T-Mobile contract issue

[Cheqsixx]

I currently reside in Alabama.
My wife and I have been with T-Mobile for about 4 years now. She had an issue this past winter with a phone, and called T-Mobile to have it swapped out. She got the new phone, and it took some time to get around to sending the other one back to T-Mobile just this past weekend. On Saturday the 15th, we noticed our phones were not working. We called T-Mobile, and were told that since we had not returned the phone within their 90-day window, that we owed a restocking fee of $4-500 dollars!!! This was the first time we had ever heard of this policy coming from them. We advised them that since no 90-day return policy is shown on our contract, and that we were never told of this, that we felt we did not owe this surprise fee and it wouldnt be paid. They didnt back down, saying that our service would stay interrupted until the fee was paid.

I consider this a breach of contract. They have interrupted our cell service, disrupting our lives. We are in the process of selling a house, and not having mobile phones is making it almost impossible keep up with our realtor. Needless to say, we are growing increasingly frustrated with this. We have been without cell service for 4 days now. I need someone that can tell me what I can do, because we can't let them strong-arm these fees at their discretion. It is one thing for us to have been advised of this "policy" and ignore it. It's something else to have this info after the fact, when there is nothing we can do about it. I have sent 2 emails to their customer service support, and am waiting for a response as I asked for the mailing address to their President, Robert Dotson. My next step was to send a letter to him and the FCC. Im not sure the FCC can get involved with this, but I figured the bigger wake I can create, the more they may want to shut me up and waive the fee. What are my options? Do they have a right to impose this fee? Who else can I contact that has any power over how they do their business? Do I have legal options here? HELP!!!

Thanks!!
Kevin

 

[jpritchett81]

I've had Tmobile for the past 3 years. I've swapped out 3 phones. I did it over the phone and they gave me a LONG speech about having to return the item but I was told I had to return it within 14 days or I would be charged the restock fee and quoted the restock fee. Did she do it over the phone or in the Tmobile store? Why did it take so long to return the phone? You may be stuck....90 days is a long time to have not returned the phone.

 

[Cheqsixx]

My wife called T-Mobile customer support. They advised her that they would send her another phone and to return the other. There was never a timetable given to return the other phone. Had we been told we had 10, 20 or 90 days to return it, we would have made sure it was returned by then. She had actually packaged the phone and took it to the post office a couple of months ago. There was a problem with the return address, possibly our fault, and the phone was never sent back to them. When we saw a charge for $500+ on our bill a couple of weeks ago, she called and was told that they were charging a restocking fee bc they never received the phone. She went to the post office and found out it had not been shipped. She corrected the address and shipped it back out. When the phone was cut off again this weekend, we called back. Thats when we were told for the first time about their "policy".

My point is that we were never told of a 90-day policy. There is no mention of a 90-day return policy on our contract. I can understand them wanting to charge something for the phone if they NEVER got it back, but they are now sticking to this 90 day thing, since they know the phone has been sent. If they can just arbitrarily decide they want to dump a charge on someone, what remedy does someone have to say "I dont think so", especially if there is nothing in writing that says we agreed to it. We argued with someone at their call center for 30 mins about it, and their rep even agreed that they cannot prove that they ever told us (over the phone) about the 90-day return policy. But, they insist it's their policy regardless.

We arent going to pay their fee. We never agreed to it, and feel it is not owed since we were never informed of it. I have advised them that if they continue down this path, and I see anything reflecting a past due bill on my credit report that I would file suit against them and Deutch Telekom (their parent company). There has to be a way to get them to drop this ridiculous charge.

 

[jpritchett81]

My wife called T-Mobile customer support. They advised her that they would send her another phone and to return the other. There was never a timetable given to return the other phone. Had we been told we had 10, 20 or 90 days to return it, we would have made sure it was returned by then. She had actually packaged the phone and took it to the post office a couple of months ago. There was a problem with the return address, possibly our fault, and the phone was never sent back to them. When we saw a charge for $500+ on our bill a couple of weeks ago, she called and was told that they were charging a restocking fee bc they never received the phone. She went to the post office and found out it had not been shipped. She corrected the address and shipped it back out. When the phone was cut off again this weekend, we called back. Thats when we were told for the first time about their "policy".

My point is that we were never told of a 90-day policy. There is no mention of a 90-day return policy on our contract. I can understand them wanting to charge something for the phone if they NEVER got it back, but they are now sticking to this 90 day thing, since they know the phone has been sent. If they can just arbitrarily decide they want to dump a charge on someone, what remedy does someone have to say "I dont think so", especially if there is nothing in writing that says we agreed to it. We argued with someone at their call center for 30 mins about it, and their rep even agreed that they cannot prove that they ever told us (over the phone) about the 90-day return policy. But, they insist it's their policy regardless.

