baked247
Can Nib Is
join:2003-06-25
Phoenix, AZ
| [T-Mobile] T-Mobile contract
I like an idiot just signed a year contract with tmobile so I could get a different phone for a discounted rate . The service I recieve in my area blows extremely bad. The only way I can get out of my contract to switch providers is to pay a 200 per line early termination fee. I was wondering if I do not pay my bill and they shut my phone off will that automatically cancel my contract and do away with the early termination fees? I cannot deal with the excuses of why my service is bad and them telling me I have to just deal with it. I have to search for the network approx 15-16 times a day and drop calls more than I do not drop calls and the only response I get from them is " If you cancel your contract they are going to shove 400 worth of fees up my ass and I have to take it. I would eventually pay the bill but only after the service is disconnected. Am I SOL or ? |
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SpyderCKE
We call that the Dennis Miller Ratio
Premium
join:2000-10-26
Milwaukee, WI
| The residual fees and problems you encounter down the road are far worse by not paying, then eating it. There is a reason for the trials, which for one reason or another you didn't use extensively enough or at all. Don't pay your bill and your credit is in the crapper. Even better, you may have to pay deposits (or more deposits than usual) at the next carrier.
I would explore better alternatives, such as bad phone, or ways to increase reception in you house. Do you have anyone you know needing a phone you could transfer ownership to?
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Playaaa
Premium
join:2002-05-28
Minneapolis, MN
clubs:
| My roommate had 4 lines under tmobile and stopped paying the bill about 5 months ago, the total is now around $1600 after early termination fees per line and all the services on each line. His father talked to his attorney and he said that cellphone situations like this will absolutely NOT effect your credit. If you apply for a phone through other providers it might effect them denying you but again his dad's attorney said that it will not effect your credit. He's gonna wait for it to go to collection, then offer them half, they'll take it. the end |
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SpyderCKE
We call that the Dennis Miller Ratio
Premium
join:2000-10-26
Milwaukee, WI
| I hope you aren't suggesting he just wait it out until collections comes knocking.. I don't think anyone wants to see that day. Still not sure about the credit though, since pretty much any financial undertaking can hit you one way or another. Maybe since it's paid monthly by check or cash it doesn't build up the same way.
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baked247
Can Nib Is
join:2003-06-25
Phoenix, AZ | reply to Playaaa
I am not planning on not paying the monthly service fee that would incrue I was just wondering if they would include the early termination fee in the final bill . |
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KevNYC
Premium
join:2002-03-31
Seattle, WA
| reply to baked247
Well not to throw it in your face or anything, but why didn't you cancel during the trial period? You can either call up and speak to a supervisor and nicely ask them to waive the ETF due to the fact that you can't use your phone. Or just ask them to cancel service and they'll send you your final bill along with the $200 ETF.
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baked247
Can Nib Is
join:2003-06-25
Phoenix, AZ | I never got a trial , and it is 200 per line ETF with 3 lines being used. thats 600 |
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Smokey
Even drunk on a bet ya make it to Canada
Premium
join:2003-05-20
Va Beach
clubs:
 ·Cox HSI
| You always get a trial... 14 days from activation of the phone.
Best course may very well be to keep calling CS and complaining.
I have a similar issue. No matter what the coverage maps say, I can not get a signal in my home, and very little at work and in other buildings in town. I truly find that inexcusable, and if it weren't for a killer deal, I might have very well canceled last year. Its really disappointing to know that I have gotten better reception in the basement of the Luxor in Vegas than I can get in my home. 
It also might be good to point out that T-mobile is working on its coverage in the valley, and is putting up near 50 new towers this year.... with our luck, they wont be anywhere near us. 
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baked247
Can Nib Is
join:2003-06-25
Phoenix, AZ
| I was actually told by the csr from hell that "T-Mobile does not have it in their budget and theres no current or future plans to be upgrading service in my area because people dont want towers in their front yards." The only thing she could tell me is that I needed to be "educated about my service contract and the early termination fee". What a flippin brainless thing to say to someone who is having problems trying to resolve an issue. |
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Smokey
Even drunk on a bet ya make it to Canada
Premium
join:2003-05-20
Va Beach
clubs:
·Cox HSI
| They are building, or leasing space on towers. That said, they could be faster about it, and could use better engineering plans. I asked them back when I first had my issues if their techs could read a map, and understand the fact that signals don't travel through mountains. I asked because their coverage map shows an area behind a mountain as green, yet I cant get a signal anywhere near that mountain.
