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Topic Review (Newest First)

  • 10-08-2009, 11:06 PM
    Gearhead70
    I guess it wasn't clear enough, but what you said and what I said are identical:

    "If the cycle in question has already closed, it becomes a different question, but if your bill for the cycle in which the texting overage occurred has not yet been generated (i.e. the cycle has not ended and the next cycle has not begun), you can get that "overage" removed before it ever becomes overage at all!"
  • 10-07-2009, 10:15 PM
    nicknrm
    Yea, this post is kind of old...but, it's still useful information which other users can use the search feature and find this information.

    Now to your response:

    T-Mobile CANNOT always backdate promotions and plans. It is the same with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and whatever other carrier operates in the United States.

    Once you're bill prints, you're basically screwed. You have to call T-Mobile (or the respective carrier) before the bill cycle ends, or you're locked in. This causes a real problem for customers who have things changed without their knowledge (very rare) or whenever they go over their allotted allowance and don't realize it or realize it but just choose not to call the carrier.

    SOMETIMES, the wireless carrier will be able to just issue a credit for the overage and that's the end of it and then they'll put you on the plan you should be on...but this is EXTREMELY RARE. This is because the carrier credits the overages, but now there's no way for them to BILL you for the higher up plan you should have been on during that month...so basically, you get away with more text message allowance for less of a cost during that one month.

    If you notice the overages occurring, by using pound-code features, then call the carrier immediately. If you notice the issue before the bill cycle ends, they can generally backdate the feature.

    Starting very shortly, wireless carriers will be restricted from backdating features for overage purposes. If you wanted to add a text pack that started at the beginning of the month, you could...but you couldn't call in and request them to remove one as of a few days ago and then add a higher one...this is all in the future.


    Quote Originally Posted by Gearhead70 View Post
    WHAT?!!! I work for T-Mobile and THAT IS CRAP! We can ALWAYS backdate a feature (like unlimited messaging) or rate plan to help the customer avoid overage in the current cycle. If the cycle in question has already closed, it becomes a different question, but if your bill for the cycle in which the texting overage occurred has not yet been generated (i.e. the cycle has not ended and the next cycle has not begun), you can get that "overage" removed before it ever becomes overage at all!

    I would normally never encourage a customer to do this (one of our jobs is to prevent callbacks!), but please call T-Mobile back and explain your situation carefully. As long as you're still in the cycle in which the charges occurred, this is a total non-issue. And if I was scoring the call in which you were given this bad information, I would have a long talk with that rep!

    Edit: whoops, old post! I'm sure this issue is long since past and resolved, but just saw that crazy situation and had a knee-jerk reaction. Sorry, big lolz!
  • 10-07-2009, 12:11 PM
    Gearhead70
    Quote Originally Posted by BTurner90 View Post
    To make a long story short, I checked my usage today, and found that I'll have a +$400 overage bill coming soon. I scrambled to talk to support, and using the online chat, got my plan upgraded to unlimited texting. However, the rep told me that the overage charges will remain as the changes apply only once they are implemented, not for the current billing period, as I assumed.
    WHAT?!!! I work for T-Mobile and THAT IS CRAP! We can ALWAYS backdate a feature (like unlimited messaging) or rate plan to help the customer avoid overage in the current cycle. If the cycle in question has already closed, it becomes a different question, but if your bill for the cycle in which the texting overage occurred has not yet been generated (i.e. the cycle has not ended and the next cycle has not begun), you can get that "overage" removed before it ever becomes overage at all!

    I would normally never encourage a customer to do this (one of our jobs is to prevent callbacks!), but please call T-Mobile back and explain your situation carefully. As long as you're still in the cycle in which the charges occurred, this is a total non-issue. And if I was scoring the call in which you were given this bad information, I would have a long talk with that rep!