We arent going to pay their fee. We never agreed to it, and feel it is not owed since we were never informed of it. I have advised them that if they continue down this path, and I see anything reflecting a past due bill on my credit report that I would file suit against them and Deutch Telekom (their parent company). There has to be a way to get them to drop this ridiculous charge.

The thing is they are entitled to charge the restock fee if it is received after the 90-day period. The fee would have been charged if they didn't receive the item or received the item outside the specified time. They refurbish these items. You can sue for anything you like but it's going to cost you more than 500.00 to pursue it.

 

[Cheqsixx]

So, basically, they can just decide that they want to charge for anything they want, and reference a policy that is only brought forth via a pre-typed script by an uneducated minimum wage worker on a Saturday evening sitting in a call center, regardless whether it was part of the service agreement???

Then, when the little people decide that it's not part of any signed agreement and fight it, they can still charge it and hold people accountable?

If that's the case, why dont they just randomly call people and say, "Hey, we know you don't have service with us, but we feel you should send us a check, and if you don't want to pay, too bad, because we have a policy here to take your money whenver it falls into our little categories here." It is no different, because there is NOTHING in our contract that references a 90-day return policy. Nothing! So, if/when I have an outstanding late charge show up on Equifax in 3 months, I should be able to sue, not only for that, but for punitive damages. I can't believe there isnt an obvious precedent that has been set in the past for something as malicious and deliberate as what they are trying to do.

Again, it's not the fact they want a restocking fee, I could give a crap less what they call it or why they want to charge it. It's the fact that they are relying on their own unwritten policy to try enforcing it.

 

[jpritchett81]

I don't think that return phone policy is in a contract. I believe that's a verbal agreement at the time you switch phones. What type of phone was this anyway....500.00??

 

[Zigner]

Your contract doesn't refer ANYWHERE to the procedures used for "swapping out phones". It is not part of your SERVICE contract. It is an agreement that was made with them when you called to arrange the swapping out. They are two separate agreements.

 

[Cheqsixx]

Zigner, THATS my point exactly. It's NOT in the contract.. The fact that it wasnt mentioned when we called to swap the phone out confirms it wasnt part of ANY agreement, verbal, written or telepathic. How can they enforce a fee, any fee, if it isnt agreed to in the terms of whatever deal is going on? They can't.. Comes back to my original question: Who regulates or oversees the business practices of a company such as T-Mobile? Who fields complaints that are lodged against a company, when that company doesnt acknowledge that they are doing something dirty and underhanded? Besides wasting my time sending a letter to the president of T-Mobile (knowing it will never actually reach his desk), or a complaint with the FCC, isn't there another route to take to remedy this?

 

[Zigner]

Zigner, THATS my point exactly. It's NOT in the contract.. The fact that it wasnt mentioned when we called to swap the phone out confirms it wasnt part of ANY agreement, verbal, written or telepathic. How can they enforce a fee, any fee, if it isnt agreed to in the terms of whatever deal is going on? They can't.. Comes back to my original question: Who regulates or oversees the business practices of a company such as T-Mobile? Who fields complaints that are lodged against a company, when that company doesnt acknowledge that they are doing something dirty and underhanded? Besides wasting my time sending a letter to the president of T-Mobile (knowing it will never actually reach his desk), or a complaint with the FCC, isn't there another route to take to remedy this?

You don't get it. You have a contract for service from T-Mobile. You have a SEPARATE agreement relating to swapping out the phone. One is totally separate from the other. Whether it's in your service contract is absolutely irrelevant. They are separate issues.

 

[Cheqsixx]

T-Mobile = LOSERS!

HA!! I WON!
I mailed a very well typed, quite eloquent, letter to Robert Dotson which basically read that I will never pay their contrived fee, while confirming I was in the process of filing suit over their breach of contract that occurred when they made the mistake of cutting my service off. I faxed the letter and emailed it as well.
IT TOOK LITERALLY 45 MINUTES FOR T-MOBILE TO CALL ME BACK AND ADMIT THAT THEY WERE WRONG! My service was restored, and the "restocking fee" was removed from my bill.
Zigner, it baffles me how you couldnt comprehend what I was saying. It is obvious there is no correlation between agreeing to return a defective phone and the service agreement I have with T-Mobile, which is why this was clearly a case of them breaching our contract. They cannot arbitrarily cross over and mess with my service, when there is an issue that does not INVOLVE my service. The most they have a legal right to do is send me a separate bill for their fee. They crossed the line when they shut my phone off. And, they proved me right when they admitted fault.