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SpyderCKE
We call that the Dennis Miller Ratio
Premium
join:2000-10-26
Milwaukee, WI
| reply to baked247
I think some people need a little reality check. You can't just go to your local wireless supply house and pick up towers and permits in bulk. The things are expensive, as cost include licensing, lawyer fees, engineering analysis, environmental impact studies, etc. Depending on many factors, the cost could be from $10k to even $100K, depending on whether its rented space or full tower.
I'm sure the engineers can read maps just fine, and they may ask the very same question you did. Angry people on this site almost always attack the techs as the reason things are so shoddy. How many of you know what goes into putting a tower up from start to finish? I have observed some town meetings where cell companies are pitching to put up towers. I would bet 90% of the planning board has cell phones, yet it is insanely hard for the companies to put up towers due to opposition. Every excuse under the sun comes up such as the usual ugliness, to environmental impact. Sometimes the only time a tower goes up is because the companies can pay lawyers for a lot longer than the city can.
About the maps, it helps to be more educated about things before you complain. Do you really think that freak from Verizon wanders around the country making maps?? They base many of them on physics of waves, topology maps, and actual measurements. If you want to accuse them of lying, take a look in your contract, where it says service is not guaranteed in all areas.
Never got a trial? Did they take it from you?? Every provider will allow you to cancel within 14 days, some are 30. You probably didn't read your contract either.
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IAmTheEvilest
There Is Nothing Like A Restart
join:2001-01-03
Santa Barbara, CA
clubs:
| reply to Playaaa
said by Playaaa  :His father talked to his attorney and he said that cellphone situations like this will absolutely NOT effect your credit. Your friend's father's attorney is absolutely positively wrong. Any outstanding balances or bills will hammer down your credit. That attorney does not know anything, since I have encounter situations such as this one.
First of all, T-Mobile is not going to send this bill directly to collection yet. First, they will usually sit on it for a few months before they actually report it.
Then, T-Mobile will make its first mark on your credit report stating that this person owes X amount of money to them and that will be something that will stain your credit report for about 7 years. Many lenders will not loan any money out people that have outstanding balances held against them.
Afterwards, if T-Mobile cannot get the money, they will sell your account to a collection agency. At this point, even if you pay the collection agency for the amount, any person looking at your credit report will see that you let your past balance with T-Mobile go delinquent. Although you may eventually settle with the collection agency, the initial outstanding balance with T-Mobile will still have considerable impact on your credit score because the amount will be marked as settled with the collection agency and not with T-Mobile. Trust me on this one, there is quite a large difference.
Furthermore, paying off the collection agency sometimes can actually lower your credit score even further since it updates the account. But if you don't pay, you can't get money from many lenders or you'll will have to pay far higher interest rates. Furthermore, many credit card companies will actually raise your interest rates since many of them have a clause that allows them to check your credit report periodically.
This type of "black mark" will stay for you for at least the next five years of your life. Considering that recovering from just one late payment often takes longer than a year, a delinquent account will definitely take longer. For the next seven years, lenders will see that you have been poor at managing your debt and therefore will have to pay higher interest rates since you will be a high risk borrower. Not only will you have to pay higher interest rates on mortgages, car loans interest rates will also be higher, credit card interest rates will go up, and even your insurance rate may go up (depends on the state and insurer).
Credit takes years and years to build up. If you will be in the market for any loans or mortgages in the next 7 years, the $600 ETF fee from T-Mobile will seem paltry. That is because your credit record will be marred during this period and you will pay higher interest rates. You will be forced to pay a few percentage points more interest. Or they might not lend any money to you at all.
Credit is very hard to build, don't let something like this ruin what has taken years for you to earn. A late payment is already bad enough, but a delinquency is a big no-no. The consequences are huge. Not only will you not be able to get another cell phone, but your financial life will be in shambles.
Plus, T-Mobile will still charge ETF, in addition to the late fees, and the monthly service charges that you owe them.
My suggestion is that you switch their cheapest plan and ride out the rest of their contract. I think that doing so might be cheaper than the early termination fee. If not, it will allow you to spread out the payments so that it won't be quite as painful. You spent a long time to build your credit, don't let it go down so quickly.
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The two biggest things: the universe & human stupidity --Albert Einstein |
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SpyderCKE
We call that the Dennis Miller Ratio
Premium
join:2000-10-26
Milwaukee, WI
| Well said. It's good to see people that can realise the importance of money these days. If you look at the stats about people living on credit these days, it's staggering. I've never entirely understood how people don't understand TINSTAAFL these days. I'm 21, and I still think this should be something that is preached daily in high school econ. I got enough exposure to realise the harm in messing with ones credit. You think a few percentage points in minimal.. well try spread that out when you are paying off a 500K mortgage at 10% vs, say 6%. Have fun working full time the rest of your life.
