T-Mobile is making things worse for people struggling financially
Just when you think T-Mobile is done delivering bad news, something new comes along. Just today, it was reported that customers are having a meltdown at stores after learning about the new fee for offline payments and now the carrier has dropped two more bombs.
The Mobile Report spotted a change to the company's terms and conditions and found two potentially worrying things. One of the clauses says that "you may still incur charges while an account or service is suspended." This means that the company has the right to charge you even when you are not using their services because of a non-payment suspension.
Your account may still accrue charges even if the Service is suspended. You are responsible for any charges that are incurred while your Service or account is suspended. You agree to pay all Charges we assess and bill you, including charges covering periods where your Service is suspended for non-payment, or Charges that were accepted or processed through all Devices and/or Products on your account, including while your service is suspended. If your account is unpaid or otherwise not in good standing, your service may be reduced, suspended, or terminated. Charges may not be prorated while your Service is suspended. If you port your number to another carrier, your Service will be deactivated immediately once the number is ported, though you will still be charged for a full billing cycle.
And even though the website uses the word "may," The Mobile Report has received a screenshot of an internal document that says that customers will be charged during account suspension.
This went into effect on July 19 and employees have apparently been told that the charges are not prorated - meaning customers will be charged the full amount for the entire billing period - and they will not be credited.
As is the case with the offline payment fiasco, employees will have to deal with disappointed customers and this time around, T-Mobile doesn't even explain why it has made this change.
Verizon is the only of the big three carriers that does not charge customers during non-payment suspensions.
Other than that, T-Mobile also says that it's "not responsible for any… …information, goods, or services provided by third parties." So if you do business with a third party and something goes wrong, you can raise a dispute but it would be up to T-Mobile if it wants to help and it can walk away scot-free.
This means that customers will have to be a lot more careful about where they shop from as T-Mobile can simply refuse to help if something goes wrong with the device you were provided or you were misguided about a plan by an authorized retailer.
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Things that are NOT allowed: