On Thursday, August 4th, at my significant others request, I attempted to order a prepaid phone online using his Visa debit card, name and address. After entering the detail, a screen popped up that said it was unable to be processed. Assuming it was a glitch in the system, I tried using my name and my debit card, and received an order number and a few moments later an email saying the order was being processed. However, when I checked our bank account, funds had been withdrawn for both transactions, and $760 was held from our account. I online chatted with customer service and they said the funds for the first transaction would be returned shortly.
Thursday evening I received an email that said the phone I ordered with my debit card was being shipped. I was given a UPS tracking number. On the morning of Friday, August 5th, I noticed that the UPS website said that the package was being intercepted at the request of T-mobile.
When I called T-mobile customer service I was told I was not able to buy a phone online or on the phone because of a verification issue. After I explained several times that the price for the phone was not available anywhere but online, I asked to speak to the verifications department, and was transferred. Eventually I was able to speak with a manager who was able to verify that I exist. (This was after a series of questions about the jobs Ive held, where my brother owns property and people Ive known in my life. Please keep in mind that I am a long-time T-mobile customer and this is a phone for use on a PREPAID account. This was not an upgrade or a new contract.)
I was then told, however, that I would have to place a new order and that I would be charged again for the same phone and the funds for the other order would be refunded. I was assured that there would be no further issues and that the phone would be delivered by Monday morning. A new order was placed.in order to do this I had to transfer funds from one account to another to avoid my account going into overdraft.
Friday afternoon, I checked the order status and it said the new order (#2114368413) was cancelled. Of course the funds had already been taken from my bank account.By Friday, the 5th, T mobile had held $1,120 for a $350 phone that I was not receiving. I called customer service again, and was told that the order would have to be rekeyed but that it would be done within 24 hours and the phone would still be delivered on Monday.
On the morning of Monday, August 8th, after not receiving any type of confirmation that the order had been rekeyed, I called customer service and was told that the original order was going to be delivered that day. After hanging up with T-mobile, I checked the UPS site once again only to see that the package that was supposed to be delivered to me was being returned to Texas. I
immediately called T-mobile customer service again, only to be told that the order had not yet been rekeyed and I would have to wait, but no one could assure me that the order would be placed or that I would receive the device. I told the customer service representative that I would call the following day.
I placed a final call to customer service this morning, August 9th when I noticed that the original $380 for the first order was no longer processing on my bank account, but had actually been taken. I was told by the customer service representative the order would have be to rekeyed and that I would be CHARGED again for a FOURTH time for the same phone. After speaking with a supervisor who told me that nothing could be done and that no one in the entire company could give me an answer, I informed her that I would be disputing the charges with my bank and filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, as well as writing a letter to as many tech/cell phone websites as I could find.
At this point I am still out $1120, have no cell phone, and am told that an offline verifications group will be charging me again for the phone that they may or may not be sending to me.
0 comments