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baked247
Can Nib Is
join:2003-06-25
Phoenix, AZ
1 edit | reply to baked247
I was added on to an already existing family plan . If you look at the coverage map for phoenix you would see the huge pockets of poor service that scatter the phoenix area . It is beyond crap. Very spotted and very unreliable. I dont give a crap what company it is the level of quality in my particular area blows but if I go 1/2 mile in any direction away from my house I get killer reception. See for yourself
»compass.t-mobile.com/Compass2/MapPage.asp |
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SpyderCKE
We call that the Dennis Miller Ratio
Premium
join:2000-10-26
Milwaukee, WI
| That's actually quite interesting, because everywhere in the valley is a b*tch to cover well, due to its terrain. It's so flat that you need a ton of towers to get good coverage. Think covering an area nicely with a bunch of circles. They do have the occasional hill, but you can't just blast coverage over a large area like you can with radio or tv.
Not sure what to tell you about your situation, though. Adding to an existing plan would imply you have access to another phone to try things out. Honestly, I would have talked to the neighbors or friends before just blindly assuming you will have coverage. I just don't know of any other way to describe it since I see zero evidence of you doing your homework ahead of time. Getting one of these maps would have been a very good idea, ahead of time, in your case.
That's cool that TMo let's you see those maps though. I wish every provider disclosed that info.
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eperos
Premium
join:2004-05-02
Brooklyn, NY
| He said on the 1st post that he already had the service and knew that it was crappy. He made the choice to sign up again for a new phone and agreed to a 1-year contract. Imagine if had a 2-year contract like most other providers had. lol
Baked247 can you tell us when you accepted the contract renewal? There is a trial even if you renew. Depends on where u got the phone, retail outlet, called 611, where? and when was it?
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baked247
Can Nib Is
join:2003-06-25
Phoenix, AZ
| Well I guess it is mostly my fault since I felt that there was no other way to actually use the service I pay for monthly I went to getting a different phone. I have had t-mo service since april 2004 and moved to my current area around november 2004. I had no coverage problems at my previous residence and have been at my current residence for 3 months and it was when I moved here I started with the problems. So needless to say I have been dealing with this issue since Nov. I have tried everything to try to resolve the problem with t-mo (including talking to techs , shutting down my phone once a day , having engineers come out to survey the area ,) so I thought I would save everyone some hassle and decided to try a different phone to see if that would help. Strange thing is my wife is on the plan and her phone tends to work alot better than mine. I accepted the contract renewal around Jan 15th and the deal was I recieved a $ 40 discount on the phone which needless to say does not work any better than my previous phone. I guess I was desperate to get the problem solved and was tired of hearing the same story from the csr's . The only thing I have not tried to find out about is my sim card. Like I said my wife seems to have better reception and doesnt have nearly as many issues with her phone as I do no matter what phone she uses. (She is actually using my old phone currently which is a Samspun e105) And I am using a Motorola C650. It has just become a very difficult thing to deal with and I just feel like the situation has been somewhat blown off by t-mo and they are not wanting to be the ones responsible for their coverage area issues. I guess I can just "deal with it" and learn from my mistakes. LOL |
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eperos
Premium
join:2004-05-02
Brooklyn, NY
| Don't feel bad. U know the thing is all cell phone carriers do not guarantee their service foot print so it is left up to us to figure out a lot of the problems associated with coverage.
It is interesting that your wife is not having the same issues as you. U have tried switching the sims back and forth on the phones to see if there is any change, right?
It could also be the phone is not operating correctly if your wife's service is better with her phone so maybe try to suggest to T-mo that the phone is not working properly and try to get a new one. You do have a warranty on the phone so check up on that as well.
By the dates you provided above it does seem that u are no longer in any trial period. I think you best bet would be to try and see if they give you a new phone as I mentioned above. Good luck to you. 
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baked247
Can Nib Is
join:2003-06-25
Phoenix, AZ
| Well in 1 of my earlier posts , I have used a samsung e105 that I had replaced once because the phone was bad. The replacement came and my wife is currently using that phone. I have also used a samsung r225 , a ericsson t610 , and now a motorola C650 that was just replaced because it locked up. That makes a total of 6 different phones. None which have worked any better than the other. It is very sad to say but my previous cell provider was Qwest and actually was (cough) better (ouch) than T-mobile. And if anyone is aware of Qwest and their ways knows that it kills me to say that. |
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haloace6
join:2004-02-07
Joplin, MO | reply to baked247
i've had much better luck sith samsung reception than motorola or other brands. Also, how updated are those tmobile coverage maps. updated? daily? weekly? monthly? randomly? |
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