Ask the Employee!

[hoolahoous]

I have a tmobile family plan (preffered 600 minutes) with 4 lines and myfaves on all 4 lines. Couple of months back I added a new line to the plan. Since I had my own device we asked rep to not add a contract and give myfaves on this new line too. the rep agreed and added the line. we infact confirmed several times that myfave is free and there is no contract.

however we still got charged for my fave numbers on that line. when we called the rep, she claimed that as per the notes they only added the myfave screen and not free calling. she further claimed that there is no way for a rep to add myfaves since oct of last year.
it is a bummer. just wondering if it is even worth fighting for what they promised ? do you keep a recording of the call ? will retention be able to add myfave on new line ?

[newguy78]

Yes, we keep a record of the calls. However, you can not ask for us to retrieve the call for disputes. They are recorded for quality and training purposes, not for disputes what a rep did or did not discuss. Do you know how much time & resources it would use to pull that call?

Anyways, in your situation you should be able to get this resolved. I can tell you now, the rep who setup your account only added the myfaves screen, because they don't have access to adding the free myfaves soc. Either do one or two things, call back and explain your story to a supervisor. If I took the call I would copy and paste the free myfaves soc to the new line. If they don't/can't do it, request to cancel your account, and a retention rep should be able to add it.

[hoolahoous]

thanks newguy. I will try the retention.
i will take the liberty of disgreeing on the resources/effort though. in a world where google can pull a webpage out of billions of webpages in milliseconds it shouldn't be hard to pullup a recording given a date and time (i work in software). you can't imagine how many 'he said/she said' issues that would resolve quickly.

[newguy78]

i will take the liberty of disgreeing on the resources/effort though. in a world where google can pull a webpage out of billions of webpages in milliseconds it shouldn't be hard to pullup a recording given a date and time (i work in software). you can't imagine how many 'he said/she said' issues that would resolve quickly.

You have the right to disagree a much as you want, but unless you know what internal action steps that are required to do this action, you have no idea. In a nutshell, the rep you speak to would have to get sales support involved (that's at least 2 -5 mins of hold time when the reps have a 20 second avg. hold time quota, care reps should only be on a call for 5-6 mins). Then sales support would have to find the rep's info who spoke with you, email that rep's coach aka supervisor to find the call (since most front line employees don't have direct extension). At that point you could be looking at a few hours to a couple days before the coach will have a chance to read the email depending on that team's schedule. Coaches can't even complete their assigned work in a 40 hour work week, most of them have to do extra work at home. Doing extra work like this takes away from helping reps on a current call, it effects weekly coachings, meetings, meeting their QA monitors per month. You may say it's just one call, but there are enough of these "can you pull up the call" scenarios, that it would hurt production. At that point, that coach might not be able to add the feature, and would have to contact retention. TMO is not going to invest hiring a group of reps to do these types of tasks, esp since our reps "should" be notating and recapping everything they discussed on the call.

[hoolahoous]

newguy, thanks for your pointers, I was able to get the myfaves added to my last line. really appreciate you taking time out to suggest the correct path.

about the call records, you have brought up some real problems in existing system/process which i agree could be difficult to get around. I am suggesting a totally new approach with does away with the inter department communication. here is my idea.
It could be implemented just like you have notes attached to the account. so when a user calls, the call automatically gets recorded and gets attached to the notes which rep writes about account.
so at later call when the issues comes up, user would say that he/she called approximately around such and such date and rep would search for records in that date/time range. since voice recordings are annotated by rep comments it will be easier to find (most of the time it is not difficult to locate a call but rather what was discussed during the call) . searching process would be no different than what reps currently use to find previous rep's notes .
One call is located, rep would just click on the link and it would play on his/her headset. the recording could optionally be played for customer too.

I have my own voip server and I am a software programmer (about 15 years of programming), so I know all of above can be implemented.

about time usage and efficiency, in my experience, when this 'he said/she said' starts then it usually has a long argument with the rep and then ends up being escalated to supervisor. that takes more time. if customer/rep could listen to recording then they would have proof of exactly what was agreed upon during call. it would avoid any argument and tmobile will end up a more satisfied customer and fewer escalations.

[ppriyank]

I was just wondering, with the father's day promotion...

Since you cannot get this deal with an upgrade (i have 3 lines in family plan right now), so can i go to a tmobile store, cancel all 3 lines, and get 3 new lines under say my mom’s name and be able to get a discount?

Option # 2: I also need to add a new line, so keeping all 3 lines as they are, under my name, and add a 4th line, would that qualify for free phones for all 4 phones?

Option # 3: if the option # 2 works, and I don’t need to add an extra line, can i simply cancel one of the lines (out of 3) today, and get a new 3rd line again this saturday and qualify for ALL 3 phones for free?

(I’ve been off contract since Jan, and i’m waiting for samsung galaxy to come in july, but if im getting 3 phones for free, then this deal is worth it for me)

Thank for the input before hand,

Dr. P!

