I have had T-Mobile FlexPay since September. To open the account, they required a first month payment by credit or debit card. This payment was a ONE TIME authorized payment only. All subsequent monthly payments were made manually, online, using their One-Time Payment feature, for which any card of your choice can be used.
In June T-Mobile, without my consent without notification, enrolled me in their EasyPay automatic debiting program. To do this, they appropriated the credit card number I used when I opened the account, which was expressly authorized for a one-time payment only. (They need no credit card on file because it is a pay-as-you-go plan which automatically cancels your service after a period of non-use)
Had T-Mobile bothered to NOTIFY me that they were enrolling me in their EasyPay plan, I would have told them the card they illegally assigned to the automatic payment was not even in existence anymore. No merchant can assign your credit card information to a new method of payment or to ANY charge you did not previously authorize. At the time I gave them my credit card, EasyPay was not even in existence. I asked T-Mobile to send me the credit authorization I consented to that allowed for any "future enrollment in automatic debiting programs." They said that they would have to do some research and get back to me.
After I deactivated the EasyPay enrollment—that they never notified me of and that I never consented to—I noticed a NEW, $4.99 fee the next month on my statement. This fee was added without any notification and is apparently a monthly penalty for NOT staying enrolled in EasyPay. Needless to say, as this is a prepay plan, I decided not to pay for this month and to cancel my account altogether.
Unauthorized use of a credit card is a crime that apparently is not enforced with companies "too large to be charged."
I am thankful that I do not have committed contract with T-Mobile and that I can just quit when they decide to engage in bait-and-switch tactics and illegal appropriation of my credit card information.
In summation, T-Mobile enrolled me in a payment plan I never received notice of and never consented to. Then, when I deactivated this unauthorized enrollment, they added a monthly $4.99 fee to my account as a penalty.
These practices have become more and more common as consumer rights continue to fade in the face of the growing monopolies in banking, telecommunications, cable television, insurance and other industries.
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