T-Mobile Overage Charges

I just found this discussion forum and wanted to see if anyone else has had the same problem I have had with T-Mobile and their overage charges. I have a Blackberry Phone, which unlike most cell phones, records each call as an email, and indicates the length of the call, time of call, etc. On one of my recent bills, I was charged for overage usage for over $150, which I thought was way too much. I then decided to compare the minute usage on the bill to several calls I received and made from my phone. I was quite surprised (althought I should not have been) when many of the minutes charged on my bill did not equal the duration of the calls. While I understand that calls are rounded up to the next minute for usage purposes, I found that many calls I received were charged an extra minute. For example, I received a call which lasted 45 seconds, and therefore should be charged for 1 minute of usage. On these calls, I have been charged for 2 minutes of usage, which adds up over time. I have disputed these charges with T-Mobile, and have been told that these are valid charges. How? The only reason that I am even able to dispute these charges is because of the type of phone I use, which records each call, but how can anyone ever dispute the charges because you are unable to use the timers on the phone for billing purposes according to T-Mobile, but this is something that makes T-Mobile millions of dollars a month, and you have no way to dispute it. I welcome any comments as I am proceeding with a complaint to my state's consumer affairs division and am looking into litigation since this problem exists for every customer and is ridiculous.

Thanks.

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Why are you using a blackberry in the first place? The T-Mobile Sidekick is much better.

I too am suspicious of the overcharges. My last bill was 157.

you cant really tell if they overcharge or not unless you can record every single phione call you make

I just know that T-Mobile sucks big time! I'm going to cancel my account.

People i work for t-mobile and att. You are only charged for overage (with t-mobile) when you actually go over. As far as the blackberry device, there have been a few complications regarding billed minutes since the way the blackberry operates is different. But aside from that, most customers get charged overage only when they do go over or if their month is prorated and the customer is unaware that their minutes are also prorated.

i had the sidekick and i was gttin phone bill for the 4 months that i had it for over 150 dollars a month every month **** tmobile i went back to nextel where i know im gonna be charged mad money

i agree t-mobile screws you over when it comes to bills

I have TMobile and they are always screwing me over. One month I went as far as recording my minutes by hand, and there was a vast difference. I called and spoke with a rep and she gave me bonus minutes (which they are always quick to do). But if you think about it, the minutes arent that helpful because they still want u to pay the extra money. And if they do that to so many people over time, then it really adds up. I am looking into gettng another carrier as well.

Originally posted by Stevo89
Why are you using a blackberry in the first place? The T-Mobile Sidekick is much better.

indeed

Originally posted by rich.G.
ii went back to nextel where i know im gonna be charged mad money

lol

I personally love t-mobile. I have had several different providers before and they all sucked. T-mobile has been good to me for 2 years and counting. BTW, you can check your usage anytime by pressing #646# send.

You are billed in one minute increments whether you’re on the blackberry 15 seconds you’re charged the full minute, this is in the service agreement as well as the terms & conditions on the website at the bottom of the page

If you feel the charges are not valid have a sales rep or if you know a customer care rep look at your bill statement to see if there is any discrepancies on the bill

Otherwise I recommend paying up my friend, if the account is already past due make payment arrangements with financial services to prevent interruption of service once it goes to a collection agency it’s out of the service providers hands and it is reported to the credit-reporting agencies


D

I have T-mobile and have not encountered problems such as the one you stated. T-mobile is a big company and there are strict rules that these cell phone carriers must follow.

If you can prove, somehow, that T-mobile is charging you 2 minutes for every minute you use (which is very unlikely) then I think you should consider yourself lucky because you'll be award millions$$ of dollars if you sue them.

What I would suggest is
1) check your minutes frequently by dialing #646#. You will be sent with the minutes you have used for this billing cycle. I always use that as a reminder of the possibility of going over my monthly allotted minutes.

2) speak with a customer representative and instead of demanding them to credit you the "overage", (which to them, those minutes are legitimate minutes used and not that they will not credit you with the minutes, but they will not have the authority to do so ) try to tell them that for some reason, the device you are using is delayed when you make a call and when you end a call and therefore possibly increasing the minute usage. If you say it like that, they will consider it as equipment failure and you will have a better chance of getting your minutes credited plus a new phone =D

3) if you think you are talking to a biach (you know what I mean, particularly when they have a particular accent), hang up. Seriously, this will resolve 99% of the problems out there. HANG UP. In fact, tell them that you refuse to speak to an extremely unhelpful representative and demand to talk to the supervisor, then hang up, and keep calling until you find a friendly voice.

I think #3 will resolve a lot of the customer service issues out there LOL I do that ALL the time and I get what I want usually.

you know what, i think ima try that because i was charged overage and i was screwed but for some reason the overage doesnt make sense to me, ive never used a thousand minutes before, i barely use 800, so ima do that, but, ive flashed my phone and if they send me a new one, that means i have to send the old one back and if its with different firmware, will they either charge me or request the phones to be swapped back or not?