[wralford]

Do T-Mobile CSRs provide the same support for T-Mobile branded wireless devices regardless if they are bought on-line, are "free" phones or purchased in-store?

Will you help all customers set up their e-mail, back up data from devices brought in from other carriers or spend time to go over the features of these devices with a new customer regardless if they are bought on-line, are "free" phones or purchased in-store?

Are there different levels of support for devices?

[kflan]

Support for T-Mobile devices is the same regardless of where it was purchased. Unlocked phones, they will try to assist to the best that they can, but many devices can't be supported as Technical Support doesn't have the information for those devices. Sometimes the only thing that can do is send you the settings for data, SMS, and MMS.

[kflan]

about the call records, you have brought up some real problems in existing system/process which i agree could be difficult to get around. I am suggesting a totally new approach with does away with the inter department communication. here is my idea.
It could be implemented just like you have notes attached to the account. so when a user calls, the call automatically gets recorded and gets attached to the notes which rep writes about account.

Sure, it could be done, but do you realize that if they did that, the call times would jump up? I don't think too many people would appreciate being left on hold because some one is demanding that the call be reviewed. That's why those issues are directed to supervisors so that the rep can get back to assisting the MANY other people calling in. Also realize that the recordings are maintained at each call centre, not one main location.

[maxmingus]

Now that T-Mo is finally getting a powerful android phone, the Vibrant, I'm ready to get a smartphone. I've been a customer for 6 years and I understand that there's a way to deal with customer retention to get a $20 preferred Android data plan.

The question is how do I go about doing this? Who should I call or email? What do I need to say (do I need to threaten to go to Verizon unless they cut me the deal?). Can I do it when the phone comes up for pre-order or do I wait until it's released? Anything else I should know?

Extra background info: I'm on a family plan with my wife. She's happy with a regular phone, so we only want one with data. We may or may not get her a new phone at the same time.

Thanks in advance,
Max

[tramm7]

Is is possible to port a number from a family plan but keep that line with a new number?

I would like to get the Sprint EVO and I want my daughter to use my existing line. Obviously I can just sign up my daughter with Sprint and trade phones but I really need to keep my number? I also don't want to cancel the family line as it has grandfathered t-zones.

Just curious.

[kflan]

It can be done (and has been discussed in many threads already). Port the number to Sprint. Once it's fully completed, call T-Mobile Activations and tell them you want to resume the cancelled line with a new number and keep all the features on that line. They will activate a new line of service with the same features and adjust the contract end date to the original length plus how many days the line was cancelled (if you don't call back the same day the number was ported over). You have 90 days from when the line was cancelled in order to resume it, but only 60 days in order to use the same SIM.

[quantumchaos]

thanks newguy. I will try the retention.
i will take the liberty of disgreeing on the resources/effort though. in a world where google can pull a webpage out of billions of webpages in milliseconds it shouldn't be hard to pullup a recording given a date and time (i work in software). you can't imagine how many 'he said/she said' issues that would resolve quickly.

Considering the fact that I used to be a quality specialist for T-Mobile and am quite well versed in how that system works (as it was my job to search out calls and listen to them), I assure you it's not that simple.

[wralford]

Question: Which plans is this add-on available for? Even More? Even More Plus? Current? Grandfathered?


http://www.t-mobile.com/templates/ge....mc_t=OnsiteAd
* Limited-time offers; subject to change. Taxes and fees additional. Qualifying post-paid plans with unlimited domestic messaging required. Calls and text messages must originate in U.S. Unlimited features for direct communications between two people. Credit approval may be required.

[kronikchef]

I need help finding the phone thats right for me. I have had the Nokia 5610 since i started with t-mobile almost 2 years ago. Septermber marks my 2 year mark and i will be eligible for an upgrade (finally!). I'm not too picky, but, the features i do wan't seem to be non-existing on any t-mobile phone without having to upgrade to a data plan. the features i want are

3-5 megapix camera with flash
threaded text messaging
qwerty keyboard (on screen or off)

I text ALOT (40-50 a day) yet i work from home where i have internet, desktop, and laptop. and xbox live. I do not want to have to upgrade my cell plan JUST to get the phone i want. The other option someone brought up to me was to just buy an unlocked used one on ebay or amazon or whatever. The phone i have my eye on is the motorola cliq xt. Has everything i want in a phone and is an acceptable size! Yet it has the "motoblur" and i dont have data on my plan. is there a way to turn this off? Or is there a way to block all data on my plan all together, and if so can i still send text/ picture messages? Also, as i am a major clutz, what about insurance? If i have insurance on my plan will it carry over to the phone i baught offline?

Another note, is there a phone that has threaded txt messaging, high megapix camera with flash, and qwerty keyboard i am overlooking? I dont care for the blackberrys or the sidekicks. I will stop rambling on and leave it at that lol