lisaxx

[deemacperth]

You've done the right thing by asking for all the notes. The operator is meant to type up what they're doing and why, inclusing any comments from the customer so you should see how they've made the mistake.

[lisamellor]

to be honest some of the things that t mobile have said to me have had alarm bells ringing for me..... i have told them that i suspect them of tampering with my file and if i find out that they have done so then there will be serious consequences for them!! (dont know what they'll be yet but im sure that they cant go and re-qrite things)

lisaxx

[lisamellor]

well t mobile have failed to comply with my Data Protection Act

they cashed the cheque on 26th august. giving them till 5th august.

letter before action being sent off tomorrow giving them 7 days.

lisaxx

[lisamellor]

aaaahhhhhggggghhhhh!! im soooooo annoyed....

just spoken to t mobile about one thing and another and thought that id ask if they had sent out my data that i requested. to cut a long story short.

they have received the letter BUT the cheque was credited to my account as i owed them money.......

the REALLY NICE LADY asked me where did i send it. my reply was to the address which i was advised. she looked at the notes and said yes you spoke to someone who advised you to send the letter and 10.00 to an address. but he does not put which address.

so i really dont think that i should have to start with another 40days again??

i have just (yesterday) sent the LBA giving them a further 7 days.

i dont mind sending another cheque but would i have to wait ??

or should i just wait till the 7 days ends from the lba i sent runs out.

i know exactly how much they owe me.
i have the contract that states that i am on a recurring 25.00 per month contract.
i have paid the amount they have incorrectly charged.

shall i sent a letter demanding that they return the amount they incorrectly charged me or shall i go to court and file??

i dont believe it!!

they cant do ANYTHING RIGHT!

lisaxx

[Dipply75]

Oh my god, they are at it! It took me 2 nights of phoning and arguing to get a refund. Call them and ask to speak to a manager right away - when they do the usual "I have to try and help you first" tell them you sent a Data Protection Act letter in which is a legal document which they have ignored so they are blocking you from accessing your info - they also xxxxx the cheque that was sent with it - clearly intended for your Data Protection Act request and credited to the account you have under dispute - illegally. You are reporting them to the information commissioner and OFCOM - can they fix that? No? then you want a manager. What they have done is illegal and you want the name of their data protection officer to cpmplain about. Don't send another cheque as you have already paid for your request.

I would definetley phone Ofcom and put in a complaint as they have people who CAN help and deal with a manager only at this stage, and get their name and direct number. I have been round the houses with them - I know how they work, good luck n let them have it!

Edited - please be aware of the potential for libel - which can also affect our site.

[Dipply75]

Oh, sorry, forgot to say - tell them the account is under dispute - so technically at the moment you DO NOT owe them the money until the dispute is over.
Good luck