    Edit: whoops, old post! I'm sure this issue is long since past and resolved, but just saw that crazy situation and had a knee-jerk reaction. Sorry, big lolz!
  • 10-06-2009, 10:23 PM
    nicknrm
    Also, T-Mobile has an autocallback feature which will actually send you a text message and/or a phone call stating you're about to exceed your plan limits and to upgrade the plan to avoid additional fees.
  • 10-06-2009, 06:29 PM
    BigJames523
    Marc I think your missing the point. The OP Signed a contract and agreed upon these service before he sent and revieved 1200 (300 dollars in overage at $0.25/message) text's inside of a months time. I have a 400/month text plan, and if I send and recieve 200 I feel like its alot, but if I do I check my usage, and will upgrade before the bill comes out.

    If the OP has had this for a long time, and knew he was sending alot of texts he should have acted upon it then, or right after... I would understand a few, but 1200? Thats a little unreasonable.

    I do understand your argument for the text messaging and how it cost's them nothing, but that is not the debate here, the debate is about the problem at hand, if you want to debate that, find one thats already open on it and put your $0.02 there, thank you!

    BTurner90, I believe that you should call CS and see if they will work with you at all. If not, hang up and try back. Just remember, if they don't give it to you, you will now know better for next time, no?

    I do wish you the best of luck...
  • 10-05-2009, 09:35 PM
    marc41
    I think you're really missing the point. The carriers have excess capacity. What I mean by this is:

    They are perfectly happy (and profitable) selling text packages at 2 cents each or less. When they sell an over-limit text message at 20 cents, they're truly gauging the customer. If they reverse those overages, whether to 2 cents or 0 cents, they lost nothing. It is NOT at other customers' expense because it is so hugely profitable. One customer who doesn't complain about 10 extra texts has paid for the reversal for someone with 100 extra texts. Does that make sense?

    Further, texts are just inconceivably profitable. A text message might be 200 characters long. When you are in a voice call, whether you are actually talking or not, that open line sends the equivalent of thousands of characters PER SECOND.

    So, when you actually think about it, since a voice call pack of 1000 minutes costs about $100, that's 10 cents per minute, which is 10 cents for about 60,000 characters worth of actual information.

    When you send a text message, even at two cents, instead of making a one minute voice call, you are doing your cellular carrier a huge favor. A two-cent text of 200 characters is far less network traffic than a 10-cent 1-minute call of 60,000 characters.

    The irony of this is that the cellular carrier charges extra for texting, promoting it as a must-have convenience feature. But at the same time, the more you text the more bandwidth they have left over for other traffic. So by texting you are doing them a big favor (consuming 3000 times less network traffic) AND paying extra for it.

    So I do not feel guilty asking for reversal of an unexpected usage spike. Neither do I feel taken advantage of when someone else does the same.
  • 07-11-2009, 10:08 PM
    4eyes
    Do what you did here, write in and explain the situation, state that you are willing to change your current rate plan to a T-Mobile plan, in order to get the T-Mobile message plan you'll have to change from your SunCom rate plan and in doing so, you CANNOT return to that plan, understand!

    Overages are the customer's responsibility and personally I don't like when the customer won't take that responsibility, because when it's all said and done everyone pays for as you put it "getting overages possibly removed".
  • 07-07-2009, 11:25 PM
    BTurner90
    Hey guys, really need some advice on getting overages possibly removed, if at all possible.
    A little background info:

    My cell plan was originally with Suncom, who was bought out by T-Mobile. My original plan was 400 texts a month. Due to a job change, my text messaging load has really picked up this month. When I went to TMobile's website, the option to upgrade simply wasn't there. When I went to the "Upgrade Services" button, no additional options were there. I figured this was some odd quirk, and (stupidly) figured I'd work it out later. (I learned today that this option was not available due to my plan being originally a Suncom rate plan).

    To make a long story short, I checked my usage today, and found that I'll have a +$400 overage bill coming soon. I scrambled to talk to support, and using the online chat, got my plan upgraded to unlimited texting. However, the rep told me that the overage charges will remain as the changes apply only once they are implemented, not for the current billing period, as I assumed.

    I plan on calling Customer Care tomorrow and pleading with them about getting these charges removed. I've heard multiple times over the years from friends that when these overages occur, that a plan upgrade removes the overages. Any suggestions on anything to say to Customer Care to help in removing these charges?
    Thanks in advance.

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