T-Mobile Presents: How Not To Earn Consumers' Trust Through "Discounts" on Referrals

My brother had a really good deal from T-Mobile. Got a relatively cheap smart phone for himself and his wife, and they let him pay for the phone in installments, $10 per phone per month until it was paid off, so no real initial fee. Let him keep his number, and the plan called for unlimited voice, text, AND data for like $50 a month, plus tax and the cost of the phones, whatever. Not a bad deal! I'd heard that T-Mobile has terrible coverage though, especially compared to my previous provider, Verizon - with whom I always had great customer service and amazing coverage with no roaming ever, I even got reception on camping trips. But Verizon, I'm sorry, I just can't afford your data plan, even your cheap limited one. So I had to say goodbye...

Especially when T-Mobile even offered me a referral deal! According to the in-store associate, all I had to do was give them my brother's name for referring me, and they'd give him AND me a $25 discount on our next monthly bill! Rock out!

Of course, I had to submit this referral through their website. Their website, I have to say, isn't the neatest thing to navigate through, kinda confusing. And go figure, they hide the referral thing pretty well. Finally found it, submitted his name. Oops, since he's the referrer, he needs to submit it not me. Of course, seeing as how we would be getting the same discount, and he is clearly a long-time customer and I am new, they should've been able to figure out it out. Right? Nope, got denied. Called into service, they couldn't fix it for me over the phone, I had to cancel and resubmit. I called my brother, told him where to go, he submitted, but then he got denied for trying to refer me twice? I called into service again, they said I had to give them the last four digits of my social security number and the credit card I pay my bill with, fine. They also wanted my brother's. Of course, I didn't have it on hand, I'd have to call him, and get him to call them, and the service lady says that's not good enough, we need to be on the same phone call. A conference call? Really? We said we'd do it, then never did, because... well, we were exhausted and quit caring. Three months later, the following email came. Then my brother responded, which we know T-Mobile won't read, but hopefully you will.

I'm still sticking with you T-Mobile, only because you're dirt cheap - Verizon, want to buy me back? But it's sad when the reason I wouldn't refer a friend to T-Mobile isn't because of their poor coverage, but because of their God-awful, powerless customer service, and fine print policies.

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From: T-Mobile Refer-A-Friend
To: [my brother Andy]
Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2012 8:38 PM
Subject: Your Referral was denied

Thanks for referring Alan to the T-Mobile Refer-a-Friend program. We appreciate that you suggested us to Alan, but we’re unable to process your referral at this time.

To review the T-Mobile Refer-a-Friend program Terms and Conditions, have a look at the program website. To speak with one of us about why we were unable to move this referral forward, feel free to contact us using the form on the T-Mobile Refer-a-Friend website.

T-Mobile Refer-a-Friend is our thank-you for sharing your friends with us, and we do our best, whenever possible, to make it worthwhile for you and for them.

Cheers,

Your T-Mobile Refer-a-Friend Program Support Team

To contact the program support team, sign in to the T-Mobile Refer-a-Friend program website at http://T-Mobile.com/referral and submit your question using the form on the Contact Us page. You will also find more T-Mobile Refer-a-Friend information including Program Rules and Terms & Conditions.

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On 4/17/2012 8:44 AM, [My Brother] wrote:

It's quite simple: I referred my brother, Alan [same last name, obviously], to use T-Mobile. My brother, Alan [same last name, obviously], then subscribed to T-Mobile--therefore I referred my brother, Alan [same last name, obviously], to T-Mobile and we deserve the referral reward. Simple.

Then the endless hoops for which we had to jump through began and we fought over $25 dollars which we thought would be a simple process. Twenty-five dollars should mean a lot more to me and my brother than it does to T-Mobile, but I guess times really are hard.

Keep it.

Andy [same last name, obviously]T-Mobile customer since 2009

======= UPDATE! 6/27/2012 =======

I got a text message survey from T-Mobile a few weeks ago, just two questions, they wanted single digit responses to make it easy. I figured what the heck, wouldn't take too long, so I went ahead and sent 1-5 ratings back on the two questions, I think it was overall satisfaction and would I refer someone, which I think I gave 4 and 3 responses or the like. Again, I don't hate T-Mobile, they just left a sour taste in my mouth.

Then today I got a phone call from a rep from T-Mobile, saying they got my responses to the text survey and wanted me to elaborate if I had the time. So I decided yeah, I love giving feedback, especially because I am an idealist and like to think that some constructive truthful responses might actually inspire companies to improve. So I lamented to the girl on the line about my referral issue, and another issue I had with customer service and trying to move my billing cycle dates to better jive with my paycheck schedule. She was compassionate about my issues there, and followed along with their website to see what I was describing and she agreed. Then she proactively offered to credit my account with the $25 I deserve as an apology! Of course, she couldn't do the same for my brother since she didn't have all his info, and neither did I (assuming she was going to ask for his social security number again... gimme a break), but just the same...that was pretty nice of her. I also mentioned that I liked the WiFi calling option, except the call clarity was rarely super clear, but it is a useful feature. So she then went ahead and modified my account so that WiFi call usage doesn't affect my minutes billed...! I didn't ask for either of these freebies and I was in a pretty good mood prior to the phone call, so I'm rather surprised they'd go out of their way like that for me.

So, T-Mobile, I publicly forgive you. And to the rest of you out there, it pays to take customer feedback surveys!